Mumbai: The Media Investment Summit 2024 which is being held on 4 April at Novotel, Mumbai is a dynamic platform that aims to bring together minds from the brand, media, advertising, digital & TV fraternity to explore the ever-evolving landscape of content, Adtech, Martech, metaverse and Web 3.0, the evolution of traditional media planning and buying, data and privacy infringement and ROI on advertising.

The day-long affair is to make sure to tantalise the thoughts of those looking for answers to myriad topics under the branding, advertising, TV, digital media planning, and buying roof.

The session can provide valuable insights into the strategies, challenges, and future trends associated with creating a seamless customer experience through personalized marketing.

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The session of the event was chaired by Wavemaker India chief digital officer Sairam Ranganathan and consists of panellists including – Dr Reddy’s Laboratories India director head digital omnichannel & transformation Rupali Krishna Digrajkar, Shemaroo Entertainment COO, digital Saurabh Srivastava, MiQ MD and global board member Siddharth Dabhade, Criteo country head, India Medhavi Singh, Interactive Avenues VP, media, Priyanka Mohanty Nayudu.

Here are the quotes from various industry experts on the power of personalisation: Strategies for creating a seamless customer experience:

MiQ MD and global board member Siddharth Dabhade

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I think the evolution we’re witnessing involves a convergence of media and data, with companies worldwide, including those in India, consolidating functions like data science, marketing, and business priorities. Those who’ve successfully integrated these elements have outperformed because marketing can’t solely focus on one aspect; it must combine media and data. Many companies possess vast data, but it often remains fragmented. Thus, the challenge lies in consolidating this data to establish a unified consumer view. Additionally, families are accumulating more first-party data, which is crucial. Moreover, macro trends significantly influence consumer behaviour and brand perceptions. The ongoing challenge is integrating all these elements effectively. For instance, in a recent case study, we targeted consumers interested in inverter solutions while considering the macro trend of power outages driving inverter sales. It’s about merging data from various sources, deriving actionable insights, and ensuring data privacy. Another case study involves an auto player, where we analyzed dealership sales and inventory levels in real time to optimize marketing campaigns accordingly. personalisation should benefit both consumers and advertisers, enhancing relevance and efficiency.

Shemaroo Entertainment COO, digital Saurabh Srivastava,

One business I represent that’s highly relevant to this topic is Shemaroo, which operates a direct-to-consumer OTT business. Effective personalisation is crucial for us as it enhances consumer engagement and drives loyalty, ultimately impacting our business model, especially considering the high cost of acquiring consumers. When content is personalized based on data analysis, it sharpens our proposition and improves user engagement. For instance, our collaboration with Amazon Personalize has led to a significant shift in how users consume short-form video content, demonstrating the power of data-driven recommendations. This collaboration has become a noteworthy case study, indicating potential for further expansion beyond short-form content. Loyalty is paramount for every brand, as retaining consumers is key to maximizing lifetime value. Additionally, the OTT market in India is poised to double, creating opportunities for both global and local players. However, achieving this growth requires significant efforts in storytelling, data utilization, technology, and personalisation to meet the diverse needs of consumers. Ultimately, the collective integration of these elements will contribute to the expansion of the market, albeit with considerable effort.

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Dr Reddy’s Laboratories India director head of digital omnichannel & transformation Rupali Krishna Digrajkar

We’re currently in the data-driven era where across various industries like pharma, media, entertainment, and telecom, customers demand both convenience and quality interactions with brands. This emphasis on convenience and expectation highlights the importance of personalisation. At Dr. Reddy’s, we engage with two main segments: B2B/B2B2C customers, such as doctors who then convey information to patients, and the over-the-counter (OTC) segment for direct consumer products. personalisation relies heavily on understanding data and deriving insights from it. Defining customer personas and understanding their needs, triggers, and barriers are essential for delivering targeted experiences to micro-segments. In our case, since we interact with diverse sets of doctors within specialities, influencing their perceptions about our products is key to driving prescriptions. This requires continuous relationship-building and content-based marketing to engage doctors effectively. While the theory is clear, executing personalisation at scale is complex and requires expertise in various elements such as data analytics and customer data management. Dr. Reddy’s is actively involved in orchestrating numerous initiatives due to the breadth of our business, which includes 74 brands. Personalisation efforts extend to content production, which must be customized and distributed modularly across different formats and geographies. Visualization plays a critical role in data-driven decision-making, and defining use cases and selecting the right toolbox are crucial aspects of implementing personalisation effectively.

Criteo country head, India Medhavi Singh

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In today’s landscape, personalisation isn’t just about attracting more customers and boosting conversion rates. It’s also about fostering long-term customer relationships and maximizing lifetime value. Some may think personalisation is about individualising every interaction, but it’s crucial to understand that true personalisation occurs at scale. This necessitates investing in the right technologies to enable widespread personalisation efforts across various verticals. For instance, consider streaming platforms that recommend content based on users’ viewing history; this is made possible by their vast user bases. Similarly, at our company, leveraging our extensive data—over 720 million videos and 5 billion products—enables us to achieve personalisation at scale. Across the user journey, from acquisition to engagement, personalisation plays a pivotal role. For example, in collaboration with Clinique, we targeted audiences with high purchasing power, tailoring our approach to appeal to premium and luxury segments. Likewise, in the gaming vertical, we personalize ads to encourage user conversion. Personalisation extends to minute details, such as tailoring ad formats based on user preferences—be it single-window or scroll-based views. Moreover, real-time adaptation is crucial; algorithms must dynamically adjust based on user behaviour shifts, ensuring a personalized experience at every touchpoint. Therefore, creating personalised experiences at scale is paramount in today’s context.

Interactive Avenues VP, media, Priyanka Mohanty Nayudu

From initially attracting consumers to actively engaging with them and ultimately retaining their loyalty, personalisation plays a pivotal role throughout the entire journey. Take Spotify, for example, one of our brands during its launch in India. Globally recognised for its personalized approach, Spotify’s DNA is infused with personalisation. Therefore, our launch strategy had to emphasize personalisation from the outset, incorporating the “person, place, moment” framework along with extensive data analysis to understand our target audience’s preferences. This journey encompasses capturing audiences through media campaigns, acquiring them, engaging them with content recommendations tailored to their tastes, and retaining them by continually adapting to their usage patterns. Remarkably, leveraging personalisation has led to a significant increase in streams—up to 30 to 40 per cent more compared to regular usage. This underscores the critical role personalisation plays throughout the consumer journey.

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