MAM
81% Indians find ads intrusive: KMB study
MUMBAI: A well-executed multichannel campaign is a thing of beauty. But over one in four of the campaigns we see are not well integrated, and consumers are much more critical than marketers about campaign connectivity. Also, less than half of all campaigns take full advantage of different channels by properly customising content to different contexts.
The address the issue, Kantar Millward Brown conducted a study which examined the global state of multichannel advertising campaigns. The study revealed that 78 per cent of consumers surveyed in Asia Pacific are seeing more ads in a wider variety of places than they did three years ago and consumers in India are seeing the most substantial uplift followed by Philippines and Singapore.
People believe multichannel advertising builds brands and leaves a stronger impression. Well-integrated and customised ad campaigns can improve overall campaign effectiveness by 57 per cent. This implies that brands can have a larger impact with their investment and more than half of marketers are missing out on the opportunity to substantially boost their activity.
Ineffective and disengaged advertising runs the risk of alienating the viewers and people are uncomfortable with the increase in intrusive advertising. Indian consumers feel most bombarded by intrusive advertising (81 per cent), followed by New Zealand (76 per cent) and the Philippines (72 per cent). On the contrary, Koreans and Indonesians are the least bothered by intrusive ads but more than half the population see ads in a negative light and that should be a wake-up call for marketers.
While stating that marketers need to start thinking intelligently about how they integrate their campaigns, Kantar Millward Brown head of media and digital for APAC Pablo Gomez opines that marketers are putting enough focus on customisation. “Consumers are exposed to more advertising than ever before and are becoming more judgemental of what they see as a result. Importantly, the study showed that people react to advertising differently depending on the channel, and crucially, they are least receptive to ads on digital media,” he said.
Consumers expect multichannel campaigns to deliver basic connective elements or hygiene factors like the same logo and slogan. To some extent consumers are right. All brand cues contribute to campaign effectiveness, and the more cues the better. However, consistent characters or personalities are the individual cues which most help brand impact; these differentiate the best campaigns.
Viewers expect TV to be the best with the rest of a campaign, but integration benefits all channels. Brands should plan for synergy because about 25 per cent of all brand contributions from media are typically attributable to synergy effects. We know that all channels benefit from synergies, but some channels work particularly well with each other. The strongest overall synergy combinations are TV & Facebook, and TV & outdoor. A recent Budweiser campaign in China was strongly integrated thanks to multiple consistent elements (celebrity, colour scheme, bottle, logo, slogan) across TV, online and outdoor executions. It is a well-executed example of ‘matching luggage’ which also extends to the style and mood of the content.
At the end of the day, brands need to use all senses. Visual cues are important, and memorable characters differentiate, but audio cues like consistent voiceovers and music also help. Consumers will not notice all brand integration cues, so test to see if the campaign fits together. Additionally, marketers need to develop content for channels where they can adapt excellently and make the most of the format. They need to find a balance between integration and customisation and a great campaign needs enough familiarity to tie campaign elements together, but enough novelty to engage with complementary content.
MAM
Gurpreet Singh named President of DishTV Alumni Network
Former Dish TV executive to lead community building and collaboration.
MUMBAI: Back to the dish, but this time it’s about connections, not channels Gurpreet Singh is returning to familiar territory with a new mandate that swaps subscribers for relationships. Singh has been appointed President of the DishTV Alumni Network, a move aimed at strengthening ties among former employees and building a more engaged professional community around the Dish TV ecosystem. The initiative reflects a growing trend among large organisations to formalise alumni networks as platforms for collaboration, mentorship and business opportunities.
The appointment draws on Singh’s deep-rooted history with Dish TV, where he held multiple leadership roles over nearly a decade. As National Business Head between June 2019 and September 2020, he oversaw profit and loss as well as operations, managing revenues of Rs 6,000 crore and leading a team of around 1,250 employees across the country. His tenure included working alongside two regional business heads and 16 circle heads, underscoring the scale of operations he handled.
Prior to that, Singh served as Executive Vice President and National Head for Sales and Revenue from 2016 to 2019, and earlier as Senior Vice President and National Head for Sales and Revenue. He also briefly led international operations as Country Head for Sri Lanka, further expanding his exposure across markets.
His broader career spans leadership roles across telecom and consumer businesses, including a stint as Chief Operating Officer at Bharti Airtel’s Malawi operations, senior leadership roles at Reliance Communications, and earlier positions at Hindustan Sanitaryware and Kodak India, where he spent over a decade.
In his new role, Singh is expected to focus on reconnecting former employees, fostering collaboration, and building a structured alumni ecosystem that leverages shared experience and industry networks. As companies increasingly recognise the long-term value of their extended workforce, the DishTV Alumni Network appears set to turn nostalgia into a strategic asset, one connection at a time.
