Three companies, that offer services in the area of social media, mobile and analytics tools talk to us about how they help their clients identify their target audience, develop targeted strategies to leverage their product/service and in turn, help get the best return on investment. The supporting case studies elicit the various strategies adopted by these ad companies to aid a client in one of their campaigns.
MADHUMITA PRABHAKAR
SOKRATI
Sokrati is an advertising and analytics firm that manages performance-driven marketing spends on paid search, social and display networks, based on proprietary algorithms, for companies of all sizes. It was founded in 2009, and it raised Series A from Inventus Capital Partners in 2011.
FOUNDERS
Ashish Mehta, Santosh Gannavarapu, Anubhav Sonthalia
Three elements disrupting this space
Democratisation of ad-tech for advertisers of all sizes, leading to a level playing field where growing businesses can compete with established ones
Humanisation of big data, where digital analytics is moving beyond segment-specific data to customised, user-specific data
Waning online-offline divide, with solutions that understand the user decision making journey across online and offline platforms
BEHIND THE SCENES
The company’s flagship platform is offered on a managed services model, where a team of digital marketing experts drive digital strategy for large and mid-sized advertisers, across paid channels. The company also offers a range of self-serve solutions for growing businesses and end-to-end platform solutions for agencies catering to local businesses.
The products offered at Sokrati include; Sokrati Search, the search marketing platform for large digital marketing campaigns, Sokrati LIVE, the easy-to-use virtual assistant for marketers, ReachFactory, the display offering tool with high-quality inventory and rich media ad formats, PersonaAds, the self-service social ads and FBX retargeting platform that automates persona marketing strategies and, Sokrati for Local, a tool for Yellow Pages companies that allow agencies to manage local business with minimum overhead.
REVENUE MODEL
It ranges across premium subscription models to commissions on spends managed model.
Case Study
OBJECTIVE
One of the top three DTH companies wanted to boost its overall sales using ad display network.
IMPLEMENTATION USING SOKRATI
The traditional marketing cycle required the user to discover the lead form and wait for a sales representative to call back. This took up to 24 hours. Thus, by integrating the lead form within the ad, Sokrati’s click to connect solution delivered good leads at a 35 per cent lower cost per lead (CPL). And, better user experience was delivered since the call was connected within 60 seconds of the ad click.
PRECISIONMATCH
PrecisionMatch is a digital display advertising firm that uses its customer database network to identify prospective consumer segments for advertisers to place targeted ads for display marketing campaigns. The company was founded in 2012 and was funded to the tune of US $2 million by its parent company, SVG (Smile Vun Group), a joint venture between Manish Vij and Nitin Chowdhary.
FOUNDER
Company operations is managed by Chandrabhanu Pattajoshi, Business Head
Three elements disrupting this space
The onset of big data analysis
Commoditisation of all forms of digital inventory
Seamless integration of the online and offline world
BEHIND THE SCENES
The company offers two services under this model; in third party data targeting, using data management platforms, the team gathers information about user behaviour and user intent from first party sources (users who visit client’s website) and matches it against data from third party sources (online search). It facilitates advertisers to extract and utilise this data, to drive more effective online marketing campaigns. Currently, it gathers third-party data from 60 per cent of the Internet users in India.
With the first party data targeting or retargeting service, the company reaches out to visitors, who have dropped off the client’s website without completing a desired action, identifies user-behaviour from time to time and helps drive higher user engagement by developing interactive creatives and with the use of advanced retargeting tools
REVENUE MODEL
On one hand, the company sells data to data marketplaces, agency trading desks and DSPs (demand side platforms) at a fixed cost per mile (CPM) pricing. On the other, it works on a 50:50 revenue sharing model with publishers, on the income generated through media and technology costs.
Case Study
OBJECTIVE
A leading mobile devices company was struggling to meet its online advertising targets. PrecisionMatch’s objective lay in increasing user engagement through brand communication and decreasing bounce rate on website. Secondly, in achieving incremental cut-through for online display advertising of its popular high-end smartphone, with contextual placement and premium display.
IMPLEMENTATION USING PRECISIONMATCH
Collected intent data on smartphone from third party publishers that allowed phone comparisons on its website
Targeted browsers who are seeking high-end phones and used online display advertising to reach out to them
TELIBRAHMA
TELiBrahma is a contextual mobile advertising company that provides location-based and augmented reality-based solutions to brands and retailers in a move to help companies communicate their brand better, convert reach into acquisitions and manage relationships with acquired brand loyalists. The company was founded in 2004 and was funded to the tune of US $2 million by Inventus Capital and Ojas Venture Partners in 2008, and again in 2011, for US $5 million by Intel Capital.
FOUNDER
Suresh Narasimha
Three elements disrupting this space
Mobile can be integrated with traditional mediums
Mobile can deliver benefits beyond digital spends
Impact and ROI can be measured better
BEHIND THE SCENES
The company has three products in its stable;
Buzz is a location-based service that enables consumers to access free entertainment and information, in real time, based on the locations they visit. Deployed across 2000+ locations in India, Buzz delivers over 15 million engagements each month.
Point is an image and audio recognition technology that helps make brand presence interactive. This platform connects consumers to the digital world by simply focusing on the static print content. For instance, if Point is turned on when users are watching a particular television channel, they would be able to discover new content and experiences based on the channels they watch and, the tool will also enable social chat between the users watching the program.
Brand Club provides a hyper local media for retailers enabling them to reach out to potential consumers on their mobiles at non-competing stores nearby as well as provide in store mobile engagements. Communication about products, new arrivals, offers and other engagements can be delivered through rich interactive media. Participating retailers can access real time actionable shopper analytics along with brand and media metrics.
REVENUE MODEL
Brands pay based on performance. Delivery is driven by standardised products and solutions.
Case Study
OBJECTIVE
Louis Philippe had organised an end of season sale between July and August 2012. While Facebook and SMS added new channels to distribute the coupons, they often failed to demonstrate real increase in footfalls, thus, the brand wanted to explore the opportunity that mobile presents in terms of location based advertising.
IMPLEMENTATION USING TELIBRAHMA
Consumers within the two-kilometer radius of Louis Philippe store were prompted, using Buzz, about the special offer, and coupons were delivered to their mobile phones. The mobile coupons, which could be redeemed at any Louis Philippe store, urged them to visit the nearby store. The consumers at these locations were offered an additional 5 per cent discount on the regular 30 per cent discount.
