IN LINE WITH ONLINE

By M H Ahssan

Mobile and Internet advertising firms discover small businesses for growth

While it is still recession for most advertisers and agencies are trying hard to cut costs, those dealing with digital advertising have a reason to smile. Digital advertising is the next big thing as it is measurable, focused, and cost effective, a great combination for micro small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to cash in on. Aashish Solanki, founder of Bangalore-based Net Bramha Studio is one of the companies, which does digital advertising for SMEs and builds their online presence from scratch.

"We work for small companies like Game Kraver, My Piction and Nemo Solutions, helping position them and conducting viral marketing campaigns. It helps them get better RoI," says Solanki. Harsha J is grateful to the downturn. As advertising budgets come under intense scrutiny in a depressed market, his Bangalore-based web marketing firm Adventure is making the best of the situation, convincing his clients to increase their online and mobile spends. Adventure designs web-based marketing material such as emailers and websites, along with developing and running Google AdWords campaigns for its clients.

"Almost two-thirds of our clients are thinking differently now. Earlier the focus was more on conventional mass media but they gradually realised that online and mobile advertising could be effective and measurable modes to reach their desired target group. We have seen a growth of at least 10-15% over the last couple of months," he says. It's not hard to see why. Compared to television, print, radio and even out-of-home advertising, Internet and mobilebased communication is more easily measurable and interactive. And while the share of such media in overall budgets is still small, it's growing significantly.

Recently Lintas Media Group and Pinstorm organized a panel discussion called 'Is pay-for-performance advertising the answer?' where the members were of the opinion that online advertising is a boon to the SME sector. The main reason for this view is the lower cost of advertising and the wider reach that it offers.

Digital marketing firm Pinstorm estimates that the mobile advertising industry including WAP and SMS has grown from Rs 20 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 50 crore in 2008-09. And while the digital advertising industry has not observed a dip, its current rate of growth at 24% is slower than the anticipated 35%. According to Mahesh Murthy of Pinstorm, "the share of online advertising for small Indian companies is 25% and is growing at 10% year-on-year."

Accountability is one of the biggest draws of such tech-based media. "Today every advertiser wants to know where each dollar is being spent and the result of it. In a recessionary time, advertisers move money to more measurable mediums," says Naveen Tewari, CEO of mKhoj, a mobile advertising firm started two years year ago. "We have grown 10 times in the last six months and expanded to 25 countries."

"Around 70-80% of a brand's audience can be reached on the Internet and hence it is up to advertisers, agencies and publishers to churn out innovative ways to address the users effectively. Only then we can hope that the medium can grow faster," agrees Rahul J Jethva, CEO of Spring Communications. "There's a 30-35% cost saving in advertising online compared to advertising in print," says Subhash Lal of Thinkingdesign, a Delhi-based startup. Launched five months ago by Lal, an NID graduate, the firm provides brand identity, language and strategy services to clients in the fashion, home decor and jewellery businesses.

"The downturn forced three or four really good clients to put their plans on hold; others, started insisting on web advertisements instead of print to save on costs," Lal says. "Even 3G is round the corner, which would increase activity in this space. With the mobile handset functioning almost like a computer and more user friendly applications available, advertisers see an opportunity for their brands here," says Prathap Suthan, NCD, Cheil Communications.

According to Vinod Thadani, regional head, mobile, Group M, South Asia, "The reach and engagement of mobile is an important factor for this medium. Initially it was used more by the finance and travel companies but in 2008 other sectors like lifestyle, apparels and FMCG also joined in. At least 10-15% of digital ad budgets are now planned for the mobile medium," says Thadani.

Suresh Narasimha, co-founder of TeliBrahma, a provider of Bluetooth-based communication service, says the penetration of Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones is increasing. He says acceptance of Bluetooth advertising is 10-15% in retail locations, 30-40% in hangout places and more than 60% in events. "There is more value in digital media, and brands can benefit if they can integrate planning and measurement," he says. The company itself does a lot of online advertising for its own brand.

Online advertising is also fast catching up among the biggies. Samsung's director marketing for South-West Asia YY Kim who's sold on the benefits of this new age medium says: "Online advertising works very well for our technology-based products like Mp3 players, notebook PCs, mobile phones, LCD and Plasma TVs. Our online campaign for notebook PCs in November 2008 was a success. It doubled visitor traffic to one lakh in the following month," he says. Currently, online advertising is 1% of Samsung's ad spend in India and is likely to grow to 2% this year.