Rajib is a brand manager of local Bangladeshi conglomerate and looks after a portfolio of brands. In his annual marketing plan, as a young brand savvy professional, he is tempted to invest on Digital marketing to tap the vibrant & engaging social media.
However he struggles to convince his management on the justification of the expenditure.
As he submits the plan, he gets the following queries from his senior management –
- How do we justify our digital expenditure?
- Which media is important to your category context: traditional or digital?
- How much should we spend on digital?
- And how do you justify the ROI of digital expenditure?
Given that more than 60% of the population of Bangladesh fall under the youth segment and social media is driving the internet penetration in Bangladesh, Rajib has an inherent strong gut feeling to invest on Digital Marketing. However, he like his contemporary brand managers, needs the proper data which could be gathered through data monetization services backed justification to impress their management.
Hence, to answer the questions, Rajib turned to his research partners on the prospect of Digital in Bangladesh and here is what he found –
A. The first observation is the penetration of TV vs Internet in Bangladesh. When across all age groups the penetration between TV vs Internet is 82% vs 15% – the scenario changes when we compare nationwide TV vs Internet among youth segment (15 to 24 years) which is 87% vs 31%.
The above information might depict a picture which indicates TV exposure is significantly higher than internet.
However, the growth rate of Internet is 302% across all age groups nationwide and 357% among the youth group (15-24 years). When the growth rate of TV is only 11% among the youth.
B. Research indicates that by 2020, more than 60% of the population of the country will be using the digital platforms and more that 85% of all mobile phone users are going to have smartphones (the driving force of internet penetration). Therefore, the brands those are not building itself in the digital media arena are going to miss the bus to engage the growing number of smartphone users.
However, as per the feedback of key marketing professionals of Bangladesh, Digital spenders must keep in mind a few points –
- CREATIVE CHALLENGE IS ALWAYS THERE… WHAT EVER THE PLATFORM IS!
Remember Gangnum Style or recent internet sensation Despacito? They are the two most viral contents in the digital media worldwide which broke the language barriers. Creative challenge is always there and impact of good creative piece can result in large returns and engagement to the brand with digital media companies looking at how to capture their engagement.
- CONTEXTUALIZATION: THE MAGIC WAND OF ENGAGEMENT
When the United Airlines mishap happened in the USA, the competing airlines immediately launched communications on digital platform to address the most buzzing context at the time. Digital media gives this advantage to capture the moment and create contextualization faster than any other media.
- AMPLE TO DO WITH INNOVATION/ CREATIVITY
In US SuperBowl (one of the largest event in North America) automobile manufacturers spend millions of dollars on their communication. But Swedish automobile brand Volvo launched a Tweeter campaign called #MyVolvo and increased sales by 60% of their SUV brand just by hash tagging MyVolvo with competition content to its own communication. Thus Digital platforms enables smart innovation and never seen before campaigns.
- BRAND THINKING IS THE KEY!
Digital gives us enormous & quick power to take action and engage audiences. However, before taking any action careful thought is a must. Just recruiting a million consumers on a Facebook page for a campaign and not implementing appropriate follow ups will not give a good impression about the brand!
- GET READY FOR TWO WAY COMMUNICATION!
Digital platforms are interactive. Brands must be mature enough to tackle the criticism of consumers. Many back end details, like aligning product & service quality as well as inventory management, must be taken care of before jumping into digital.
- IT IS A COMPLETE JOURNEY… AND…IT IS INCOMPLETE UNLESS WE CAN MAKE THEM COME TO THE PLATFORM WHERE OUR PRODUCT REMAINS.
Last but not the least – digital expenditure is incomplete unless we can make them come to the platform where our product remains.
Author
Abdullah Tahir Chowdhury, is working as Account Director at Millward Brown Bangladesh.
He is reachable at: [email protected]
