Kumar's Blog

Bob Hoffman never loses an opportunity to remind the world that while there are thousands of brands that have been built solely through TV advertising, there isn't a single brand that has been built solely through advertising online. But, he seems to forget that advertising is a lot like running a restaurant.

While the likes of Tide, Coke and Pepsi were being built (the brands, not the products) on TV, the only real media that the target audience was exposed to was TV and print (and Radio to a certain extent). So, the brands that were built during this time had to be built through these media only. The picture is a lot different today.

Today, the target audience is exposed to PCs, Tablets and smartphones in equal amount (if not more) as compared to print and TV. There are very few people (almost negligible in India) who are exposed only to PCs, Tablets and smartphones. So, naturally, it is impossible to build a brand solely through advertising on traditionally digital platforms (I say traditionally because even TVs come equipped with a browser and net access these days).

To run a restaurant successfully, you need to have a consistent service and dish quality across a variety of dishes and across time. It is impossible to have a successful restaurant with just one good dish. Yes, you might get an audience that comes to you for that dish, but you will not rank among the top restaurants when there are others that provide a variety of quality dishes.

Similarly, you cannot focus on just one platform for your advertising. You need to embrace all platforms, and you need to follow different campaign strategies for each platform (just like each dish has different ingredients). The platforms that you do not make use of must be the ones that you consciously avoid due to lack of scale in terms of your target audience (like a restaurant that serves only Indian or Italian cuisine).

Stop thinking that you can pool your advertising budget on one platform that has been delivering for you until now. You need to embrace more platforms to mimic your target audience.

I have been a strong advocate of digital marketing. Even after reading this piece by Bob Hoffman, I still am a digital marketing evangelist. Bob makes a strong claim that if you walk down the aisles of a supermarket, there is not a single brand among the hundreds on offer that was built up solely through digital marketing efforts.

Bob's right when he says that it is nearly impossible to build a brand online unless the brand's product is inherently online, like Flipkart or Youtube. Before dismissing online marketing efforts as unnecessary distractions, we must understand why TV has been so successful in building brands, and why digital marketing efforts can never hope to replicate that, except for video ads on Youtube and (yet to commence) Facebook.

First, all brands have the same starting point when it comes to TVCs. I'm not talking about being able to afford the 30-second spot to air a commercial. But, among the brands that do buy those 30-second spots, there is a level playing field. They all have the same audience to target, who are all in the same frame of mind. Since a whopping majority of the people watch TV for entertainment, they are in a fairly relaxed mood while watching TVCs. So, if an advertisement is clutter-breaking in terms of its narrative or style of direction, it will catch attention of the audience irrespective of the brand's previous association with the audience. As the audience comes across these advertisements over and over, in a few months, a new brand can hold its own in the mind space of the target audience.

This is not the case online. 

Today, every brand wants to engage its customers through content and what-not. An average person interacts with (purchases/considers purchasing) about a hundred brands every month. Now, this person might have certain websites that she will frequent, certain kinds of content that she reads regularly, and there can never be more than a handful of brands whose content matches these interests.

Unlike TVCs, a brand cannot put out content that doesn't fall under the umbrella of interest of the target audience, and still hope that it makes the desired impact. If there aren't real-world brands like Tide, Lays and Coca Cola that have been built entirely through digital efforts, it is because digital is a different ball game. It needs to be approached in a way that can leverage its strengths.

What are its strengths?

If brands focus on the few people whose online activity involves engaging with content similar to what the brand has expertise in, and gains their trust and appreciation, they will spread the word to others whose online activity doesn't fall under this category.

It is unfair to compare the effects of a digital campaign and a TVC simply because they don't work the same way.