According to the Event Marketer Institute and Mosaic, 91% of customers tend to improve perceptions about your brand after interacting at events. That events have been a great channel to acquire new customers, retain existing ones and network with industry leaders isn’t a new insight. The question is – but are events really meeting your business/brand goals?

Let’s take a step back. At this stage, will event marketing even help you fulfil your brand goals? For those unsure, here’s a checklist. If any of these goals resonate with your brand, you need to start exploring event marketing –

• As an emerging brand in your industry, you want to engage with decision-makers in an authentic way
• As an established brand, you want to build a reputation of being an industry ‘thought leader’
• You want to scope out the competition & what they are up to

So, you have established that Event Marketing is indeed a cornerstone of your marketing strategy. Or, this isn’t your first – proverbial – rodeo but you are unsure if you are leveraging event marketing optimally. In either case, we have curated some best practices when it comes to event marketing for B2B brands – reflected by real-world results across our projects.

1. Channel traffic from Digital to Real

Events can often be an overwhelming mix of networking sessions, discovering new products, and learning about industry trends. From the perspective of your customer, there is a lot of knowledge to retain. So, beyond your interactions with them, your brand needs to tap into social media to remain on the top of their minds.

For this global fintech brand, ITSS, we devised a digital event that aligned with their prospective customers’ experience at the event. From podcasts and product activations to in-stall contests, activities were planned to keep the audience engaged – digitally and on-ground.

Driving footfalls and audience engagement at events

Strategy to launch a new product at events

2. Be Unforgettable

Events offer a unique opportunity for brands to not just reach their customers but actively shape their experiences, too. From stall-level activations to lucky draws, remember to design experiences that align with a key message you want them to remember or a key action you want them to take.

For Infosys NIA‘s debt collection platform, IntelliCollect – we transformed a key product proposition into a hands-on experience.

With the distribution of physical thaumatropes, the attendees were able to not just recall IntelliCollect but a physical reminder of the value it offered.

3. Determine Event Goals & plan Event real estate

What are your goals for this event? To acquire new leads, to solely network, or to shadow survey your market? Ensure everything from your event communication and strategy is mapped towards these goals. While planning communication, optimize the event real estate without overwhelming your audience.

Whatever your goal, you should aspire to connect, not badger.

For instance, with Hinduja Tech, a leader in the mobility industry, we extrapolated the brand’s thought process for the event across design, language, and tone. With a mix of interactive display panels in print and digital formats like TVs & iPads, we helped Hinduja Tech create one-on-one conversations with OEM automotive industry experts across Japan & the US.

Creating interactive experiences at event stalls

Want your next (or first) venture into event marketing to be successful? Let’s discuss your goals. Reach out to our experts in the comments 👇🏽

There is nothing that hasn’t been impacted by the coronavirus. Like they say, it’s the entire ecosystem that has come crashing down – almost like Judgement day. But even in times like these – brands will adapt, consumers will evolve, and creative content will explode – giving respite during a crisis.

The advertising industry and all the creative minds together will never be able to take away all the grief but can remind audiences, why there is heart and trust when associating with a brand. Brands need to continue communication, but while keeping in mind a few filters:

1. Is the message perfect during this time?
2. Is the ad promoting a healthy outlook?
3. Is the communication mirroring society’s talk?
4. Is it adapting to new behaviors?
5. Is it uplifting society in any way?

Creatively, brands must open their outlook to what is happening around and restrict product-focused communication. It would be smart to avoid content that is contrary to government or health authorities. Instead, spreading the message of social distancing, washing your hands and safety measures with heart and concern – is key.

During these times, promotional content would be a no-go. It might (and we say might) work for the short-term, but once the crisis is averted – this would create a certain negative self-serving image for the brand. But if the communication of this promotion helps the consumer while also driving brand recall, then why not. A simple example is Burger King recently putting out their recipe of burgers, while also reminding audiences of the importance of social distancing.

Brands shouldn’t be seen taking advantage of the crisis. Being authentic to their core values is what audiences would appreciate, while also doing their part to help the society. After all, brands are made by people. And when brands serve them – through togetherness and solidarity – it will be remembered a long way.

Content from brands should put people and their emotions ahead of profits. Brands can adapt their products and services to help in these times of need. Simply put, advertising and marketing during times of crisis must be smart, emotional, intuitive, evolving and most importantly sensitive to what is going on.

Follow our blog to know more about branding, communication and digital marketing.

That upcoming movie got you marking your calendar and keeping an eye out for tickets at your favourite theatre in the city? We do the same. We get our binoculars out to enjoy the epic fest that movie marketing is. Movie marketing includes everything from promos and teasers to publicity stunts – the whole shebang.

Here are some movies that we love but their marketing, we love better. Sorry movies, marketing is always our first love.

Like movie like marketing, the Blair Witch Project

The movie drips with themes of desperation and the fear of the unknown. How many of us kept on the lights after watching a particularly disturbing horror movie? You’re lying if you say no.

The movie let the real mimic the reel by announcing its actors missing. On an average day, missing people elicit notes of concern. But when linked to a mysterious movie? It turned heads, grabbed eyeballs and left people rushing to the theatres. To corroborate the ‘missing’ story, a website was created around a mysterious serial killer. Filmed on a budget of $60,000, the movie went on to amass a whopping $250 million, thanks to this ingenious campaign.

World War Z: another Zombie apocalypse?

Did we really need another one of those? Critics chorused when filming plans for World War Z were unveiled. Despite being riddled in controversies, its marketing received enormous attention. We love a good mystery – you must know this by now. So when anonymous accounts from around the world were reporting similar anomalies, we were equally intrigued.

Culminating with an anchor announcing an emergency, the marketing had drummed upto a crescendo. Referencing world landmarks throughout its marketing, every warning left people wondering – was this real? Could this be true?
Come movie release date, crowds dashed to movie halls. After all, nothing incites us like intrigue. World War Z amassed $500 million around the world, thanks to this movie marketing strategy.

From DC, With Love: The Dark Knight

We all want our heroes to love us – if not, at least notice us. With The Dark Knight, DC reciprocated and declared our love for Batman wasn’t unrequited. He, they actually, loved us too. Kicking off at San Diego Comic Convention 2007, fans were treated to the first trailer and a freshly minted copy of the Gotham Times.

After that, the marketing was a roller coaster ride that only went up, my friend. Kickstarting with treasure hunts across several US cities, the clues led to a website created for ‘Harvey Dent’, a fictional politician of Gotham City. Around Halloween, a treasure hunt was organised by the Joker, leading fans to a ‘special treat’. Leading to bakeries across the United States, fans were treated to cakes with phones buried in them. The fans were instructed to call a number written in skywriting over them upon which a gaming website was used to release the first poster of the movie.

While Team Joker was encouraged to dress as Jokers and raise chaos, Team Batman was contacted through a secret pizza delivery service. Offering fans a chance at vigilantism, they were lead to a bat symbol and initiated into the bat-fam.

Besides raking up $1 billion in box office earnings, this alternate reality campaign earned itself new fans over the course of this ‘Why So Serious?’ campaign.

Super, not hero: Deadpool

After a haunting, if not scarring, portrayal in X Men Origins: Wolverine and a tight movie budget of $58 million, Deadpool seemed like a cursed project. But the mercenary, Ryan Rey- we mean, the actor, Deadpool… Okay, let’s give this another shot. The Deadpool team came up with a campaign that stayed true to the character’s expletive humour. After a trailer screening at the 2015 San Diego Comic Convention, its team went full-Deadpool with their marketing.

From the get-go, the team wasn’t shy about admitting the film wasn’t family-friendly. This, the team announced Deadpool-style by ‘killing’ an interviewer on-camera. Thereon, Deadpool took over everything from holiday messages to a testicular cancer PSA parody to exhibit his dry humour. Around Halloween, Deadpool staged a recruitment drive with kids dressed as X-Men characters.

When it was time to announce the second trailer, the team used Christmas as an opportunity to kick off ’12 Days of Deadpool’. To release its first poster, the team used cheeky billboards with three characters – a skull (dead), a poo emoji and the letter ‘L’.

Hilarity, discussions and tweeting rampages ensued. Amused fans worldwide began using the three characters and #Deadpool garnered 90K tweets per day by movie release.

Black Panther

Marketed as a celebration of black culture and point of view, the debut of a black superhero grabbed a lot of eyeballs. The movie went on to amass over $1 billion in ticket sales by getting SO MANY things right.

The release date – February 2018 – was strategically planned to coincide with the Black History Month. This, along with its predominantly black cast and crew, meant the movie was going to be unabashedly black. Similarly, the teaser was also strategically released at the NBA Finals – reaching their target audience at one of the most important events of the African-American community.

Partnering with Kendrick Lamar, Black Panther released its official soundtrack a month before the movie. The movie also inspired funding for underprivileged children to watch the movie in theatres – a trend that was later carried forward by celebrities like Brie Larson, Ellen DeGeneres, Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis.

Collaborating with Hasbro, Black Panther merchandise were released for kids. Another partnership, first viewed with trepidation, was with Lexus to release the LC Inspiration Series cars. Finally, three days before the movie release, Welcome to Wakanda: Fashion for Black Panther was organised. Featuring several A-lister black designers, the runway designs were auctioned and its proceeds were donated to Save the Children.

While we certainly lived vicariously through these marketing campaigns, here’s what we found every successful marketing campaign ever had:

Great timing

With the right context, even an off-season release date could pay off

Stay on-brand, always

Find your movie’s central theme and align your marketing campaign to it. The audience must know what you are selling at all times

Immersive

The best marketing campaigns feel like an extension of the movie into the real world

Build mystery

Enough said. But we will add that, this is especially true of movies with a plot that you cannot risk revealing

Not a production house but want an equally enthralling marketing campaign? Get in touch with us.

First, they told us buttons were for suckers. Turns out, swiping and scrolling screens is the faux-pas now. Every day, Voice Assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant are saving humans from…scrolling screens or God forbid, picking up a remote control. In all seriousness, Voice Assistants have been welcomed in millions of households across the world with open arms. Which raises the next question – why haven’t they been targeted by marketers, yet?

What could be more personal than having your weather update interrupted by the jingle of an up and coming toothpaste brand? We all need reminders to pick up groceries – oh wait, not anymore. Advertising on Voice Assistants is undoubtedly the wet dream of every marketer. How do you get ahead of the bandwagon? While we may not have all the answers, here are a few pointers to get you started:

Pushing Personalisation

Already, Alexa and Google Assistant can learn different voices. This means questions would garner different answers for different people as the Voice Assistants are capable of mapping your habits. Advertisements are predicted to also become more user-controlled thus offering brands an opportunity to personalise conversations instead of using a mass marketing strategy.

Better Storytelling

Voice technology works by the virtue of being interaction-friendly. Making the now-inaccessible demographics like seniors and children accessible, it nudges marketers to rethink their messaging. Voice Assistants can be successful as marketing platforms only when content created is conversational. Wherein, branding becomes a more organic or natural process.

Conversations and More Conversations

Engaging conversations are centric to marketing on Voice Assistants. This is not just an opportunity for brands to experiment with their messaging, but it also builds a personal relationship with customers. Conversations help brands receive feedback, understand customer needs and build products that will drive more satisfaction.

Optimise for Conversations

With SEO, expanding reach largely involved targeting the right keywords. Unlike Google or any other search engine, Voice Assistants don’t accommodate an entire result page. A query will most likely result in one direct hit. Marketers in the future need to ensure their content makes the cut. How? Long-tail keywords that mimic natural language might just be the key.

Specific Targets

While increasing the demographics your brand can reach out to, marketing on Voice Assistants may also involve location-optimised targeting and ensuring the language/messaging you use to answer questions like who, what, why, where and how.

Building Value

Amazon reports that out of the huge library for Alexa Skill apps created by developers, 62% remain unused. Unless your service demonstrates clear value, creating an Alexa Skill is best left alone. Domino’s App’s functionality was pitched during Super Bowl as simplifying the process of ordering a pizza to a simple command to Alexa. Thus, winning over several fans in the USA.

Meanwhile, here’s how you can ensure your brand is on the map of voice technologies: create content that is optimised to appear as a featured snippet on Google’s search result page.

While you “All Hail!” voice assistants of the future, give us a shoutout and get in touch for your current digital marketing needs. After all, it is the present.

“Information at the click of a button”

The sentence has resonated over time to define what the internet offers best. As with everything else, the internet has found a new purpose in our lives beyond being just a glorified encyclopedia. While offering endless entertainment – enough to keep the average Indian spending 4.5 hours on it everyday, the internet offers something that even pacifies our Id. First conceptualised by Freud, Id is the impulsive portion of our unconscious. It operates on the pleasure principle of instant gratification. An innate need that internet today satisfies.

The internet today is a huge portal that lets you shop, read, sell, market and invest instantly. Planning a vacation? Waiting on a travel agent’s quote is passe. Instead, instant vacation planning is becoming the norm. In a world that craves instant gratification and action, being recognisable online is pivotal to any business – online or offline.

In short, if it isn’t on the digital map, it doesn’t really exist. Going digital is more than a norm, it is a requirement to thrive in this digital age. A Forbes research claims, “82% of customers research online before making any offline purchases.”

Would your potential customers have found you in this scenario? At the same time, it is essential to understand digital marketing for your business. Here’s why you need to endorse in digital marketing now:

1. Informed Decisions

Digital marketing involves identifying platforms you can leverage to bring exposure to your business or product. With a good mix of organic & paid marketing and great content, you start capturing leads across different platforms – from social media to blogs. When analysed – data from different platforms give you essential insights while helping you answer questions like – where do your potential customers find you?
Which digital platform aligns with your organic strategy?

Aside from making the return on investment more measurable, this also helps your business take smarter and more impactful decisions.

2. Better Leads

With more control over the type of audience exposed to your business, you increase the chances of finding customers that are genuinely interested in what you offer. This not only means better quality of leads, but a higher conversion rate too!

3. Business Growth

A recent study revealed that aligning your marketing and sales can lead to annual growth of upto 20%. Insights from digital platforms can help you create a roadmap to success by using data in the strategies. Aligning your marketing and sales initiatives is a sure shot to unprecedented success.

IBM, the American IT Corp realised the advantage of social media early on. Starting in 2012, it invested in a content marketing strategy across Twitter and LinkedIn. This was, in part, attributed to the annual 4x growth IBM witnessed over the next three years.

4. Meaningful Relationships

While offering visibility for your business, digital marketing also gives you a platform to connect with your customers. This is an opportunity to not only win over potential customers, but building a better understanding of their needs. And when your business solves for needs that have largely remained unanswered, you lay a foundation for your relationship with customers.

For instance, Airbnb’s success can be attributed to the fact that it fills the chasm created by hotels by providing a personal experience to travellers worldwide. By using the phrase ‘Belong Anywhere’, Airbnb asserted the feeling of staying at a home rather than a property.

The beauty of digital marketing doesn’t stop there – there are several platforms to explore to give your business its much-needed boost. Here are some broad areas to begin:

• Search Engine Optimization
• Social Media Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Affiliate Marketing
• Native Advertising

And depending on the industry focus of your business, the significance of each will vary. Get clarity on what digital marketing strategy will work for you. Talk to the experts.

In recognition of one of the biggest shifts in the marketing landscape, the Consultants Review magazine came out with a countdown of companies who were at the forefront of the digital marketing industry in the country. One MG was rated as one of the 25 most promising Digital Marketing Companies in India.

Digitisation has pervaded the business environment and evoked significant changes in the way businesses work, communicate and sell. This has created new opportunities and challenges, and has set off the digital transformation of enterprises.

As a major step forward, we’re thrilled to announce our strategic partnership with Hinduja Tech Limited, a Hinduja Group Company. With this partnership, we’re going to lead digital disruption amongst businesses and brands. Hinduja Tech brings with it their vast expertise in mobility, cloud, social media and big data technologies. This, combined with our digital marketing and communication expertise empowers us to chisel a digital future for our clients. With the strengthening of our digital services, we combine creative communication and data in the most effective and efficient ways to accelerate innovation in customer experience. With this partnership, we extend our services to the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan, besides India.

My sister and her gang of friends have a habit of browsing through a restaurant’s website before stepping out for dinner. They discuss the menu, see if the food looks appetizing and try and gauge the ambience. They say it gives them an inkling of what to expect from the evening. In short, this influences their decision of going to the restaurant.

Restaurants today need to recognize how important their websites are in influencing potential customers to pay them a visit. A website is an online extension of your brand’s personality. Every mode of communication and media should speak a language that resonates with your target audience. A case in point is Chipotle Mexican Grill, a US-based food brand that promotes a sustainable food culture with locally grown and sourced, fresh ingredients. Every effort is made to match the style and tone to their brand philosophy and promise.

Your website is a platform to showcase your brand and its Unique Selling Proposition (USP). You should keep the following 4 criteria in mind while creating it:

1. Excite – Create avenues in your website that excite your visitor and build anticipation. Paint a picture with audio-visual and written communication of how their experience at your restaurant is going to be. Build on your brand USP to draw your visitor to your restaurant. We return to Chipotle here. Their website delights and comforts with its communication of hand cut and freshly prepared food from locally sourced produce and responsibly raised meat. Enticing visuals, engaging content, easy navigation and a clutter-free display can tempt visitors to your restaurant.

2. Inform – Use your website to add to your brand persona – narrate the story behind your restaurant with your philosophy of food, your belief in using only fresh produce and supporting local growers or the decision of serving only vegetarian food. Educate them about your culture and cuisine, your flavor influences and how best they can enjoy the cuisine you serve etc. As an Indian restaurant serving North Indian food in Melbourne, you can nudge your patrons into enjoying their naan or biryani with their hands for a more authentic experience. Have playful videos where you teach them about why and how to eat with their hand and encourage them to leave their inhibitions and cutlery behind!

Talk to your customers to understand what people search for when looking for Indian restaurants online. These helpful keywords must be skillfully infused into your website content for search engine optimization which helps pull customers towards your restaurant.

3. Engage – Engagement is essential to convert website visitor traffic to leads. Increase the stickiness of your website through hooks of engagement with competitions with actual or emotional benefits (a discount coupon or getting the winner’s picture up on the website’s wall of fame), interactive games, an integrated chat for any queries or exclusive online deals for members. Your website should be integrated with social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to let people share their results or scores. Restaurants serving Indian food can engage people with pop quizzes and fascinating trivia about the spices used in their cuisine or interesting videos of the cooking process which can then be shared on social platforms to promote the cuisine and attract new admirers.

4. Transact – Extend the restaurant experience with a website that seamlessly offers customers the options of table reservations, online order and delivery. These conveniences help you become their go-to restaurant of choice. The reservation form of the Mohxe restaurant in Bronte, Australia provides a seamless table reservation experience that does not overburden the user.

So, does your website tick mark all these criteria? Contact us for a website audit.