First things fi
rst! Those who believe that the Indian marketer may not be as excited as his global counterpart over the potential that social networking brings to his table, needs to take a cold shower. Internet penetration may be absymal, but popularity of social networking portals among the youth is prompting companies to log in and gain not just crucial consumer insights, but also understand what their employees are either cribbing or going ga-ga about and even to track competition. The numbers are also promising. India Online Report tags the Internet population in the nation at over 49 million, with nearly 77% of them in the 15-34 age group. From aviation czar Jet Airways to desi food giant Nirula’s to youth channel MTV to even FMCG giants like HUL, marketers across the board are climbing the online bus, buzzing with the social marketing fever...
Even before maverick entrepreneur Richard Branson decided to fling himself down from the roof of a 5-Star Hotel in Mumbai earlier this year to announce the launch of Virgin Mobile in India, his Chief Marketing Officer, Prasad Narasimhan had plunged into the social networking galaxy. His raison de`tere? To get a grip on the tastes and preferences of young Indian consumers! Virgin’s Think Hatke tagline was an obvious result. Not so obvious however is the manner in which Narasimhan and his team have been engaging their target audiences on portals like Twitter, Orkut and Facebook ever since. Conversations, contests and communities on these portals are just a few among the many ways that the iconic brand is building the resonance around its brand. “We’ve created over 10 different communities on Orkut with over 5,000 registered members. Twitter even has a Think Hatke ID,” he avers enthusiastically. With thousands of youngsters already in their bag within just seven months of their launch, small wonder that Prasad is now busy signing on the dotted line with a social networking site (he’s not disclosing the name yet) for a pilot ad campaign aimed not only at consumer engagement but also to jump start sales (e-commerce) via their website.
Virgin’s social networking mantra may have been a pre-thought strategy, but Ashish Patel, GM, MTV, was prompted by viewers for putting their popular show MTV Roadies on Orkut. MTV already had a large online community on Orkut, where the editorial team often checked in to see what kids were thinking and saying, for feedback. “We found that some members were running their own online version of Roadies, nominating, voting, doing tasks, eliminating each other. We found it flattering. So we decided to scale up the action and do it as a full fledged promotion online in the form of Roadies Battleground,” he explains. Patel claims to have received “mind blowing” responses for the initiative, with over 100,000 youngsters (their target audience) participating in this online version of Roadies. “We had the kind of entries, tasks conducted that will blow your mind,” he claims, adding that for the final task, the site had the finalists putting cow dung on their faces and getting people to kiss them. “The winner managed to get 862 kisses in 8 hours,” he gushes, saying that some of the stuff was so good that it actually went up on air on MTV.
The excitement among marketers in India is not unwarranted. Online social networks are offering brands ways to enter the psyche of swathes of consumers like never before; and that too at a fraction of the cost required by traditional media. And the audience is more urban, more influential and more amenable to new brand messaging. Asserts Kalyan Manyam, Head-Operations, Indyarocks.com (a nascent online social network), “Many gaming and movie companies have already started to leverage the trend and are building mini communities for them within our platform.”
As for those who believe that audience on social networks don’t really tune into brand messages and are there simply to connect with friends, lovers and acquaintances; well, the same holds true for the TV audience, who pick up the remote for sheer infotainment and little else. Only thing that unlike traditional media, in social networks, marketers don’t just rely just on banner advertising and moonlighting on profile pages. They can think of and implement innovative ways to engage with consumers. Adds Amit Chhabra, Manager - Strategic Partnerships, Tyroo Media: “Even Tata Indica’s recent campaign on Facebook and MySpace became very popular, with the winner being awarded his very own Tata Indica.”
rst! Those who believe that the Indian marketer may not be as excited as his global counterpart over the potential that social networking brings to his table, needs to take a cold shower. Internet penetration may be absymal, but popularity of social networking portals among the youth is prompting companies to log in and gain not just crucial consumer insights, but also understand what their employees are either cribbing or going ga-ga about and even to track competition. The numbers are also promising. India Online Report tags the Internet population in the nation at over 49 million, with nearly 77% of them in the 15-34 age group. From aviation czar Jet Airways to desi food giant Nirula’s to youth channel MTV to even FMCG giants like HUL, marketers across the board are climbing the online bus, buzzing with the social marketing fever...Even before maverick entrepreneur Richard Branson decided to fling himself down from the roof of a 5-Star Hotel in Mumbai earlier this year to announce the launch of Virgin Mobile in India, his Chief Marketing Officer, Prasad Narasimhan had plunged into the social networking galaxy. His raison de`tere? To get a grip on the tastes and preferences of young Indian consumers! Virgin’s Think Hatke tagline was an obvious result. Not so obvious however is the manner in which Narasimhan and his team have been engaging their target audiences on portals like Twitter, Orkut and Facebook ever since. Conversations, contests and communities on these portals are just a few among the many ways that the iconic brand is building the resonance around its brand. “We’ve created over 10 different communities on Orkut with over 5,000 registered members. Twitter even has a Think Hatke ID,” he avers enthusiastically. With thousands of youngsters already in their bag within just seven months of their launch, small wonder that Prasad is now busy signing on the dotted line with a social networking site (he’s not disclosing the name yet) for a pilot ad campaign aimed not only at consumer engagement but also to jump start sales (e-commerce) via their website.
Virgin’s social networking mantra may have been a pre-thought strategy, but Ashish Patel, GM, MTV, was prompted by viewers for putting their popular show MTV Roadies on Orkut. MTV already had a large online community on Orkut, where the editorial team often checked in to see what kids were thinking and saying, for feedback. “We found that some members were running their own online version of Roadies, nominating, voting, doing tasks, eliminating each other. We found it flattering. So we decided to scale up the action and do it as a full fledged promotion online in the form of Roadies Battleground,” he explains. Patel claims to have received “mind blowing” responses for the initiative, with over 100,000 youngsters (their target audience) participating in this online version of Roadies. “We had the kind of entries, tasks conducted that will blow your mind,” he claims, adding that for the final task, the site had the finalists putting cow dung on their faces and getting people to kiss them. “The winner managed to get 862 kisses in 8 hours,” he gushes, saying that some of the stuff was so good that it actually went up on air on MTV.
The excitement among marketers in India is not unwarranted. Online social networks are offering brands ways to enter the psyche of swathes of consumers like never before; and that too at a fraction of the cost required by traditional media. And the audience is more urban, more influential and more amenable to new brand messaging. Asserts Kalyan Manyam, Head-Operations, Indyarocks.com (a nascent online social network), “Many gaming and movie companies have already started to leverage the trend and are building mini communities for them within our platform.”
As for those who believe that audience on social networks don’t really tune into brand messages and are there simply to connect with friends, lovers and acquaintances; well, the same holds true for the TV audience, who pick up the remote for sheer infotainment and little else. Only thing that unlike traditional media, in social networks, marketers don’t just rely just on banner advertising and moonlighting on profile pages. They can think of and implement innovative ways to engage with consumers. Adds Amit Chhabra, Manager - Strategic Partnerships, Tyroo Media: “Even Tata Indica’s recent campaign on Facebook and MySpace became very popular, with the winner being awarded his very own Tata Indica.”
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