 Hello, this is Nilanjana Basu and today we have with us the Chief Strategy Officer of Group M South Asia, Mr. Parthasati and the country head of MMA India, Ms. Monica Khurana. So welcome both of you to the show and thank you for this opportunity. Group M and MMA have come up with a report which is called the Modern Marketers Guide for Transforming Today we are going to discuss that in detail and talk about the changing landscape of the marketing world. So my first question is for MAPS. So MAPS, could you tell us a little bit in terms of details of the Group M and MMA report and give us an understanding of what it is exactly? Yeah so the theme of this report is on transforming to thrive and what we are saying here is that there have been a period of tremendous uncertainty just when we thought we were out of the entire COVID debacle. There's been lots more uncertainty whether it's inflation, war and so on and so forth. And at the same time there have been lots of advancements as well whether it's in terms of technology, whether it's in terms of consumer behavior and so on. So the entire aim of this is to literally look at how companies and brands are looking to transform in order to not just survive but also thrive in this new age. Okay so Monica could you tell us what were the intentions and how this collaboration you know happened for this report? Absolutely, absolutely would love to. In fact it's one of our favorite projects of the year. We've been doing this for the last four years. We call it our annual marky report. The way it is you know positioned is it's called the Modern Marketing Recno which is an initiative by MMA and Group M right and what it typically does is it reflects the sentiments and the views of the industry for that given year and acts as a reminder of the key narrative we are collectively pursuing as a community okay which for this year happens to be transformed to thrive like MAP said and the reason why it's transformed to thrive because there have been a lot of macroeconomic factors which have really sort of forced the industry to really relook hard and transform at a very accelerated pace right so when we did the study you know there were three top factors which came out as the need to transform and to think you know very very out of the box to be able to thrive and those three like one of the factors MAPs mentioned was of course COVID second being the pace at which technology isn't evolving and third being the shift in the consumer mindset itself right so these three have been extremely important reasons why the need to transform the thrive as a narrative just lands perfectly right so that's the context to why this report and why the theme that we came up with right so we're just hoping that through this report we're able to help the industry upgrade their digital maturity right by picking up a lot of expert advice by really learning from a lot of early adopters who have done a great job of transforming at a rapid pace and have been able to thrive in a very very evolving environment right so that's essentially the context of the report and why we are doing it and we do believe that it can definitely be a very very you know a very rich handbook and a very useful you know toolkit for the industry to be able to consume to drive their transformational strategy for the year right all right thank you Monica the second question that I have which is more of an industry specific thing and I'm sure like a lot of brands and a lot of marketers would want to know this so as marketers like people have a lot of bundles to play with right so Monica this is something that I want you to answer first what do you think is the most important investment in marketing today like there are lots of scope but what do you think should be a very important investment okay I may sound a little unpredictable out here but my answer I will break into two parts the first part to answer what you said what is the most important bundle to invest into for marketers and I would say the marketers themselves so primarily it's the need for marketers to be to become full stack marketers right who are who are not only doing what a marketer does but who are able to drive performance using data and technology at the heart of it and yet build the brand and the reputation with with storytelling with design with cultural nuance and with of course better and evolve creative tools right so a it's important that we the the marketers themselves invest into becoming full stack marketers right and which is only going to be possible by the back of you know indulging in a lot of skilling in a lot of learning in a lot of thought leadership right because they are not really you know the cycle of a motorcycle as I would put it right they're really the engine that's driving it so therefore they have to be you know driving transformation very very very actively and quickly so that's one area and the second area which which we can't ignore is investing into data stacks right so when we say data stacks it's not investing literally only into collecting data but it's investing into the entire ecosystem of building a very very rock solid robust data driven strategy data driven business you know approach to business right be it data capabilities be it privacy solutions be it governance be it better ways of collecting and managing data or improving customer experience right so all of that would comprise data stacks which one which marketers do need to invest into as a bundle and not in silo and look at it as a long term you know investment right maps do you have a different stance on this no I think I agree wholeheartedly with what Monica has mentioned I think you know almost like a double click on the same thing I think there's one investment which is never given enough priority in my opinion and that's the investment into test and learn you know as we move into an era of more and more volatility right the only way for marketers to thrive will be to have a very strong test and learn process and a kind of a culture of test and learn and there is an investment required there's a financial investment as well which is required in that test and learn and it's about you know learning about consumer trying to learn about what works every aspect measuring each and every aspect and plowing back that learnings because very often we see even today that learnings are in the head of individuals and not institutionalized so part of the data stack which Monica spoke about is also about capturing all of this you know doing the analytics on it and making sure it's plowed back into every subsequent action right so do you want to talk a little bit about how you can manage manage the data that is out there because there's a lot of data and there is a lot of tech that is you know helping with that data so how do you manage to protect all of it and like you use it in the right way so Monica you want to go first and I can of course sure sure we could okay so your question is how do we use it in the right way so yes it's extremely crucial and we as a trade body totally sort of front end the narrative of enabling a very privacy safe approach of you know of using data and customer and consumer information for business growth right so of course there is a need to invest into a lot of privacy safe measures into privacy solutions which can which can keep customer data safe and which can keep the trust of the customer very high with the brand right the moment the trust drops you know the the entire you know relationship just sort of can you know kind of become sort of a break you know it can just break a relationship between the customer and the organization so to build the trust privacy solutions and privacy safe measures are extremely important one cannot procrastinate it and also organizations need to see it as a journey you know privacy safety privacy and safety is a journey and like we've been talking a lot about data maturity privacy maturity itself is a journey along with data maturity right it there is one track of really managing your data well getting your communication getting the targeted communication in place knowing which cohort to reach out to how to personalize but to do it in a privacy safe manner and to be to to continue growing in your maturity journey for towards privacy whether it is improving governance whether it is getting better compliance whether it is investing into solutions that can enhance privacy you know privacy as a you know as a key area is extremely important in fact there is some research which MME did on specifically privacy and and personalization so primarily how do you ensure that you are able to drive personalization by being responsible and privacy safe right and we've we've had you know insights from you know from from the marketers who have mentioned that 89% of them already have put together some policies and processes to be able to safeguard consumer data better 58% are already working at building very robust strategies to use you know 1p data effectively right however there are still gaps and there are still there's still a lot of room to improve when it comes to maturing in privacy and when it comes to doing more you know integrated communication with the data organizations have versus you know maybe just working on only the you know sort of nurturing the 1p data how do you sort of marry it with 2p data 3p data those are areas which still need to sort of come together to be able to really you know probably build something that I would call a better data symphony of sorts yeah I think I think I think Monica covered the entire gamut from the from the kind of governance standpoint and I think those are very important I think the only add-on I would do to that is from the consumer lens right I think I think the most important point is consent and you know in any form of data capture of the consumer it has to be with complete and transparent consent and we we work with a lot of clients you know in terms of helping them with data acquisition data enrichment data deployment and always the core principle is is one of consent the second is I think there always has to be a strong value exchange you know what is the consumer getting in exchange for what they are giving and I think that value exchange when it is when it's laid out in a very transparent manner very clear I think that also helps a lot and finally I think the third point is just because you can it doesn't mean you must and this is a philosophy which we follow very strongly collect only the data which is absolutely necessary which can actually add value back to the consumers while adding value back to the organization I think these are three principles which I think are very important yeah that is very important thank you so much and the next question is for maps so what kind of percentage ad spend growth have you seen from Indian companies in the last two years and what does the future look like for India as a market see I think I'll start off by giving a perspective of India as part of the globe you know India today is the eighth largest ad-x market in the globe and it was 10th not not too long ago and it's moved to the eighth position and more important than that it is by far the fastest growing ad-x market in the world our group M has the this year next year report which we publish every year and you know in 2023 the expected growth is around just ahead of 15% as per our February estimates obviously we keep calibrating it periodically and so on now last year as well it was about 15.7% when we look at 22 over 21 so it's extremely robust while the overall entire world is growing at perhaps half that's paid you know so I think that's the important point and the second point is even when you look forward into a period up to 2027 we are looking at a CAGR growth of anywhere in the region of 12 to 14% so this market is projected to continue to grow continue to grow ahead of global levels and also the other interesting thing is till date I mean if I look at 2023 it's the only market perhaps among the large markets where every form of media is growing you know digital TV print radio cinema out of home so I think those are positive indicators and that's how marketers are also kind of increasing their investments. So Monica the next question is for you so what kind of marketing trends do you think brands need to you know keep an eye out for the next you know rest of the year and the next year? Absolutely I think this is a totally a question which we you know kind of like to answer because you know as a body we are all about shaping the future of modern marketing and we do want to make sure that marketers are always you know future proofing their strategy and approach when it comes to you know marketing so you know we a while back was speaking about AI and when AI obviously has multiple use cases and they will only keep growing but when we talk about AI form marketing there are clearly you know some very strong trends which are emerging and which are also already showing immense success right so for example enabling AI powered personalization right that's a very big trend whether it is through communication through media through creative through influencer marketing but enabling AI powered personalization is a very key trend to a point where it's already for one of the global reports that MMA released some part of last quarter it's already shown that when you deploy AI powered personalization you would see a 25 increase in your customer retention and you would see a 20% growth in revenue so obviously it is a trend which is not just a good to have trend and a new shiny object but a trend which genuinely has a lot of business impact right so that's one second is even when you look at AI from a lens of influencer marketing there is a lot of you know experimentation happening on creating AI of stars and you know creating ways where you could use influencers and ambassadors multi-culturally multi-lingually and that also is a very very big trend right the third is that I wouldn't even actually call it a trend it's I would call it as oxygen for businesses and that's basically about having a driving data data first marketing where you're continuously finding ways of leveraging data whether it is your own data whether the second party data whether it's third party data or blended data but leveraging data effectively to drive marketing and growth right and lastly I would call out ONDC as one big emerging trend which MMA is also being championing and has actually launched the narrative at the beginning of this year at the beginning of this year where we actually put out a very very you know elaborate narrative on decoding ONDC and we will continue doing it at our upcoming initiatives which we are in the process of on unveiling which is our you know annual event impact which happens in Bombay and Delhi on in May and June where we will again represent a lot of understanding on ONDC where it's way beyond just a trend it's how the principles of unbundling and interoperability are really playing out in a very big way and enabling businesses to drive growth and businesses of all all shapes and sizes and all categories which one otherwise wouldn't imagine being a part of a commerce ecosystem right so these are the four big trends I would call out right so we talked a lot about AI and tech for that matter so this brings me to my last question and this is open to both of you what do you think is should be in the in the future the focus of market hours should it be creative or should we tech like which is the which is the big deal here right now so maybe maybe I'll have the first crack at that one because I think when you look at any of the trends whatever Monica has spoken about and there are a number of other trends as well which are which are very important and it's always a confluence of a change in consumer behavior and a change in technology you know and those two coming together is is what's going to happen I I will not even break things up into creative and media anymore I think you know it as well as I do that the the message and the medium are now inseparable but I think I think what is important is to leverage these trends in in the best manner possible you know and it goes back to my test and learn because you're never going to get it right the first time sorry Monica your your points is fabulous makes so much sense makes so much sense so no I think I only second what you said and the reality is you know if I have to simply put the same thing it's like you have to be where the consumer is right like a marketer didn't want ever think of advertising on social media platforms but then there was a huge huge mass critical mass there and one sort of just had to be there right same thing happened when tiktok came you know into the country same thing is happening now you know in different other ways where talk about even something like chat gpt right like today everybody the consumers are there so I'm sure marketers will find a way to seed content and connect with consumers in different organic ways with time right so it's just about following where the consumer goes so you got to adopt a medium where the consumer is going and where you are beginning to see critical mass making it worthwhile enough to make it a part of your marketing strategy and plan thank you so much maps and monica for your time and this has been a great chat absolutely thank you so much thank you thank you