Growth Drivers: The next phase of Digital India

Garima Dutt from Zee Media, caught up with Brad Rencher, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Digital Marketing, Adobe to gain insights into the new trends that are going to be the growth drivers for Digital in the near future and how Adobe can help Indian brands and marketers in their digital transformation journey.  

Excerpts from the exclusive interview:

Q. Digital Marketing, when it comes down to real spends on the ground, is being expected to perform both as sales and marketing pipe. How do you view this? Do you think this trend will continue to exist or will this settle down?

A: Well, I think, first and foremost, sales and marketing are inextricably linked – you can't separate the two. So, marketing needs to lead to sales; that is what businesses are looking to drive. Hence, certainly as a trend it is going to continue to be there. Sales and marketing will continue to be linked together and as spends in digital continue to increase, it is going to enable brands to really drive the ROI story and measure the business impact of their marketing spends.

Q: With the growth of digital marketing, big data has suddenly come to play a big role. But there is a huge difference between big data and actionable big data. How do you think this big data can be turned into big data that can be actioned upon?

A: When you look at what's happening in marketing today; we have more data on our fingertips than ever before and as we stand at the precipice of this ‘internet of things’ revolution, as we are starting to have more connected devices which are going to put up more data; for marketers it is easier to become overwhelmed with just the size of the data set. I think the fact that big data is talked about is little bit of a red herring; it is not that important how big your data set is. What is important is to know ‘what is the data that provides signals’, ‘what is the data that tells me what I should do next as a marketer’. And for us at Adobe, that’s what we really focus on  – the actionability of data and use machine learning and other advanced techniques to parse through all the reams of data to get that insight that is going to help you do something better.

Q: Do you think the Adode Marketing Cloud could help in possibly turning this big data story around?

A: In the Adobe Marketing Cloud, we measured 30.5 trillion transactions last year and that really is big data. And with the innovations that we have had from our R&D centre right here in India, wherein by using math, algorithm and statistics, we have been able to get the insights and tell brands that this is the action you need to take to provide the experience customers are looking for. That’s where big data becomes valuable. I don't care how big your data is; big data does nothing for the company. It is really what is done with the data that matters. And that’s where Adobe is looking to help brands.

The Adobe Marketing Cloud is now recognized by leading global analyst firms as the industry leader. As you talk about the tools and platforms that marketers need for their jobs, we're really called out as the number one and are the undisputed leaders today. So, who is it going to be important to? It's for everyone, large and small – a start-up or a big company. We've been in the market for quite some time and India is the fastest growing country globally today for the Adobe Marketing Cloud and I'd like that to continue.

Q: We also see a lot of impetus being given to ROI which we all keep talking when it comes to Digital Marketing. How do you think this ROI can be measured effectively? Do you see a role opening up for a third party neutral measurer of ROI?

A: Well, ROI is something that has been talked about in marketing forever. Since the advent of marketing, marketers have been asked by CEOs and CFOs – ‘what's the return of what you’re doing’ and the old adage that I know 50% of my marketing performs, I just don't know which 50% it is – it has held really until the advent of digital and measurability in digital. Certainly, even brand dollars that are being spent today, the ROI ask on that has heightened – you really want it to be measurable and you want to understand what the impact is.

We see that happening across brands and the Adobe Marketing Cloud helps brands to measure the impact of their marketing and show that ROI. I'd like to say, we're already doing it as a third party. CMOs are taking our data to see returns on their dollars with the knowledge that this is being done by Adobe.

I think third party validation, third party analytics and third party certification is important. It certainly is very important for media companies – how do I certify who my audience is, so that I can charge premium rates. If I have a premium audience, I want the rates that I charge from my advertising to reflect that. I don't want to be commoditized, just because others may be serving up a commodity product.

Q: Great! Lastly, what do you think will be the key growth drivers in digital marketing in the future?

A: The key in digital marketing is all about a broader digital transformation. Whether you're a retailer, a bank, an insurance agency, a government agency or a university, you can't really ignore the digitization of all of these experiences. Digital Marketing provides brands an opportunity to change the way they engage with their customers in whatever they are doing. So, the key growth drivers in digital marketing really are around ‘how do I react to this omni-channel world we are all living in’.

As consumers, we are all on our mobile devices and all of us use computers, we go shop in a store or we go into a bank to take care of business. We all live in these different channels and the trend in digital marketing is how do you react to that, how do you have mobile as a key part of your strategy, how do you have personalization, how does the right message reach the right person. And this really goes across industries.