 "Nandini Dias")
The new processes have to focus on the moments that matter, reach the audiences that matter, through the actions that matter, Nandini Dias tells Ritwik Sharma
What are the broad changes in media planning that you have experienced in recent years and what are the main challenges emerging from them?
For a long time, planning was about targeting and segmenting the mass audience and addressing through the right medium. Then the world changed and the boundaries between mediums got blurred. The mass gave way to the individual. The screen is now smarter, mobile, and even interactive. The medium evolved to the moment, largely controlled by individual consumers. As a result, the best practices of today are considerably different from five years ago. The new process has to focus on the moments that matter, reach the audiences that matter, through the actions that matter. The moments that matter have moved from link tests, quantitative questionnaires and qualitative mind and moods to listening centres or social command centres. We have stopped being overwhelmed by technology/digital to managing the data. To reach audiences that matter we now map over 60 touchpoints and move with speed, fluidly ensuring impact. It's about building connection and communication and not just advertising.
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They have to. It is not a choice anymore. Availability of data and a window to the individual through personalisation has changed the way brands need to connect with their consumers, which is changing media planning-buying methodologies. It is evolving new currencies and, therefore, media professionals need to embrace new skill sets and evolve their thinking process to keep in line with this change. Now we need to be trained almost in a sustained manner. But training methodologies have also evolved. While we do have a weekly one-hour classroom training session and a day-long session once in every 45 days, I believe it's still not enough. So we have tied up with various online courses like Lynda.com and encourage employees to take up these courses. It keeps them motivated and also makes them stay relevant with the changing times.
You have pointed out earlier in an interview that managing talent by placing the right people in the right position has been one of your key strategies. Does it become imperative because of the diversification of media planning services?
All managers need to be able to recognise the strengths of their team members. And then use the collective ability of the team for a better output and outcome. The general expectation is that the team builds on each other's strengths and collectively they are a strong force to reckon with. And this is true not only for media planning skills but also for soft skills. We in fact engage through various training tools with our team members and assign them individual projects and then team projects. Through this simulation process we make them realise the benefits of working together and how they can leverage each other's strengths.
With the growth of digital media and readily available data, the process of identifying the target audience has become more accessible. Does it render traditional methods redundant?
The quality and diversity of data from different sources have made it possible to move from mass segmentation to personalisation. The traditional method of segmenting were based more on demographic parameters with psychographic and attitude qualifiers. Now we have additional layers including brand ownership, usage patterns, passion following and behaviour pattern. The increase in data points has evolved the tools and techniques, data analytics method, and the visualisation of data.
Has there been any marked change in client preferences regarding advertising spends with the emergence of new platforms post-Internet?
Digital is a reality. No client in India is asking "why digital"? They are now asking "how" and "how much" because digital is purely RoI (returns on investment)-driven. At the heart of media planning and buying is strategy and therefore what combination of media should be used by the client depends on the strategy and the business needs.
Yes, a number of clients now ask for geo-targeting through online. But market preference is driven by the sales and marketing team at the client's end, who work on empirical data. We then recommend the client on the media strategy based on this empirical data. So to deliver a successful media plan there has to be a perfect marriage between the sales and the marketing team and the media agency.
