Goafest 2019: "The next 100 million customers for Netflix will come from India."

On the second day at Goafest 2019, vice chairman and global chief strategy officer of R/GA, Barry Wacksman spoke about transforming at speed. The most overused word of 2017 was 'disruption', he said, adding that in 2018, the buzzword was 'transformation'. "It's inspiring and represents a creative revolution," he said.

 

Companies and brands that predate the digital revolution are struggling. Growth has stopped for the Fortune 500 companies. Tech opened the door to a new crop of asymmetrical competition were his primary observations to kickstart the address.

 

"The rise of digital direct-to-consumer brands have captured the hearts and minds of consumers," he said adding that the challenge was on how to move from being disrupted to being the new disruptors.

 

For the advertising business, the message is loud and clear in a 32 point font size. "The audience for ad supported media is declining fast." Netflix, the OTT platform that has zero advertising predicts that its next 100 million customers will come from India he said driving the point closer home.

 

How should the advertising industry escape being disrupted and take on the mantle of being a disruptor. According to Wacksman, this is possible by playing in the three areas of business transformation, experience transformation and marketing transformation.

 

The first case study was how a Brazilian financial services provider excelled in business transformation. In Brazil, a study cited that young consumers would rather go to the dentist, than a bank. See how Next bank cracked the code.

 

The second case study he showed was in the field of experience transformation. In 2018, Nike's Air Jordan brand, Snapchat, Darkstore, Shopify and R/GA all teamed up to create a Snapchat lens of Michael Jordan and social commerce experience at All-Star Weekend. The shoe was sold out on social e-commerce in 23 minutes and deliveries happened by the time the game was over. Watch the case here:

The third case was on marketing transformation of the Samsung Galaxy Note, particularly after the disaster of the Galaxy Note 7. How did Samsung make a comeback with the Galaxy Note 9 with a Galaxy Skin character in a game? The Fortnite Galaxy Skin was exclusive to all those who purchased the Galaxy Note9 or Tab S4. Once redeemed on your Galaxy Note9 or TabS4, the skin was linked to the Epic Games account and could be used on all compatible Samsung Galaxy devices and other platforms. It could only be redeemed once on each individual device.