 Thank you. Some high expectations being set. I hope we try to come closer to that Okay, so first off I want to just thank Sudanshu I think the points with Sudanshu articulated today morning were so apt out there and Personally for me like I'm a big believer of partnerships, and I think that's something which Is a huge segue to our topic as well Okay, because we are talking about innovation and we are talking about how innovation can impact digital marketing You know when I heard the heard the topic given to us of Innovation and impact on digital marketing and I immediately looked the amount of time we had You know so we had like 30 40 minutes, and I felt like look This is a conversation which can be a day-long conversation and believe you me it will still not have we will still not have enough of it You know So in the next 30 40 minutes, we'll try to touch upon some interesting facets around Innovation and how it impacts marketing before you know, I start the conversation I just want to add a couple of points so that I can contextualize the conversation per se So today if you look at that word innovation and we try to decode that word I personally think that we all are in a super store of digital innovations You know so you talk about AR you talk about chat boards you talk about influencer marketing you talk about content Platforms you talk about marketing automation you talk about data warehouse, you know you talk about DMPs You talk about so many and the list can go on and on and on right So that's really you know We are surrounded with all of that and obviously when we are looking at all of this I think as the panel members out here as with the kind of vast experience they have You know you're talking about people cumulatively having about 50 60 years of experience They've dealt over the years with change and applied that change Learn from that change in the ecosystem whether it's the consumer change whether it's the technology change whether whether it's the way The media is evolved and then applied that to marketing, you know We've seen all of that coming to play What is making Interesting, you know when when we try to look at the present and we say that listen What's the most interesting thing now for us, you know So innovation is not just helping brands or existing brands market to consumers in a much better way But now we are also at a point that because of digital innovation There is a rise of new brands Okay, so we are now seeing a virtuous cycle Okay, which is like saying innovation is not just helping existing brands But it is helping people get ideas and people are coming up with new brands. So it's a full cycle right now guys You know, so this just makes it so interesting for all of us To be in that ecosystem and try to get our minds wrapped around it and use that Opportunity, you know to our advantage from whatever roles we play at this current point of time Yeah, so You know to just start my first question what I'll do here is I'll make another comment out here And I say that look, you know when we look at Innovations and when we look at marketing per se Many of the panel members out here would very have closely seen with their own experience is successes failures Learning curves as you know, I borrowed this word from Ranjini yesterday evening and she used this word Which is called medium success, you know, which I feel is such an appropriate status for many of us You know because innovation is not about big success innovation starts with some to medium success, you know So let me just stop my monologue now. Yeah, and and so what comes top of mind, you know, Ranjini to you when you think of marketing and innovation Hi, good morning, everybody. So four things come top of mind Sorry, you're going to be subjected to another monologue, but as marketeers. I think chatting and talking comes natural to us I think the first thing is just borrowing from a great saying with great With great powers come great responsibility So if you look at what digital innovation has done for us, it's given practitioners practitioners like me Great powers to go down the brand funnel starting from awareness going all the way to commerce And how does every innovation play itself out very significantly across the span of the of the funnel and Coming from the jewelry business. I head up marketing for Tanishk for us It's helped us let me give you an example in two ways one We speak to many cohorts of consumers and in the past the spray and pay mechanism has been quite limiting But today you can find cohorts customer audiences look-alikes Feed communication to them depending on what is your job to be done? So I think the first learning has been don't be overwhelmed by what you see digital offer to you Look at what is the job to be done and apply the filter of which lever are you trying to influence between? Awareness to consideration to preference to commerce. I think the second learning has been that we've always been fed Thanks to our education system like nothing succeeds like success And that brings me back to the conversation we had yesterday about meeting success But I think now the whole mantra is nothing succeeds like experimentation So if I look at the virtual try-on that you see on our Tanishk website today and where we started We've come a long way had we looked at our first proto and said that's a failure We wouldn't have moved forward at all or the chatbot which was like a machine and slowly we gave her an Uftar we gave her a feminine persona We added intelligence to the how the chatbot response our first attempt was pretty Rookie and paltry. So that's our second learning which is like keep experimenting the third is another debunking theory that Man is a creature of habit. I think that's changing our consumers are adopting new habits faster than we are So I think momentum is critical and is key Fourth, I think something you spoke of so don't you spoke of no man is an island today The ecosystem that my team manages is vast the amount of partners we've brought on board We used to have a digital agency a media agency today my agency list I mean, it's not as impressive as the way you had it at boot But it's a large and everyone is a specialist who comes to the table with a certain expertise And we have to build teams and we have a lot of young members in a team who learned to work Cohesively with these diverse set of partners, but still hold the brand together I think my that's sort of four things that I just wanted to kick off this conversation with I'll come back to some points later Santosh You want to pick up any queue and talk about you know probably innovation and I think If you would call out any failures in the process of experimenting with innovation Yeah, thanks. He book. I think a lot of relevant points made by the engineer also on this topic and Maybe a few examples and as you said failures We are all just out of coven in fact one of the first conferences of exchange for media. I'm attending Physically, otherwise it's mostly on the screens And here, you know, I go back a year or two years back when covid stuck and a lot of people said now no showrooms People will buy cars That's what started triggering this entire digital buying process And then we had a lot of collaborators. They pitched ar solutions We are solutions to us saying that you know, this is the way a future of buying cars And nobody would come to the showroom. They would not interact with a sales guy So why don't you go online and you know, this is a very natural Process and we said firstly will people buy luxury cars online because we are not a mass market manufacturer And second is whether this experience would work But having said that if you don't try you will never know so within around 15 days unlike a typical german organization We were able to get all the requisite Approvals we got certain partners on board and we went live within 30 days And there we had our set of learnings So one of the biggest learning actually it was something that we could have easily figured out in retrospect Is virtual consultations doesn't work because you know there we realized that That many of the customers used to dial online but never used to keep the cameras on And then later on we felt why because it's a two-way communication. It should be quite simple So we did a simple dipstick research. We called up some guy saying why didn't you switch it on? They said hey, I was in my pajamas at my home and I don't want you to see me I'm buying a luxury car today. So I don't want so I am fine to see your car, but not me as such So we had to shift we had to shift to non-intrusive ways Of course chatbot were there, but it's too mechanical You know, it's again not human interface and therefore we now have chats with human interface 24 by 7 and from there till now Today, you know, I'm proud to say we do 15 to 20 percent of our car sales online Which is more than 1500 crores of business Buying a luxury car buying a Mercedes Benz online was never thought of we are the best market in the world today when it comes to buying cars online We last month sold 100 cars via chat consultations. I am saying jant to May period Even of course you can say 100 cars over five month period may not be great, but still chat The the guy has not the person has not met the customer So that's an example. We we we learned quickly. We changed the processes We came up with a fantastic marketplace format and we innovated The other example I would like to give is again, it doesn't need to be just a marketing innovation, you know, again Going back to the kovid example We had a huge issue in finding kovid testing centers And we said can there be a product innovation which can help customers So google itself has not powered their maps at that point of time We quickly spoke to mac my india. We had hardly a couple of centers across They were able to juxtapose it and in our head unit of the car because all our cars are connected We were able to give a solution where you would sit into the car and say navigate me to the nearest kovid center So it worked frankly for 25 days because by that time google had everything there and much better frankly than us But in that 25 days, I think the customer feedback was at least you guys thought about it And that's something which also goes beyond Marketing or trying to sell something can you be relevant at the point where the customer wants some Some stuff and how fast can we turn it around? So these are examples of innovation doesn't generally mean to sell a product or to just build a brand What kind of value you can add to the customer also helps so maybe helps the audience to understand I think we know when he's echoing that part and the word which just Stays with me is that micro innovations or incremental innovations You know, so whenever you're looking at incrementality you or innovations are not really about going 20 steps ahead in You know incremental innovation. I think are very smart hacks to empower the business Okay, so Just another point you made which is very interesting and we experienced that the same With jewelry buying we never thought people would buy jewelry through a video call And we have a substantial amount of business that happens Through video calls today even post The normalcy coming back and it's a point that Sudhanshu also made when you have a strong brand if you're a trusted brand Your innovations take off from what you've already built over time and that makes Success or experimentation even more Easy for you. So you must trust in your brand and Believe that consumers are quite forgiving even if you have something which is a work in progress Yeah, I remember you having this point or this comment which you made yesterday was about, you know, the whole purchase journey You know where the person is in the store They are patching their family Okay, so they are able to show the designs to them. They're able to quickly get Buy-in of which jewelry design works for them and they are able to then take a decision You know, so this is a classic example. We are saying that and yeah So that's a very interesting point out there. So Shifting the conversation You're hearing two Two of our panel members, you know, bringing up some diverse points. I'm sure something is taking in your mind Uh, so I'll just pass the mic to you Yeah, thanks, uh, it's very interesting to hear cross industry experience and I was just talking sometime back Digital is of course exciting and we see innovation almost every day I think what puts back an ownership on us is to make very wise choices You know market is often when it comes to especially digital have this fear of FOMO You know, I don't want to miss out this platform I want to participate here. I want to be seen everywhere You know, what works for you is very important for you to judge now giving an example of you know, my own brand Crumpton, we're actually into fans where we currently the market leaders We're into other categories as well. We're into appliances. We're growing very fast there. We're into lights We're into residential pumps and we've got into Uh an inbuilt appliance category, which is very different from what we've operated in the past You know an inbuilt hob chimney and so on so forth now What came as a task to us was, you know, what works for fan definitely does not work for inbuilt Let's say, you know fans is more than a 95% plus penetration category and so is lights And we very salient there. So, you know, what is the choice of medium which we need to adopt for fans Probably will not work for inbuilt and therefore for as a marketer It's our responsibility to choose what works. What doesn't work and also within what works not to get overly excited Now, let's say fans does really well. We're, you know growing in a market share. We're doing extremely well Sometimes you get too tempted to make certain choices. I'll just give you an example Which was a partial success as you guys call it And you know, I'll just give an example of the similar tool which was used somewhere else So we started working On a new fan, which we launched which basically stood for silence And we said that okay fine silence is what everything everyone talks about Why don't you we put it a little more forcefully at the point where it matters So we started doing location based targeting through one of the platforms And we said, okay, we came at inviting higher footfalls to our nearest outlet Yes, we did get incremental footfalls. The idea was also to lead, you know, the way the objective was defined Increase awareness for the new product Increase concentration and invite footfalls now three tasks on hand for the same product becomes a little difficult Yes, it did lead to higher engagement, but it did not lead to incremental footfalls as we expected and The basic thought of fundamental of what the brand stands for or what the category stands for is that the replacement cycle is just five years You cannot insist on a consumer Making a footfall into a shop by seeing a visual eye You know, of course, you can lead to a higher top of mind You can lead to a higher consideration and therefore to for you to define your campaign success measures on digital becomes very important depending on which stage of the consumer journey you're in You know, and what is your replacement cycle? What is your category like now the same example? If you've taken for something like a mcdonald's could work a little better when you do location based targeting You've got you know Creatives which talk about certain offers you immediately attempt as a consumer to go to the nearest outlet and then you know Seek that benefit or gratification which you get from a particular advertisement You know within that vicinity it doesn't work in certain categories It does work in certain categories and define your measurement index really well So there has been of course certain learnings. There has been great successes. One of the brands where I worked earlier Which was one of the oil companies where we were targeting at mini mini vans, you know the smaller mini trucks There we said our idea of location based targeting is higher engagement and awareness with the consumer. So the the overall Business size of the segment size being relatively smaller We wanted to ensure that there are no spillages You know in our communications. So we started doing location based targeting on On targeting certain, you know van stands The engagement was really great. The awareness levels went really high And we saw great success with the campaign also the same campaign applied to fans same campaign applied to other categories With different objective led to different results. So it's very important that marketers as they you know Dove digital make very Conscious choices and rather I would say be cautiously optimistic about what they want to do instead of doing everything So that's That's the task which I see is really important because we will have abundance of choices Which is great because we will have to use different tools for different spaces with different objective But what we need to do is what we we need to be really clear about that cautiously optimistic Of the time So Vishal, you know, you know, that's a perfect segue You could be a devil's advocate out here and you could say that listen, you know These are things which we have to be very mindful when you deal with innovation. I'm in fact going to get into that only See as as for me in innovations in digital It's a huge huge trap. It's a huge trap for marketers There's and like you started the panel there. There's arvr metaverse Name it and you have something over there. It's a huge huge temptation for marketers to keep on experimenting with Yes, now we need to be very careful about what marketing is. It's a very very basic Okay, it's not that basic But but we don't need to make it more complex We need to be very sure about what our objective is Nowadays I see brands talking about They've gone into metaverse and what have they done they've taken interview on metaverse So what what what did it solve? What what were you trying to gain from that So I think innovation in digital would be very basic. I'll give you an example I was working on one of the sports brands. I wouldn't name the sports brand and typically from a media point of view We were Going across to all platforms where there was any sports content. There was life sport, whatever But the needle wasn't moving And we realized a very simple thing which we should have done before We even went to that campaign that most of the people who are watching That piece of content on sports are not playing as in they they're sports fans But they themselves are not sports person and and that's the Place where we went to a live panel. We recruited people People who were playing active sports at least for two hours in a week We studied their digital behavior did a basic lookalike modeling and then reached out to those People and those people were not necessarily on sports platforms and the needle moved and it's a very basic very basic innovation which digital Kind of gives me so I I think these kind of innovations are more important Rather than going by what is going to come tomorrow a day after tomorrow. What is going to be the future? I think right now We should we should do what is more relevant for the objective today Another example. I'll say but is that let's not lift and shift There there is a solution that probably works somewhere In some other geography or some for other for some other category But probably not for your geography not for your consumer and not for your category For example, it works brilliantly for burger king and mcdonald's in us But you try doing the same thing over here. We did that for a brand tried to Try to move consumers To a format store with a special offer nothing happened And and and then we needed to do the basic thing went back to what the consumer wanted What the consumer behavior is did few at winking and it worked So digital gives us a lot of choices now There is a lot of innovation we can do but we shouldn't get into a trap check I think it's a very good point and I firmly believe that innovation is not something that you are on a new platform Because currently a lot of marketeers agencies and you know teams our own teams They like to be on new things. What's there? That's not innovation I think innovation is coming from the consumer insight to say what problem can we solve and will the industry follow you And are you able to do something as a benchmark for others and they follow Even not for others but for first for your own brand and then maybe the others follow you So the trap is there are so many buzzwords as deepak rightly started with the ar vr metaverse so on and so forth And new trends it's all available in the public domain Now taking that as a platform or taking that as a tool will it qualify innovation? It sounds cool to do it Good for the management good to go back to the client or to the or to your bosses and say, you know We have tried this but maybe it is just uh, you know, you're trying it That's also great because only if you try and if you fail you will learn But I think we need to start from consumer insights and really classify innovation as something that will solve some consumer issue or a marketing problem that we have in front of us So that's uh, this uh, discussion is more about innovation So we don't want to take away The spirit of innovation because you have heard stories. We didn't work very well or partially work But at the same time, uh, don't fear to innovate also. So yeah, deepak over to you Yeah, I think what we are hearing is useful and sustainable innovation and and as we do that I think The focus shifts not on the innovation. I would probably say the focus shifts on us We as people who are surrounded with innovation or we as teams who are surrounded with innovation and with partners Which are in turn our our closed ecosystem our bespoke partners Um, and when I say partners, I'm also talking about our own colleagues, you know Understanding that how can they tackle that innovation? Do they have the right mindset to do it? Um, anything which is new Uh, uh requires discovery do we as a team come together? Collaboratively to solve that problem or is that is that innovation just been delegated? You know, so because you're also because finally you are Innovation is equal to risk and risk needs to be managed. You know, so I'll just you know with that point Uh, I know there are some thoughts on ecosystem on team on organizations around Jenny you would like to probably start See, I go back to uh, and I think some of this uh, vishal and sandosh also indicated I think if you start with what is the job to be done or what are you trying to solve not sell Then you'll identify the right innovation like and and the whole value prop that the consumer is uh Is is exposed to is very diverse and very huge So somewhere even as marketeers, we are conscious that the world is so evolving that on certain days even as A jewellery brand like tanishk offers you same-day delivery. Can you read that? But it is that uh, it is hanteris and I want to be able to put that gold coin in my uh, Pooja and I haven't been able to step out or I don't want to step out and therefore Can you make it convenient for me? So I think it starts from saying what is the consumer problem? I'm trying to solve and does my innovation allow me to solve it Can I solve it on my own or do I need delivery partners payment gateway partners? mechanisms around which I don't need to solve everything on my own. I need to get a team together to solve it So I think that's the heart of the the linkage. I mean it stems from the consumer like all of us said But um, there is a whole World that needs to come together to solve some problems and we have to orchestrate that Vishal you have No, I'll just say that uh, you know understand your brand funnel really well Where do you want to focus on because it will become otherwise very difficult You know top of the funnel mid of the funnel bottom of the funnel Each one of them will have a role to play and where do you want to focus at that point in time? And where are you in the journey? So that's very important So, you know we spoke about You know, there are certain keywords which I presume you guys would have picked up You know before I add the next question I want to create this opportunity where if anyone from the audience wants to ask a question You know, um, please feel free to raise your hand I promise you a 15 20 minute dedicated slot with one of them. I'll fix that on your calendar You know, that's the incentive for you guys So if you're up to uh, don't hesitate to uh, you know, show your curiosity Okay, I'll take that I'll I'll take that as a pass So before, um, you know the last the last as we try to probably conclude the conversation or bring this to a logical conclusion So far we spoke about you got different perspectives around innovation out there Having said that, you know, uh, it's innovation is also such a thing that we were constantly seeking Right, you know as much as we have to manage it We are always on the lookout of it, you know from from that lens My last question to the panel members would be that when they're closely looking at the funnel Which are the areas where they actually feel they need a little more innovation? You know for us, uh, you know being a luxury brand. It's not about sales It's about creating desirability for the brand So and digital generally and digital marketing comes with this performance matrix always on on clicks on pass-throughs on cost per sale And I think for us the challenge is on the top of the funnel In terms of how the desirability can be increased using digital and there are a lot of tools There are a lot of science available, but still it lacks measurement like any other Medium to some extent on the desirability side But when it comes to end of the funnel, there is a lot of data available To analyze so in our view we are still looking at How can this via content? Of course there are already solutions available But what can we play because there is also sometimes the team comes up and says we should not be on banner ads We should not be on some of those areas because as a luxury brand It doesn't suit us and there is nobody going to see that this car At a small banner and then going to click and buy these cars So that's actually taking away from digital advertising to some extent But when we look at content we try to look at it completely differently. So For us as a brand the innovation we are looking more is in the top of the funnel Surprisingly not at the end of the funnel Good one I think I have I have a diametrically Different thought and I think that's nice to see challenges sit on both sides. I think retention and Because consumers are getting promiscuous They have choice How do brands continue to be immersive? Give consumers experiences that build stickiness and loyalty And I know there's a whole lot of discussion Do consumers need to be loyal to brands or do brands need to be loyal to consumers? That's for another day, I guess But I think that's where The largest challenge lies for us as As a brand because we're a very strong brand and we're a national local brand as Thanish But as more and more consumers have a wider canvas of Jewelry options that they are looking for how do we stay abreast? How do we keep them engaged? How do we create communities and conversations? We have been doing some bit of work there But I think there's lots more that we can do And as value propositions are quickly outsourced and resourced and equally shared across competitors How do you stay ahead of the game? I think that's one of The things we need to constantly keep working on Yes, we do need more innovation in awareness You know retention and pragya, you know pragya has more to add Because you asked for a wish list, so I don't want to miss out the chance So, you know, of course to opposite view and this is a little out of boundary so Of course as marketers and I can talk about my industry one is digital the other one is traditional And so traditional that it can go into even in store visibility, right? Now how can digital play a role outside its immediate boundary of digital? So if I have spent money on in store on television, how does it give me an ROI there? Right, of course there has been thoughts around, you know, if you do an outdoor There are tools to measure that, you know, how are you increasing your awareness, engagement, football, whatever But is there a stable solution in the market for that? You know because we tend to for a mass brand like us, which is, you know, into categories where we can't ignore the audience Which are outside of digital we need to participate there The study says that consumers look for solution both online and offline and they look at a fan or even an electric kettle or whatever But they tend to also go to the shop to buy it And if they go to the shop to buy it, then I need to place my, you know, brand everywhere Including my in-shop. So how does digital play a role to for me to see how much of that is working for me? So that's the wish list You know the list can go on. Yeah Thanks. I I just like to point out that the biggest innovation that digital has brought to us is moving to one-on-one communication rather from one to many communication And and that is where whether it's in store, whether it's outdoor, whether it's online, whether it's offline Digital has a role to play Somewhere we are putting extra burden on digital because of this whole attribution game We we we kind of look at digital only from a performance point of view looking for ROI on every buck spent which we don't look at probably from offline media and and that is where Somewhere we're limiting the beauty of digital. Digital has a lot to offer and I'm not Conchusing it between the personalization. I think that is another trap and probably for another session But this one-on-one communication, that's the beauty and that is where we need to Judicially pick up innovations that within that what we want to pick whether it's AR Whether it's simple analytics, whether it's more in terms of targeting whether it's Metaverse so I think Digital can help you in in your in store as well as your Outdoors and everywhere and and like like Sudhanshu was saying There's a lot of smart things that are coming up and these smart things are talking to each other When you when you open a fridge in a store and you pick up a bottle It it it is it is calculating everything. It is noting down everything who has Picked up what where it was it placed on the shelf. So there's a lot that digital can help you with everything Cool. Yeah, thank you guys. You know, I'm going to just probably Try to conclude this session out here now what you guys heard about When we started the conversation, I hope you were cautiously optimistic of the expectation from this panel Yeah, and I hope that as we've come to the conclusion of this thing you've got your ROI of spending time with us Yeah One message I would like to give you is that you know, all of us in the room I think that you know collaboration is very key So think of innovation think of people in the team or think of external partners Probably, you know virtually just imagine them as they are your chief R&D partners. You don't have to invest into all of that. You know each Platform out there each partner out there and each mind out there You know is there to come and give you a perspective You know on any of these use cases whether it is building one-to-one connections whether it is aligning You know towards the marketing funnel, you know, and but constantly, you know remind yourself that Innovation or utilization of innovation is not to be done from a formal perspective It's it's more to be done from a perspective that okay fine. I am solving some problems I'm not just adopting something just because I need to adopt something. Yeah, so with that We'll conclude this conversation. Thank you so much to the audience for being patient with us And I hope that you guys have a good day. Thank you so much and thank you to my fellow panel members