Cover Story - Marketing Trends to look forward to in 2016 || Piyush Jain || IIM Shillong || January 2016 edition

Marketing Trends to look forward to in 2016

Piyush Jain

IIM Shillong

Looking back at the start of 2015, most of the marketing predictions were centred around social marketing. Then digital marketers wanted to know which traditional social networking platforms would get more expensive and which new social sites to exploit. Social media still works, but it’s important to look deeper into how people are using these platforms and not just which ones are popular at the moment.

So let’s see what 2016 might have in store for us in terms of marketing trends as predicted by Daniel Newman in an Forbes article and Kenneth Gillett in business2community to name a few. Digital marketing trends will be something to look forwards to this year also but at the same time there will be other ways and other things to look at. Like content marketing is becoming increasingly visual. As we transition into 2016, it’s time to think about which visual marketing trends are most likely to stick around. Though new techniques and ways are coming up every year but there are some traditional techniques that are an absolute must. Fashions, technology, and Internet user preferences can change in a flash. Still, some traditional marketing tactics have translated very well from offline to online.

Meanwhile, marketers get to enjoy an exciting ride, but they need to adapt quickly or risk falling off. So let’s have a look at a few trends that we should take a note of in 2016.

Top Marketing trends

Embrace the Customer Experience Model: 

It’s been a slow grind for some, but marketing departments are moving from a silo of advertising and non-interactive communication toward becoming a natural part of the sales cycle and an extension of customer service. Marketers, using integrated tools, can engage with customers online, track the buyer’s journey, measure sentiment and loyalty, and match behavior with outreach tailored to meet their audience’s needs and interests. But for customers already bombarded with information, a great customer experience is becoming baseline.

Content is still the King:

It may sounds like a broken record, but content is still king—even more so given the deterioration of interruptive tactics. But context is a stronger factor than ever. With no decline in sight for the importance of good content, the next year will see greater focus on bringing influencers on board for more organic marketing. Storytelling will also play a key role in drawing consumers in and keeping them engaged. Natural, relevant content in the right channels will drive content campaigns.

Big Data IS for Marketers:

Big data, which includes social and unstructured data, is a goldmine for marketers. Until recently, many marketers shied away from big data because they lacked the skills—or the big budget resources—to translate it into something meaningful. Now, tools are coming to the marketplace that make mining and managing data easier than ever. 2016 will be a banner year for incorporating big data and perhaps more importantly, analytics into marketing decisions.

Omni channel Will be Retail’s Best Friend: 

Tweet for Pizza! Dominos has one of the catchiest Omni channel campaigns right now, but brands across the board will quickly learn that an integrated customer experience is essential—one that creates one smooth interaction, rather than multiple micro events. From addressing the causes behind abandoned shopping carts to creating an easy transition between online and bricks-and-mortar locations, Omni channel will improve the bottom line for both retailers and B2B.

Digital Marketing

The year 2015 has been the year of digital marketing and it will be in the news in 2016 as well. There will be new developments happening in this space and will most probably take away the major chunk of the company’s marketing budget. So let’s look at some of the game changing digital marketing trends that we might witness in 2016.

·       Influencer Marketing: 

Influencer marketing is considered to be the most rapidly expanding way to acquire new customers. Recent surveys suggest that getting authorities or celebrities to mention or promote products might grow faster than SEO, PPC ads, and content marketing. Tactics to attract influencers vary, but they might include sending free products to review, offering cross promotion, or simply paying a fee. Many brands have already capitalized on this and others are following.

·       Increased spending on organic social marketing:

Organic social media is based on the assumption that you have to earn your way into the newsfeed with great content that people love. Most organic social media posts aren’t directly selling, because selling is rarely interesting enough to drive engagements. In the Adweek survey, 70 percent of marketers planned to spend more on using content marketing to increase their social presence. Attracting attention via useful or entertaining content can complement social media ad spend.

·       Going mobile: 

In May of 2015, Google already announced that mobile traffic outpaced laptop and desktop traffic in several countries, including the US. It’s interesting to note that that Smart Insights data suggests that the average time spent on a PC isn’t really decreasing. Rather, time spent on cell phones and other mobile devices is increasing rapidly. That means that it’s important to make sure you have an effective mobile design, but it’s not time to abandon updates for your laptop and desktop site.

·       Video will become critical for digital advertising success: 

Most marketers have already explored the power of uploading video ads to sites like YouTube and promoting them via social media. In addition, Google is testing using video ads in their PPC search ads, and these are expected to debut soon. Platforms like Facebook already have paid video ads, and they’re performing well enough to be a new standard in the marketing mix.

Visual Marketing

As mentioned above digital advertising will be on the rise and video will be one of the things that is going to drive it. It is nothing but Visual marketing to use a broader term and much has been clear for a while that is rising. From branded video content to the revitalization of email marketing, visual marketing will be a key component of the successful marketer’s 2016 strategy.

·       Use of Animated GIFs on Social:

As many social media marketers and avid users have recognized, animated GIFs and short videos have become pervasive over the course of 2015. If you look at Twitter, the majority of its best-performing content involves some kind of visual element.

This gravitation toward visual posts is based on human preferences. The average person’s attention span in 2015 was 8.25 seconds. Thus, most social media users aren’t going to read an entire article; they simply want the basics.

GIFS, or bite-sized animations, are ideal for telling stories in a short timeframe. The motion in these images also gives them an advantage in vying for attention in crowded newsfeeds.

Also look for Vine video clips, which are six-second truncated videos, to rise in popularity. Vine is already extremely popular with the general public, but brands have yet to fully adopt it. This will likely change in 2016.

·       Real-Time Storytelling Via Live-Stream Social:

Thanks to Meerkat and Periscope, an entirely new social medium came into existence in 2015. Known as real-time storytelling or live-stream social, these video platforms enable users to live-stream videos to their followers.

Periscope may already seem big, but expect the platform to explode in 2016. It offers the perfect blend of social media and video that progressive digital marketers have been looking for.

Also we can expect to see a lot of brands doing sneak peeks, product presentations, celebrity takeovers, live question-and-answer sessions, behind-the-scenes footage, contests, and more. If you’re a digital marketer, the possibilities created by social live-streaming are exciting. It’s the future of the industry, and it’ll be intriguing to see how live-stream social evolves in 2016.

·       Video Will Revitalize Email Marketing:

Though email marketing is still very much alive, its power has waned in recent months because more attention is being given to evolving mediums such as social media. Still, expect video to revitalize email marketing in 2016.

Marketers will rely less on heavy text content and more on videos that encourage recipients to interact with their brands. The key to successfully using video in email depends on the quality of the video and its length.

·       Videos on Home Pages and Product Pages:

While off-site videos on YouTube and other publishing platforms are valuable as mentioned above, you’ll see more and more video content migrate to branded URLs. Marketers will continue to find ways to integrate video into web design and make pages less static and more immersive. There are two specific places where video will likely surface, i.e., Home pages and Product pages. You’ll also see more video content used on landing pages and “About Us” pages. Textual content won’t disappear completely, but we can expect video to permeate web design much further in the coming months.  

These are some of the Marketing trends that will create a buzz in the market. So in this rapidly changing world of marketing with old trends still going strong and some new trends that are to be looked at as predicted by some marketer’s, so what do you think will these rule the market or we are going to see something different altogether? We can only wait and watch the exciting world of marketing that lays ahead of us this coming year.

In-Flight Entertainment

Vidya Rudhiramoorthy | Bharathidasan Institute of Management.

IN-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT

Introduction:
In-Flight entertainment refers to all spheres of entertainment, information and communication available to passengers onboard a commercial aircraft.
Installation of In Flight Entertainment system ranks second in terms of cost, the first being aircraft engine. But majority of airlines perceive it as an investment rather than a cost.
One of the major drivers for the IFE market is the easing of regulatory restrictions on voice and data solutions on board an aircraft. By 2012 the market for in-flight broadband service is estimated to reach $936 million. In-flight live direct broadcast video is forecasted to reach $913 million in 2012. Over 2,500 aircraft in the global commercial fleet are projected to be equipped with in-flight connectivity systems by the end of 2010 and the number is expected to reach 4,500 by 2013.

Competitive Structure:
Competition to achieve market dominance in the booming in-flight internet and e-mail markets is strong. Entertaining passengers during long haul flights is a big challenge for the airliners as it is the basic value proposition for on-board services. If passengers do not perceive any value then the airlines loses out on its customers which acts in the negative considering the huge investment that goes into the IFE services.
Airlines have a wide range of connectivity options to choose from. They can opt for a rudimentary service that allows travellers to send SMS, e-mails through their PEDs or can choose a full fledged service.
Thales has offered a connectivity strategy that allows passengers to use standalone solutions and applications, integrated into the on-board IFE. Panasonic is developing ‘eXConnect’ a Ku-band-based in-flight broadband product. Jetstar is shown its interest in renting out pre-loaded iPads as a kind of in-flight entertainment that contrasts with regular seat back video streaming.
Competition from Personal Electronic Devices (PEDs) that offer communication, information and entertainment services pose a threat to IFE. Therefore establishing preferred IFE service provider status is crucial.

Increasing demand for commercial aircrafts in future is likely to spur the demand for IFE system. The below table lists the region wise demand for IFE.


Asia
Low-cost carriers adopt in-flight mobile connectivity. India’s LCC Kingfisher has launched ‘King mobile’ and become the first in the country to offer wide range on services on mobile platform.

USA
Demand for Wi-Fi is on the rise and the airlines are keeping with it. Delta Airlines owns the largest fleet of Wi-Fi equipped aircraft in the world. The current Fleet Wi-Fi count is 495/528 (as of June 9, 2010).

Middle East

Connectivity solutions have emerged as the fastest growing segment. Saudi Arabian Airlines has contracted with Thales to equip its 42 A380 fleet with systems that connects to broadband network.

Europe

Connectivity solutions have emerged as the fastest growing segment. Virgin Atlantic strikes a deal with Panasonic to equip A330 with eX2 systems for connectivity solutions that will allow sending and receiving of texts, phone calls etc


Over the last two years, a majority of the aerospace industry expenditure has been diverted towards IFE and connectivity services. Although IFE is gaining significance, the number of controversies that negate its growth is on the rise. A few of the drawbacks have been discussed below.




Wired Communication Systems:
Entertainment systems contributes to aircraft weight significantly, it consists of more than 2000 parts and increases the aircraft’s weight by almost a thousand pounds. A fully equipped entertainment system uses about four and a half miles of wiring. The aviation industry has been suffering for quite a few years with problems of poor wiring causing instances of fires and emergency landings.
Case: Swiss Air 111 had to face the misfortune of poor wiring. The scenario was caused by a short circuit that occurred in cockpit wiring of the in-flight entertainment system, which eventually led to an electrical fire and breakdown of the airplane's defenses. The death toll was 229 with no survivors.One option that can be explored as an alternate to electric wiring is the use of fibre-optics.

Cell Phone usage:
Cell phones pose a potential problem to the aircraft’s navigation system as the radio signals emitted by them are capable of causing false read-outs.
Case: Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have invented a device that can detect radio signals emitted from cell phones and other personal electronic devices. A total of 37 commercial airplanes were tested and findings have shown that on each airplane number of calls ranging from one to four was placed.

Wireless Communication Systems:
Providing wireless access services on board to passenger owned devices is of particular concern. Reason being that it provides ample opportunity for the terrorists to communicate and devise tactics and to co-ordinate with other members from both within the aircraft and from the ground.
Case: Boeing’s plan to install wireless IFE supply with 60GHz transmissions faced problems with data transfer between transmitters and receivers, where objects moving in front of antennas blocked the signal. Although other techniques have been explored to address this challenge, it leaves little doubt regarding the complications that are possible if wireless communication is offered onboard.


Conclusion:
In the past 20 years airlines and travelers have had relatively fewer and limited options in In-Flight Entertainment category. Over the years several attempts to deliver new in-flight entertainment and communication services have been made.

The present IFE services have helped the airlines capture passenger attention. But these systems require special distribution cabling and related equipment to route the entertainment content to each seat, all of which means extra weight in the aircraft thereby reducing efficiency. Safety and security are serious concerns when it comes to IFE services. The potential threats that the present in-flight entertainment and communication services pose cannot be ignored. Although IFE has added liveliness to air travel the above issues with respect to safety and security are debatable.

Film Brand Placement

Shakshi Gupta, IIM Shillong

Introduction
The concept of placing brand in a movie is not new to marketers for the advertisement of the product. This association is very old and in Bollywood, it started with the presence of a Rajdoot motorcycle in the film Bobby. In English movies it dates back to early ‘50s when Gordon's Gin paid to have Katharine Hepburn's character in "The African Queen" to use toss loads of their product overboard. Though, then it was only a blink and gone appearance, but now it has become one of the important channels for the brand communication.

Brand communication is a key component in branding as it determines how successfully brand is established and turns profits. Advertisements and public relations have been conventional and most popular means of brand communication, but with evolving customer dominated business environment they seem to be losing their effectiveness. Thus comes in new form of brand communication: In film placement that works seamlessly with other form of communication methods to achieve success.

Brand placement is practice of including a brand name, product, sign or trademark merchandise within a movie to increase the brand recall or for instant recognition at the point of purchase. It can be implicit or explicit in movie depending on marketers’ requirements and scene in which it is placed. It can be used to launch a new product (Swift Car in Bunty and Babli), demonstrate a long tradition of a brand (Indian Post) or to reinforce the brand image or its positioning in market (Allen Solly in Corporate). It can also be used to showcase the product’s superiority over the competitor (BMW over Mercedes Benz in Tomorrow Never Dies).

Reasons for Success
Advertisements have been the most popular of all the means of brand communication. With increasingly competitive market, people have been surrounded with an excess of advertisement messages, be it while watching TV, struck in a traffic jam or even while travelling by airlines or metro. This has resulted in reduction in their effectiveness. With increasing number of advertisements day by day it is getting extremely difficult for the companies to create a differentiation in their advertisements, impacting the brand recall in a negative manner.
This can be supported by the facts that there has been a significant increase of 18% in off screen advertisements. With conventional advertisements being intrusive, they lose the attention of the audience against the expectation of the marketers. At some point, the customers get tired with them and even annoyed. Thus, there is a need to have a form of communication that is not obtrusive and has high brand recall.

Second reason that the effectiveness of the advertisements is wearing is the use of technology that allows the customer to skip the advertisements while watching TV. It is a common practice to switch over the channel or mute the television when advertisements crop up during a program or a cricket match. In a study conducted by a Media Planning Group indicate that 90% of people with DVRs skip commercials in recorded programming—and just 16% watch the ads when viewing live TV, rather than doing something else or channel hopping.

The 2007 advertisement spending outlook released by the Centre for Media Research indicates that there will be a slight decrease in advertising spending share for conventional media including TV, newspapers and radio. Also there has been a trend for increase in shares of cinema and internet. The figure below depicts the findings.

Advantages of In Film Brand Placement
As compared to conventional 30 second advertisements, in film placements are less intrusive as they are part of a storyline and integrated with the film. It becomes a realistic stage where the marketers get a chance to show the brand value in the plot of the story itself. This tends to be more acceptable to the customers unless it is highly out of place.
he association of brand and movie celebrities is very old. The effectiveness of communication increases when celebrity endorses a product, as people have tendency to imitate those whom they adore. With help of in film placements, the brand gets to be associated with the movie stars.

This is minus the huge endorsement fee that the company pays to a celebrity to be its ambassador. Example can be of Tata Indicom which willingly gave Rs. 2 Crore to be associated with Rajnikanth blockbuster, Chandramukhi. Had it roped in Rajnikanth to be its ambassador, it definitely would have paid a lot more.

The cost of in film placement is two to three times cheaper than the normal advertisement. It can cost anywhere between Rs 5 Lakh and Rs 50 Lakh, depending upon the level and length of integration of the brand in the movie, production banner and actor endorsement. Thus, marketers are now trying to weave brand personalities more tightly with the brand themes.
The in film placements is a better way for the advertisers to showcase the core value of brand. The usage and the attributes of the product are shown in a more effective way as there are integrated in the storyline itself. Advertisers take advantage of the storyline and the characters in the film to demonstrate what brand stands for. Be it Castrol in Chalte Chalte or Motorola in Delhi 6, Louis Vuitton in Sex and the City or Omega Watches in James Bond movies.

Another advantage is that in theatre audience are glued to their seats and thus, cannot switch over the channel. Also as these are not obtrusive, higher brand recall can be expected. Marketers get a chance to specifically target the market. Each film caters to different audience and if marketers place their brands keeping this in mind, the brand can enjoy a higher ROI.
A movie caters to a far wider audience than the traditional advertisements. A movie is not only played in theatres but is also broadcasted on TV a number of times in future. A movie can be watched in-flight; it can be watched on a VCD or DVD. Before movie is released, the brand gets placed in the promos of movie. The advertisers show the part reels of the movie instead of normal advertising campaigns. Goodyear in Tara Rum Pum Pum can be good example, where it showed the film promos as part of its normal advertisements.

Such show reels fall under the entertainment ad category as opposed to the 'commercial' category that traditional ads fall into. Thus, marketers eventually end up paying four to five times less to promote their brand. They are beginning to leverage on films through marketing tie-ups. Thus, it provides multiple windows and becomes a good medium to place a brand on.
Apart from giving advantages to advertisers, it reaps benefits for producers as well. It helps them recover their film budget to a certain extent. For example Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion recovered approximately 40% of its budget within film advertising. It had likes of Kimaya, Cellucom, Sunsilk, Lenovo, Reebok and LG among others. Thus the producers are also roping in multiple brands to advertise in their films. Sex and the City had more than 90 placements integrated in the movie (Louis Vuitton, Manolo Blahnik, Guess etc).

Considerations to Successful In Film Brand Placement
Though in film placements are gathering interest from both advertisers and producers alike, it is also important that the product meshes well with script and plot of the film. If this aspect is not taken care of and the product does not have any connection with the narrative, the result can be catastrophic, that cannot be reversed. The placement should seem to be natural to plot and not contrived or forced. Example of wrong placement can be of Coke in Yaadein; where Jackie Shroff would start singing a song with Coke in his hand.

Brand should get its due diligence and should not be used in a movie as a prop. The customers should be able to identify with the brand. Omega watches in middle class family would not have much impact and would lead to dilution of brand. A good synergy is necessary between brand and the movie. For example BMW in the movie Tomorrow Never Dies acts as one of the James Bond’s intelligent weapons to fight against the enemies. The BMW brand's spirit, of appearing as driving-oriented, powerful, and sophisticatedly equipped, is thoroughly conveyed by the charm of James Bond and the plot showing Bond defeating his enemy in an ingenious way. It also portrayed the superiority of BMW over its rival Mercedes Benz. Thus, a right balance needs to be struck to be glamorous and yet get a value for money proposition.

The success of an in film placement lies heavily on the success of the film which is highly unpredictable itself. Marketers need to pay attention to the high risk high return factor in terms of cost and the impact. Attention needs to be given to production house, star cast of the movie and right fit for their brand personality. The release date, approximate budget of the movie, the professionalism involved in the film (to prevent change of script at eleventh hour, delay in release etc) and the possibilities of brand association through promotions are some basic factors that need to be considered.

The time taken to complete a film, from the time to brand getting incorporated in the script, to it being featured in the film and the film being released gets stretched to more than a year. With brands competing in such a competitive environment, it is a possibility that brands have changed their entire positioning. Thus, this constraint is one that needs to be looked into.
Agencies need to do their part well when placing a product in the film. It is the agency, responsible for the placement to analyze the content of the film and its brief storyline and then to decide upon its potential viewer group or target audience, shortlist the brands that would appeal to their target audience, and make a comprehensive marketing plan for promotions during the various stages of a film's release.

Hindi films are made on a few stereotyped storylines. Therefore, associating brands in the right context into the film becomes difficult. So till Hindi movies evolve, there will be limited number of genres and the brands will have to be centred around these genres only. The producers still have not taken this form as advertising as a revenue stream. As a result, embedded advertising still has lot of growth prospects.

The Way forward
This association of films and brands are here to stay and grow even stronger. This relationship can be a win-win solution to both advertisers and film makers. The brands across various categories from garments to cars to jewellery to banks to news channels (Aaj Tak), are approaching agencies specialized in doing this job of in film placements, as it is a great way to connect with the consumer and its environment.

Advertising agencies are culling out separate arms to offer marketing solutions for the flicks. Leo Entertainment, the entertainment marketing arm of Leo Burnett, was the first to go that way. But its first-mover advantage was short-lived as a rash of ad agencies moved in shortly for the same killing. Lintas and Rediffusion Y&R followed with Lintertainment and Showdiff Worldwide respectively, Madison Communications conjured up MATES, O&M launched Ogilvy Live and Percept Group drew out P9 from its filmy hat.

This shows the in-film placement craze among both producers and advertising pros reaching a new crescendo. But marketers need to give careful consideration before fitting their prized brand into just any movie. There's a thin line between 'classy blending in' and 'unacceptable in-your face' kind of placements. Getting the balance right is critical and seamless integration is a very tight challenge. Though Hollywood has perfected art of it, Bollywood still has a long way to go.
Films are now becoming brands by themselves. When big films are thought of as a brand, co-marketing, merchandising, special edition products, whole new opportunities come up. Marketers are seizing many of these and are looking for more. It is after all about great ideas and brilliant execution and they have new partners in today's film-makers.

In summary, in film placement is playing an important role in the current business of marketing communication and is predicted to become even more valuable to marketers. In today's customer-centric market place, the basic rule of brand placement is to be plot-oriented and integrated seamlessly into the content of the program. Only then will brand placement be widely accepted and distinguish itself from traditional marketing communication approaches.