Mumbai:
Dolby recently launched a campaign - Dolby mein suna kya? Dekha kya?" to introduce Indian audiences to the Dolby experience and highlight the importance of bringing audio-visual experiences to life. Sameer Seth - Director, Marketing Dolby Laboratories India, walked us through the Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision experiences at its Mumbai office. Seth explained to Indiantelevision.com how Dolby is leveraging a co-marketing strategy to provide its customers with an exceptional audio and visual experience across lifestyles.
Dolby has on myriad occasions launched and executed unique consumer-centric campaigns in India in the recent past, like ‘Dolby Everywhere in 2020’, ‘Dolby Audio Ke Saath Noise Nahi Experience’ and ‘Mobile Par Dolby Hain Kya?’ in 2019, and a series of films under ‘Ghar Par Dolby Hain Kya?’ -, ‘Ph.D. aka Poora (Complete) HD’ in 2018, ‘Bringing The Stadium Experience Home With Dolby Audio’ in 2016 & ‘From Mono To Surround Sound with Dolby Audio’ in 2014.
Also read: Dolby releases consumer campaign in India
LG Electronics India home entertainment business head Gireesan Gopi, said,” LG has always been at the forefront of developing new and advanced technologies. Dolby Vision IQ and Dolby Atmos combined with the innovations by LG provide a unique edge to our OLED TVs. High-quality imaging and audio are essential elements of the TV viewing experience, and with Dolby, we have been able to excel in creating that. With our decade-long collaboration, we have been able to create a range of industry-leading solutions. We hope to continue to work together in this direction for more differentiated collaborations.”
LG OLED TV product head Abhiral Bhansali said, “We feel immensely proud to have completed 10 years of association with Dolby for the LG OLED televisions. Our collaboration with Dolby has enabled and empowered us to create a range of industry-leading home entertainment solutions and create a niche for our products in the Indian market. Complimented by the latest Dolby ATMOS and Dolby Vision IQ technology, we have been able to offer our customers an immersive multidimensional experience. We are optimistic about our continued association in creating and innovating the most meaningful solution for our customers.”
LG Electronics India home entertainment marketing lead Aamir Hasan, said, “At LG, it has been our continuous endeavor to offer the best experience to our consumers and the partnership with Dolby on the journey for the past decade has been greatly rewarding. Powered by their class-leading audio-visual technologies, we have been able to create an immersive and entertaining experience for our customers. With the overwhelming reception, we have got for our products, we look forwards to working together to create the future of home entertainment.”
Edited Excerpts
On Dolby journey
At Dolby, we focus on how for eg a filmmaker or musician can improve their storytelling or use Dolby tools to create content that is more true to their original intent, and this has been our work for many years. We collaborate with services that deliver content, whether they are broadcast services, streaming services, or audio streaming services. We have associated with creators to ensure that their content provides the best possible experience because it's created and then experienced in Dolby
The third most important component of the ecosystem is playback, which is where the devices come in. We work with OEMs, who create living room devices, such as televisions, sound bars, home theatre systems, and smart speakers along with mobile OEMs and PC manufacturers and with headsets and wearables such as Dolby Atmos enabled gaming headsets.
As a result, the three main components of the ecosystem are that content must be created in Dolby, delivered in Dolby, and played back on Dolby-enabled devices.
In India there has been content momentum. As a result, in December 2022, we completed 10 years of Dolby Atmos in India. In addition, over 1200 Indian titles have been released theatrically in Dolby Atmos in 6 different Indian languages. Any film that matters to the Indian box office releases in Dolby Atmos, in addition to the English or Hollywood films that arrive. So the figures mentioned are specific to Indian content and there is a lot of momentum.
Moving on to living room experiences, many AV streaming services offer content in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. For example international streaming services like Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, and Indian streaming services like Disney+Hotstar, Zee5, Hoichoi, and SunNext are streaming their content in Dolby Vision and or Dolby Atmos.
Along with OTT platforms, we also collaborate with audio streaming services. We closely work with Apple Music, Hungama Music, and Gaana.com that stream music in Dolby Atmos. Earshot is a service that offers captivating podcasts in Dolby Atmos. On the podcast front, we've worked over years to bring a number of Indian podcasts in Dolby Atmos. Another service that streams podcasts in Dolby Atmos is Aawaz.com. Times Special recently made their podcast services available in Dolby Atmos. The audience can also enjoy content 30,000 feet in the air, using SpiceJet's SpiceScreen in-flight entertainment system, which delivers video in Dolby Atmos.
Apart from all these even mobile games and live sports can be played and watched in Dolby Atmos. We've recently expanded the Dolby Atmos experience in automobiles, and we're very proud to deliver a Dolby Atmos experience in the car. Mercedes-Benz is one such automaker. We've been working hard in India for years to create an ecosystem of stories by delivering experiences through devices, services, and content.
On the learnings
Our biggest marketing challenge at the same time an opportunity has been to drive education around Dolby experiences.
So, how did we convey the Dolby experience to Indian consumers in a straightforward manner? How does one get the most out of a device? How can one have the best possible experience? How does one get the best experience in the living room?
We have done a lot of marketing campaigns over the years to drive education and awareness as the two main pillars. We have also done this through multiple touchpoints that was created locally, so there are multiple campaigns like Ghar pe Dolby hai kya, 'Mobile pe Dolby hai kya,' ‘Dolby Everywhere’. Presently there is so much content in Dolby, we then decided to create a campaign that showcases a day in the life of an Indian family and how Dolby enhances their daily viewing experience. Our current campaign, "Dolby Main Suna kya? Deka kya?," is a campaign that goes one step further, because, now that there is content out there across genres – TV shows, music, movies, sports, and gaming, it is time to go out and buy a device with Dolby tech. With this campaign we are hoping to induce purchase of a Dolby-enabled device - #BuyInDolby, whether it is a home device or an on-the-go device.
On the expectations and awareness
This campaign is built around the novel concept of co-marketing. Collaborative marketing as a concept creates value for like-minded partner brands. These like-minded partners are associating with the goal of showcasing how to introduce Dolby technology in their devices to provide the best entertainment experience for the consumer.
In this campaign we collaborated with five OEM partners in this campaign; the partners will amplify this campaign through their touchpoints. Co-marketing is a marketer’s delight, on how a collaborative effort with partner brands could bring in, the multiplier effect. This co-marketing effort with these partner brands would ensure that the campaign reached as many people as possible.
On collaborations
The concept of collaboration leverages the collective mind of like-minded partners.
It's a unique concept, and we take great pride in running multiple collaborative marketing campaigns over the years. And now that there is so much content in various passions, such as movies, music, sports, and gaming, why not bring that to life through collaboration, which is the essence of what Dolby does.
I don't see any disadvantages of co-marketing campaigns. There is a reason why partners use Dolby technology in the devices that they sell, and they would like to inform their target audience about the Dolby experience that comes alive with the device. So, can you imagine the multiplier effect that each partner brand will have? We'd like our partners to talk about Dolby in the context of a technology or experience that they've added to their devices.
We have a co-marketing opportunity with any piece of content that releases in Dolby. When we can combine content, service, and device, we normally produce and practice collaborative marketing.
On the target audience
Let's talk about the Dolby experience from a device. The Dolby experience is available on mobile phones, which are available today for even less than Rs10,000/-. There is a market both in India and in Bharat where Dolby is already available.
Talking about televisions, televisions around Rs15,000/- that come with Dolby technology and are sold both in India and Bharat. Let's talk about cinema now, 850+ screens are Dolby Atmos-enabled in India, and these are not just in big cities but also in small towns, and the same experience is available across. There is the penetration of devices, mobile connections, and data plans getting cheaper and cheaper, a lot of consumers are consuming content on the go, and this consumption is happening both in India and Bharat. This technology is available on both services, where consumers in India and Bharat consume content. So the content is there, and so is the technology.
On the survey
We did two specific studies, one recent study with CMR, to understand the purchase behavior among smartphone users, revealing what consumers want when they go out to buy a smartphone. The 2022 leg of the CMR survey revealed that Indian consumers prioritize audio when purchasing a smartphone. Consumers are assuming that the phone they buy will have the best camera, battery, and processor, but now that they are consuming so much content on their phone, consumers are making sure that they have the best audio experience?
We also recently conducted a study with a counterpoint to understand what consumers want in their living room devices, and the study discovered that consumers prefer enhanced audio experiences from the televisions they purchase. As a consumer I'm sure my TV is the best, but it's not providing me with the best audio experience possible. In another study, we looked at online purchase data, and we created a Dolby brand eStore – www.amazon.in/dolbystore and www.croma.com/dolbystore.
Here a consumer, can see all of the Dolby-enabled devices and even choose which one they want. We worked with these partners and got a lot of data where they told us that consumers are actually doing keyword searches and looking for Dolby-enabled devices with keywords like Dolby-enabled soundbar, Dolby-enabled TV or mobile with Dolby now, which means that consumers want devices with all the technology, and that, is what this campaign is trying to do - #BuyInDolby.
On the consumer behaviour
The pandemic brought changes in consumer behaviour towards content consumption. More time was spent in consuming content. In that case, they want the best possible experience, and we say this because of a study we did with Wakefield, which shows that, during and after the pandemic, consumers did a two-pronged upgrade, upgrading their devices for a better experience. Secondly, they upgraded subscription to streaming services while also investing in a better television or a better mobile phone. This two-pronged upgrade also reflected the changing consumer behaviour, because today they want to watch content in the best possible way.
On Regional Penetration
According to Dolby, consumers are already exposed to a lot of regional content in Dolby, and the best reference point is the cinema. There are over 1200 Indian films that have been released theatrically in 6 different languages in Dolby Atmos. Films have been released in Tamil Malayalam Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Punjabi, and so on. We have also collaborated with OTT services, and it is the same trend in regional OTT. Sun NXt, for example, has a lot of its movie content in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, Hoichoi, which is a Bengali streaming service, has a lot of its content in Dolby Atmos. If a film is released in Dolby Atmos, the music also releases in Dolby Atmos; independent artists have also begun to release music in Dolby Atmos, proving that this technology has something that enhances their creativity. We've been focusing on the regional aspect in all of these areas as well.
On the Lineage
Ray Dolby founded the company in 1965, with a handful of other people focused on a very specific problem — hiss in audio recording. Now, to bring so much innovation to market in partnership with such a large ecosystem, we needed a global team with varied expertise. We have more than 700 scientists and engineers with expertise in neuroscience, audio, imaging, and conferencing. We also have large teams of people with business and marketing expertise in entertainment, broadcast, OTT, consumer electronics, voice conferencing, and more.
We've been around for about 55-60 years. Dolby is a brand that has consistently provided the best possible experience. As I previously stated, the journey in India began with cinemas and exhibitors with whom we have been working for a long time. Then we began collaborating with broadcasters on pay TV services with streaming services, as well as music streaming services with podcast services. So it's taken a lot of work, but a global brand is something that the Indian consumer will always cherish and want to own a product with.
On collaborations with Content Creators
The business model is based on collaboration, which is at the heart of our brand. That is why we are here. The brand essence can be the same in India or any other market where it operates, whether it is global or local. We take great pride in creating experiences with content creators when delivering services and receiving feedback. This is only the beginning.
On the Indian market challenges
A challenge and an opportunity at the same time is raising awareness and educating people on the Dolby experience.Raising awareness and educating people about the Dolby experience is both a challenge and an opportunity. How do you raise awareness for a Dolby experience that is available in a variety of content forms? That is our challenge, but it is also an opportunity because this opportunity provided allows us to collaborate with like-minded partners, so we do a lot of co-marketing with streaming services. If a new piece of content is released, we collaborate with them to say, "Hey, this content can be best experienced in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos for this reason, and this new device that is launching can deliver a better gaming experience, because it comes with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.
On future plans
There's a lot to cover, and to be honest, we're just getting started. There's a lot of content that comes out every day, and we are now looking at delivering the Dolby experience in automobiles. We will basically go wherever the consumer goes in terms of experiences, wherever he or she is experiencing content, we want them to experience it on the best device. That is what we intend to do and will continue to do and we excel at it.
