Gen AI is the answer to every marketer’s prayer: Anuradha Sehgal, Coforge

Anuradha Sehgal, the CMO of Coforge, a global digital services and solutions provider, speaks to us about the company achieving achieved a revenue milestone of $1bn in FY 23. She also sheds light on its campaign “We earned the third comma”.

“Coforge is now a billion-dollar IT services company. Reaching a billion USD takes vision, hard work and staying power. Of a collective. We are proud, both of the milestone and of the collective,” says Sehgal.

Excerpts from the interview:

Shed some light on the planning and execution of the “We earned the third comma campaign” - $1 billion milestone - social media execution and its importance. What was the impact of the campaign?

Reaching a $1 Bn milestone is a momentous milestone in any company’s journey - it takes vision, hard work and staying power. We decided to celebrate not just the achievement but the collective effort that went into achieving it.

We may have a legacy of 32 years, but the Coforge brand is less than 3 years old! We adopted our new identity, Coforge in August 2020. In the period that followed, which included the pandemic, our sole focus was on building our business and supporting our clients.

Our hard work paid off and we hit the 1 bn USD revenue. However, awareness of the Coforge brand beyond our existing clients, partners, investors and employees was still relatively limited.

We saw this milestone as the perfect opportunity to create awareness about our company and our work, build our brand and create a sense of pride among our team – all vital for our journey ahead.

In the run-up to the milestone, we revamped our brand identity with a refreshed, and more contemporary logo and visual design. We refreshed our digital assets, enhanced our presence on social media, engaged with media to showcase our expertise and significantly improved the level and quality of engagement with all our stakeholders.

To announce our milestone achievement, we conceptualised a campaign “We earned the third comma”. We kept the communication sharp, the tone direct and the design modern and minimalistic, in line with our brand values.

Coforge is now a billion-dollar IT services company. Reaching a billion USD takes vision, hard work and staying power. Of a collective. We are proud, both of the milestone and of the collective.

Our campus in Greater Noida serves as the nerve centre for our global delivery operations. Delhi NCR contains the largest number of Coforge employees in India. We mounted an eight-week outdoor campaign on select high-impact sites that offered visibility to a wider audience of professionals and corporates – digital screens inside all three of the Delhi airport terminals, signages around the airport and in Cyber hub, Gurugram. At our Greater Noida Campus, we wrapped a 90 ft high wall emblazoned with the 1 bn dollar message.

We took up print ads in leading Indian financial dailies and business magazines.

“Coforge is People. Coforge is Growth.” We proved that this wasn’t just a slogan. The announcement of our milestone achievement was accompanied by the announcement of iPads for every single employee to commemorate the milestone. Social media was flooded with happy photos and videos of employees receiving and unboxing their iPads. The initiative was recognised by the media and the industry as a remarkable gesture, especially at a time when global technology firms were facing recessionary headwinds.

At the Coforge Media Meet held in Delhi, Coforge leadership team engaged in face-to-face interactions with media persons and offered insights into our success – our vertical and technology focus, our impact on business, our best-in-class employee retention rates, our people focus, our awards and recognitions. In the days following the announcement, there were more than 300 stories on Coforge in the media.

We followed it up with a Global Analysts & Advisors Meet in New York, and an Investors meet in Mumbai within weeks. We are planning to hold similar events in Sydney and London.

We launched a six-week social media campaign across LinkedIn, FB and Instagram which featured testimonials from our clients and partners, messages from our leaders and employees – authentic content that communicated our differentiated capabilities, our strengths, our values, our people, our diversity, and life at Coforge. On LinkedIn, our posts garnered 2.3mn impressions, 333k visitors visited our profile and 165k people engaged with our posts.

What is the significance of Influencer marketing for a B2B IT company like Coforge?

Analysts and advisors have long played a crucial role as influencers in the IT industry by providing industry insights, thought leadership, vendor evaluations, decision-making support, validation, and market education. Their expertise and recommendations significantly impact the perception and success of IT services providers.

Technology partners play an influencer role by providing technology expertise, joint solution development, market validation, co-marketing opportunities, sales enablement, access to customer networks, and collaboration in innovation and R&D. Their expertise helps IT services companies stay at the forefront of technology trends and deliver innovative solutions to their clients.

Events bring together industry professionals and experts, providing businesses with valuable insights into market trends, emerging technologies and industry challenges. They provide unique opportunities for businesses to connect, engage, and influence their target audience.

Investors are key influencers as they provide funding, financial support, industry expertise, strategic partnerships, brand reputation, market validation, media exposure and access to crucial networks. B2B companies can leverage the influence and connections of their investors to establish credibility, attract key stakeholders and accelerate their growth.

The most important influencers for a B2B company are its clients. Prospective clients often consider the experiences of existing clients when evaluating the reputation and trustworthiness of a B2B company. Long standing client relationships of significant value serve as a testament to a firm’s ability to deliver innovation and value over a long period of time.

Last but not the least, positive employee advocacy can significantly influence how the company is perceived and can contribute to building a strong and positive brand image. Employees who feel valued, informed and engaged within the company are its best advocates. Positive employee experiences, testimonials and word-of-mouth recommendations influence perceptions of the company as an attractive employer and help in attracting the best talent.

What are the key trends in marketing technology (Martech)?

The Martech tool captivating all marketers today is Generative AI. Marketers are thrilled by the multitude of possibilities it presents all at once! With its unprecedented ability to generate content, images, social media messages, videos, audios, write codes and even design websites in direct response to briefs typed out in a tab, Gen AI is the answer to every marketer’s every prayer! If you can write a well-defined brief and have the expertise to evaluate a creative, congratulations! you now have a world-class, multi-skilled creative bench at your beck and call.

I think it would be safe to say that Gen AI will either transform every Martech tool that exists today or replace it.