Journeying towards the online platform
After decades of brand communications on the offline/mainline platform, the digital medium catches my attention. So just wanted to discover and explore this promising and vibrant mediumm as an enthusiast. I was clear that the effort should not take me far from home, with too much physical distance to cover. (After all, is online not about closing physical distances, lol?)
A single thought/proposition or idea
With this objective, first visited several websites. In the offline space, a campaign creation involves a single concept or idea, which then gets adapted to other media – press, tv, hoardings, etc. Thus most ad agencies showcase their “creative” talent, branding skills, etc. on their websites. Not too sure if the online medium permits such a creation. The websites themselves, of most digital marketing vendors, to me, was a mixed bag offering of a plethora of services ranging from SEO/SEM to ORM to Brand conversations to Advertising Solutions. Thus there was no definite promise or focus.
Common attributes
So decided to physically call and meet only the heads or owners of these providers. And guess what? Learnt that Bandra itself was full of such. In a small Bandra confine, not more than 10 minutes by road, met about half a dozen. Most or nearly all of them shared some common features:
1) Filled with youngsters in the 20 to 30 years age group.
2) The owners too were either in the same age bracket or not far from there.
3) Almost all of them operated out of private residences or apartment/flats.
On chatting with the owners, some facts caught me by surprise. Was informed that the “employee life cycle” in such companies was approximately 18 months, with evaluation/appraisals every 3 months. One of the heads was very certain as part of “employer branding”, the company would never shift out of Bandra. Reason? The employees just loved Bandra as a hang-out.
Will Bandra become the next Madison Avenue? Could be interesting!
coutoivanx 