D-CODE: Media maestros speak scalability, sustainability and performance

The Ad Club's inaugural annual Digital Review: D-CODE showcased some of the best case studies in digital marketing in the recent past and leaders in the arena shared their tips based on their experiments with digital. Maestros like Sameer Singh, CEO, South Asia, GroupM; Anupriya Acharya, CEO, Publicis Media; and Arun Iyer, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas; shared their learnings on digital marketing and explained how they can stay on the top of the creative and digital game.

Sameer Singh, CEO, South Asia, GroupM

What intrigued my curiosity was this agency called Glitch. It intrigued me because it’s a very small group where they have coders, creative folks, to filmmakers all sitting in one place. I found this an absolutely fascinating way of working. I was having conversation with them on what makes it work. They told me that they think of themselves as extremely disruptive and platform agnostic; a bunch of really fun people having fun together and creating content. I asked them to share a case study where they showed me Lakme. They shared their thoughts with me about finding the right segments then focusing and targeting them.  

While I was away from India this brand called Bira was launched and it became a favourite of mine. What I like about the brand is that it has fun in its DNA and in its execution. They do simple creative fun stuff that they like.They have banners which are so intrinsic to their brand identity. I will leave you with three principles: Dabble in areas of digital that your ecosystem can create content sustainability in, scalability gives you space and ROI is critical.

Anupriya Acharya, CEO, Publicis Media

The digital ecosystem is evolving fast and it needs a test, learn approach. Everybody does not have a very clear idea as to how to leverage digital. So it is very important to test, learn and then plan. The whole unlearning and relearning process is extremely important in today’s world. Invest in the right marketing technology. In the absence of any investment in marketing technology, it is a harakiri that is happening and the data is not getting utilised. In some cases where the client has invested in the right mar-tech, they lack the right talent and expertise. So it is important to create a whole ecosystem that can help deliver strong results. People talk like performance is a vertical specialisation. But it’s just a mindset. Everything is performance in the digital world.


Arun Iyer, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer at Lowe Lintas

Do not throw away what we know and have learnt in traditional marketing practices. After all, human insights and fundamental behaviours of humans remain the same. But be plugged into the new behaviours that certain technologies are creating. Like people are speaking about how voice assistants have killed about 500 million devices. We’re all talking tech, but what could happen there? That could become a sales and distribution or marketing channel. We must be plugged into how this could have an impact on people. Do not trust anybody who says he or she knows it all about digital. We’re all figuring as we go along.