NEW DELHI: Orientbell’s chief marketing officer Alok Agarwal is a veteran who has built brands across India and abroad. An alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay and Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, Agarwal carries experience of over two decades during which he has built brands across the globe, led new product development, evangelised digital marketing, and created shopper marketing solutions for retail outlets. His career has seen him in marketing roles at Unilever, GSK Consumer and Ebay India. At Orientbell Tiles, he is focused on making tile selection and buying easy. Recently Agarwal engaged with Aaj Tak for a 360-degree ad campaign. Indiantelevision.com got into a conversation with him about his experience during the campaign.

Edited excerpts:

On Orientbell's digital first strategy.

Our customers decide our strategy. We will be anywhere, we go where the customer is, to engage with him in a way that’s relevant to him. Thanks to the accessibility of the mobile device, consumers today spend much more time on their digital devices than on any other medium.

On innovative campaigns recently.

We are always trying to engage with our customers with content that’s relevant to them. Throughout the pandemic we led conversations encouraging our audience to maintain physical distancing, stay indoors or wear masks. As the lockdown ended and movement increased during Diwali, our campaign, Karo Rishton Ko Renovate encouraged our followers to reinvest in their relationships.

When the year ended, we launched the Bye-Bye 2020 campaign, which reflected a sense of relief that people had after a really demanding year and instilled hopes for 2021. Each campaign launched during the pandemic focused on the need of the hour and captured the feelings of the consumers around that time.

On the objective behind trying a new ad medium.

The media landscape is evolving faster than ever before. So we are also experimenting to stay connected with our customers. Aaj Tak’s connected TV is a natural fit with our TG and it was great collaborating with them to design an experiment that not only addressed our concerns (on investments) but also set up metrics for measuring performance to objectively judge the outcomes.

On the experience with Aaj Tak connected TV (web, app, smart TV, Youtube etc), especially knowing that Orientbell was the first one to do so.

The ad worked well. And in the Aaj Tak connected ecosystem we say there was a 2.5X increase in brand awareness. Among those aware, the message recall also increased by 50 per cent which is both a function of the creative as well as the medium. Aaj Tak Connected TV was also a very cost effective medium for us. The cost per view was competitive.

On initial apprehensions about Aaj Tak connected TV.

The concerns are similar to any other medium. The main challenge for marketers is to engage the consumers’ attention for those few seconds of their life. While we all love ads, we also get distracted during ad breaks for all the normal distractions that exist.

On whether connected TV generates greater attentiveness as compared to traditional TV ads.

We did speak to a few consumers who had experienced it. They were all more leaning-in to the mobile screen and seemed more engaged to it than to the larger screen. Of course, this merits a much wider sample. But I guess that’s for the media houses. Looking at our results, we are certain that connected TV reached a large audience and had good engagement.

On the feedback Orientbell got from its b2b partners and from the market on this campaign, and whether the desired reach was achieved.

Yes, there was a buzz about the film. Reach exceeded our expectations. As a marketer, you always want more. The advertisement definitely resulted in improved brand metrics.

On whether Orientbell would like to continue its association with Aaj Tak connected TV.

It is an interesting medium. And we would definitely be open to evaluating it for appropriate campaigns.

On whether he would refer this product to a new age marketer.

Yes, we had a good experience with it, and the product has potential.