Could this be the golden rule of advertising -- the amount of times a subject is discussed at seminars is inversely proportional to its use in real life?

Discussion becomes a form of exorcism that makes action unnecessary. The digital revolution and its many implications have been staple seminar fare for years now. At first glance, it might appear that things have changed dramatically on the ground. Online advertising is growing, brands are using blogs, and everyone talks about Sunsilk GOG! So all must be well.

My own experience is not very comforting.

This year, as part of my preparation for the Annual Ad Review, I had asked leading agencies to send me the work that they were proud of during the year. I had specifically requested examples of digital work since these were not easy to come by. What I got was impressive in intent, but pitiful in quantity. It did not seem that the internet was a strategic part of the plan; it seemed as if the primary desire was to tick a box called Digital Innovation, which could then become a slide at the Annual Review to one’s overseas principals.

Even the much heralded Sunsilk example, needs to be tempered with the realisation that a lot of television money has gone behind driving traffic to it, as was pointed out to me by somebody. Of course, it is possible that this is a problem that plagues large advertising agencies and that specialised digital units might be a better index of what is really happening in the digital space, but a visit to the websites of big, well-advertised brands quickly establishes that the problem is a deeper one.

There are categories where the digital strategy is clearly the way to go -- recruitment and matrimony being prime examples. But in other categories where the internet does not provide a platform for actual buying and selling is where its use has been more in intent than in practice.

Why is this the case? Is the internet really a space whose time has come in India? Are we getting excited about something which is still in its infancy? Are we, in the memorable words of futurist Paul Saffo, mistaking the inevitable for the imminent? While one could argue that in the context of mass market India, there is more to it than that. Even in categories where the audiences are deeply involved with the internet, we are seeing only a perfunctory inclusion of the internet in the strategic communication plan for brands.

Discussion Board Comments ( 25)Comment Hide comment   Show/Post comment From Rohit 2007-05-28 12:09:45 Santosh provides good food for thought. Are we getting carried away on the online front? Point is, advertisers need to look at ways to exploit the web to their advantage, something they are still learning to do. Reply >> From Hari 2007-05-28 12:33:19 Starting Step- Companies/Brands need to have decent functional websites, Airtel has the worst website of all telecom players in GSM..whats the point in pumping in crores in marketing , when a technology company, does not even have a good website. The case is no different in other categories...GOG might be great..but HLL corp site..thats a different story .......IT SUCKS. Reply >> From Kabir VA 2007-05-28 12:37:42 Great piece! There's a lote of hype today, reminds me of the good ol' days in late 1999! Reply >> From priti 2007-05-28 14:33:03 Very interesting Reply >> From Kavita 2007-05-28 14:48:14 Well I think differently .I think all depends on the kind of money a company really puts behind the media.Innovations dont come cheap .Being a new media for majority companies who have blindly invested only in TV or print ...they find it difficult to come out of that mode and thus allocate substantial money/attantion and effort to the media ..making it look ordinary .However if companies today give as much attention in terms of planning , creatives and communication online as they do ehile making a tvc and planning the launch it can make a substntial difference to the numbers. We are really talking about more than 25 million active users on the net ....(using internet once a week) which is a huge amount like to grow to 50 million. Reply >> From Ronak 2007-05-28 17:26:21 The airtel site is a scream, and certainly not the fun sort. In fact it is so bad that it makes one wonder about their commitment to VAS on mobile, which so many people are betting on. Similarly, the discrepancy between GOG and the Lever's site only demonstrates that GOG was a one off gamble someone pushed for, and it paid off partly, in terms of PR coverage at least. I mean, it remains, besides Mentos, the only corporate campaign of note that truly tried to use the internet in the way it was expected to be used. Finally, one really must congratulate Santosh for his increasingly insightful plainspeak, which has only got better since he moved out of advertising. I hope existing players will take a leaf out of his book. (And speak freely, not quit advertising!) Reply >> From Santosh 2007-05-28 17:27:22 There are plethora of things that can be done online. We still gauge this media thru the traditional yardsticks - reach & frequency... With regard to effectiveness, we are talking about reaching out to millions of users, with very low cost, and sometimes practically FREE. Marketers and advertisers should not see Internet as a part of the marketing activities....but as the core :) (then we can have more GOG stories to be talked about) Reply >> From xyz 2007-05-28 17:39:20 Definitely one of the most confused articles I have ever read...needless to say I read it on the NET... Reply >> From Harish Bahl 2007-05-28 22:35:17 I beg to slightly disagree with Santosh. I think most of the brands who have not recieved or experienced a good online campaign / strategy for their brands may not have met the right kind of partners working for them. I agree that a lot needs to be done on the medium like research, innovation and effectivness measurement but a lot is done which is remarkable. What we have experienced that clients don't spend the optimum share of their media money and set incorrect objectives expecting magic from the medium. Digital medium is not just about planning and spending media money but creating digital communication benchmarks and platforms... Finally with the way users / customers of products are changing the way they consume communication the day is not far that the brands will win who would have taken this medium seriously Reply >> From noshtradamus 2007-05-30 10:41:10 I think the producers of this article are putting forth their own perspective using headlines like "Santosh debunks the online revolution". Even the quote highlighted works to debunk the theory. Which is odd, because this site is also an intrinsic part of the revolution. The fact that we're debating this here is significant. The truth however, lies in the article itself - Santosh said "I think the real problem is not that the internet in India is not ready for us, but that we don’t know how to use it. And this gap is not a technical one, but one involving a mindset. We know how to force our way into the bedrooms of people and elbow our way into their consciousness, but we don’t know how to create something of value, something original and engaging along with our audiences." To sum up, the revolution is happenning. But agencies are oblivious to it, and incompetent in 'merging into ... Reply >> From Ashok Vyavahare 2007-05-30 10:54:21 Very nice article.Thanx Reply >> From Abhijit Gupta 2007-05-30 13:17:30 I think we are approaching the problem wrongly... I agree with Santosh on the creative bit and Sunsilk case study. But there whole lot companies ( Apple etc.) who focus on the online generation and get tremendous amount of hits and make obscene money on downloads. How come the porn sites have nudged out our desi Debonair? Yes we had tried to forcefit some brands into this... but my belief is that the key to make this work is make the site work for money.... get the customer/ surfer to do something. and learn from the Apple generation. Reply >> From manish sharma 2007-05-30 13:24:58 nice article. marketing managers fail to recognize the growing clout consumers these days have over brands. and while the consumer may not have the moolah to spend on media, the only media rewarding, recognising and giving space to consumers and his opinions is the internet. niche online clubs, websites promoting user generated contents have therefore grown and wield immense clout. opinion leaders seek, maintain and update such programs, and encourage the novice to explore these spaces which give them a holistic brand experience... an experience which no commercial or product review could give. the future of brands lies in understanding these spaces... as santosh rightly says, companies ignoring this in their mental model will bear the brunt, and companies capitalising on these spaces will create brands of the future. Reply >> From Neville Taraporewalla 2007-05-30 14:16:53 I think Santosh Desai may be iconic in the Indian advertising Industry but he should stay away from commenting on a medium which is not clearly his domain . Yes, we know how to use it .Ask the specialists and they will tell you how to use it and how brands have benefited . I think creative prophets like Santosh must not sit on their horses and question new media especially so when they are so caught in the archiac belief that consumers must see what creative prophets want them to see . Get off the high horse !! my friend . Whilst the article throws up questions , but no answers purely because the writer is ignorant about the online revolution in India .I would certainly like Santosh to look into the years he spent in the advertising agency and simply check what resources agencies have committed to understand the online medium . The article would have been of great value , if it was not so generic and based on facts and f ... Reply >> From Abhijit Gupta 2007-05-30 14:35:09 I think we are approaching the problem wrongly... I agree with Santosh on the creative bit and Sunsilk case study. But there whole lot companies ( Apple etc.) who focus on the online generation and get tremendous amount of hits and make obscene money on downloads. How come the porn sites have nudged out our desi Debonair? Yes we had tried to forcefit some brands into this... but my belief is that the key to make this work is make the site work for money.... get the customer/ surfer to do something. and learn from the Apple generation. Reply >> From Rahul Mahajan 2007-05-30 15:47:17 Neville, and I am sure he knows the inside dope on the cases Santosh must have received from agencies etc, has made a very good point. In fact, if the agencies he quotes are not part of the roster that supplied Santosh, then his whole basis for the article he has written can be challenged. As an ex-internet seller, I can speak with experience that 'traditional' agencies have been totally underprepared for the net. Which also explains the mad rush currently on to recruit people for their 'interactive' arms, probably to demosntrate to principals abroadthat they haven;t been sleeping on the job. In fact it was their incompetence that drove online sellers to deal directly with clients, as well as facilitate the emergence of the specialists that Neville has spoken of. Surely, if one looks at the monies mainstream media itself is spending on the net now, besides major telecom, lifestyle and financial services client ... Reply >> From Sweta 2007-05-30 15:48:53 Even GOG has BCWebwise behind it, not a mainline agency:) Reply >> From Abu M 2007-05-31 03:24:01 This is in reponse to Neville Taraporewalla's comments. He is questioning Santosh Desai's understanding of new media - I wonder if Neville understands something more basic - the English language for instance! His comment about creative prophets being caught in the archaic belief that the consumer must see what they want him to is exactly the same as one of the author's. Neveille seems so caught up in his 'specialist' hubris that he got the exact reverse of the point being made! And as for the 'specialists' 'knowing' how to use the web just because they have spent a few years carrying a digital tag, we have all seen the mediocre fare the web is so full of. We all know you are desperate to sell your trade Neville, but you would do well to read up may be something like TCTM (as a 'specialist' you should be very ,very familiar with that acronym, so I shall leave it unexp ... Reply >> From Supriti 2007-05-31 10:57:04 Abu, I am not a specialist either. So, what does TCTM stand for?! Reply >> From vijai 2007-05-31 13:14:13 360 degree approach is good only for agency presentations to impress clients but how it actually works for the brands is anyone's guess.Especially when it comes to Internet,there are only few categories which can draw mileage simply because your sales model does not support the feasibility of converting clicks into sales.Also Internet as a medium to build brands is not very impactfull to deliver the message.Still its a long way to go ,when price of US dollars and India rupees is at par,the dream will come true. Reply >> From thehummingdog 2007-06-01 11:11:00 Santosh writes well and deep. Only when you're from the advetising industry can you understand the root of the problem, why most brands in India are yet to utilise the digital medium the way brands are doing around the world. Only when you have left the advertising industry, you can come out of the closet and tell the world what the problem is. The problem is such. The advertising agencies have been left way behind in providing creative solutions on the web. Today, they lack the expertise and the need to think differently for the digital medium. No wonder, today they do not recommend internet to their clients. In fact, they still keep singing the song about 'low penetration', 'too early', 'wrong TA', 'only A+ metros'...etc, etc....something which was a hit some 5 years ago! And was given credibilty thanks to the Web1 bubble bu ... Reply >> From Amit Ray 2007-06-02 12:05:02 Like a lot of others one does have a lot of respect for Mr Desai - the advertising man who talks about mind and the power of it. However in this piece I feel he has taken a very superficial stand. I am sure like many he also realises that the generation whose introduction to the net has happened at an early age take this medium very very differently. And I think the net is cotributing to a silent revolution in media. Its about freedom of expression, its about connect, its about being able to discuss thing subjectively ... (the proper jargon is 'C2C' . Reply >> From Nitin Mathur 2007-06-04 15:35:52 Santosh is a credible industry name and advertisers and marketers sit up and listen he has to say something. He has an opinion on almost everything and I have seen him express it with unfailing regularity! It’s not about being wrong or right but it’s about starting a meaningful dialogue. Questioning value and efficacy of a medium is necessary at every stage of media evolution. Same happened with satellite TV few years back. Today nothing is more mainstream than television. Now its “online marketing”. It’s definitely real! ……..Santosh, look at the debate it generated yet again! It’s certainly not a quite revolution :) Business implications of the exploding "social" aspects of the web – from the early days of blogging to MySpace, Second Life etc needs more than regular understanding of the space. Sales, marketing and technology impacts of social networking sites, MMPOGs, and other new models of interaction on the web ###DOUB ... Reply >> From Devang Raiyani 2007-06-12 14:39:55 search engine marketing is great.. but would marketers be able to reach consumers across profiles and for all products? (e.g. Housewives shopping for groceries & daily needs) Not quite. Instead if brands had a way to blink their message seconds before the purchase decision it would be magic. Reply >> From paulguv 2007-06-18 23:18:43 It's astonshing that so many bright minds out there continue to either embrace a medium or lampoon one, and none too ceremoniously. The issue is not how we utilize the medium but 'what' is transmitted throught that particular outlet. CONTENT is everything. That's exactly what we must pursue if we have to have a decent conversation with the consumer. What we channel through TV is as important as the TV as a medium itself. The same applies to the internet and all it's fantastic possiblities. As inn the past and present, in the future 'Engagement' will define the equation with the consumer. How engaging the media can be will be tested by the litmus of how interesting and powerful the content is. And yes, Santosh. It helps to look at the content. Including your article. Cheers Reply >> Post Your Comments ( * Marked are mandatory fields ) Your comment Name *        E-Mail *