Mumbai: If you are looking for some inspiring ‘digital talk’, GroupM’s Rob Norman, is the man for you. The chief digital officer of the global media conglomerate was among the early ad men to get that designation. When we asked him, how things have changed for him over the years, he candidly, said, “Being a chief digital office when I started was being a freak. However quite quickly though one, ended up becoming an evangelist.” Norman believes his initial years were well spent building teams and coaching them. And, that speaks volume about the institution he has created.

An honest observer

Norman is also known as an honest industry observer. He doesn’t shy away from saying that he can foresee a rough time for the advertising industry. From a macro level, slow economic growth across the globe worries him. It is a fact that with demand drops, employment cycle gets disturbed and so on. When he puts his digital hat on, there is something else that concerns him. According to Norman, while disruptions are happening in the tech world, businesses are growing faster but that isn’t changing the living scenario or the job scene. “It is the combination of these events that could lead to a significant crisis in the near future,” says Norman.

But where’s your product?

Most clients know what their priorities look like but taking a step back from time to time, is something a few of them miss, thinks Norman. As technology is marching towards ruling our lives, there is a significant slowdown on new product development; Norman is of the opinion that it’s time for brands to think about it. “Consumers should have a relationship with brands. And, for this, it’s essential to create care brands,” he adds. What is important today is to wrap services around consumer relationships to build these brands and an excitement around them. The power of packaging is crucial in such cases, observes Norman.

Startup are making Indians entrepreneurial

Norman says startups are absolutely essential in a country like India. “Earlier, there weren’t many opportunities here. Today, startups are making Indians entrepreneurial. And, there are unlimited options to explore,” he adds. It was not long ago that Amazon, Facebook or even Google was a startup. The real question is do startups think they can change the world? Even if they do, it is a great moment to celebrate and encourage them time and again. Along with this, upcoming brands should also think about messaging, and look at segments that could help them make sense of their business economics as well as decode their data strategies.

Indians will be better connected citizens

For digital advertising to evolve, Norman estimates that there are four important factors: have strong bandwidth, mobile handsets, an e-commerce revolution and of course, services to support these. India is at the right place, with 4G rollout and newer players like Jio coming into the market, Norman is confident Indians will become better connected citizens. All this will eventually make marketers shell out more, and excitement for digital advertising will get its momentum, concludes Norman.

Source: Times of India

Image Courtesy: Business Insider India