 Welcome to E4M Tech Month virtual series and today we are going to discuss how will digital content consumption pan out in the post COVID scenario and with me I have a powerful panel I would call it Pawan Sartha Group Head Digital Marketing and E-commerce Future Group. I have Neel Pandia Head of Media Law here. I have Shashi Mukherjee Head Digital Marketing Rekid Benkeeser and I have Shamsudheet Jasani Group MD South Asia Isobar. Welcome all of you to this first webinar of E4M Tech Month. I want to start by first understanding briefly I mean how was the lockdown experience been for people who have been always on the move who would not get even five minutes you know time to look at their phones I mean how was the experience been so fast yeah I mean should I start yes yes yeah I think that's something which no one expected and it took us a lot of time to even accept it right I mean I think there was always a sense of denial in the beginning that maybe you know there's a talk maybe it's not going to happen maybe it's for a week maybe it's for five days it took us some time to kind of accept it and then we realized that you know it's it's something which is here to stay obviously from a business perspective it it it took us a while to kind of understand how do we react to a situation like this there was no clarity in the beginning in terms of you know what we can do what we can sell what we cannot sell I think it just took everybody some time to kind of settle down except the new ways of functioning right we are so used to like meeting each other working with each other like and you know going into a zoom life I think it took us some time to kind of adjust but I think right now it just seems like the momentum is back and I feel that you know there's a lot happening once again I think we have accepted it but definitely we don't want it to be we don't want to be in this situation for too long that's for sure Neel I see you changing your style as well I mean I knew that was coming to me and I Bowen Bowen rightly said on the business I think it's same for all the categories and all the industries I'm not going to touch upon on that but on the uh so it's my uh I know I was talking to you guys earlier it's my 46th day of lockdown so that's where the style and look has come up but yeah I'm loving it I mean I'm I'm trying new things like you know online courses of cooking and fitness and in fact L'Oreal itself is giving us you know every evening six to seven certain webinars around you know Zumba yoga and other stuff so I think I'm liking it but as Bowen said earlier I don't think so I will be enjoying it if it is going to get you for a long time so we're waiting for it to get over Hey hi so yes definitely you know about none of us were prepared right but you know find looking at the trend in fact especially you know one of the brand that I managed directly is that all which is kind of you know become a more household name than ever at the moment and I think we were the first ones who kind of you know identified and you know a mega kind of an educational campaign around hand washing was started on 14th of March way before the lockdown even started because we figured the the way the entire thing is going and that's the first port of call to kind of you know fight the infection so I think that is part of the the work front but yes so I'm a struggling cook and an amateur house help at the moment so yes so I think that's been there honestly that and work kind of you know takes up all my time I only pick and choose the webinars not like everybody doing a lot of stuff but you know I think I'm barely managing my household chores and the work that I'm doing and yes in between so you know like leisure calls with friends on video I think that's pretty much about it that takes my day that takes like about 18 hours of my day so it's quite active but yeah I think all we are saying about new normal I think easier said than done it's very difficult it can't be the new normal we definitely need to kind of you know get back to it and yeah it's it's very far from new normal I would say so I'm in a slightly different position because I'm the agency out here so slightly different representing all the ideas and thoughts but I start from myself so for the past 20 years I've been I've loved going into office it's a very big part of me personally and I've hardly and hardly ever taken a day out it's just a fun thing to do it's a very important thing for me to do so right now I'm at that stage where I am now slightly slightly losing it I think if this lockdown explains I might I might really lose it so so yeah it's it's difficult right now I'm actually doing more calls and more work than before the lockdown there's just tremendous amount of calls that are happening there's just tremendous lot of connections that are happening yes there's a lot of pressure on the agencies right now because you know what we are doing is that we're planning for the future more than just planning for what you're gonna do after the lockdown ends hopefully it ends soon for personal front yes I think everyone is trying to cook everyone is realizing that they are becoming cooks on one way or the other and I think that's where everyone realizes it's not that difficult though I would not like to continue I just want to make a small announcement that we are live on Facebook and on Twitter you can tweet using the hashtag techmunch and hashtag e-firm webinar we'll also be taking live questions as we move on my first question to Pawan is to you yeah we are witnessing a certain kind of spike since the lockdown started and we see a lot of digital content being consumed of all sorts I want to understand that is this a trend that will also survive post this lockdown or it is a reversible thing and I mean it might not be there later on how do you see this the kind of culture of consumption that we're witnessing on the district so as an organization we've been a big endorsement of digital you know for a long time now I think we believed we believed in the medium a lot therefore I think there was an intent of creating a certain ecosystem whether it's YouTube and Instagram or anywhere else from a social perspective and whether it's our online brands or offline brands but yeah I think we were we were early enough to realize the potential of it so I think we invested you know in the last two three years I mean if I have to say it right so in a way this is this is something which I believe will obviously change the course I mean in the way of whether it's content consumption and so on because I think at this point in time I mean even earlier at this point in time I think it's much higher that people are spending a lot more time on their mobile phone whether it's whether it's now now it's even a work which has been added up to a mobile phone currently I'm I'm live doing doing the you know the discussion right now on a mobile phone right I mean that's going to be very very important even going forward there can be a spike and then there can be a new normal that's a separate thing but I think as an organization we always believed in it at this point in time this is the only medium which we are using right now to engage our engage with our audience or even treat each with our audience there's no other medium which we are using currently because television is absolutely a no no for us at this point in time because if you look at entire country not all the stores are open right there are some stores open in some zone and there are some stores which are closed there are there are lots of geographical challenges which I think which is happening across the country right press as we all know that it's not been distributed well so the only medium which remains for us is actually digital and we are also doing a lot of education to our customers you know while we are saying you know how we are prepared we are equally telling them how they should be prepared when they come for shopping right and things like you know even before you come to the store we are giving them digital coupons so that they don't waste much time and they don't spend a lot of time inside the store so I think a lot of it which we are helping to ensure that there is a bit of social distancing which we are able to create for our customers we really don't want them to go through any further anxiety at this point in time I think we are we are we are open with you know bare essential what the government is allowed but we want to ensure that you know it reaches to them as much as possible so in the meanwhile we've also gone digital like you know BigBazaar.com has been created in in like 10 days we never thought that we'll go we will we will go or we will BigBazaar will ever go for e-commerce it was fpb which always was a part of digital ecosystem but BigBazaar wasn't but we've just realized that you know at this point in time consumers customers need it maybe they don't want to come to the store so we should go you know to them so I think lots of changes which has happened in last one month lots of things which we have learned from the customer we are trying to address it on a daily basis whatever we can do under whatever restrictions. Shams the same question to you this time I can hear you yeah I mean I will show the other audience better now is this spike temporary is this here to stay what is your observation no so I I see that it's it's not going to be sustained at the level that it is right now there is a spike of course in terms of usage of digital there will be an increase which is I would say it it's not business as usual even after the lockdown finishes so it's not going to go back to the levels that were there earlier I'm talking about the people coming out and of course in the physical environment so I think the digital is here to stay which everyone knows about the activity is going to be much bigger than before but yes it's going to taper off a little I don't think it's going to sustain at the level that it is right now I've worked in all my life but I think there is a tapering off that will happen whether you talk about consumption on online OTT platforms or whether you talk about e-commerce the the main thing is that what this has bought is there are lots of people who would not have you know who would not have experienced this ever are experiencing how to do this for the first time like demonetization and like payments happened in earlier in about two and a half years back people are experiencing e-commerce for the first time there are a lot of people who are understanding how to buy online now there are people like my father-in-law I hope he's not watching right now there are people like my father-in-law who was not doing a lot of stuff like even net banking for example uh and you know because he knew that my my my son-in-law or my my daughter is right here they'll just do it for me now they're stuck on their own so what's what this is doing is that a lot of people are now started understanding what digital is to the core earlier a lot of us used to help them and a lot of new a lot of the older generation a lot of the people who weren't exposed to it those people are now coming online because they don't have a choice now so I think that is one big change that is happening they will start understanding that it's relatively easier because there was a there was a block in their mind so I think that is one big change that has been to happen and I think the other big change that is going to happen is this whole uh tv versus online video consumption and content is going to change drastically on what is tv and what is digital I think that question is going to change as we go into the future I think a lot more video is going to play and video is going to get its right you know space rather than just television so I think that is one big change then two big changes that I see from a content perspective that are there but I do believe that that tapering off will again happen we'll go back to our offices this environment will open up but I think we are moving towards a more digital world where the whole idea of you know for example when we're talking about the future grouping of big bazaar you have to have both you need to be able to you know address a problem saying that there's a store right here called Neelam very close to my house you can buy everything online and you just go and pick it up that's all they're doing right now so they've sped up their e-commerce for example one store okay it's just one store out there it's not a chain it's one store they use a Shopify you know back in then they've started selling stuff so and lots and lots of people so I think it's it is an amalgamation things will stay but I I think the tapering off digital will happen it's not going to sustain at this level Shashi to you so do you think in this lockdown you're also building this habit of the meaning towards digital and as Shams said that you know we'll carry this habit forward and a digital kind of setup will emerge and how do you see this mute sorry your audio is here sure I think the interesting thing to note here is that while you know consumers are kind of you know changing their you know their behaviors yeah also like most of the organizations are kind of you know going through a fourth digital transformation which the CXS couldn't do but COVID did right now again this is something that is changing so fast so for example we have kind of you know always you know given a lot focus on digital as a platform for for our you know for our key brands right the the entire because you know more indoor time definitely means more ideal time and therefore more watch time right things are going off the roof videos is going up gaming is going shooting up social platforms are sort of you know seeing 30 to 40 percent growth you know month on month just a month to compare but what worries me is that you know with the current scenario that is going on yes there will be a residual impact even after the lockdown season because people would have been seen been exposed to very new OTTs that they would have never kind of you know considered because most of the shows on tvs and everything they are you know they are no new the reality show is dead for example right no new production that is happening at that scale that it used to do gc's are coming across tv so people the baseline will shift definitely post lockdown but currently the concern that I have like more from an industry point of view is that more people are online but lesser brands are on advertising you know so content is being created but how sustainable it is without the advertising money put it put in because the the base base is up and the advertising revenue is going down so that's something to be kind of you know to be we should be basically watching it how it can if you know pencil need your thoughts on it yeah I I did somewhere that you know it takes 21 days to build a habit and we are you're talking about you know three months of a strong habit so to answer yeah according to answer your question well I think the spike which we are seeing right now I don't think so it's temporary only it will continue post covid too because you know all of us are pretty much aware that you know digital spends are on a spike I mean beat pre-covid data times also that 25 30% digital has been growing post covid there are multiple reasons why I feel that this there will be a new normal which will be higher than the earlier normal one of them is which I mentioned about habit building people are habituated to to content second which is you know we all are very clear that code is defined into three stages the outbreak recovery and the sustainable we saw that outbreak made there's a spike of digital consumption the recovery stage which will nearly come soon which will last for a quarter or something will also have this habits because people will be worried I mean I will be worried to go to cinema hall to go and buy into shopping work from home which has become now a great phenomenon for most of us will continue for a longer time their organization or thinking this work from home as a larger perspective time band also so keeping this there will be a lot of free time and me time for individuals so me time to consume grows you know cooking fitness and other content and free time for largely because I'm still worried to look at news and other stuff so I see that particular content consumption will definitely continue for more time post covid. I just want to announce again that we are live on facebook we're taking questions on zoom and facebook if our viewers have any questions they can post it we'll be asking our analysts and we can tweet using hashtag take mention hashtag me for a webinar you know with this spike in brand communication on digital there's also a cacophony of communication everyone is there everybody is communicating in order to stand out in terms of brand communication are there any do's and don'ts that you have in mind any advice for the practitioners sorry there's some disturbance but a couple of things that yeah okay that's better so so couple of things that we are recommending to brands first is be genuine don't don't use covid 19 to start something new in terms of you know going out and starting an outreach program because of covid 19 see what's happening is that the the customer is very smart he or she sees through what you're doing if you've been genuine throughout and you are adding a covid related communication right now then that's okay but don't start something at this point in time because then people will see it as if you're taking advantage of what is happening right now so that's number one number two what we are trying to do is actually but taking a pause right now there is a lot of communication that is happening there is there are lots of which are genuinely talking about what is happening and if your brand release like for example this let all and if you know future group they are involved in what is happening right now there are brands which aren't if there is an auto category just completely shut right now yes we want to keep the communication on you want to engage your customers but at the same time I think what we are trying to do is using this time to not do just work as usual that is going to happen when the lockdown ends because a lot of clients that we have right now are not actually operational so yes while the communication or while the brand communication is on we are trying to see if you're going to be relevant three years down the line not just a month down the line this is a great time to kind of step back and understand are you ready for what is going to happen because of digital three years down the line so when you know when there was someone talking about it saying that you know this is about digital transformation COVID-19 is being around digital transformation those are discussions that we're having with the clients we're saying that take a pause and all your assets are your assets ready for life three years down the line and to a lot of clients they are not I mean like for example how many clients are using voice right now as a platform even today I mean we've spoken about it so much voice is something that is going to come and really take center stage very soon so how are you when you're sitting at home when you're talking about it most of the searches are slowly steadily going to happen through voice how are you preparing yourself for a world like that and that's where a lot of our discussions are in yes if your brand is relevant let's talk about it if there is no relevancy right now don't talk about it because if you're not relevant there is enough in people making a lot of noise about it don't talk about it right now let's keep our focus toward what we are going to the future how we're going to come through this and let's use this to strategize that's what we are actually talking to a lot of friends Shashi welcome back I'll come can you hear me yeah so the question I had asked Shams was that while there is you know spike in digital communication as well but there's a lot of noise around it how do we avoid this noise and make sure that we are heard in this category so you know what I'm going to say so for me I mean I don't see this as a marketing opportunity right what people actually our consumers are what today they are looking I mean when you say what consumers I think just look at look at like what are we looking at what are what am I looking at you know the brand consumers looking at hope positivity and some sort of a comfort in in this trying times right and therefore you know what brand can do if they are looking at what we can do is we can actually provide them you know a combination of information and a bit of help wherever possible right and which I think I completely go with what Shams said that not all brands need to be active anybody who has a point of view and so basically and if there is nothing for you to add in this times I'm not sure whether this is a this this isn't any other you know topical trend that brands tend to kind of you know leverage so in and a typical you know like we all do a typical buy-sell narrative it's not going to work and so I think it's time for us to be more human and less business like is what I would say for those are the basic and if you have in the if you have the right you know lane that you're on if you have something meaningful meaningful talk about go ahead but if there isn't a forced kind of a fit will actually stand out as nicer I feel upon I want to come to you with the same question that future group is being so much on front how do you ensure that yeah so you know again if you look at it most of our stores and otherwise we are like a service brand right I mean at this point in time more than anything else if you are able to service our customers I think that's all is required right not about and that's the biggest brand building what we can do to ourselves right so I think at this point in time what we are really focusing on is the the entire part of saying that you know how can you how can you have a safe shopping you know when you come to the store or otherwise or you go to any other store it doesn't matter right I think a lot of education which we are providing from that front and and that's how we are dealing with it and and and I and I think all of us are somewhere agreeing to the fact that you know this whole social distancing as an idea is going to be here for a longer period right I don't think even after the lockdown is removed people are not going to run to the malls we are very very well aware about it right and therefore as a brand as a service brand we want to ensure that we showcase some of these things to our customer and make them feel comfortable I think that's all is important at this at this point in time just being relevant just adding you know just giving them comfort is what we want to do you know as long as we are able to give them a meaningful shopping in whatever less time possible so therefore at any point in time in the store we don't allow more than seven to eight people right because we want them to get that comfort I think just being relevant is most important for us at this point in time we are looking at every customer's anxiety and what we can provide we are providing essentials to our store to our customers so we are very well aware of the fact that we just have to ensure that if we can make it possible for them that is all we are focusing on at this point in time how is warrior doing the different staying making sure that we are heard the communication is on point you know I mean a couple of people said earlier that you know if you are not at a relevant category in this particular time period do not talk in the market but I have a different point of view you know from a marketer's point of view this is an apt opportunity I mean viewership is on spike I wouldn't wouldn't I know I would I would think twice before making this as an opportunity or they are letting it as a backfiring it so I would suggest there are typical dos and dos which we need to follow I will start with don'ts first because it's it's it's important to know what you don't do yeah so I disagree with a couple of people that you know you don't go silent I feel don't when I say don't go silent I mean the customer is your extended family you might not be in a relevant products and services but you need to ensure you are engaging with him in somewhere or other it could be you know just a good wives engagement or something like something like on those grounds but don't don't really go silent I also feel that you know do not do not think from a short-term perspective now anything which you will do it now you will be in a space where you will own a consumer's loyalty for a really long term so whatever you do do it from a long-term thinking do not do it from short-term and typically if you want to do something as I think Shashi also mentioned that you know be human these are times where it is very emotional sensitive whatever communication you are doing understand put yourself into customers point of your shoes and be human while you're communicating and really important things which you need to cater well I feel is one is that you know the tonality the timing and the the tonality of the brand or communication which you are doing should be positive should be more human to that extent and lastly monitoring whatever creative assets you have right now and you already using it right now is really important I mean what take for an example you have a slapstick humor as a creator you really do not want to use that humor right now when the consumer is in a very different mindset so taking into consideration what what what the situation is all about and doing the right thing and the right creative I think that's these are typical do's and don'ts any brand need to think about before they are talking in the situation right right perfect I want to come to you Pawan you know will this focus on digital and the part that we're doing we're getting used to digital now will it also impact the marketing spends on digital buy brands will digital again become a bigger piece in terms of spending as far as most of the brands are concerned in our post covid break yeah so let's look at before the covid happened to our life because we are a retail store and I think some of our brands like fpb needs to connect with a younger audience a lot more from a target audience perspective so as that's why I said that we had adopted digital way way in advance because we knew that you know some of the customers for a retail format like fbb if you need to recruit you need to connect with the younger audience and therefore digital became extremely relevant for us and I think we are we've used a lot more of social because we were able to do online to offline from there and really create walkings inside the store so I think we've used social more than anything else I mean I will definitely accept that going forward because obviously I think the way if you look at our business is is going to expand and I think those step delivery you know booking online picking it up from the store booking online and we delivering it I think there are lots of ways in the business is going to expand I mean these these are some of the things which is going to be there for us are going forward it's not something which you have done it only for a certain time and then we want to move out the moment when it comes to let's say booking online and picking out of the from the store I think digital will become far more efficient medium for us is what I believe in we will we will see how it goes but yeah I think some of these differences which has which has made to our business today which definitely makes me believe that I think our digital portion from a spend perspective will further increase that you know that that I'm fairly confident also being a retail brand geography different city there's a lot of you know some of these things you know play a big factor I think digital is one medium and of course press to some extent can address some of these things for us so yeah I think I definitely think so Shams what about this culture of spending by brands will it rearrange itself and digital will focus have a bigger focus see before before covid in a normal sense digital was supposed to grow about 29 30 percent most the reports that we had was the overall industry spend was about 11 12 percent and digital is 30 percent digital is already something which has been growing at a much faster pace and hence the pie has been growing even in a non-covid kind of a scenario I would say that this is going to speed it up and a couple of things that's going to happen number one is the lots of brands are realizing that first party e-commerce is going to be a big thing I think that's one one thing that is a tipping slight tipping point that is happening is that and in a post covid scenario a lot more brands are going to think of first party e-commerce but I mean that is not just of course you have third party e-commerce but also first party e-commerce and especially those which have stores which have offline stores are going to really think about the rating their first party e-commerce program so I think that's going to be number one and hence that will relate to brand spending not only brand monies but also money on their e-commerce platform so that's that's of course going to be one part of it another thing that's happened in this and not too many people have spoken about it is in between this covid the facebook geodealer that's going to be another game changer as far as our industry is concerned and the repercussions are going to be massive as we go ahead again my another word I want to use again is digital it's not going to be just a digital kind of phenomena it's going to be a digital it's going to be a lot of power our SMEs are going to be empowered with this imagine what we chat is in the in the US in China imagine what's are becoming the we chat of India they're in the platform and you have you do everything within the platform so so a lot of things have changed I do believe this is going to only increase the spends and thankfully for the for almost 12 years in my I've been on online for 20 years but the first 12 years digital is coming digital is coming is what we would say finally I think now now we're there where we can say okay digital has come and now is the time that the acceleration is happening you needed a covid you needed a you know need demonetization for that push to happen this is another scenario where it's going to speed up yes it is totally going to increase the layouts of a lot and not just marketing things but overall business and how business is going to look at digital we do transform that's what I need the same question to you I think most of it hurt between the both of them but it is I can summarize this into two pillars of why I see digital spends are going to grow I mean first pillar all of us are very much aware you know that digital has been growing at 25 30 percent it will continue to grow it's not a new story post covid itself but why it hasn't added advantage during covid times you know businesses are in trouble so there will be limited money to spend and when there will be a limit the pie of money will be reduced most of it will be more focused into efficient medium and all of us are aware that digital as in medium is pretty much efficient because because of the sharper targeting because of the last funnel of conversion which is available through digital so for a short short term post covid I think this pike will be far higher than what it has seen earlier and the second point which I think somewhere shams also mentioned was that you know globally we have seen a trend that you know during covid time and post covid also there is e-commerce business which is flourishing really well again because you know when people are worried they do not want to step out to a mall and buy some stuff then e-commerce will come into a picture and when you're talking about your business dependency on e-commerce which is large and a lower funnel game I feel digital will do a better job so most of the brands who will stop spending on cinemas and other stuff where people are not going to move will shift that money towards digital and that will lead to digital spends being increased so I think it's in short I see that as in spike going upward only Shashi I want to ask you this question there was a technical glitch but I was asking them that you know with this shift towards digital focus on digital will the brands also look at digital spending in a different way post this covid scenario so I think most of the points have been you know covered by neil shams and everybody else so yes the thing is because of the distribution isn't you know exactly you know distributed well for example you know few shops have have some things and you know for example even it's it's at a staggered fashion right so looking at a broad you know like a carpet bombing kind of a media people are actually a bit about putting it there right and therefore barring of course essential fncg categories about barring that there are people are sort of different pockets to kind of you know activate you know they're there marketing and therefore digital you know comes like you know it comes like a knight in a shining armor that okay this is the guy who can do it right and now when you sort of you know put your you know put your bed behind it and then we have seen about six weeks of you know post lockdown kind of a scenario people are increasingly getting more comfortable with with you know different aspects of digital right for examples with the social distancing like the e-com again will go up so I see the media mix changing and part of it will be forced adoption to begin with but overall that will become the new normal as I said earlier so definitely we will see some sort of you know shifting happening between the digital appears to be the you know to get the windfall gains I feel I just want to add I think Neil had pointed out one thing which is definitely going to happen is huge reduction of budget for sure like across right I think the entire if you see the financial year the first quarter is really wiped out for many brands and businesses I think marketing has to play a very very efficient role right now and I think as for that I think every marketing team has to decide that you know where does it come from where does the efficiency come from and I'm sure a lot of decision will be taken from there I don't think many marketing teams will have the liberty to kind of expand and have the luxury to spend I think that is also going to determine a lot in terms of where the spend is coming from I will go to we are live on Facebook and we are getting a lot of questions so I'll start with some of them you know the first question is from Minakshi SM she's asking I'll come to you first chance for this question assuming videos on digital assuming videos on digital is the new normal post COVID what kind of video content is suggested for brands there's no one sense at all I mean that's going to be a very difficult answer in terms of how see it depends content is going to be a big strategy whether post COVID or pre-COVID that doesn't change we've we've we've really beefed up our content business and I don't think anyone will refute that the whole content influencer marketing side of the business when it comes to videos etc is really exploding whether you're talking about really created videos or curated videos it really depends upon you know your strategy and how well are you using content every brand has to use content irrespective of which part of the business which industry you're looking at because increasingly what's happening is that people are moving away from ad funded and slowly moving into more content related platforms where people are just wanting to view platforms so content rather so in that it's about being able to use long format and short format content both of these need to be used in the right way along with the influencer marketing strategy so I think video is here to stay content is used to stay it really depends upon your strategy as to where does it sit in your you know in your communication so that's that's really one thing that I would be really clear. Neel I want to come to you there's a question from Sandeep Srivastava he's asking that there's a great increase of viewership on news channels you know with such views could news stay on as a popular segment even post COVID-19. Definitely I mean I there are two again two sides of a coin in terms of an increase in a viewership also though I believe Sandeep definitely news will become which stay important because in the recovery state as I also mentioned earlier people will be worried and concerned and would look up to news for what's happening in the market all about but it is a two-edged sword I can say yeah because if you you cannot take this opportunity as news overall only to advertise because you wouldn't want your brand communication always be present in a news genre which is which is currently very emotional and sensitive news are going on so you wouldn't want a chirpy communication coming after a death story which is covered by a news genre so you need to play really well how you will use that news genre but to answer your question news will continue for a long time in terms of viewership growth. Pawan same question from similar question from Vive Pandey he's asking that will news genre post a bigger challenge to digital than rest of the you know TV like operating is news genre becoming the direct competition to digital marketing. See I don't know it's about one medium versus another I think every medium has a role to play for example at this point in time when we speak I think our internal databases you know is the biggest medium what we have figured and that's what is is giving us maximum traction as I said that you know it's really going to depend in terms of what we want to achieve and what we want to do I think every medium will have a role I particularly believe that you know television is a medium where brands are built I think the stories are told very very well in a 32nd format our press is something which I completely believe in will continue to create conversion for us and that's not going to change because we are a retail brand Saturday morning anybody looks at you know newspaper and says that you know what's going on in a retail store that'll always help I'm not talking about today I'm just talking about even six months a year down the line or two years down the line right and and digital is something which we really use to recruit new or customer create online to offline and we'll continue to do so so I don't have an answer saying that you know this medium is going to increase more see these are all topicality at this point in time because of covid that seems to be the you know we want real-time information I'm sure each one of us we go back and check you know worldwide what are the numbers you know what's going on right I hope that we'll not continue to check this after three months hopefully you know I'm just praying so I think things will change things will emerge but yeah I think every medium has a role to play and continue to be that for sure right Shashi if you can hear me there's a question from mega parick who's asking what do you think of brands who have deviated from their core business and started talking about activities like exercise food drawings you know that keep customers engaged how do you see that kind of communication okay so if I'm able to understand the question correctly you're saying the brands which are you know originally not talking areas right so I think yes yes and no part of it I mean it depends you know in what and depend which industry are we talking about so for example yes talking about for example this comes all under self-care for example right and the comfort that consumer are seeking today this and also the kind of frustration that we are sort of you know dealing with we are looking at you know different vents to do things right be it recipes be it cooking be it you know the way you sweep your room or whatever that is right now the thing is that that this is a this looks like a tactical thing to me as of now as long as it doesn't have a long term kind of a strategy then you know we need to be a bit careful of you know where we are treading because we need to also as I said earlier you know stay in the lane is what I will say again you know I mean yes maybe we can take like you know move to the next lane but we just can't move to the other side of the you know freeway so that I think we need to be a bit more careful of you know where we tread because yes it looks like a very you know this thing a very fertile opportunity as a as a topical thing to sort of you know ride on because you know if you look at the searches if you look at the conversation it is tire operating if you have if you even if you just use a hashtag it will be picked up but do you want to sort of you know be there or not or if there's a long term strategy so I think a knee jerk reaction we should be a bit careful of doing it so yes I know that's why the the kind of the answer remains Shams for you there's a question from Rajeev dash he is asking how can game gamification help the brand and is there any particular aspect that one needs to do while designing the gamification part to engage you know stakeholders the gamification again has been there since a very long time games are something which have been utilized very well by a lot of a lot of brands I would say rather than creating your own game because a lot of people have tried it and unless you really have a sustained content business which which sustains that for example the fred bull is creating a game or if you are into that as a longer term strategy that's great but if you are going to create a game which is tactical campaign it's not really something that I would recommend at this point in time rather that you partner with the right kind of platforms to be able to have more relevancy in life so I think there are two ways to do it if you can think of yourself being relevant and that game being relevant and a longer state then go ahead and create that game because the user has x amount of time on his phone x amount of bandwidth on his phone he or she is not going to download a new content game just because you've created it it needs to be relevant for the customer and so so I would say that if you want to take advantage of the gaming use the right kind of platform partner with the right kind of platform and then get into gaming rather than creating your own game I that's what I truly believe in and if you have that as a longer term strategy I can really make a difference and you think that you know it's relevant to the customer and he or she is going to leave 20 other apps and going and going to play your game then yes but that's going to be a one in a million kind of that's going to happen. A quick question to you again Shams there's a question to you that has come from Suparno Bhattacharya he's asking will brand budgets move to digital more from print or from him? See print is anyways on a slight I would say never decline but it's not it's it's not really growing at the level that it is right now post-covid also if as we've spoken about it the print itself the distribution itself is limited right now for the next couple of months and I think Neil made this point in terms of cinema as well that you know if print is not getting published there's not enough places like in Maharashtra and Pune you're not allowed newspapers right now yes it will happen but I don't see and that's what it's related to the other answer that I've given at the beginning that digital will grow but that tapering off will happen when things go back to normal that tapering off doesn't mean that we'll go back to pre-covid scenario will still be higher than for digital than that will be there but yes for now yes it'll take from print it'll take from retail outdoor for example no one is stepping outdoor so how do you so outdoor is going to be up the other one and experiential I think a lot of experiential is going to move on to digital how are you going to use augmented reality how are you going to use stuff like that to bring experiential into your your homes I think that is another thing that people are if lockdown continues and you know even for the next three months social distancing continues experiential agencies are going to start you know they are feeling the burn right now there's no money being spent in experiential agencies so how do you bring that experience alive into your homes how do you become a how do you bring a concert alive in your home so those things are happening so so I think those are going to attract spend on to digital as I said again it's going to go into the digital world that line is going to blur into what is offline what is online that's what's going to happen well Neil to you Madhuri Chauhan is asking what is your take on on the this saying that digital is killing other mediums is actually happening now I don't think so as I think Pawan mentioned earlier every medium has its own advantage and disadvantages I don't think so it is rightly right to say that digital is killing all other mediums I think it's it's about the scenario the situation in which we are living it's about what what mindset consumers are and it's about whom are you talking to so if you are talking to someone who loves to read a newspaper and you would we want to be part of that loyal audience of you so you will put a add on print and if you are talking to someone who really want to finish the last mile of conversion digital will be there so digital is not actually killing all I think all of them are subsiding each others and that is also relevant that entire addicts is growing I mean it's not that only digital is growing digital is growing double two x than others but everyone else is still growing so I it's not fair to say that digital is killing any other medium I think it's everyone is subsiding together with each other right Pawan for you the question is that with more media dollars being spent on digital and clients pushing for efficiency by when will the industry finally get a unified measurement system oh I think it's a it's a million dollar question I don't know so yeah I mean you know from a measurement perspective I think you know at future group we have our own measurement system because we do a huge amount of online to offline so we actually look at possible coupon for example that's the best way of measuring whether are we are we being efficient in terms of reaching out to our customers and what cost and obviously I mean there is a lot which we see from that lens I mean this is not subscribed or prescribed by any anybody but yeah that's our way of looking at things it just makes easier things easier for us and far more efficient but yeah I think this is one answer which I think the agency folks should answer yeah I mean I mean I have no clue I mean this is like such a blur thing for all of us like you know I am in there for as I said we have just created our own and we follow that and it helps us Shashi a question from Abhishek Sharma do you see a change in medium for RB especially how do you see a market share deal happening within digital sorry could you say that again please I couldn't hear you do you see a change in medium for RB especially how do you see a market share deal happening with digital see market share linked with a particular medium is not the not the question I think right now what we are looking at is yes the need for what I feel is the need for personal sanitation and the sanitation index is definitely through the roof at the moment right even after this is gone what we see and what we foresee is the overall sanitation index to go up as compared to other countries right you know we were really low in the overall sanitation index for your personal hygiene so as to say so with with an overall you know drive towards more personal hygiene definitely all brands which are there in the category will kind of you know see an impact in terms of overall market share growth now for me to sort of you know say whether it is attributed to a medium versus another that's a very different or difficult question to answer because at the moment because for us you know how we see it is the the media strategy for us has always been user you know user centric and not really platform centric so and especially with with with the covid scenario you know we are actually we are we are very nimble and we are we have gone you know almost at the beta stage where we are looking at each and every you know parameter what is impacting for example different genres on on tv you know which were known to be the top grossers they're no longer the top grossers right we are seeing different genres coming up we are seeing a different prime time was a non-prime definition is changing so I think anything new earlier doesn't hold true in this current scenario so I think it's it's best to sort of you know assume you know that that we're learning every day and trying to sort of you know see how best we can you know basically tackle the the media mix or the media strategy looking at you know how things are so for example bark will give us like you know weekly data and everything so that actually gives a lot of you know things to sort of see where the things are going so attribution to particular medium is difficult market share I'm hopeful. Question for you Shams from Ravi he's only given his first name post lockdown would would like to know the urgency of brands for the business which they lost during lockdown will they rush or is going to be staggered strategy to bounce back gradually? I don't think any honestly any brand is wondering any kind of staggered strategy of course there'll be a strategy in coming back the strategy will depend upon how the lockdown ends and what parts of the business of course one thing is that you'll have to stagger it depending upon what part of the country opens up I think I believe that India will open up in a staggered manner it's not going to open up you know the entire country's not going to open up on day one so I think first of all you'll have to align yourself to that strategy to the strategy of the government opening up parts of it but from the other perspective what I think all brands are ready to be 100% on day one that's how the thinking it I don't think there is any brand which is thinking in terms of saying that so the staggering will happen depending upon how the country opens and not how the brands really are going to respond to this the response from our side and from brands that we are prepared to be back to post covid scenario on day one but the staggering will really happen on how how the country opens up and how how do we see people stepping out and how the response is so I think that's it's going to be just like everything is fluid right now we need to be very fluid in the way at least for a two to three months after the lockdown I think that's that's really how we need it's going to be very I just want to add you know while while I completely hear what you're saying but I feel that as as states or cities as as they will open up I think there will be a lot of business pressure as well you know because I think lots of businesses will not even see you know any sort of cash flow coming in I think therefore there will be a lot of pressure on the marketing team for for genuinely driving some of these you know consumers for sure there's no answer to it how we will do it but I I feel that you know every marketing team should be ready for that as well we still have time for a couple of more questions this one is for you the name is not mentioned but the question is what is your view on brands that have moved from their core business to selling categories like grocery and other essentials see anybody just moving at this point in time I don't know I mean I'm I'm sure businesses will look at their own strength to sort of have moved from where they were or any other direction but I think if it's related category for us like just moving from offline to online was the most obvious thing to do I'm not too sure about other brands like you know really picking up something and moving to a different direction I have I have no point to be on this I mean to be honest with you I mean I don't know how customers will react and how how they will do post COVID as well I have no idea about that but yeah I mean we moving to you know keeping our strength alive and then moving to different medium was the most obvious thing which we did for you question from Shiva Sree Charan is asking how will brands maintain hygiene and do you think customers will come back soon post COVID how will brands maintain hygiene in terms of when they go back in the stores and you know taking care of that and do do customers will move back yeah but the answer to this as as blur as everyone on the panel right now is the only expectation which we would have that things move quicker and faster so that as the business starts moving in there is cash flow start rolling in and from a customer's angle perspective I feel there is demand there is a lot of demand the lot of businesses are as effect because this is a supply chain problem so once that supply chain is being sorted I think the demand of customers will be really flourished well so I have no direct answer to this but I think it's this positivity looking in and the demand once supply chain is into place I think things will fall back to normal there's a question for you Shashi which is that for brands like you know which are in this hygiene category post COVID will it continue to grow the way they are right now I mean will it mean something different for the category than what we saw before this this lockdown started so I think overall you know talking talking about say you know that all as a brand right so this this that all as a brand is you know built on for example the germ relevance right now the thing is that as I said earlier the the sanitation index so for our country you know has not been that great but now you know people are actually seeing the impact of even as basic thing as washing not washing hands properly right or washing hands with water but not with soap or washing hands with soap for just say five seconds or four so so I think there are basic things that you know we have kind of you know tried to educate our consumers through various you know interesting formats on various different platforms making it sort of you know our engaging way to sort of you know learn that habit now those things for example you know the ways of you know like the six steps of hand washing I'm not sure how many people at a large scale like India actually knew it you know what are the six steps of hand washing right or for example how many seconds you should wash your hands for now these are the small things that you know for example we are trying to sort of inculcate the right habits now you know when these habits continue for a longer period of time definitely the the overall category grows the need to sort of you know keep yourself sanitized will go up and therefore the baseline will shift even post covid for for brands in the hygiene space is what I feel because we have seen the kind of in a movement but the entire even after the lockdown gets over and you know things are slightly getting but the paranoia whether it is real or perceived will stay I mean the degree of paranoia I mean you know that is only for the time to tell but then this will stay and people will be much more concerned about their personal hygiene and will sort of you know take it to ensuring that you know the house surfaces are clean the otherwise you know like just like water and you know for example just a mop would do the job but now you need for example disinfectant liquids you need to sort of you know make sure that your tabs are disinfected you know those things the country was wasn't ready for but now I think the the we see the traction moving we see the new habits being formed so yes this will this should go up what we feel we still have our question but unfortunately we are out of time now just a small announcement that on 27th April 3 p.m. we'll have Mr. Vikram Sakuja groups your medicine media you'll be talking about news channels and their unparalleled role in current times I would request all the viewers to join in we'll share more details and thank you for your time and great insights and hopefully see you soon again thank you thanks everybody to the great learning experience for all of us thank you all bye