Key conclusions from
looking at these trends are:
•
Mobile is driving the internet proliferation in
India and globally
•
Smartphones and Tablets are directly eating
into PC/ Laptop market, by providing easy internet access and low to mid end
data handling and computing capability.
•
Indian consumers are ready to pay for content
on Mobile. 300 Cr (Indian paid app market size) is the highest Indian consumers
have ever paid for digital content consumption. Hence a clear shift in
preference of platform for media consumption.
Google, like many other
market leaders of respective categories, is trying to drive one thing above
all- penetration of the category, in this case Internet Usage. Almost 90%+
revenue for Google comes from online ad, and hence the second challenge- how to
make the users come to Google for all ‘searches’. This is the part which gets
tricky when it comes to mobile. In mobile, unlike PC/Laptop, we needn’t access
internet only via internet explorer, there are apps (short for ‘application’)
which cater to our specialized needs/ interests. With the plethora of apps,
such as FB, Twitter, flipkart, bookmyshow, NDTV, Pulse, cricinfo, Zomato and
many more, it is limiting the need to use mobile browser. In the long run,
Google stands to lose a substantial chunk of mobile internet traffic due to
reduced use of google apps or browser. Google’s answer to this is – Google Now.
To borrow directly from its definition online - it’s an intelligent personal
assistant developed by Google, which is available within the Google Search
mobile application for Android and iOS operating system. Google Now is your one
stop destination for weather updates, restaurant bookings, flight schedules,
traffic updates on your frequently used routes, score updates of your favorite
team and so many other things. The idea is to keep the user on Google Search
app as much as possible, and provide all the information in a cohesive manner.
So now coming to the ad
itself, it has two key deliverables – 1. Establish an instant emotional connect
with a large section of the Indian population (what better than partition of
India as a topic), 2. showcase the use of Google desktop search and mobile app
in day to day life. They have put special emphasis on really setting the
context so that nothing seems forced, and hence the length of the ad. You can
see the ad online (YouTube) or in Cinemas, since these are only two mediums
which support such lengthy ads. Interestingly there are 4 more ads already on
Google India channel on YouTube, which takes the story forward and highlights
different usage occasions – sports update, translation, online shopping and
cooking recipe. These are however shorter edits and are more likely to be seen
in TV or Cinema in coming days.
Whether Google is
successful in tapping the mobile users, will be keenly watched by many in days
to come, however it does leave back clear learnings for – i) Market leaders, in
terms of reading changing consumer trends and providing better products/ services
to meet them, and ii) importance of developing genuine emotional connect in ad.
[Data Source: India’s
Mobile Internet, Report by Avendus]
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