LITERATURE REVIEW: IMPACT OF DIGITAL BRANDING

The nature of communication has undergone a substantial change in the past 20

yearsand the change is not over. Email has had a profound effect on the way people
keep in touch. Communications are shorter and more frequent than when letters were
the norm; response time has greatly diminished; we are even surprised if someone we
wish to contact does not have an email address. Although there are still a few people
who print out their emails in order to read and respond to them, most of us are
accustomed to the daily duty of reading and answering emails that have arrived since
we turned off the computer the night before, and to keeping up with them as they trickle
(or flood) in during the day.
Even as we have gotten used to email, though, the nature of communication continues
to change. Instant messaging has created another method of interaction, one where the
length of messages is shorter and the style of the interaction is more conversational
but where it is acceptable and common to pay partial attention. Broadcast technologies
like Twitter transform these short bursts of communication from one-on-one
conversations to little news (or trivia) programs: we can tune in when we want an
update or have something to say, and channel surf to other activities in between
updates.
The expectations we place on those we communicate with vary from medium to
medium, as has always been the case. Sending a letter through the postal mail sets up
an expectation of a response that will come in days; email, in hours; instant messaging,
in minutes. We expect the letter-writer to devote a certain amount of time and attention
to responding. With email, the expected time investment is smaller. With instant
messaging, we understand that the other partys attention may wander between
messages in some cases and remain focused on us, as with a phone call, in others.
New environments like virtual worlds present additional opportunities and challenges for
communication. In such settings, there is a visual component to the online interaction
that is lacking in email or instant messaging: we can see a body that goes with the
voice or text conversation. Affordances like this can help foster a feeling of presence
and give us clues about when the other person is listening, when he or she wishes to
speak, and when his or her attention is directed elsewhere. This is not to say that these
environments offer the same contextual cues as face-to-face communicationthey do
not; but there is an added dimension to interactions in these spaces that does not occur
in other online contexts.
Digital Branding Tools (Online communication tools) also have the potential to
increase our awareness of the movements of our professional or social contacts.
Twitter, for instance, offers an at-a-glance update of things people we know happen to
be doing: who is outside cleaning their gutters, who is writing a new blog post, who is
about to have lunch with a friend. This phenomenon is often called social
proprioception, named after the physical quality of proprioception that tells a creature
where its extremities are by the reception of stimuli produced within the organism.
Social proprioception tells us where the nodes of our community are and provides a
sense of connectedness to and awareness of others without direct communication.
Technologies like Twitter enable us to have this sense even when the members of our
community are not within sight.
Digital branding not only includes Social Networking sites, but also includes
creating awareness by coming up with brand websites, intranets, mobile, viral,
blogs, search engines, videos, email, Pop ups, banners, etc. The interaction done
with the brands/products help consumers to know the product more, involve
themselves in the making/changing, share problems, interact with the concerned
person, give feedbacks.


















India turns to internet to satiate thirst for
latest cricket updates
By BS Reporter, Business Standard, Mumbai, March 29, 2011
Section: News Category: Digital

Action-packed weekday cricket World Cup matches seem to have driven
bumper traffic to internet sites in India.

According to Comscore, the tournament has caused a surge in visitation to cricket sites in India, as fans
went online for the latest results and match updates. Sites reached their highest volume of traffic for the
month during the week ending March 13, with 16.4 per cent of India's online population visiting
www.ESPNCricInfo.com and 13.4 per cent of web users visiting Yahoo Cricket.
For Wednesday's India-Pakistan semi-final match, Google reports that use of its search engine have
surged multifold. It said tickets for the match, at Mohali, have topped the search queries, followed by
hotels to stay. "Maximum searches are coming from Karnataka, followed by Delhi and Maharashtra,"
reports Google.
"The internet continues to play an increasingly important role in sports tournaments across the globe, as
fans turn to the web for real-time updates, results and live-streaming of matches," said Joe Nguyen,
Comscore's vice president for Southeast Asia. "We expect to see even greater visitation to cricket-related
sites with the upcoming rivalry match between India and Pakistan on March 30, which is sure to be
followed with great interest in both countries."
In fact, live streaming of the India-South Africa match on www.espnstar.com has broken India's online
streaming record, with over three million streams being delivered to 1.5 million consumers on the mThe
site generated a little more than 175 million page views between February 15 and March 23. It saw 20
million users in the period.
Aloke Malik, managing director, ESPN Software India, said: "The response to live streaming of ICC
Cricket World Cup 2011 on espnstar.com has been amazing. Consumers have enjoyed high quality
online stream, which works well even on low bandwidth. We expect the traction to build as we progress
further in the tournament."






Soch.la: The cricket-based social media
platform
By afaqs! news bureau, afaqs!, New Delhi, March 21, 2011
Section: News Category: Digital

The website enables its members to comment, converse and share opinions on
cricket with other members, especially during a cricket match.

The New Delhi-based social media education firm, Digital Vidya, has recently launched a social cricket
platform called Soch.la. The website enables its members to comment, converse and share their opinions
on cricket with other members, especially during a cricket match.
Currently, the website is open only for Facebook users. This implies that the user will require a Facebook
account to become a member of the website. Once registered, Soch.la will automatically create an initial
network of friends by adding the user's Facebook friends who are already members of the Socha.la
platform.

Users will also get the option to discover and add people (who are not linked to them on Facebook) and
create their own Soch.la networks.
Similar to Twitter, Soch.la uses the terminology of 'Following' and 'Followers' to describe the linkage
relationship among users. 'Following' indicates other Soch.la users who the user has added in his Soch.la
network to get updates or comments posted by them.
One can add friends or follow other Soch.la users by clicking on a button titled 'Follow', displayed near the
picture of any Soch.la user on his 'Profile' page, which displays the activity/comments shared by the user.
Though a follower can see updates of those he is following, they can't see his updates unless they are
followers in turn.
Apart from acting as a platform for conversations around cricket matches, the website also provides score
updates to its users and engages them through polls.
Speaking to afaqs!, Pradeep Chopra, co-founder, Digital Vidya, says, "The thought about Soch.la struck a
few weeks ago while I, along with Kapil Nakra and Manas Garg (the other co-founders), were discussing
how we can have better experience and more fun around the ICC Cricket World Cup. We soon realised
that 'socialising around cricket' is what every cricket fan around the world enjoys. Thus, we launched
Soch.la."
Chopra adds, "Our current focus is 'user experience' and 'user growth'. However, we have plans to
monetise Soch.la through advertisements and sponsorships. Apart from banner advertising, there could
be advertising opportunities around new posts/comments. Also, we could opt for sponsors for score
flashes on key occasions such as boundaries and sixes. Similarly, Social Games, wherein people can
buy virtual items using real money, is another monetisation opportunity that we could explore."
The company plans to use this platform beyond cricket. Chopra says, "Surely, it has the potential to go
beyond cricket and for that matter, to go beyond sports. A lot of users have suggested that, but our
current focus is cricket and it will stay so till we are sure that we have done our job to give a world class
experience to cricket fans around the globe."
The company will promote the social media platform through Facebook Ads and word-of-mouth
marketing.



Keep that social network profile updated
By Priyanka Joshi, Business Standard, Mumbai, March 21, 2011
Section: News Category: Digital
Social media and career networking portals have become imperative for first-
time jobseekers.
Shruti Marathe, an MBA from Symbiosis College, created her business networking profile on LinkedIn two
months after she completed her course. "I wrote about my college projects in details and even had work
recommendations posted by seniors, who guided me during my internship," she recalls. Within a few
days, Marathe got a call from a company, National Instruments, to come for an interview. "Soon, I had
two offer letters in my hand," recalls Marathe, now working as a sales executive with the Star group.
Social media and career networking portals have become imperative for first-time jobseekers. Whether
it's through blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook, people are seeking potential employers through
alternative online sources. Take, for example, professionals like Nikhita Arora, who works with Madison
Media. She bagged her existing job via LinkedIn. "I maintained my profile on career networking sites like
ApnaCircle and LinkedIn. During college, we were repeatedly told how recruiters use social media to hire
freshers," she says. Arora, who had moved to New Delhi for another job, was interviewed by her existing
company CEO after he reviewed her LinkedIn profile; he offered a new job in Mumbai within 24 hours of
talking to her. Now, she uses her LinkedIn profile to initiate business meetings with contacts she has
made online.
The reason why India's 80-million internet base is turning to social networks to find employment is in
numbers. Sites like Facebook have a little over 15 million members from India and LinkedIn claims to
have more than nine million professionals from India networking on its site. Twitter has 145 million
registered users globally. It is only natural for prospective employers and recruiting agencies to scan
these sites to gather detailed profiles while hiring college graduates. For the employees, web 2.0 tools
like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are the newest way to extend the social circle and tap into jobs that
aren't usually advertised.
Hari V Krishnan, country manager, LinkedIn India, says, "If talent was a currency, LinkedIn is the
exchange where we connect talent with opportunity at massive scale." He makes a point when he adds,
"Most professionals who are offered jobs on LinkedIn are not looking for jobs, they are passive
candidates."
Samar Narayan, 26, a web designer and graphic illustrator, also found his first employer on Facebook last
year. "I use Facebook not just for keeping tabs on friends, but also to showcase my work. My friends
often comment on my work and that becomes my real-time recommendation for recruiters."
Twitter and Facebook, while still serving as communication tools between friends, increasingly function as
public noticeboards, where users can share job-related information through its pages, groups and
applications, while search engines like TwitterJobSearch.com have turned the 140-characters-a-post site
into a promising job hunting ground.
Hareesh Tibrewala, joint CEO of Social Wavelength, has hired at least three people through Twitter. He
says, "We find Twitter very effective in hiring entry to mid-level professionals, while LinkedIn comes handy
while hiring senior management people." Tibrewala feels microblogging, social networking websites can
be a powerful way for small companies and recruiters to expand their list of potential job candidates. He
says, "Twitter is not the end-all, be-all, but it is an affordable and inexpensive way for a small business
trying to make an impact to reach a larger audience, share their job offerings and build their brand."


Indian Brands + Marketers - Ready for Social Media?

At recent NASSCOM-EMERGE OUT conference , I met Vlnod Hurlth, Founder of CMO Axls - who dld un
excellent presentutlon on go-to murket strutegles for Indlun Sturtups [thut sesslon wus so lnteructlve thut
everybody who were sleeplng post lunch got up to purtlclpute und dlscuss thelr vlews:)].
I dld un emull questlon und unswers sesslon wlth Vlnod on the current stute of Soclul Medlu Murketlng ln Indlu
und whether Indlun Murketers & Brunds effectlvely use/understund the power of new medlu chunnels llke
soclul plutforms.
O. Are Indlun brunds uslng Soclul Medlu Murketlng(SMM) effectlvely?.
Vlnod : I would thlnk no und I um tulklng of thls beyond the umblt of B2B murketlng. I huve been ln
conversutlon wlth muny brund dlrectors und CMOs - cleurly whlle brund persuuslon hus moved from lts
physlcul dlmenslon to web 2.0, murketlng strutegles huve not kept puce. One lnterestlng note ls 8/10 cur
buyers ln Indlun metros toduy muke thelr cur buylng declslons onllne they form oplnlons und muke declslons
bused on cur forums, sltes und blogs how muny cur mukers do you uctlvely see purtlclputlng ln these
forums? How muny of these compunles run thelr own web 2.0 chunnels? In B2B, speclflcully wlth respect of IT
compunles, whlle these compunles ure more evolved thun B2C, I stlll thlnk thut muny of these web 2.0
lnterventlons ure not customer focused muny ure lnslde out forums und hurdly connect wlth the customers
puln polnts und concerns. Conslderlng thut 66% of ull IT buylng declslons ure mude us u result of cllents dolng
reseurch und flndlng thelr vendors und not vlce-u-versu. I thlnk Indlun brunds wlll huve to chunge focus from
push murketlng to pull murketlng by uslng soclul medlu more effectlvely.

O. Do you thlnk SMM wlll help brunds ln thelr product/servlce go-to murket strutegy { effectlvely lnllne wlth
thelr low-cost murketlng budgets} ?.
Vlnod: Absolutely. In fuct we ure dolng u pro|ect for u leudlng IT compuny where we ure helplng them connect
wlth und lnfluence 170 of thelr top prospects (All from Fortune 500 compunles) by ldentlfylng them on soclul
networklng chunnels und bulldlng turgeted progrums to enguge wlth them. Needless to suy, lt costs S0 to flnd
these people on sltes llke fucebook or llnked ln und enguge wlth them.

O. Are Indlun Murketers ure reudy to udupt themselves to the new medlu murketlng chunnels llke soclul medlu
plutforms und where do they stund toduy?.
Vlnod: I dont thlnk Indlun compunles huve u cholce thun to udopt. On u dlfferent note, soclul medlu cun
uctuully be u gume chunger for Indlun compunles us lt ullows them to reuch thelr turget customers more cost
effectlvely und enguge wlth them more effectlvely. I thlnk the muln construlnt ls thut muny Indlun murketers
ure not effectlve users of soclul medlu themselves (how muny of them do you flnd on your soclul medlu
sltes?). Murketers flrst need to personully sturt experlmentlng wlth und uslng these tools before they cun drlve
thelr brund strutegles uslng soclul medlu.



Guest Article: Mahesh Narayanan: A
WWWirless World!
By Mahesh Narayanan, Google, Mumbai, March 04, 2011
Section: News Category: Digital Type: Guest Article

The mobile device works as the marketing medium, the sales channel, the
payment facilitator and a social buzz generator.
I was watching the first match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 between India and Bangladesh when I suddenly
wondered how cool it would be if I could watch it on High Definition (HD). So I picked up my phone and simply
searched 'Tata Sky HD' on Google. The first link on the search results page was a Tata Sky mobile search ad
explaining the benefits of HD, with a phone number to call.
I simply hit 'call' and the call centre executive convinced me that I should invest in Tata Sky+ HD. I was put through
an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) menu, where I simply entered my credit card details and the transaction was
completed! Today, I enjoy the HD experience at home. More importantly, what I really enjoyed was the completely
seamless buying experience! This led me to tweet about it.
The interesting aspect in the above example is that the same device worked as the marketing medium, the sales
channel, the payment facilitator, and also as a social buzz generator - it was my mobile!

The 3Cs of mobile web growth in India
Cell phones: At the beginning of the last decade, mobile phones were considered a high aspiration lifestyle product,
with high flaunt value. And, in Circa 2011, there are more than 700 million mobile phone users in the country and
growing ever so fast! Who would have imagined that one would be able to buy a touch screen phone at a sub-Rs
10,000 price point in India? Today, this is a reality. Proliferation of smartphones is leading to great mobile web surfing
experiences for mobile users in India.
Connectivity: In late 2009, Aircel - which was one of the newly launched carrier service providers in India then -
created a new trend of sorts. It launched unlimited data packs at a price point of Rs 99, which was seemingly easy on
the pocket for the man on the street. Soon, every major telecom carrier in India started a big data push. Easy
connectivity started propelling mobile web usage in India significantly.
Content: The wide range of content available on the mobile web is making it very interesting for mobile web users.
Today, every major telecom carrier and OEM (original equipment manufacturer) has its own applications (apps) store.
The array of apps available on these stores is helping them build a loyal consumer base. Content consumption on the
mobile web is increasing due to the plethora of content options available today.
Mobile advertising in India
Size of the Pie
Here are some interesting statistics about the mobile market in India:
There are more than 30 million active mobile web users in India today.
Google Mobile Search volume grew by 280 per cent, year-on-year in 2010.
Mobile web traffic on AdMob - the mobile ad network of Google - grew by an amazing 566 per cent in 2010.
Mobile web usage is clearly exploding in India. On the other hand, the approximate size of the mobile advertising
market in India was only $7-8 million at the end of 2010, and is expected to grow by about 50 per cent in 2011.
Clearly, the size of the 'pie' does not match up to the reach and the unique targeting capabilities that this medium can
deliver.
Unique targeting capabilities
A mobile phone provides marketers a wide range of targeting capabilities, making it a very interesting medium:
Location: Marketers have the unique ability to trigger an ad on mobile search only when the user searches from
within a 30-metre radius. For example, I could search for 'Pizza store' on my mobile when I am in Bandra, Mumbai,
and the Pizza Hut ad would be triggered only because I am in the 30-metre radius from the store.
Carrier targeting: Marketers have the opportunity to do carrier specific targetting on the mobile web. This feature is
being smartly used by many marketers to run tactical marketing campaigns. For example, I use a Vodafone
connection and keep seeing Idea Mobile Number Portability (MNP) ads while surfing various applications on my
phone.
Handset manufacturer and device model targeting: It is actually possible to target users on the basis of the handset
manufacturer and the model of the phone. For example, LG Mobile can intelligently target only Nokia and Samsung
users to announce the launch of the new LG Optimus mobile phone.
Operating System (OS) based targeting: App developers can intelligently use the OS based targeting capabilities
and display their ads within other applications on the same platform. For example, an Android app developer, who is
keen to distribute his app across the globe, can use OS based targeting, and achieve high volumes in real quick time.
Ad customisation based on handset model: You are surfing the mobile web and see an ad which says 'Banking App
for your Nokia N95'. There is a high probability that you would click on the ad and download the app. The medium
provides the unique capability to customise ads based on the handset being used by the user!
Growth challenges
There are a few key challenges that are slowing the growth of the mobile advertising market:
Device and OS complexities: India is still very much a WAP dominated market, with feature phones forming the
largest chunk of mobile phones used in the country. There are ad format limitations on WAP that deter brands from
jumping onto this new medium.
Understanding mobile opportunities: It is easier to do what was being done for many years. It takes a brave jump to
try something completely different. Most marketers and agencies lack deep understanding of the kind of opportunities
that mobiles present today, and prefer to stick to the tried and tested route. Having an online approach to mobile
marketing is also a key folly of a lot of advertisers and agencies.
Too much confusion: The term 'mobile marketing' tends to be used loosely, and consists of various opportunities
such as SMS, mobile web, apps, gaming, Bluetooth, IVR, OBDs (outbound dialers), and augmented reality. Every
marketer realises the need to start mobile marketing - but, what is the ideal starting point? Build a mobile destination
or an app? Which platforms should the app developer aim for? This is a classic dichotomy that every marketer goes
through.
The Road Ahead in 2011
Technology and platforms: Creating a mobile destination will be a hygiene factor for every marketer in 2011. There
will be a rush to create mobile destinations almost similar to the website development rush back in 2000. XHTML will
enhance the WAP experience on feature phones, and HTML 5 will deliver fantastic user experiences on high-end
devices going forward. Tablets and other next generation devices would blur the line between the web and the mobile
web.
Mobile consumers: From the consumers' point of view, 2011 will be a year for 'More usage, new usage'. Consumers
will use the mobile phone much more. With the advent of 3G, we will also see completely new usage patterns
emerging. Users will start consuming more video, rich media content and probably teleconferencing using social
media platforms!
Mobile marketing: From the marketers' point of view, 2011 will be the 'Figure it out' year. Every marketer will get a
deep understanding of the various possibilities and chalk out the most applicable mobile strategies for their own
businesses. Marketers would simply create a device screen-customised brand experience. This also means that
significantly higher investments will come into mobile marketing.
Mobile payments/commerce: In 2010, eBay clocked global sales of more than $2 billion from mobiles. 2011 is the
year we will start seeing the mobile as a driver for commerce in India, as well. I dare say that in the near future,
mobile payments will actually have more acceptance and usage than credit cards in India.