India is currently consistently the fastest growing market and leads ad spend growth globally, as per MAGNA’s Global Ad forecast.
India’s ad spend is expected to touch $1.37 billion and the next year ad spends growth is expected to be 12.4
percent as against current 10.3 percent, according to World Advertising Research Center (WARC). Media agencies are expecting higher ad spends riding on general elections in May 2024 and Indian Premier League. Alongside, agencies are hoping the summer dominant brands continue their spending in 2024 as the spending was relatively lower in 2023 due to input prices surge, coupled with disturbed summer weather.
Storyboard18 spoke to experts from media agencies to understand their priorities, predictions for the first quarter of 2024 and the trends that will shape the advertising and media landscape.
Sociowash has several priorities in the first quarter as the digital marketing agency continues to expand its operations globally. A key focus will be to establish its presence in Bengaluru to strengthen its India operations. Sociowash is also closely evaluating an entry into the UAE market. Meanwhile, scaling up its recently set up New Zealand office to better serve clients in the Australasia region remains important.
“To support this growth, we are recruiting leadership who can help automate processes and implement efficient systems, which will be imperative, allowing us to maintain the high standards we set for ourselves, while the business grows internationally. We are confident that effectively executing these strategic initiatives will put us on track to make meaningful progress towards our long-term vision,” says Pranav Agarwal, co-founder, Sociowash.
For Alliance Advertising & Marketing, the focus is on outcomes in 2024. “We will continue to pivot from the bottom of the funnel performance to the top of the funnel approach by recalibrating emphasis on the performance of media. With content being platform agnostic, media outcomes are critical. Clients are clearly looking at how media/ communication strategy can help drive business outcomes. We will ensure our teams are completely immersed in achieving the objectives for both brand and business metrics,” says V Narayanan, chief executive officer at Alliance Advertising & Marketing.
Driving the “Consumer Experiences” quotient for clients is also critical for Alliance. “There is a heightened need to move the metrics from SOV (Share of Voice) to SOE (Share of Consumer Experiences). We envisage instilling creativity and innovation into communications and adapting to new measurement metrics to measure business outcomes. Data and creative measurement become the cornerstones in shaping consumer experiences, clearly informed by data and infused by a brand purpose. More personalisation and customised communication are definitely in the pipeline to drive superior consumer experiences,” shares Narayanan.
“Getting future-ready is something that Cheil India believes in and I echo the same sentiments. I believe we have sown the seeds over the past 18 months and have tirelessly worked towards it. In the first quarter of next year, we plan to open our Mumbai office for Cheil X and aggressively reach out to clients to tell our unique story,” shares Sanjeev Jasani, Cheil India.
Predictions for H1
The Indian economy continues to display resilience in the face of global headwinds. This sustained momentum bodes well for an extremely promising first half of the year across all sectors. As consumer spending and brand investment rise, the advertising industry finds itself well-positioned to benefit from this upward trend, explains Agarwal.
He adds that regional and local brands will ramp up their marketing initiatives, opening new avenues for smaller agencies focused on tier two and three cities. Attracting top creative and technical talent will come at a higher cost as competition for in-demand skills intensifies.
“AI will continue to be a buzzword. The importance of finding a fine balance between AI and applying that human touch will be ever so important. And being able to use this newfound skill of AI along with the intelligent use of data and technology will pave a new way for CX. I feel it’s a combination of these parts that will stitch a beautiful story together for bands to build long-standing relationships with their customers,” says Jasani.
He feels the use of Data, Tech and AI in building unique customer experiences will play a crucial role in 2024. And of course, customer experience (CX). “I feel CX will come back with the introduction of AI. We will see a transformative fusion of the physical and digital worlds that promises to redefine how a customer experiences a brand,” he says and adds, “By seamlessly integrating AI-driven personalisation, interactive elements, and real-time data, brands can cultivate deeper connections and foster brand loyalty unlike ever before. The CX revolution is upon us. And it is even more relevant now as compared to what it was before.
Trends that will set in Q1
Agarwal believes that the general elections will shape some trends for sure, as the entire country will be talking about it. Brands will double down on tailoring their communication to address region-specific tastes, preferences and cultural nuances even within India. More advertisers will recognise the opportunity in native language content to reach audiences in their preferred tongues beyond just Hindi and English.
According to Narayanan, advertisers will relook at the ROI on social media and performance marketing. He sees this slowing down due to higher clutter, more fragmentation and also rising costs. Apart from Linear TV, Narayanan expects a jump in Connected TV numbers, especially during key sporting events.
Definitely, more authentic and credible campaigns from brands especially on digital/ social media, compared to vanilla campaigns.
It is the beginning of a new era with content creators taking the centre stage. Forging a content partnership with key content platforms becomes paramount as Narayanan feels the creator economy of influencers—Mega Micro and Nano — will continue to get bigger and more accountable.