Marketers know that new technology has allowed customers to educate themselves about brands, but how do companies engage in a meaningful way with digitally savvy individuals? Do brands use engagement to increase conversation rates and revenue even as they build trust and loyalty?

“Engagement is a neglected factor amongst Indian brands,” said Ashish Mishra, Managing Director of Interbrand India, a division of Omnicom, told BusinessLine . “Brand engagement that happens with consumers is in terms of evolution. We are just beginning to get customer centric in India.”

Noting that few brands understand the need to engage with the stakeholder at a deep level over a sustained period of time, Mishra said fewer still know how to go about it. “The engagement return on investment (RoI) is not clearly understood. Corporates understand the RoI of advertising, but engaging consumers is not understood,” he added.

Interbrand recently completed its first ever analysis of brands in the Asia-Pacific region and Australia. Analysis by the company, as determined by data collected over the past five years, showed that the APAC region has entered a period of accelerating change. However, in India, Mishra insists many corporations do not find the reasons for brand engagement compelling enough to subscribe to it.

“Building strong and lasting brand engagement often requires large investments. The benefits might not be immediate, but tend to accrue over a period,” he explained.

Moreover, the benefits are not easily measurable and, in a world in which businesses are focused on the next quarter’s sales numbers, there is a lack of appreciation for engagement, he added. “It is beginning to happen in markets like Japan and Singapore, whereas North America and Europe are more ahead of the curve. They have more serious practices around brand engagement.”

Speaking about the company’s research on Indian brands across industries, including conversations with leading CMOs, Mishra noted the need for salience. In developing markets such as India, which are constantly expanding and extremely competitive, he said, building presence and salience should take centre stage.

However, Indian marketers are often too preoccupied with expanding into new territories and tackling retail challenges to worry about engaging with the consumer at a micro-level, he added.

The reason engagement scores are low amongst brands in India is perhaps as much due to inherent structural issues with the market as to a lack of appreciation, he said.

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