The great digital divide
By Sudhir Nair Sr Vice President, Grey Digital, South Asia I might end up ruffling a few feathers by writing this piece. However, it is fairly evident from the way the digital medium is shaping up that there are very few who actually get it and there are a lot of people who claim to do so. Then, of course, there is this huge population that just doesn’t believe in it. During the famous dotcom years, more than a decade ago, many of us jumped onto the bandwagon with limited knowledge; pursuing money rather than the medium. Little did we know that what lasted for a good 6-7 years in the western world would have a limited shelf life in India. Some drifted away, completely disillusioned with the medium, some stuck on and pursued what they had set up. They survived and have made it big. Some of us decided to be a part of the medium in some form or the other. Insight no 1: The ones who stuck on were the firm believers and understood the medium better than most of us. I see a lot of similarity in the way agencies too shaped up since then. Almost, every other agency set up a digital division that created digital assets for various clients and made good revenue. Somewhere along the line, though, agencies forgot to wear their thinking caps and create revenue models for clients. The bubble burst and so did the digital divisions along with their clients. In this case too, some stayed put and some shut shop. Very few agencies actually started investing in the division when the chips were down. I happened to join one such agency which believed that this was the medium of the future. We were not the only ones, there were others too. Insight no 2: Agencies that invested when the bubble burst are the ones reaping rich dividends today. As the medium started gaining momentum, expectations rose. Some of them devised revenue models based on these expectations and started committing to those. Some clients firmly believed in it. Some of us refused to go down that route with a belief that there is a lot of scope in being strategic consultants to brands and results will be an outcome of those initiatives, provided we are in complete control of it. Brands which believed that this medium has a lot more to offer came on board and we tugged along. Insight no 3: Brands that kept track of emerging trends are ahead of the curve. After immersing nearly 13 years in this medium, I can see it coming back a full circle. I can see e-commerce models being set up, new revenue streams being created... frantic scalingup of digital divisions and acquisitions. Similar kind of funding though this time a little less generous. However, this time, hopefully, the boom is here to stay. Some brands are taking a holistic view of the medium and investing with a long term objective. However, given the miniscule percentage of spends on digital, the massive divide still exists. Question is, for how long? Feedback: sudhir.nair@grey.com
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