A Brahmin Supply Chain ?

Supply chain automation, supply chain efficiencies, supplier managed inventories, Demand chain management, bull whip effect, are all subjects that have been studied and optimized. In the future, I think the focus will shift to Specialized Supply chains. Supply chains can borrow from concepts like HACCP for food and be able to claim a uniqueness. Brahmin supply chain, Hallal supply chain, low carbon foot print supply chain, fair wages supply chain, never exposed to ultra violet rays supply chain...the list is endless. This will help significantly in brand building and brand identity creation in the future.
How did I think of this? Recently I stopped going to the grocer nearby because I found they had not one but two pet cats. I saw one of the cats going over the open bag of rice. That was it. I stopped going to that shop. My wife has given up going to another shop because at the stainless steel check out table, from a meat pack picked up by  the the customer before her in the line, gooey stuff oozed out and entered the bunch of greens she had picked up. Most customers ( and readers too!) might find this stupid, however, for me it is difficult to accept rice which a cat has been all over or greens with a lacing of meat juice. I know, what we don't see we cannot worry about, however if there was a brand that guaranteed a particular kind of supply chain, I think customers will see great value.
Do write in. Do you think this already exists? what is such a supply chain called? Do you think it helps brands connect to segments of customers? What kind of special purpose supply chains do you see emerging?

New Media Classification

Am posting one of my working papers here to get some feedback before I start writing the entire paper. Promise ! This post will not be here for long. My apologies for posting such a long and potentially boring article. Your feedback, as always will be most valuable. Will be very grateful for Your inputs to make this a better article. If you start reading with no/low expectations, you might even enjoy the read!

Categorization of Media Vehicles in the Digital world

Abstract

 ‘Digital media’ or ‘new media’ is a broad term encompassing many media vehicles. This is akin to bunching all print media vehicles that appear every day as ‘dailies’, whereas it is well known that Newspapers, Business dailies, tabloids are all very different from each other. The article attempts to categorize digital media vehicles based on a number of factors. Categorization helps compare the effectiveness and provides a framework for teaching the basics of new media. There are generally three types of media online which are display, search and permitted push, each with multiple media vehicles. Another recent way is to categorize new media into Paid, Earned and Owned media. The article discusses the various media vehicles under the three media types online and concludes that different criteria are required to categorize new media.

Introduction

The time spent on the Internet and mobile devices by users as a part of their day is increasing substantially year on year. The time spent on television has remained stable and the time for reading newspapers or listening to radio has been reducing. What the digital world has gained has been mainly at the cost of newspapers in terms of media consumption habits. There are many global and Indian studies to substantiate this.

Consumers spend 20-25% of their time online, so ad spend should follow that and stabilize around that level. The digital world offers many media vehicles and this is an attempt to identify the important media vehicles available in the digital world and list them.

“The advertisement expenditure on the digital media, which includes internet and mobile mediums, will increase by 30 per cent to Rs. 9,450 crore in 2017, shows a survey by Group M. According to the survey, the digital media will see a growth of 30 per cent this year as compared with just 8 per cent for TV and 4.5% for print, respectively.” 1 Most developed countries have crossed the 30% mark for the share of new media in total advertising budgets, while India is still closer to 15%. This only highlights the growing importance of new media and the growth potential.

Traditional media class were categorized based on factors such as frequency, as dailies/weeklies/ monthlies for example, content; like news, soap opera, sports, timing; as in day time television, evening newspaper or late night shows. None of these criteria appear as a good way to categorize new media.  New media is one to one, interactive and asynchronous and yet has some of the conveniences of mass media for an advertiser. The characteristics of new media demand a different basis for categorization of media vehicles in the digital world.

Some Definitions:

At the outset it helps to recapitulate the common definitions for some of the important expressions used here. The definitions for medium and media vehicles are completely inspired from Vin Crosbie 2

Digital World: The Internet, mobile world, and the emerging convergent world

Medium – The means of communicating a message. There are three; one to one, mass media, and new media (the digital world)

Media Class – A general category of media like Print, Broadcast, or new media

Media Vehicle: Specific print, electronic or digital medium employed in an advertising campaign. Any specific vehicle used to deliver an advertising message.

The wonderful aspect of new media is that it offers all the personalization opportunities of a one to one medium as well as the advantages of mass communication, thanks to addressability.

Why Categorization?

New media appears like one large uniform medium offering the same opportunities and communication effectiveness, however, there are many different components of new media which offer different options for marketing communication. Advertisers must match their campaign goals with proven effectiveness of the specific media vehicle for the task and it will help to compare the various options within new media. Another important reason for categorization is to provide a framework for teaching the basics of new media.

“Categorization is the process of dividing the world into groups of entities whose members are in some way similar to each other. Recognition of resemblance across entities and the subsequent aggregation of like entities into categories lead the individual to discover order in a complex environment. Without the ability to group entities based on perceived similarities, the individual’s experience of any one entity would be totally unique and could not be extended to subsequent encounters with similar entities in the environment”10

Media theory has a lot to do with understanding the social impact of various media vehicles and since each of the media vehicles in the digital world has different and varying levels of impact on society it helps to breakdown new media into components or media vehicles.

Types of media vehicles in the digital world:

When we consider that media vehicles are categorized based on characteristics of a medium, new media can be divided based on the new media asset types as

Website

Platform

Web Portal

Search Engine

Virtual Events

Social media (a Platform)

Each of these is different, however, they can be combined, linked, and used in different ways. This does not give us a good idea about the media vehicles from a communicator’s perspective as the functions, usage, linking and how they connect with potential customers and customers are unique.

For understanding Integrated Marketing Communications using new media we can categorize all new media into three categories. These differ in their functionality, results sought and achievable, and the method of communication.

Display: Much like an advertisement on TV or in a newspaper these vehicles offer opportunities to display the brand message.

Search: These are media vehicles that herd potential customers towards the brand when they are searching for the brand or a generic solution to a problem that they want to solve now or in the future.

Permitted Push: These media vehicles are used in a permission based marketing environment. It is generally an audience of one whose permission has been sought to send the message. It combines display, interactivity and is generally customizable.

Display media vehicles on the web:

Internet advertising: The internet offers many options for display advertising and include the following. The list is only a top level view and digital real estate is very large. Wherever specific websites/portals are mentioned these are only indicative and most popular at the time of writing this article.

Banners of different sizes and shapes on popular and/or target specific websites is a common display media vehicle that can be used to draw audiences to an offer or another webpage. This is much like a signboard on a highway or busy intersection. Some specific vehicles include banner advertising at portals, online news channels, and other websites relevant to the target audience

Sponsored pages in portals, hubs and other websites that aggregate content. For example a business school sponsors a page in the online directory of business schools (also called micro site). Brands can also sponsor pages like online scoreboard of a cricket match for example

Classifieds: Classified advertisements offer small display spaces, however they are almost like a search media since audiences looking for the product/service are exposed to the communication. Some examples of sites that offer classifieds are www.Craigslist.com and www.99acres.com

Listings: Listing in directories, industry association websites, and any list on the web

Yellow pages: There are a number of yellow pages online and each offers a range of display options. From merely listing to sponsored pages, banners, reviews and credibility ratings many options are available. Www.alibaba.com for B to B and www.justdial.com for B to C are quite popular in India.

YouTube Channel: YouTube offers the opportunity of a dedicated channel for video content. When one has sufficient content that can draw its audience, this is a great content pull media vehicle. Many customers visit the YouTube channel of their favorite brands to view old and new television commercials. Most product demonstrations and assembly/usage tutorials definitely use this media vehicle. In B to B, showcasing the working of a machine/s, or a factory tour can be done extremely well with this media vehicle. YouTube at once offers space for display advertisements both on the page and on videos being watched, opportunity to store videos and also be searched for specific content.

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Website: A company or brand website is a great display media vehicle. Building a catalogue, positioning a brand, telling the complete story, sharing a point of view are all eminently possible in the advertiser controlled environment of a website.

Virtual Exhibitions: While this is more common in industrial products, virtual exhibitions to mirror real exhibitions, purely on line exhibitions of a particular category of products and such opportunities are virtual options to showcase and display communication and products.

Traditional Media online: All traditional media like Newspapers, and television channels mirror their content online and offer many opportunities for display advertising.  The e-newspapers, Television channels, and radio channels are available as channels in live streaming and their content is also available on websites.  Many newspapers carry the print advertisements online as a part of the online edition of a traditional newspaper. The online version of traditional media channels offer excellent opportunities for display advertising.

Permitted Push:

 “Findings identified five key trends relevant to advertisers including: a move towards permission-based advertising; higher levels of personalized advertisements; more three screen advertising campaigns; increased levels of interactivity and the development of performance-based metrics.”3

 Permission based advertising is the same as permitted push, In both cases first permission of the customer is sought and then, acceptable advertising delivered.

Media vehicles that offer the potential of sending out messages to specific customers/customer groups and build a rapport/ relationship include social media, Mobile communications, and email or database communications.

Social Network: This offers instant multi-media messaging to subscribers/followers/members, anyone who has permitted the communication. Micro-blogging with a service like Twitter, discussions and networking among professional contacts through Linked-in and networking for instant communications that is two way as in Face book, all offer great potential to create and build a network of brand loyalists.

“The study conclusively shows that the publicity effectiveness is superior in social media as compared to “traditional” online media. There is a similarity between social-media marketing and WOM advertising. In each case, the unbiased nature of the sender—and other perceptions of his or her credibility—play a greater role in social media than in traditional media.”4

Mobile

The number of mobile internet users is estimated to reach 478 million by June 2018, according to a report titled Mobile Internet in India 2017, published jointly by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and KANTAR-IMRB. The report estimates 291 million urban mobile internet users and 187 million Rural mobile internet users as on December 2017. “With the growth we are witnessing in India, there is no question that mobile is a must-buy for brands who intend to reach Indian consumers at scale. With so many consumers using mobile devices as a primary means to digital media consumption, mobile is the complimentary media channel to TV for reach extension while still maintaining a compelling brand experience that will only improve as smart phones penetrate at scale over the next year.”5

Some of the specific tools include sending short messaging service (SMS) messages, Location specific messages like in a mall or store, interactive messages as in a tele call or song download, news and other subscriptions can also be used to promote brands including services like astrology, travel and search.

Mobile Apps: This is a fast emerging as an important permitted push option on the smart phones which places the brand in the hands of the customers. Apps can be used for display advertising, customized search, purchase, feedback and many other functions.

There are many subscribers who have now signed up to the 'do not disturb' scheme. While this appears like a dampener, it has made for more specific targeting as many subscribers are willing to receive relevant messages from specific organizations/numbers.

Digital database marketing /Email Campaign

This is a very cost effective permission marketing activity that is sharply targeted. Opt-in Newsletters and White papers are good examples, even as regular sales letters can be emailed. Invitations to online/offline events and conducting webinars for invited/opt in audiences is a great digital media vehicle.

OUTBOUND		INBOUND
Display	Permitted Push	Search	Content Pull
Banners	Email Campaign Mobile messaging	Paid Inclusion	Brand Created Content
Classified Advertising	Facebook page and other social media interactions	Search Re-targeting/back links	Case Studies, Blogs, Whitepapers, E-books, Infographics, Video, long form content
Web site	Mobile Apps	SEO	User Created Content
YouTube		Affiliate Marketing	Feedback websites, Picture/video sharing, blogs,
Virtual Exhibitions		SEM: Search network and Display network
Traditional media online		QR Codes

Categorization of Media Vehicles in the digital world

Search Media

Search media is what is really new about new media. This is leveraging customer interest to the maximum. Search media is a means of communicating where being seen by those specifically searching either for a brand/product/service is most important. There are many tools used to improve the chances of being seen by relevent potential customers. Search Engine Marketing is the most commonly used media vehicle. Google AdWords is a great example. When a member of the target audience is searching for something, an advertisement appears along with the search results, thereby giving the greatest chance of conversion at the moment the potential customer is looking for choices. Free listing at google will also throw up a particular page, however the page link may appear in 5^th, 6^th or 100^th page making it not really useful.

Search Engine Optimization is another way of improving the chances of being seen when a search is carried out. This includes many software tools, language tools and optimization algorithms. Most websites in a competitive world need to ensure that SEO is carried out. This is a continuous activity and not a onetime fix.

Search is emerging as the most important aspect of the digital world media vehicles and innovations are a daily occurrence in this area. The Return on Investment, measurability and flexibility offered is by far the best among the various digital media vehicles.

Content Pull

An extension of search with the qualities of display are Content pull media vehicles. The brand creates content that is interesting, useful or novel and attracts the audience and/or customers create content about the brand in the form of reviews, pictures, guides and comparisons.

 Advertisers create case studies of brand at work, employee blogs about frontiers of technology or such interesting content that positions the employee and the brand. White Papers on use cases, E-books, how to videos, and even long written content detailing products, technology or about sourcing from fairly paid farmers in some remote country are all aimed at drawing potential and existing customers to the brands content. Content pull is creating or using user created content to draw an audience towards the brand, its views, and sometimes to provide information.

Brand users who are generally more credible create content and share the content. Some user created content have even gone viral, greatly supporting the brand and sometimes creating a problem for the brand. Reviews, product use/assembly videos, comments, old advertisements/packs, comparisons and opinions on review websites like mouthshut.com or pricecompare.com are all content about the brand created by users and customers. Writing about specific brands in personal blogs or displaying brand names on business websites to use as ingredient brands are all useful and credible communication tools, even if the advertiser/brand owner does not have much control on the media vehicle. 

Blogging: There are basically two main types of blogs. One is a company blog which posts the latest happenings and the companies/brands views. The other is the employee blogs which are content populated by employees specially those who are experts. Employee blogs enjoy great credibility and can pull people to the brand and a lot of content about the brand, products, case studies etc., whereas personal blogs mentioning the brand names provide credible reviews.

Categorization needs new criteria

Even as display advertising, advertorials and editorial are to newspapers, display, search, and content may be to new media, however, with every advancement in technology the lines are blurring and what is display is also content pull or user created content. For example on YouTube you can have display advertisements, post content that audience will search for and users can also create content and post on your YouTube channel. Similarly the boundaries between interpersonal and mass communication are blurring as in the case of Facebook. Each platform like Facebook, YouTube, or search engine like Google offer unique combination of communication possibilities, which might suggest we look at each platform as a different media vehicle, however, that would disregard the similarities among the offerings. The growing ad blocking on one side and increasing response to retargeting using display advertising are factors one cannot ignore when trying to categorize a vehicle as search or display. It is more about what function is being used in the campaign, both how and where. Measurement tools for search are different from that for Display, in fact each media type has a different measurement tool and criteria.

In  March 2009 Daniel Goodall, a senior marketing professional came up with Owned, Bought, and Earned media as a way of looking at new media.

Owned Media: Assets on the web like a website

Bought Media: Media that you pay for like display advertising and Pay per click and other search based products

Earned Media: Where you do something so cool or interesting that people use their own media to tell others about it. When the material is shared then it is earned for the content creator/curator. 6

In December 2009, Sean Corcoran writing in a Forrester blog modified it slightly, to include a more common media term of paid rather then bought, and wrote about Earned, Owned and Paid media.

Owned Media; Channel a brand Controls

Paid Media: Brand pays to leverage a channel

Earned Media: when customers become the channel 7

This type of categorization is likely to be more accurate than categorizing it as Inbound/Outbound, Display/Search etc., however, in a classroom setting and when one is discussing with those learning the basics of digital marketing both types of categorization and how technology is adding addressability and other functions to each media vehicle creating the need for a categorization based on ownership, payment and sharing might be useful.

The 'Digital Advertising in India' report, jointly published by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International considers the following as different formats within digital advertising

·        Search

·        Display

·        Mobile (SMS, in app ads etc.)

·        Social Media (face book, LinkedIn etc.)

·        Email

·        Video

The recent report indicates the dominance of ‘search’ with both social media and video growing fast. 8

Research needs:

Even as new media is now accepted as inevitable in any media plan, substantial research needs to be done to be able to use the medium to its fullest. Some of the questions that research is yet to answer specially with reference to India include the following:

What is the ideal ratio between expenditure on search media, permitted push communications and display media vehicles?

How does one integrate the online, mobile and traditional media vehicles in terms of content, timing and positioning the brand?

Aesthetics of the advertisement and the language of communication needs to be global. Do we need cross cultural teams? Are there global appeals and aesthetic sensibilities?

Does this type of categorization help in choosing and comparing media vehicles?

The immediate future:

“Digital media brings about infinite reproduction of content, consumer networking, user-generated content and an expansion of media from news and entertainment to almost any technology that has a digital interface with people. The role of media in marketing communications practices shifts from the execution of message strategies into an extension of consumer understanding. Media planning, the practice of allocating a media budget across a set of vehicles, will be replaced by a dynamic, automated process that serves ads based on information streams of consumer intentions and actions. Several of the core principles of IMC - consumer insight, data-driven decision making, cross-media integration and communications with multiple stakeholders - represent an improved framework for managing communications in a digital world.”9

With the growing popularity of movement marketing which uses and fuses all media vehicles and types to sponsor cultural movements for a brand, classification within new media might only serve an academic purpose of being able to differentiate and understand the contribution of each media vehicle in the overall scheme.

The Limitations of this Categorization

This article is agnostic to the device of production or device of delivery/consumption, both of which are important elements and impact both costs and results. In traditional media vehicles like print advertising the production method used might have some impact on the final results, however, in the digital world the device of production will not only impact the quality of the production e.g.: video richness , it defines the immediacy. Immediacy can be a strategic advantage (even if not sustainable!) in the digital world thanks to the advertisers near absolute control on the scheduling. For example if the camera has facilities for editing, correction; enhancement and uploading, things can happen much faster than if the image needs to go through a computer to do all these things.

The device of delivery/consumption is also critical to how quickly a message can reach the audience, quality of visuals/sound, and in many cases the ease of response for interactive media. In case of mobile phones it is generally on and available all the time, and, SMS generally gets notified immediately, this may not be the case with a Facebook post for example which might not get notified generally. The Facebook post can be audio-visual and is not limited by a number of words etc. Every device of delivery changes the immediacy, look and feel, interactivity, ease of access and a host of other elements. Except for the form factor, functionally most devices have many similar capabilities and most content is available in different devices this factor may complicate categorization without adding much value.

Impact of newer technologies

With increasing internet speeds, telepresence and such technologies,  Artificial intelligence improving algorithms’ with big data; addressability, interactivity, response speed, sharpness of retargeting and every feature of new media will continue to change. Programmatic advertising blurs the lines even further between media vehicle characteristics. The present scenario is a fast evolving period for new media and therefore categorization criteria might take some time to be well defined. It will help decision making about media vehicle choice and in teaching if specific media vehicles and their attributes are clearly defined, however, for now this can only be restricted to a discussion.

References:

1.      http://www.afaqs.com/news/story/49866_AdEx-to-increase-by-10-per-cent-in-2017-FMCG-to-lead-GroupM - last accessed on 29/12/2017

2.      What is New Media? Vin Crosbie, 1998

3. Practitioners' perceptions of advertising strategies for digital media.- International Journal of Advertising; 2010 Yann Truong¹ McColl, Rod²
   Kitchen, Philip³
4. Following the Fashionable Friend:The Power of Social Media,Weighing Publicity Effectiveness Of Blogs versus Online Magazines. Jonas Colliander,Stockholm School of Economics & Micael Dahlén Stockholm School of Economics Journal of Advertising Research, Mar2011, Vol. 51 Issue 1, p313-320, 8p
5. www.inmobi.com in their press release about a recent study, 2011

6.      https://danielgoodall.com/2009/03/02/owned-bought-and-earned-media/

7.      https://go.forrester.com/blogs/09-12-16-defining_earned_owned_and_paid_media/

8. https://www.medianama.com/2017/02/223-advertising-india-2017-18-charts/ - last accessed on 21/12/2017
9. Integrated marketing communications: From media channels to digital connectivity.Mulhern, Frank¹ Journal of Marketing Communications; Apr2009, Vol. 15 Issue 2/3, p85-101, 17p,
10. Elin K. Jacob, School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University–Bloomington, 1320 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47405–180, LIBRARY TRENDS, Vol. 52, No. 3, Winter 2004, pp. 515–540