 We have with us none other than Mr. M.A. Parthasarthi, as we fondly call him, MAPS, who's a CEO of Mindshare South Asia, and he's joining us to talk about data-driven content and marketing. Now, he's the chief executive officer of Mindshare South Asia, and in his role, he leads a skilled team of media, content, data, and technology professionals in Mindshare across the Indian and the South Asian markets. In fact, he's also been with GroupM since 2009 and began as a partner of business planning at GroupM South Asia, and then he then went on to become the leader of business planning at Mindshare South Asia, followed by chief client officer at Mindshare India and chief product officer of Mindshare South Asia, respectively. So, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to map out another set of insightful session for all of you, and we have with us none other than Mr. M.A. Parthasarthi. So, let's have a huge round of applause to welcome our next keynote speaker, Mr. M.A. Parthasarthi. I'm truly amazed to see all of you staying back here for this session. You know, it took me a couple of hours to get here from Worley, and every single alley which I walked into or which we drove into was flooded, and you had to backtrack and find another road, and that's when I thought, you know, the kind of data which Google must be using to map out our route today must be truly astounding. So, data-driven content and marketing, I think it's almost a cliche subject. Do I have a clicker somewhere here? This one? Thank you so much. So, I think everyone's talking data, everyone's talking data-driven content. So, I thought, let's just simplify it to the absolute core of it, right? Every single task which we perform, am I too loud, am I audible? Is that all good? Yeah, thanks. So, every single task which we try and perform from a marketing standpoint, or when it comes to content creation, is the answer to these three questions of what is it that we are trying to do? Or what content are we trying to create? How are we trying to do it? And you know, and when is the right time to actually do that and put it out there? Now, what's happened is that data has transformed the way that we look and answer these three questions. But is this something very new? I actually believe it's as old as the hills. You know, how data has played a role in answering what, how, and when. And if you look at every form of mythology, whether it's Greek, Roman, or Indian mythology, it's all about how data answered these three questions. Let me give you an example. I think you would know who this is, right? This is the Narasimha avatar of Lord Vishnu. And why have I put that there? You know, for some of you who know the story, this man, the demon Hiranyakasipu had got some amazing boon from the lords which said that he cannot be killed on the ground or in the air. He could not be killed at day or at night. He could not be killed by a man or by a beast. He could not be killed by any weapon which has been created by a human being. And he could not be killed either inside or outside. So it sounds like a typical marketing problem, right? I mean, all the constraints of marketing. So what did the god do? The first is what format did he come in? He came in a format which was half man and half animal. And then it comes to how did he actually go about his task, right? He went about his task by actually placing the demon on his lap, which was neither on the ground nor on the sky. He then used his claws, which is not a weapon known by man, and all of that. And finally, when did he do it? He did it at twilight, which was neither day nor night. I mean, this is finding a solution to an extremely intricate challenge or a problem through purely by the clear knowledge of the data which went behind that. And I think, I found this fascinating because I think this is what we really believe in terms of leveraging of data. So we spoke about what, how, and when. But I think the biggest question which most people tend to overlook is why. You know, we're all rushing out there to say, okay, what is this piece of content which we want to create, right? And how do we go about and create it? But I think the most important thing which a lot of people fail to do is to take that one step back and say, why are we doing this marketing activity? Why are we trying to create this piece of content? You know, what is the specific task that I'm trying to accomplish or challenge I'm trying to overcome? Which stage of that marketing funnel am I trying to address by this piece of content or by this marketing activity? Is it to increase awareness? Is it to change perception about my brand? Is it about creating new occasions for consumption of my brand? Or finally, is it just about rewarding those customers who are really loyal to me by giving them a little bit extra? And I think data plays a huge part in answering the why question even before you get to the other three questions. Because whether it's panel data which tells you whether your consumption is dropping in market A versus market B, or social kind of mapping which actually goes and tells you, you know, what is that perceptual gap? What is that niggling doubt in the consumer's mind when it comes to my brand? Or when it comes to, you know, hardcore attribution analytics which gives cause and effect through the entire marketing chain using real time kind of data which comes off your digital platforms. And all of this data is critical in addressing the why am I doing this? Why am I even trying to create this piece of content? So having answered the why and hopefully set the right KPIs when it comes to whatever content it is that we are trying to create, I think we come into the what. Now, I think there's so many options on what kind of content can be made, right? And I think before we even get into the what, the other step back question to my mind is who? You know, who is it that I'm trying to actually create this piece of content for? And do I really know that person? Do I really know that every need want desire behavior? And I think that's where, again, data plays a really critical role and I've just captured a slide here from one of the tools which we use here which tries to create this kind of pen portrait of this one consumer and it tries to do that by looking at behavior of the consumer in the online space, the technographics, what kind of devices they use, the psychographics and it uses a whole host of first party, second party and third party data to arrive at that real pen portrait and say, okay, what is it that actually makes this consumer tick? What are his real desires? And then we try and decide what content or what marketing activity to do to actually address this consumer. And when we're able to really do that, I think there are some exciting options that come out in content because as we know content can be video and within video you've got short format, long format. It could be visual which today is anything from a GIF to a static image to an infographic to voice and voice, I mean, what a variety, right? On one hand you have really the enhanced voice bots and chat assistants and on the other hand for 70% of India it's still outbound dialing which is how you use content, right? So content has this entire plethora and what I want to do is quickly share one example of how really a knowledge of a consumer and their passion points helps create content. One minute video, but I think all of this is really how you leverage content. So we spoke about the what. I think the next question is the how, right? I mean, how do I decide whether I choose this particular person or this channel or this influencer or this content creator to create this piece of content for me? How do I really know what is it that people are watching and what is it that people are consuming and once again data to the rescue? Here's an example of something which we had created which we have created in MindShare. Using technology and real time data for a host of categories and what I have here as an example is for food and recipe categories. We follow all major platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram and understand who are the top content creators in real time and this is a tool which we use. So here you can see as things stand today what is the kind of top social profiles in food and recipe genres in India and then what is the kind of video stats? What kind of videos are trending for what consumer cohort? And as you can see out there up there you'll see that I can choose age, I can choose gender, I can choose a whole host of data points from what you see on the menu on the left and on the top to actually try and say what is the video cloud which is trending right now when it comes to food and recipes? And like this we've got this data for about 25 categories which helps us understand if I want to really talk to people who are interested in food and recipes for a brand of mine which is into food and recipes how do I architect that content and how do I do something really meaningful with that? So we spoke about why, we spoke about what, we spoke about the how. I think the most kind of popular part of content is about the when. You know today moment marketing is no longer the exception, it's no longer the surprise or delight, it's become the norm right? Whether it's your typical and everything is a special day. I think all of you know what I'm talking about. Earlier it was Diwali and it was World Cup Finals and it was things like that which was special days. Now that's translated to Mother's Day, Earth Day, call it any day and brands want to be there and juice that moment to the max. They want to make sure that they are creating the content that most resonates and uses that opportunity. And then you have the fluid moments, I mean these are fixed moments then you have a host of fluid moments which is maybe an underdog winning a match and then every brand kind of piles on there to try and see am I the first brand to leverage this moment in pop culture, right? I think the question to ask is, is this actually outcome oriented marketing or is it chance pedants? Very often in my mind it looks like chance pedants and does that actually do anything for your brand and translate to outcomes? So I think once again data to the rescue, it's about trying to identify which are those data signals which are the most important for a brand to really align with and more importantly, do I really know my brand and I say that this is a data signal which I think is right for my brand to be associated with given the core of my brand and what I stand for or is this just a data signal I should ignore? Sure it's a moment in pop culture, sure it's something which is, everyone's talking about it and there's a lot of buzz but if it's not me, then I don't want to have anything to do with it and I think the example which I want to show here is about how a brand really identified something which was inherently critical to the soul of the brand and a moment in culture which is really worth leveraging. Play the video please. 22 years ago, two fierce rival countries tried to knock each other out of the world count. The tempers soared as India-Pakistan collided on the cricket field. But one battle stood out. Amir Sohail and Venkatesh Prasad etched their names in the history of cricket in just two deliveries. Even today, fans recite how Sohail smashed one to the boundary and won Prasad. The bowler retaliated by knocking his pop stump and directing him to the pavilion. 22 years later, the Brookborn Red Label thought it was time to bury the hatchet. On 19th September 2018, the stage was set once again. The adrenaline was pumping and blood rushing. India-Pakistan were to meet in the Asia Cup. We took this opportunity to not only get them together but also bring two countries closer over a different cup. It was the very first time on television by Brookborn Red Label Swad Apnepanka, Amir Sohail and Venkatesh Prasad. Javed actually taught us over the years when a bowler is troubling you just... A little bit. A little bit so that he can focus on it. But how beautiful is it that you've come back together over a cup of tea? How has that meeting been? Sweet. We initiated an epic reunion with Starsports. Before the game, the two stalwarts sat down for a live chat. We previously teased the audiences while Starsports promoted this via social media. The two former rivals sit on Brookborn's Red Label tea while reliving the incident. What followed was epic. Massive waves of conversations hit the campaign. It ensured talkability and high decibels of it. The entire cricketing fraternity shared and opined about the magic reunion while news channels and publications picked up the story organically. No matter how intense the rivalry, the campaign showed that common ground is just a cup of Brookborn tea away. A nice way of leveraging a moment in culture which is so intrinsic to the soul of the brand and not just an opportunistic attempt. So in summary, and I promise to keep this short so I kept it really short, we spoke about the why, the how, the what and the when and how the right answers to these questions powered by the right use of data can really make the difference in terms of creating evocative content and evocative marketing activities for brands. What has changed is technology and the way technology has transformed the way we can answer these four questions and the way we can actually architect campaigns is what has really evolved in the last couple of years. And what I want to do is leave us with just one example of how technology, when it really comes into the fore, how it can take all these and give solutions which are so personalized, so customized and so relevant. The last video, please. PepsiCo wanted to connect its brand to specific meal moments in Thailand across multiple audience groups, locations and times in a programmatic campaign. To do this, we had to create a marketing strategy with 7,056 targeting and creative combinations covering 14 regions, 63 snacking moments per week, two audience segments and across both desktop and mobile in a world where nobody could manage more than 40. Human limitations when interfacing with DSP and DCO systems mean you cannot make this many inputs by hand. To address this challenge, MindShare, together with YouGov, AppNexus and Givox, developed a world-first AI solution called ANA. ANA uses a bespoke AI to construct an integrated media and creative algorithm that powers the operations of DSP and DCO platforms. This allows ANA to manage complexity beyond regular human capabilities. Once in flight, MindShare's fast team made previously unreachable volumes of data-driven AI optimizations. Using a high-definition media plan with over 7,000 line items and a high-definition dynamic creative insight dashboard resulting in over 3,000 optimizations, a 150-times increase in decisions made, all updating in real-time. Sounds like wizardry, but I think it is the art of the possible today. And this is what happens when dynamic creative combinations powered by dynamic kind of audience segments in real-time can create content that's truly personalized and really unique and can address so many different specific unique consumer needs. So if we are able to answer those four questions, I think the end result is customer delight and the end result is the ability to serve up diverse, personalized and relevant kind of content messaging to consumers, which really makes the difference for brands in the marketplace. Thank you so much.