 "Subbaraju Alluri")
Singapore has emerged not only as the regional hub for MNCs but its ad industry is also servicing accounts from India and China. Grey Singapore's CEO Subbaraju Alluri, popularly known as Raju, tells Digbijay Mishra that the brain drain from Indian advertising to Singapore has made a positive impact. Clients spend more on digital in Singapore than in India, he says. Edited excerpts:
People have pointed out a brain drain of Indian advertisers to Southeast Asia. What has been the impact?
I would say it has been mostly positive; we have young professionals with an abundance of experience and knowledge and that works to our advantage. In a creative industry, we are always in search of diversity of ideas, with diversity comes opportunity and strength.
Do Singapore agencies get to work on international mandates?
Yes, there are a number of global accounts being serviced from Singapore, not only at Grey, but other agencies as well.
How does the Singapore ad industry differentiate itself from other Asian countries? Is there a unique selling proposition?
Singapore is different from other countries in the region. Not only does it make sense as a regional hub, we have the infrastructure that makes it easy to service accounts from China and India, all the way down to emerging Indonesia.
It is this accessibility combined with a very diverse talent pool that make Singapore a unique place to conduct business, as proved by some of the biggest MNCs moving their regional headquarters to Singapore. Not to mention the fact that in a recent study from the World Bank, Singapore was named the easiest country in the world in which to do business.
At what stage of evolution is the Singapore ad industry at, compared to India?
I would certainly say it is an evolved market, especially in digital, due to a very high Internet and mobile penetration. High smartphone usage makes it even more evolved.
How far ahead of India in the digital advertising curve is Singapore? Both in terms of strategy and implementation of campaigns and clients' willingness to spend more on the medium?
From a strategy or implementation point of view, both Singapore and India are very much on a par with each other. We have seen an increase in the number of clients willing to spend more on this medium in Singapore.
What is your mobile and Internet ads to traditional media ads ratio?
I would say about 30-40 per cent is spent on mobile and the Internet.
What is the cost difference from traditional medium?
There is no doubt online and mobile advertising are more cost-efficient than traditional mass market and niche media. They can be viewed by millions of people. Due to their targeting capabilities and the ability to track effectiveness in real-time, online and mobile advertising make it possible to make instant adjustments to campaigns, which is much cheaper than non-Internet advertising media. The starting cost can be a fraction of what traditional channels cost.
How are you expecting digital ad spends to grow in the next couple of years?
There is no doubt digital media is outperforming traditional media, the past five years have seen a tremendous boost in online advertising as more and more brands started allocating sizeable budgets for digital and less on traditional media. Most brands are spending between 25 and 35 per cent of their marketing budgets online. According to Nielsen's State of Media report, mobile and social media advertising are the fastest growing channels with a 69 and 70 per cent estimated budget increase from marketers.
