MMA Impact India 2022: Audio provides an opportunity for brands to personalise content - Anil Viswanathan

MMA Impact 2022 featured a fireside chat with Anil Viswanathan, senior marketing director, Mondelez India. Karthik Nagarajan, chief content officer, Wavemaker India, moderated the session. 

The conversation focused on how brands can innovate and reach multiple consumer touchpoints through audio and voice advertising. 

Nagarajan opened the discussion by asking Viswanathan to share his sentiments on 'voice as a playground for brands', to which Viswanathan responded, "We go where the consumer is. There is a lot of consumer interest in audio. There is interest coming up due to the immersive nature of the medium and the experts available in areas the consumer is interested in. Thus a marketer needs to leverage this space." 

Brands dipping their toes in audio and the quantum of this market

Viswanathan stated that since there is an area of interest from the consumer's side as a marketer, it is inevitable to experiment in this space. 

He felt that when it comes to reach and awareness, audio as a medium is just getting started. "We are looking at the platform with a great opportunity to engage and drive a multi-touchpoint approach to reach our consumer. Being at multiple touchpoints allows us to land our brand proposition in an integrated manner", he said. 

He added, "Voice is not insignificant in the context of niche brands or the entire digital-first and startup ecosystem. My advocacy is to look beyond just the numbers and evaluate the medium for what it can do for you." 

Personalising voice content 

Viswanathan shared that from a consumer standpoint, the seamlessness that a Spotify playlist offers, makes the space one that knows the user so well.

He added, "As marketers, the end goal is to send a personalised ad to a user at a particular time when we know that the consumer would like to eat dark chocolate. That's the stage we would like to get to and it isn't too far away." 

He went on to explain how Mondelez's Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk used audio to create a campaign.

"Silk as a brand has been associated with music for a while. It has a strong distinctive audio asset in its jingle. So we have always wanted to think about music as a genre, platform or interest area that we want to earn for our consumers. On Valentine's Day, everyone wishes to be gifted something personalised. This was the core insight we picked up on. The brand idea was all about secret messages hidden behind those playlists." 

"We leveraged the idea for Silk through multiple touchpoints from a Spotify playlist to an OOH messaging to a Silk pack. It made everything come around in an integrated way. Audio provides an opportunity for personalisation. It is becoming an important element in an audio experience", said Viswanathan. 

Emergence of the podcast

The fireside chat ended with a discussion around podcasts. 

Speaking of how podcasts are emerging as a big source of perspective for marketers, Viswanathan said, "There are enough and more areas from a business and socio-economic perspective as well. Podcast shows like Pivot, Seen and the Unseen, and Revision is History are few examples where marketers can garner insights on consumer behaviour and trends on the tech side."