Despite macroeconomic pressures, brands continue to invest in advertising. However, the ask in the current global environment has shifted towards an ROI-guaranteed investment. Priti Murthy, President Client Solutions, WPP Media, South Asia in conversation with businessline explained that while assured bets like IPL are still bringing in ad spends, market inflation has led brands to demand a surety that every ad will lead to a customer purchase. The biggest bet, however, is the festive season where every segment, including FMCG, hopes to enjoy recover their spends.
There are a lot of brands right now that are a bit reserved ad spends. So what have you been seeing on the client side?
The positive side is that clients are still spending because of IPL, etc. So, brands that were advertising were advertising. At the same time, they are asking us to prioritise. They say “give us a what if scenario.” So we did that. With festival season in the next quarter we see another round of investments coming as planned. Categories which have chosen to reduce spends like petroleum, arable oil, are spending in different fashion. Today, media is so vast that we can advertise in ways that might not need as much investment. But yes product prices have gone up, consumer sentiments are tough, market inflation is up. So there is a collateral damage impact in the market. India is still a growing market. Investments will continue but the pressure on ROI will increase. We are building ecosystem around that.
How do you advise them?
So it all depends on each of the client that we manage and what they want to do. They want more RoI to ensure consumer buying products. That is where they are asking us to focus. So, many brands also look at the influencer-interest. Some brands want a better pin-code focus. So, targeted ads are also the basis for distribution and mapping. Brands can go as large as having a sponsorship on cricket to as local as an activation in one of the markets to address their brands’ needs.
For the last two quarters, FMCG spend has been conservative. Will they open up their ad spends this quarter?
It’s not like they have taken away the ad spends altogether. Like I said, they are asking for more ROI-focused media. investment continues but in different proportions. They’ve not paused it because the minute you pause it, you see the impact in sales. FMCG is highly elastic to media advertising. So they continue to invest. I think the next two quarters is very critical for them as a market business. The festive season is the largest bet.
Are you seeing any clamour among clients for FIFA?
FIFA has always been high interest for a lot of our clients. A lot of automobiles, male-focused brands have always taken to FIFA but now also female-focused brands have shown interest and they are advertising as well. Some of the Indian or global brands also want to participate in TV advertising.
For the second half of the year, are there any projections maybe in the electronics, smartphone sector with material shortages, etc.?
It won’t affect ad expenditure but it will affect a lot of brand product decisions, new launch decisions. We are seeing a lot of action in the durable space and automobile space in the second half of this year. There are so many launches announced already. We’re definitely seeing a very strong action like every year. Festive is a critical pillar for us. People haven’t been spending. They’re holding back at least for the festival. Sometimes, it is muted as in pandemic. But post-pandemic, we’ve seen a very positive sentiment around it. Yes, the income pressures, the inflation pressures exist and brands are relooking at some of how they want to land it in consumers life. We hope this year’s festival season is just as good as last year’s.