NEW DELHI: Indiantelevision.com’s marquee virtual conclave exploring the scope of growth in Kerala ad market during the upcoming festive season, starting Onam, “The Comeback of Kerala: Onam Returns” wrapped up Wednesday noon with an impressive lineup of speakers sharing their deep insights into the market. The show expressed great hopes and positivity towards markets across the country picking up post-Onam but with a certain air of caution in people’s minds.
The virtual event kickstarted with a riveting address by Indiantelevision.com Group founder, CEO, and editor in chief Anil Wanvari following which BARC India CEO Sunil Lulla presented exclusive data on the market highlighting some of the key pre-Covid2019 and Covid2019 trends and an overview of the previous three Onams in the state.
He indicated that as Kerala has already started witnessing a growth in ad volumes, going 10 per cent up in the month of July’20 as compared to Jan’20, the trend will continue to be so if the production-supply chains keep picking up. However, for ad revenues to grow, it will take some more time, probably the market will reach pre-Covid2019 levels in 2021.
After Lulla’s insightful presentation, next in agenda was a panel discussion on “Unlock 3.0: The National Perspective--Are Brands And Consumers Ready ” moderated by TAM Media Research Pvt Ltd CEO LV Krishnan. Sitting on the panel were ITC Ltd head media and PR Jaikishin Chhaproo, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd head of media Subha Sreenivasan, Initiative CEO Vaishali Verma, Wavemaker India VP Kishan Kumar Shymalan and Zenith India CEO Jai Lala.
Chhaproo shared that despite Onam being just around the corner, there hasn’t been any noticeable spike in sales and the market is still dealing with logistical issues. Sreenivasan, however, showed positivity indicating that things will slowly pick up.
Lala opined, “The need of the hour is to work together ever before. We need to get information at the ground level. The engagement has to be very deep; TV and newspapers have been impacted which need to get back to their pace."
The panel agreed that digital is set for double-digit growth this year while for other sectors it is going to be a slow trail in the coming months.
Kumar Shyamalan said, “The H2 impact will be far lesser, and the next three months will be extremely critical to see how many opportunities we have while working together.”
The next panel discussed the retail and local perspective within the Kerala market as Unlock 3.0 begins. The session was moderated by Star Regional Business EVP ad sales Dev Shenoy and had Popular Motor World Pvt Ltd CEO Sujith Chandran, LG Electronics GM Sheebu David, Seematti CEO Beena Kannan, Maitri Advertising Works (P) Ltd director-operations Raju Menon, Mplan Media CEO and founder Parag Masteh, and Pittappillil Agencies MD Peter Paul Pittappillil.
Addressing the challenges faced by various industries in terms of consumer behaviour, the panel noted that the biggest issue is restricted mobility, to address which they are investing in digital solutions. Masteh shared that this has led to a boom in e-commerce, especially in apparel and consumer electronics.
Pittappillil shared that while the overall sentiment around Onam is positive, he is not expecting performance similar to previous years. Kannan said that they are expecting 20-30 per cent growth. According to Menon, real estate is also showing positive movement in the middle-level.
The final panel “Unlock 3.0: Understanding the Overall Brand Sentiments” delved into the greater local and national insights into the shifts expected to happen in the marketing and advertising markets in the coming few months. The panel was made interesting by some thought-provoking inputs shared by Blue Star Ltd VP--sales and marketing for cooling and purification products division C Haridas, Mathrubhumi Group national cluster head Sunil Nambiar, Lodestar UM IPG Mediabrands EVP Laya Menon, Asianet News Network Pvt Ltd VP Unnikrishnan BK, Malayala Manorama VP--marketing Varghese Chandy, and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd south cluster head Siju Prabhakaran, moderated by Kalyan Jewellers independent director and L&K Saatchi and Saatchi former CEO and managing partner Anil S Nair.
Haridas noted that though there is an air of caution, people will surely start spending from Onam but they will need the right kind of value and motivation.
Speaking about sentiments felt in the rest of the country and Kerala cluster Prabhakaran said, “Kerala showed the way to the rest of the country in terms of how to handle this crisis. Brand Kerala is in a very strong position. It has always managed to be in the national limelight. TV was only the choice so viewership was on the rise, but it couldn’t be monetised. Kerala was first to start the production, but I think we have seen a lot of resilience shown by us.”
You can catch up on the whole conclave here:
