MMA India is about to kickstart its latest edition of SMARTIES 2023, the world’s first marketing award recognizing innovation in the local market, regional and global programs. It is the highest achievement across the globe honouring and awarding outstanding innovation resulting in significant business impact for brands agencies, media companies and solution providers – Ideas that Resonate.
In an exclusive interview with MI, Moneka Khurana, Country Head & Board Member, MMA Global – India speaks about SMARTIES 2023, the process, and details. She also speaks about modern marketing and its effect on brands and their engagement.
Excerpts here:
Q) Tell us more about SMARTIES 2023.
Moneka: Primarily, Smarties is known to celebrate and honor best-in-class modern marketing work with a heightened focus on business impact. It is an award ceremony that allows businesses to get recognized for cutting edge work.
In 2023, we have further elevated the way we were judging the impact of all the work submitted. Smarties get a range of participation from brands, agencies, companies, media companies, and tech enablers. Eventually, we receive the work and come up with a final list that further derives the win.
Also read: Shortlist Out for SMARTIES India’23, Stage Set for Marketing Brilliance
We collect all data relating to their mapped points against being shortlisted or for winning. The data gets converted into the Business Impact Index. Currently, the index is unique providing benchmarks and ratings. It is based on a proprietary methodology which is picked to scrutinize all submitted work performance. The process significantly ranks these submitted work into various levels in terms of top rankings which are advertisers for brands, tech enablers, and agencies. The methodology acts like an index for all the best-in-class experts, which is released at a local, regional, and global level. So, it’s the way we culminate Smarties.
Q) What is new in the SMARTIES 2023?
Moneka: In 2023, we have sharpened a lot of categories. Because we wish to be relevant into the space representing modern marketing. We have also added some new categories like influencer celebrity marketing, social impact marketing, brand purpose, CRM lead generation, etc. We have also added some new industry award categories.
With the introduction of these latest categories, we also wish to recognize the contribution of digital and media agencies, and creative and tech agencies. Unlike last year, we now realize that these agencies play a vital role in a campaign’s success.
Q) Tell us more about the juries for Smarties 2023. When is the final event happening?
Moneka: SMARTIES follows a rigorous judging process. At the onset, when we receive submissions, they go through a screening process by a pre-screening council which primarily represents the ecosystem. This jury has experts from across verticals. Then each entry is reviewed at least five times before it moves to the final stage. The average of that is taken into consideration while generating the final list. Once we generate our final list, we send it to our curated jury council which is a marketer only jury council.
This year, we have representation from BFSI, D2C, service, durable category, and more such different categories. Each of these categories would have to score all the entries. The average of the scores is finally discussed by the jury group. Then they’re able to decide on the gold, silver, and bronze winners for SMARTIES.
This year, the jury team is essentially represented by business leaders we have, Prabha Narsimham, Managing Director, Colgate India and Sunil Kataria, CEO at Raymond Lifestyle.
We announced the shortlist already. The final winners will be announced on the 5th of October at Taj Santa Cruz, Mumbai.
Q) The Modern market is growing. What are the prime changes you witnessed over the years?
Moneka: We have tried to move with the time. Initially, we were modern mobile marketing, then we evolved and became modern marketing, exactly reflecting the changing ecosystem. Mobile marketing is now a 360-degree segment encompassing technology.
In a MarTech and AdTech world, it is necessary to see e-commerce as a full stroke of omni-channel marketing which is a part of modern marketing. The other area where we witnessed the growth is new media. Today, we are in a connected ecosystem where we are able to engage with consumers across devices and land. Also, the transition happening with technology is further strengthening personalization and delivering better customer experiences.
Q) What is the impact of growing modern marketing on brand engagement over the next decade?
Moneka: Brands are recently making more investments in modern marketing and are embracing tech. It is impacting their engagement with consumers in a lot of ways.
- Brands are now using a more scientific approach to make decisions while making investments. It allows them to understand consumer insights better. A lot of leverage of AI is there to hyper-personalize engagement with their customer base.
- The quality of customer experience is also evolving rapidly which is powered by AI in a big way. Now businesses are able to personalize customer experiences for cohorts of customers as well as individual customers, depending on the product mix they’re engaging with brands.
- The third area is to be able to effectively traverse the journey of omni-channel marketing at various stages. The customer journeys today, are very non-linear. So the customer could be engaging with the brand on a social platform, in a marketplace like Amazon, on Google or Meta, or on an OTT platform.
- Due to the excessive data and tech usage, it is more important to build privacy-first experiences. Because if they don’t create adequate trust and transparency through their privacy technology solutions, they could lose huge market share.
- On one hand, you need to be able to use tech effectively. On the other hand, businesses need to have a strong value proposition that appeals to the GenZ and millennials, who are conscious about sustainability.
Q) Social Media Marketing is gripping the brands more than anything else. How do you see this change?
Moneka: From user perspective, it has seen growth because of the number of GenZs using social media. Also, platforms like Instagram have fueled the growth a lot. In terms of engagement with social media, it’s quite consistent and has a good amount of time spent.
Q) What are the five prominent marketing milestones in India you witnessed?
Moneka: The maximum pivots have happened from the time COVID hit the world. Ever since there have been so many strong and prominent milestones one could have seen in digitization. We have clubbed with the fact that digital and business is an agenda for every business now. It is a time when every business has assigned a percentage invested in digital and business transformation.
Second, Indian social media has been on the rise with the surge of use and innovation in platforms like stories on Instagram. Now this trend is followed by Meta, and LinkedIn. It became a driver for heightened social media consumption.
Third is of course e-commerce, which whilst Amazon and Flipkart have built a market. But now it’s getting more disrupted by the long tail, which is a combination of the D2C ecosystem and ONDC advancement in helping SMEs. So it’s penetrating quickly in small towns and all the areas where it’s hard to reach otherwise from commerce standpoint.
The fourth one is data-driven marketing. Data-driven marketing is now like oxygen for businesses. It is considered the better way of doing business. Data is becoming a valuable asset and an investment for the business especially with cookies crumbling. It’s a mix of collecting first party data and remarketing to them. The next stage is expanding the pool by targeting second and third party data. It helps the business to reach out to local audiences and then eventually make them their own customer base.
Lastly, the mobile has also been responsible for a lot of disruption in India, having the most affordable data plans. We now understand the importance of being a mobile-first business. It’s expanded to language first business.
Q) What is the role of Generative AI in the modern marketing segment?
Moneka: Generative AI is playing a pivotal role in modern marketing. GenAI is a huge enabler for personal and professional growth. However, it’s not replacing jobs (which is quite a question everyone is concerned about). GenAI is here to enhance the quality of how human beings can contribute and be more efficient. Besides, a person having knowledge about AI skills has a better chance at work than a person not upskilling for AI.
Also read: 2020 SMARTIES™ India Awards Winners Show How Mobile Marketing Is Done
In our recent survey done with the companies, we saw people are comfortable with minimum regulation in AIs. But it’s about being thoughtful and mindful. Also if we look closely, GenAI was always a part of the organization. It was just behind the scenes, enabling a lot of objects for organizations, like CRMs, better customer service, etc. It’s just now we have better access and more solutions allowing wider usage and acceptance.
GenAI allows a lot of personalization that’s effectively lending to ROIs. It also can automate and personalize content reducing unwanted manual effort. As AI is penetrating all kinds of areas, there is a risk of data privacy and protection, which is still a work that needs to be accomplished in the sector.
Q) What is the impact of high inflation on the Indian festive season this year? How do you see the market coping with the situation?
Moneka: Yes, it’s going to be a slow season. Businesses and marketers recognize it. So the expectations in terms of purchasing power is also very realistic this year. It’s going to be value based approach in which customers and marketers will have to create their products and USPs.
There will also be an impact on the purchasing power slowing down the judicious investments, spends and higher price sensitivity. The low spending will also affect the market of luxury and non-essential items. Digital commerce has also plateaued unlike earlier because of COVID. So these platforms have to be backed by a good deal which is not easily available through other channels.
From an investment point of view, because of inflation, marketers would be able to net off better if they could bundle offers effectively. Also, there will be a need for marketers to be more resilient, just to be able to tie over the low because eventually, it’s all going to swing back. If they’re agile and nimble enough to adjust product proposition pricing, it could still prove to be a win-win.
