NEW DELHI: Spending on video content to reach consumers during the lockdown period yielded the highest return on investment, stated the Digital 2021: Adapting to the New Normal report by Octane Research and DMAasia.

Octane Research engaged with over 250 of India’s leading chief marketing officers (CMOs) and leaders as part of its research study to gain first-hand insights and perspective on outflanking the impact of the Covid2019 pandemic.

As many as 62 per cent of CMOs in India said that spends on video for consumer outreach delivered the highest return on investment.

"The digital industry and streaming video players like Netflix, Amazon, Facebook, YouTube and others decided to temporary default their video quality to SD. This initiative was in consumer interest to ensure better access to the internet by maintaining the robustness of cellular networks," said the Octane's annual state of online marketing report published on its 10th anniversary.

The report said video continues to be the most stimulating type of content for the consumer, as well as offering maximum engagement.

Marketers said that video along with live-streaming gave their brands the maximum amount of customer engagement, only social media had more. It was also noted that blogs and email campaigns have continued to be among the top five channels for customer engagement. Promotion and updates through the use of traditional SMS are also among the top five.

"Content marketing in India has finally found its place as a separate line item on the marketers’ budgets. Online is driven through effective content management practices and we anticipate a surge in this area for the 2021 Annual. Engaging new audiences emerge as the no. 1 area of opportunity for India brands," it said.

Video continues to be the most stimulating type of content for the consumer. It continues to offer a solid ROI (return on investment), as 61.8 per cent of our responders deploy content marketing strategies within the videos and webinars.

“With the movement of people severely limited during the lockdown and even after that, companies swiftly adopted digital mode to reach out to a wider section of people, the evidence suggests that the strategy worked,” said Octane Research chief research officer Punit Modhgil. 

About 51 per cent of the CMOs interviewed admitted having leveraged branded pages, microsites and social media handles for marketing promotions and consumer engagement. Promotional microsites allow consumers to have a quick, focused journey based on their immediate need, rather than dispersing their attention. They are also cost-effective in increasing a consumer’s engagement by promoting brand-specific content.

CMOs in India also leveraged their brand’s social media handles to actively reach out and engage with their followers. They used their Instagram and Twitter handles to showcase emerging creative talent —and commissioned select creative work to help tell the brand story. The brand Converse ran a campaign on new ways to create progress together with consumers.

2020 is the year influencer marketing became mainstream with marketers in India and a majority of them plan to invest in 2021 in influencer marketing programs because of its high impact in driving awareness and engaging consumers. Celebrities regularly conducted Instagram Live sessions to engage their followers. In addition, a number of BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) and e-wallet brands utilised influencers to inform consumers on how their services were relevant during the lockdown. An overwhelming 88 per cent of the participants said they would be trying influencer marketing in the next 12 months as "consumers trust what influencers say about brands far more than what brands say about themselves in their advertising.”

As regards emailers and newsletters, 43 per cent of India CMOs participating in the study ranked email third in terms of impact and return on investment generated. According to Campaign Monitor, open rates for email increased by 16 per cent in March and email sends increased by 19 per cent.

33 per cent of CMOs feel they would be running seasonal campaigns on loyalty programmes and an almost equal number vouched for such initiatives in the short-term.