NDTV New Media Congress debates on the status of Indian Online Marketing
Posted by dennisjohn on July 11, 2008
Indian markets are finally rolling on the wheels of Internet marketing. The fourth and the final session of NDTV New Media Congress brought about various discussions on Branding, Marketing and Advertising strategies.
The congress session was lead by esteemed panelists from the web world including Anurag Batra, Managing Director and Editor-in-chief, Exchange4media; Lloyd Mathias, Marketing Director, India and South West Asia, Motorola; Ravi Kiran, CEO, Starcom, South East and South Asia; Rohit Sharma, COO, Zapak Digital Entertainment; and Manish Vij, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer, Smile Interactive Technology Group.
The summit held by NDTV was very enlightening especially for the members of the Internet media industry. The panelists appealed to the merchants that online marketing has more potential than just acquiring leads.
Anurag Batra boldly pointed out that Display advertising works 2.5 times better than search marketing. While talking about the number of Internet users in India, it was stated that it’s not just about 4 per cent of the country’s population but about the 40 million influential people. The companies must build their brand here. It was also pointed out that companies spend crores of rupees on a single showroom but they don’t spend the same amount on their largest showroom- their website.
Lloyd Mathias of Motorola pointed that most marketers are not savvy enough to take the new media seriously. According to him, new media is still new; marketers are still from the analogue world, specialists have to accept the new trends and evolve in their work procedures, and consumers are still flirting with the medium but are not serious about it.
The congress concluded that the specialists have to educate themselves about the scope of Display advertising in India which is mis-conceived through out the nation, merchants spend all their budgets on other mediums whereas display advertising is the boon which can effectively establish their brand names.
