Rohan Mehta talks about the unpredictable nature of the A&M industry, how it became the norm, Kinnect’s merger with FCB, the future of digital, and more in a brief chat with Social Samosa.
The digital marketing space is an ever-evolving industry. At each stage there is a new curve ball in the form of trends and feature evolution. Rohan MehtaCEO of Kinnect explains how influencer marketing has become a staple for many brands and is recognized as a crucial advertising strategy.
In conversation with Social Samosa, Jury Member SAMMIE also discusses the potential that Metaverse holds and its future in India, among other ideas.
Edited excerpts:
How has digital developed compared to the mid-pandemic period in 2021 and the post-pandemic period in 2022? Are you back to pre-pandemic levels from a business perspective?
Digital continues to grow and we see it becoming the preferred choice for brands across the board in the years to come. For us, digital agency, the pandemic did not leave much damage by setting aside the first two or three months. In fact, it has accelerated the adoption of digital as an advertising medium, and we as an agency have seen 100% growth in the past two years.
Are there any changes in consumer behaviors that you have seen late?
It is undeniable that customer behavior is changing faster than ever. Consumer preferences for what they want, where they want it and when they want to use their goods and services. Retailers and consumer products industries are under pressure due to dramatic ups and downs in demand, widespread use of digital channels, issues with the global supply chain and an inflationary environment.
One of the trends I can highlight here is that consumers are looking for ‘CUSTOMIZATION’ more than ever. Marketers have a wide range of personalization possibilities because there are so many different ways to reach the audience. It’s just a matter of narrowing down the ones that offer the best return on investment.
Kinnect completed its 11th year in September; how do you think the industry has changed when it comes to accepting digital to its full potential? Can you share lessons from this trip?
Previously, digital was a complementary medium to campaign executions. Customers would say that social media should also be used. For us, or anyone, there were no significant barriers to digital entry. It’s a low barrier entry platform, and that’s what made a lot of people give it a try. This is also what pushed brands to take their first step. While entry is easy, for customers to build trust in the medium, you need to demonstrate success in keeping up with changing consumer behavior. We did it and showed how digital can help build a brand and help achieve desirable results. This is how we got our customers to invest more time and money in digital.
We live in a VUCA world, the #nevernormal. Our new work structures are modeled to propel agility within teams and for our brands, more as a structure for work to happen more efficiently within our cross-functional team constructs, across geographies and across integrated teams of Kinnect and FCB. We keep pace with the new and continue to find the most effective ways to navigate this VUCA world, not only in terms of business, but also for our people and our brands.
This year we have seen quite a few mergers in the advertising industry. After merging your forces with FCB, how has your approach changed and what should the future of the agency model look like?
Our first official year of integration with the FCB Group, and the saying “the secret sauce of success includes a valued partner” perfectly describes our partnership. We’ve had a thriving year together, and the result is evident with our growth, global learning, integrated customer offerings and a big win at the Cannes Lions. This has equipped us and FCB Group India to be more forward looking. This partnership allowed us to leverage their skill in building brands over decades, our speed and tenacity in digital, and an understanding of the new media landscape.
Together with FCB, we designed a more transformative and holistic experience for select brands including BMW, TVS Motor Company, SOS Children Villages of India, Nokia Phones, Brillon, etc.
Future of the agency model: Internal configurations from a creator and media perspective are necessarily evolving. The safe production of what advertising and marketing must deliver has shifted from traditional to digital models. It is a help to achieve the considerable volume of the requirement.
From a model perspective, agencies are not in a state of flux and a lot of things need to be rethought. Team structures had to be redesigned due to COVID-19, and it was essential to build cross-functional teams that could create a solution to a business problem rather than just having a specialized mindset. Observing trends and making sure you adapt to them, carrying no baggage from the past and being open to building an agency of the future will make you survive in this state.
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How do you think influencer marketing has developed and how does Kinnect approach this area?
Over the past few years, most brands in India have established social media links with the creative economy. Brands benefit from increased conversion touchpoints, consumer retention, brand loyalty and awareness of newly launched products. Influencer marketing with nano, micro, and mid-tier influencers is a cost-effective way to reach and engage audiences and a valuable tool for building a sizable archive of content that can be used in the future. According to the Influencer Marketing Report, the Indian influencer market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25% until 2025 when it is expected to be worth Rs 2,200 crore, according to the Influencer Marketing Report. Once considered a trend, influencer marketing has quickly become an essential tool in a brand’s marketing toolkit. Influencer marketing is now recognized as a crucial advertising strategy as it was used in 93% of marketing efforts.
At Kinnect, our primary goal has been to create India’s most forward-looking agency. Over the next few years, our core vision is to become a platform-independent enabler – we aim to become enablers for our customers, regardless of the channel, platform or medium involved. And to do that, we’re simultaneously building capabilities that will allow us to design a diverse set of solutions with the ultimate goal of driving customer growth across all influencer marketing channels. We invest heavily in the adoption of tools and technologies that ensure better interactions with our customers.
What will the Metaverse space in India look like in the near future?
All technology becomes feasible at some point. Technology just cuts costs for a while. However, currently Metaverse is a conversation; it’s not so much in action.
It’s a conversation; people want to know. As I told you earlier, in 2011 when we started Kinnect, for the first 3-4 years we were just educating people about digital and its potential. From now on, with Metaverse too, it would be the same.
What can we expect from Kinnect in the coming year?
Kinnect is constantly evolving with changing times. We therefore want to be the most contemporary agency on the market at all times.
In a nutshell, we want to be a great, modern partner for our customers. Deliver much of what they would need from a marketing and advertising standpoint through our in-house capabilities. I think digital, mainstream, media, all of those terms need to start dissipating and being a big, modern agency. That’s why we want to be the #1 agency. The idea is to be the #1 agency in India regardless of not being known for a specific discipline but being known as an excellent growth partner in the communication industry.
Finally, what do you expect from this year’s SAMMIE nominees?
With the changing social media landscape, we are now seeing an emphasis on quality rather than quantity of content and more effective use of the platforms latest features has become a priority. This is the age to stand out among the noise, and it will only happen through targeted communication efforts. I expect the nominees to create a longer-term approach to brand building on social media platforms.