Karl Gomes, Co-founder of Fanatics and AgencyDigi, talked about the transformation of communication into a conversation in branding.
Gomes was a Partner, Customer Experience at DAN Consult, the consulting arm of global media and digital marketing conglomerate Dentsu Aegis Network. Before venturing out as an entrepreneur, he was the National Creative Director, Digital at Rediffusion Y & R.
Karl Gomes shared his opinions on Digital Advertising and Brand Communication in the post-Covid-19 era, as people are ignoring advertisements by taking subscriptions and changing channels in digital media, print media, radio and television.
Gomes said that before the Coronavirus, there were times when advertisements were bombarded into people’s digital space, print space, newspapers, television and radio. People were turning it off or switching their channels or taking subscriptions in digital space to avoid advertisements. He questioned the attendees in the webinar, “Does that mean advertisements are a luxury or are advertisements a necessity?” He himself answered the question and said that an advertisement is a luxury but if one does it in a different way than it is converted into a necessity.
Companies are making a lot of essential items for people. Now, the big brand companies are changing themselves into essential commodity manufacturers to interact with the consumers and understand their needs. Advertising is there to tell people that the company exists, impart awareness to the consumers and make new customers. According to Karl, the word of mouth is the strongest form of advertisement. It is the people who promote things to other people. People experience the products and tell others about the products.
He said, “Transform the word advertising and make it experience.” Make conversations interactive and change communication into a conversation. In the late 19th century, there was a term called VUCA, which was used in the wars. Now, it is used in the advertising sector too. He explained that nobody knows about the word. VUCA actually stands for Volatile, Uncertainty, Complex and Ambiguous.
Brands that help people and understand them in this situation will only stand in this volatile situation. To understand the world, business needs data to know the uncertainty of the situation. Complex in the term represents the personalized interaction of brands with the customers. The most relevant example he took was Netflix that uses data to personalise the experience of the people. And, ambiguity is unknown because new services and products are coming rapidly in the market within a short time span.
Gomes added that it is all about what people love and how people engage with the brand. He mentioned that banking and financial institutions were the first to start interactive conversations with customers from being just functional. Just don’t sell the product to the people but make the product a part of their lives. He said that it is not the brand’s journey but the customer’s journey with the brand.
The Coronavirus did not kill the system but it exposed the system. Be relevant, honest, and truthful to the customers always. He shared his experience about the ‘Jaago Re’ brand which was there to make people aware of what they were purchasing. Create messages for the people not to sell the brand but to make them aware.
The framework of VUCA can be used to build a funnel of the people, where brands will dump the people into the top of the funnel and minimize the context, interact with them from the funnel and segregate them from thousands and hundreds.
Gomes said that all those businesses not engaging with their customers may get affected post-Covid-19. He mentioned that major transformations were done in business by Corona. He classified the group of people who find advertisements as luxury or necessity. He added that those people who are unaware about advertisements, their uses or the brand may find the product luxurious whereas the people who are engaged with the product, aware of it and have regular interaction with the brand may find the product a necessity.
If nature is healing and people are healing then why can’t a business heal!. Just that there is a need for an immunity pill that understands customers and their needs. Experience, storytelling and content can create the customer’s need into existence. Lastly, Gomes said that technology, logistics, consulting, storytelling all are equally important and everyone needs to evolve from their step where they are standing. Working together is essential.
The author, Abhinav Banerjee is associated with Adamas University Media School.
