Image Nation Abu Dhabi is inviting filmmakers and movie enthusiasts to take part in its Bopcorn & Sawaalef event this week, as the film club discusses the worldwide phenomenon of crowdfunding and how this simple concept can help local filmmakers to get their ideas off the ground and into production.

Taking place on April 22nd at the twofour54 campus in Abu Dhabi, Bopcorn & Sawaalef will host a talk by Vida Rizq, the founder of Aflamnah - the region’s very own digital platform for crowdfunding. The event will be moderated by Mohammed Al Otaiba, Head of Image Nation Abu Dhabi, and will introduce attendees to the concept of crowdfunding, and how it can be used locally as a new way to gather financial support for a variety of film projects.

Crowdfunding harnesses the power of the crowd, and is about getting the general public to connect with and support great ideas. People who are inspired by an idea or story can choose to make a financial contribution to a project, and this support adds up to help the idea get funded and made.

“The crowdfunding trend has grown steadily worldwide over the past few years, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring the idea to more local filmmakers in the UAE with our latest Bopcorn & Sawaalef event. I think attendees will learn a lot from the discussion, and hopefully will be inspired to push ahead with their film projects or ideas using this unique concept,” commented Mohammed Al Otaiba, Head of Image Nation Abu Dhabi.

Aflamnah is a digital crowdfunding platform that helps independent Arab filmmakers, artists, innovators, or thinkers to raise funds for their projects by getting people excited enough to financially support their idea, so they can make it a reality. Launched in July 2012, the platform has since brought crowdfunding to the region.

With Aflamnah’s support, films such as “When I Saw You” by writer and director Annemarie Jacir, which won Best Film at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival last year and also Best Asian Film at Berlin this year, and “Little” by director Nagham Osman, which won Best Documentary Development Award at the Cairo Film Connection, have benefited.

“Aflamnah was born out of a belief that culture and creativity are extremely important and we want to encourage and motivate people with ideas, to make them happen. We want to make sure money is not the obstacle and that if someone has a good idea and is serious about it, they will do everything in their power to make it a reality,” commented Aflamnah founder, Vida Rizq.

“We love the community spirit of crowdfunding and the way it invites friends, family members and complete strangers to participate and not just watch from a distance. Most of all, it creates new and exciting stories and helps us celebrate and share in the success of extremely talented people around us. It’s a perfect win-win scenario where we are all creating culture together” added Rizq.

Nagham Osman, director of “Little”, commented: “Little’s life with Aflamnah spans more than just the three months of campaigning on the platform. When I launched, I just wanted to make my first documentary. I started working on my campaign two months before launch. At the beginning, I spent hours going through rewrites, working on a trailer, deciding on perks, setting attainable goals only to find out that I was about to achieve more than I set out to do.

“I am extremely grateful to the Aflamnah team and for all the people who backed up the project. Their advice, support and energy has made me a lucky one. It’s always going to be my reference point to making my dreams happen without giving up. My first project will come to an end soon but I know my personal growth as a writer and director is a never-ending one. Thank you for making this more than a crowd-funding experience early on in my career.”

Promoaction DDB has been awarded the entire advertising account for regional telco, Zain in Saudi Arabia following a pitch process involving ten major agencies.

We are delighted to have won such a prestigious account. The energy and passion of the team coupled with some great work, was exceptional. We are looking forward to getting started and helping Zain drive their business forward,” says Khaled Kafarsoussa, President Promoaction DDB.

P DDB’s scope of work is multi-channel and will operate throughout its integrated network of subsidiary and sister agencies in the country.

“We were impressed by the level of thinking and creativity P DDB applied throughout the pitch process. In particular, their high level of integration from the inception to implementation,” said Saud Al-Bawardi Chief Operation Officer in Zain KSA.

P DDB is currently celebrating 25 years in the Kingdom and is one of the few agencies nationwide that provides clients with integrated specialist services through global sister partner agencies, RAPP (CRM), Tribal DDB (Digital), Landmark (PR) and Tracylocke (Shopper Marketing).

“We have aggressive growth plans and intend to consolidate different services under a singular brand. P DDB demonstrated a strong understanding of how our marketing can help achieve those objectives and we look forward to working with them,” Zain’s Al-Bawardi concluded.

The Al Awadhi brothers are making waves with conceptual business ideas. With forward-thinking brands such as Google, TwoFour 54 and Dubai Media Incorporated supporting their ideas, it is clear that they are doing something right. Their latest venture, a travel series called ‘Peeta Planet‘ -  is an evolution from their restaurant brand ‘Wild Peeta’.  The Press Launch of the Peeta Planet TV Show featured a large wall covered with a world map from Google. Pinned on it were Polaroid photos of the various locations the show has visited. Guests were invited to download the free augmented reality app from Ogle It! and view behind-the-scenes footage of the Peeta Planet presenters in action. This augmented reality wall is yet another signature of how Payman and Mohammed Al Awadhi have garnered interest. 

Mohammed Al Awadhi: “We believe that viewers are ready to consume content in a multi-dimensional way; through TV, social networks and in secondary handheld devices.”  

What differentiates their TV show and restaurant in their respective industries is the conceptual use of social media. From the very start, the brothers have aimed to ingrain their brands in the minds of potential consumers by engaging them via social media in decisions about the business, from what to eat to places to visit. Emotional attachments were quickly established which led to loyalty plus popularity by word-of-mouth.  This two-man team has tapped into the experiential, interactive space which leads to authentic branding; and consumers are keen to spread the word because of their personal interest in it.  That is the pay-off with new media. This is the way forward to reach the tech savvy audiences of tomorrow. Traditional messages are aging and need a twist for sharable relevance.  YouTube, Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and Vine are among the top communal media that consumers are voluntarily participating in. Any other marketing and advertising activity should be conceived with ‘content’ in mind. 

With these proliferate campaigns on the rise, Augmented Reality technology provides a unique way to combine physical experiences to the digital space and facilitate easy access to all those campaign efforts. Ogle It! Augmented Reality uses image-based recognition software, which is smartphone compatible, to tie ‘virtual content’ like video, 3D models, motion graphics and dynamic web content to tangible materials, ranging from newspapers and menus, to wall art and branded merchandise. 

With Smartphone devices set to crash through the 1 Billion barrier in 2013, the Augmented Reality industry is already showing significant growth as more brands incorporate experiences and content into their mix for maximum buzz.

Thanks to technological change, many tried-and-true practices that arise from the Four P's of marketing — product, price, promotion and place — have to be thrown out the window.

Product: The product now is an open book. The days when all you had to worry about was Consumer Reports are long gone. Customer reviews are ubiquitous and routinely impact how customers buy.

Pricing: Once easy to manipulate, pricing now needs to be transparent. Obfuscation won't work, and retailers have to be ready and willing to price-match and figure out a strategy for defeating showrooming.

Promotions: In-store promotions can’t just regurgitate the corporate line. They need to incorporate reviews and otherwise offer social proof of the value of the products for sale. Searching online is inherently social. More than 60 percent of users start their surfing behaviors with a Google or Bing search. Page rank algorithms depend on social to drive link strength and popularity. If your site isn't part of the conversation, folks won’t be finding it with Google.

Place: When it comes to place, or distribution, you have to do it all. Customers want to be able to order online and pick up in-store. They want to start a transaction on the website and finish it on the phone. They want it their way, and it’s more incumbent than ever on commerce providers to give it to them.

In the past, these four Ps were determined by the brand. Now, the consumer is in control, and not only does she know what she wants but the list of demands is a long one.

Showrooming, as the practice has been known, has become a constant subject of conversation in retail circles. comScore says about 4 in 10 shoppers check out products in-store and then buy elsewhere — especially online — for a cheaper price. As of last summer, almost half of U.S. consumers had smartphones and 58 percent of them had used the phone for store-related shopping, per a study by Deloitte. Macy's has said that 90 percent of its customers research online at least occasionally before buying in the store.

And once they begin doing that there's no turning back. Typical usage rate for in-store is 50 to 60 percent of trips, per Deloitte. Edgell Knowledge Network (EKN) and eBay Local researchers found that retailers are well aware of the problem and that 8 in 10 expected it to have a negative impact on sales during the 2012 holiday season, with an average of a 5 percent loss. Deloitte, meanwhile, found that about 5.1 percent of U.S. retail sales, about $158 billion, are influenced by mobile and predicted that this number would be 20 percent by 2016. Compare that to a projection of only $5 billion in mobile sales for 2012.

Deloitte ends up with the key insight that it’s mobile influence, not mobile commerce, that retailers should be focused on. Customers have a long list of expectations and at the top is a large amount of information before they make a purchasing decision.

This information-gathering process looks a lot different today than it might have just five years ago. Back then, there might have been a bit of online price shopping and surfing through some product reviews, and maybe a quick phone call to a friend or two if the purchase was large enough. Back then, retailers decided what messages would be in-store and felt safe in assuming that what they told a consumer about a product was the only thing the consumer would ever know about the product. Their signage, advertising, and point-of-purchase materials made up just about 100 percent of content a consumer would on path to purchase.

Pricing practices, especially, have been shaken up. The venerable practice of regional pricing, in which prices are adjusted based on pressures in individual markets, is made more difficult. The Internet, after all, knows no borders. The same is true of offering different prices to different customer segments. In the past, retailers could create one promotion for customers who didn't have strong buying intent without the risk of loyal or likely customers not catching wind of it. Those promotions could essentially be kept secret. Not anymore.

The consumer also expects more information from third-party sources — that's a new challenge for any retailer trying to drive unplanned purchases. They want social proof, that is, what friends and family or category experts think about product, and that's not something that most retailers are set to deliver at scale of 30,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs). Some, however, have tried. Adding reviews was part of an overhaul of the product fact tag, making the product description easier to read, with bullet-pointed key product features and including the average store rating. Putting raw consumers' reviews that aren't wildly positive testimonials on the store shelf is a major step for any retailer. Surely a few sales will be lost because of a low average rating, but the payoff is a deepened relationship with the consumer in-store.

This is the future — and if the stores don't provide peer feedback and information that customers want and are accustomed to getting, then they'll simply get it on their own. After all, it's just a click or two away.

Authored By: Bob Lord and Ray Velez, Authors of "CONVERGE: Transforming Business at the Intersection of Marketing and Technology"

Source:retailcustomerexperience.com

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, the first conference of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) for the Region of Central Asia and North Africa (CANA), kicks off today (Sunday).

Organized by the UAE Board on Books for Young people (UAEBBY), for the first time in the region, the IBBY Conference is taking place at the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on 21 and 22 April, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

The two-day conference, held under the theme of 'Bringing Books and Children Together', brings together 40 speakers, including children's authors, illustrators, publishers, librarians, storytellers, academics, and other experts in the field of children's literature from 20 countries, namely the UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Canada, France, Sweden, Egypt, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Morocco, and other countries.

The two-day conference will feature 10 key sessions, including 4 sessions on its first day, titled 'From reading as a chore to reading for pleasure: Reading promotion in schools', 'IBBY National Sections in the CANA Region: From Simple Beginnings to Inspiring Successes', and a session themed 'Promoting a Culture of Reading among Children in the Region - Challenges and Triumphs', and a panel discussion titled Writing for Young Adults: How do we reach this tough age group?'.

The second day of the conference will feature 6 sessions, namely 'Every Child Has the Right to Become a Reader - Books for Children with Disabilities', 'Intercultural Dialogue and tolerance in children's books, 'Folklore and oral history: Transporting spoken traditions to the written page', and 'Publishing for children: Are we keeping up with new prospects?', and will also include two panel discussions, titled 'Illustrations in Children's Books - A World of Words", and will conclude with a discussion titled 'Has Politics Found Its Way into Children's Books?'.

The conference will also include three workshops to be held as part of the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival, sponsored by the Knowledge without Borders project. They include a four-day workshop for illustrators of children's books, presented by Alireza Goldouzian, from 23-26 April.

The second workshop will be on Bibliotherapy for Children in Hospitals by Sahar Tarhandeh and Hossein Sheykh Rezaee, while the third workshop on 'Creating books with tactile illustrations for visually impaired children", will be presented by Phillippe Claudet, Raouf El-Karray and Danyelle Valente.

The organisers of the conference aims to ensure that every child has the right to become a reader, discuss the current status of the children's book industry and highlight initiatives that aim to promote reading among children, and in light of the major challenges facing such efforts due to the civil unrest and political events affecting the CANA region.

The UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY), organiser and host of the conference, is the national section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), which was established in January 2010 as a non-profit organization under an initiative by Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi.

UAEBBY is committed to developing the children's book industry in the UAE, promoting a culture of reading among children and young people and building the capacities of professionals in the field of reading promotion.

Olympusat, Inc, the leading provider and distributor of independent linear and non-linear television networks in the U.S., announced today that they will be launching 6 channels across 22 countries within the Middle East and North African region exclusively on My-HD Media, one of the leading satellite Pay-TV platforms across the Middle East and Africa.

"We are excited about our continued international expansion", said Tom Mohler, President of Olympusat.

Tom also said "First, we announced our global markets strategy with our Hispanic products, the Ultra HD Plex, availability to go into Latin American/Pan Regional markets. Now with My-HD, we will be bringing 6 select international HD brands to those MENA markets, and it is exciting to be exporting Western content abroad, providing a wonderful HD programming experience, while expanding our footprint."

The 6 new channels provide a robust lineup of content from movies and music videos to family and documentary programming and so much more:

Ultra Fiesta International- As the first HD 24/7 Latino music network, produced by music industry insiders, Ultra Fiesta features the best in Latin music from music videos, news and concerts with widespread cross-over appeal based on popular genres.

Ultra Kidz International - A top entertainment network for kids in HD with a variety of animation and live action hits.

Ultra Film International- Top HD movie network dedicated to airing modern films from around the world that includes family favorites, top hits and independent productions.

Ultra Docs Global - Ultra Docs provides access to a collection of documentaries, some of which have never been seen, including lifestyle and human-interest programming from around the United States and the globe.

Ultra Hits - A top HD music network from the United States produced by music industry insiders to bring Western music abroad, Ultra Hits has music videos, entertainment, concerts and much more.

Untamed Sports International - A distinctive network originating in the United States tailored to provide a gateway for the individuals who are devoted to outdoor sports and activities.

"As we continue to grow exponentially in the Middle East and North Africa, I am pleased to join forces with one of the leading network providers in the U.S., adding six new channels to our family HD package," said Cliff Nelson, CEO, My-HD Media.

"I am confident this exclusive DTH agreement with Olympusat will add great value to our strong offering and increase our customer base, especially that the new channels will progressively carry Arabic subtitles."

The National, Abu Dhabi Media's leading English-language daily newspaper, is celebrating this month as the paper marks its fifth anniversary since its launch in 2008.

Five years ago today, The National hit newsstands for the first time, offering a fresh outlook on the nation and our world. The paper aimed to write about the UAE like no other regional publication had before, and in just a short time The National has set a new standard for quality journalism in the Middle East.

Today, it remains The National's mission to spark conversation about the country's development, its future vision and society in the Emirates. Over the past five years the paper has kept readers informed while helping to position the country as a regional leader and a rising global capital.

"Every day, our pages draw on the UAE's narrative of self betterment, progress, accountability and diligence. And in the process we have presented a vision for how our region's seemingly insurmountable challenges can, in fact, be solved," commented Hassan Fattah, Editor-in-Chief of The National.

"Five years on, we have no doubt cemented our place in the country's fabric, and have never forgotten our ultimate commitment to our readers - to foster national debate and to tackle the critical issues of this nation. We feel privileged to have our readers spend their precious time with us, and every day, we seek to offer in-depth reporting, insightful analysis and engagement with the community around us," added Fattah.

The National will be celebrating its anniversary this week with a special supplement in the paper reflecting on the highlights of the past five years, in addition to a comprehensive marketing campaign across digital, outdoor and print. The newsroom will also mark the occasion with the distribution of special anniversary mementos and cupcakes.

"Looking ahead, The National will continue to focus on creating informative and meaningful, quality content for loyal readers, helping to grow the paper's readership in both print and digital. We look forward to the next five years, and may The National conversation continue," concluded Fattah.

Mobile shopping has emerged as a strong cultural force worldwide and continues to have a profound impact on shopping due to shifting behaviors and attitudes. A new report from Draftfcb, “The Mobile Shopper: A 2013 Draftfcb Global Shopper Snapshot,” confirms mobile’s march to dominance as a medium of choice for consumers. Based on interviews with 7,500+ consumers ages 18-64 in eight Draftfcb global benchmark markets, including the U.S., U.K., Germany, Brazil, South Africa, Middle East (U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia), India and China, the information collected shows that mobile has and will continue to have a profound impact on shoppers and shopping.

The report looks at shopper behaviors connected to mobile devices, including but not limited to:

•Look for, receive, or use deals, offers, discounts or coupons

•Compare information other than price or store location

•Look for store locations and information

•Look for or receive reviews or advice from others

•Share opinions or write reviews

•Plan or organize shopping or ‘to do’ lists

•Track activity or redeem rewards in frequent shopper or loyalty programs

•Compare prices

•See what a product or offer looks like, including comparing.

In addition, the report offers insight on shopper behaviors across seven major categories:

•Grocery

•Apparel

•Health & Beauty

•Causal Dining

•Electronics

•Financial Services

•Insurance

As one of the most highly adopted technologies of all time, mobile plays an important role in the evolution of shopping behavior. Shoppers worldwide are attached to their mobile devices for both emotional and functional reasons. According to the report, 72 percent of mobile shoppers indicate that they “can’t live without” their mobile device. As such, the mobile device is a shopping companion, and an indispensable resource and gateway to brands, ideas and retail.

Mobile shopping prevalence in established markets like the U.S., Germany and U.K. is a strong global force, and in emerging markets like India, South Africa and China, mobile shopping shows the exuberance expected in markets where mobile technology has leap-frogged over more traditional internet service such as home-based online connectivity.

Shifting Paradigms

Mobile shopping has also impacted much of retail and brand marketing. By looking through the lens of human behavior rather than focusing primarily on technology, this global snapshot shows the “Now” of mobile shopping. It is yet another strong nudge to marketers that the classic path to purchase has evolved often dramatically and will continue to do so in the future. From empowering a more male-centric vision of shopping as opposed to the female-centric traditional view of shopping, to other fundamental changes, this research offers marketers an additional glimpse of the future of shopping.

“Consumers worldwide love their mobile phones. Mobile devices are an extension of the self, as both mind and body. Mobile is a global shopper lifestyle,” explained Janet Rose, PhD, SVP director of retail strategic planning at Draftfcb. “Mobile is often the first choice meta-retailer.”

“This has huge implications for both brands and retailers,” said Debra Coughlin, global chief marketing officer of Draftfcb, who commissioned the study. “It means that retailers must step forward even more to deliver creative and satisfying multi-channel experiences. And, it means that brands have new opportunities to engage consumers in big ideas throughout the purchase journey.”

“Retailers must rethink how shoppers use and travel through stores,” said Tina Manikas, global retail and promotions officer. “As mobile shoppers continue to redefine shopping, they will also redefine pathways through the store, both online and brick & mortar.”

Among Other Key Findings

•Globally, the mobile shopper is 25-34 years of age, with an average age of 33

•81% of people believe that mobile phones allow them to shop wherever they want around the clock, seven days per week

•Using a mobile phone to find a store location is more prevalent in the US than any other country

•73% of Brazilian mobile shoppers say that sharing a shopping experience while on their mobile phone is fun

•68% of mobile shoppers in Germany think that comparing prices on their mobile phones is effortless

•83% of mobile shoppers in South Africa say mobile phones eliminate the hassle of having to browse, shop or speak to salespeople in retail stores•82% of mobile shoppers in the Middle East say that they’re always looking for new ways to use their mobile phone•80% of mobile shoppers say that their mobile phone makes them feel like they’re always in the loop with friends and family•61% of mobile shoppers in India are male, the largest shift from census in any market

“Mobile tends to turn everyone into shoppers,” said Rose. “At the same time, it transforms shopping into a richer experience.”

“The biggest challenge for marketers is to provide these ever more empowered consumers with the type of experiences that matter,” said Coughlin. “Those who can do this effectively will win.”

In a recent announcement issued by the regional local content network's headquarters in Jordan, Jeeran.com took the opportunity to share notable highlights from the portal's successful debut year in Saudi Arabia, which substantiate its tremendous growth and growing popularity in the largest market in the Arab world.

As the largest Arab Local-Social website in the region, Jeeran.com was launched in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia last year and has since swiftly progressed to add "places" and "features" to its website and mobile app. These developments have resulted in vast user interaction in KSA, which have registered reviews of 25,000 places and postings of 12,000 photos.

Jeeran Co-Founder & CEO, Omar F. Koudsi stated that "We are obviously very excited about the uptake in the biggest market in the Arab world. We will continue working tirelessly to build local content which enriches people's lives and look forward to further growth and success in new markets in the region. Jeeran.com has truly become locally relevant to your day to day life".

The announcement further elaborated on the growth of the portal which now features 150,000 places listed across 15 cities in Saudi Arabia alone. Adding on to this achievement, in the wake of the announcement, the websites App hit the coveted #1 spot in the Saudi app store. This development in itself is envisioned to give access to hundreds of thousands of consumers in the market. Jeeran.com's GCC and KSA traffic have witnessed 30% growth over the period of a year.

DMS' Managing Director, Michel Malkoun, reiterated his sentiments on the outstanding progress which has been achieved over the last year, stating that "As Jeeran continues to further its inroads into the local-social Saudi sub-culture; it will undoubtedly strengthen its value as a highly desirable platform for advertisers seeking to connect with the Saudi youth population, as well as the vast online audiences within the Kingdom. We are excited to partner them on their journey forward. As we look back with a great sense of pride, we also look ahead with great enthusiasm".

Jeeran is a local reviews site which covers several cities in the emerging world, with a strong focus on the Middle East. Offering online audiences an unrivalled selection of local listings, Jeeran enables users to better interact with places in their cities, empowering them with a huge listing of subcategories from local businesses, ranging from dentists to plumbers and everything in between. It allows users to add places, photos and reviews, which currently add up to tens of thousands of reviews and hundreds of thousands of local listings.

The Digital industry has grown from mere 30mn users to over 100 mn. With this growth marketers are evolving and now know how to use the digital medium for their brands, though there is still scope of improvement with this adoption, as some marketers are still dubious on selecting advertising on digital or mobile. The marketer today is on the web consuming content and is engaging deeper to meet every touch-point of a customer on various digital mediums. However, brands seem to be hesitant in exhaustively leveraging this medium for advertising themselves. With generation Y virtually living their lives across gadget technologies of e-smart phones and tablets, there is an era arriving, eventually, that is ready to surpass the entire cycle of desktop and laptops as they already have access to tablets. We can relate to this on the similar skip cycle that happened when our generation directly embraced mobile phones vis-à-vis pagers. Such is the fast pervasive pace in which our digital world is moving.

Today, dramatic evolution of technology is changing the way consumers are adopting new age devices at a rapid pace, thereby providing brands with the challenge to effectively tap the entire spectrum of mobile, tablet and digital platforms. Earlier till 2006 the marketing techniques were, essentially, to select few horizontal portals and do some rich media ads. Marketers found them good enough as most of the consumer traffic used to visit a particular site for all the required information to be up-to-date in news, finance, auto or entertainment. But over a period of time the consumer mindset has an eagle’s eye view to understand that the requirement now is much wider! For e.g. if consumers need information on cars they will go to vertical portals related to cars. If someone needs bank or insurance related information they would visit a webpage on finance and not a horizontal site. Hence it is very important to know where your target audiences are and then advertise accordingly. Thanks to smarter technologies like ‘Retargeting’ that not only helps extract details of users who have shown interest in your product but also lets you get details of those who haven’t bought or those who landed on your website or Brand page.

Essentially the three main platforms of digital medium are-

•Social Media- Facebook and Twitter have played a significant role in driving the overall digital spends and not having them as part of your outreach will hamper your marketing strategy in a big way. A quick comparison throws interesting facts on how time spend by marketers on making their TVC is significantly higher than a Facebook advertisement. Some of the largest brands taking notice of this fact, has ensured that the true power of social media and digital advertising is in fact effectively utilized to target the right set of consumers.

•Mobile- Today, mobile has not only replaced viewing content on the web but it has replaced camera, mp3 players and gaming device too. The power of mobile is yet to be exploited completely in India. If we analyse, the biggest of the digital and social media companies started as desktop services but over a period of time moved to the mobile medium as the consumer transforms at a much faster rate than what we assume. The world has moved to all kinds of apps, be it news, games, entertainment or social media. The below data shows Facebook usage on smartphones:

•Video- When Google bought YouTube in 2006 the entire world had a question mark on watching video content online,  but the reality seen today is that consumers not only view video on desktops or laptops but even on their smart phones and tablets. In fact technology has transformed lives to the extent that consumers can now watch a 2 hours long movie online, without any buffering, due to an increasing broadband bandwidth. Hence it is very important for marketers to be present where their consumers are. But why will a user engage with the communications which he or she has seen a thousand times on the television? It is very important to have a communication which is specially created for online, as it will draw more attention from the user as they haven’t seen it anywhere else. Hence we see that viral works well on digital as we like to share something that is unique and not seen by all.

Authored by: Pritesh Patel, MD- India & Middle East- Komli Media