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Narasimha Jayakumar

The Internet has never been a medium short of excitement. Whether it is social media sites such as Facebook or Orkut or video sites such as Youtube, the fan following and the time spent on these applications is on the rise.

But even as users get more and more savvy online, where are marketers and media agencies in the whole picture? Yes, the awareness is there, but as far as tapping into the medium's potential goes, they seem to be far behind.

Sensing a lag in adopting digital marketing strategies, Google has come out with an outreach programme to help creative agencies and media buyers plan their digital strategies efficiently and effectively.

Narasimha Jayakumar, Business Head - Travel and Local, Google, says, "Over 50 million people in India use the Internet. About 72 per cent of this audience is from A & B; 60 per cent is from the metros - this is interesting for marketers as they belong to the consuming classes.

"The awareness on digital marketing is picking up with early adopters of the medium being travel, telecom, technology and financial services. But, the knowledge and expertise on digital marketing needs to be enhanced.

With Internet adoption growing in the country, and word-of-mouth becoming increasingly powerful, the entire ecosystem needs to raise its expertise to take it to a different level."

Google Academy

Google's initiative - Google Academy - is a programme designed for traditional advertisers, to provide them a deeper understanding of how to work in the digital media space.

Training is by specially trained Google employees and industry experts who share insights and case studies with creative heads of advertising agencies, account executives, client servicing and media buying agencies, on how digital marketing strategies work.

The program's modules include how to plan digital strategies, what kind of products and solutions, media options (search, display advertising, social media and video advertising) will deliver effective results, how to cut across clutter, and how does one execute these strategies.

Google kick-started this initiative in Mumbai in August. It saw around 90 people from six agencies, including Ogilvy, Madison, Group M and Lowe.

The first batch `graduated' recently after a formal test. Google plans to take this academy to several cities and hopes to cover 40-50 top agencies.

While Google Academy is targeted at media and creative agencies, Google also runs client-specific digital workshops for marketers.

As a parting shot, Jayakumar reels out this bit of statistics, "On an average, people spend about 9.3 hours a week online outside work.

With a figure like that, marketers and creative heads can no longer afford to ignore this "high-engagement" medium, which is turning out to be as much a mainstream media as television and print are."

swethak@thehindu.co.in

More Stories on : Internet | Online Marketing

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