Page 60 - BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Latin American Brands 2015

MEXICO
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
A STORY OF DAVID AND GOLIATH IN THE DIGITAL MEDIA ERA
The changes that the communication industry has to face in Mexico today – including the telecommunications reforms, the analog turnoff, and the growth of content delivered through new platforms – remain the major topic of discussion.
TOP 50 MOST VALUABLE LATIN AMERICAN BRANDS 2015
Today, advertising in digital media continues to grow and gain relevance:
in 2014, there was an 11 billion pesos investment in Mexico, according to IAB. Of special interest are the platforms with video, which in 2014 had an impact on 83% of internet users in Mexico, as well as the mobile platforms, which have a total of 83.1 million users, with almost half of them (38.5 million) owning a smartphone.*
Is the story of David and Goliath repeating itself in the 21st century? What can brands expect from this battle and how to know which opponent to back?
DAVID AND GOLIATH
IN 2015
The same characteristic that made traditional means of communication – our Goliath – strong and invincible is
perhaps their greatest weakness today: organizational complexity and large infrastructure. These make it difficult for them to adopt new technologies or to understand and adapt to new media consumption habits.
However, and positively for them, they still have their large-scale vision, the ability to connect with big audiences and to generate an immediate
mass impact and, thanks to this, the likelihood of influencing current consumers.
Meanwhile, digital media – our David – are naturally less complex organizations. They tend to operate as cells (business units) to achieve their objectives in
the short term and wind up grouped
as comprehensive communication offerings and platforms that provide solutions to consumers’ needs.
Likewise, digital media have focused on perfecting their most powerful weapon:
their ability to measure and quantify the results of their solutions. This allows them to understand the potential of
the million niches existing today among consumers and to deliver relevant messages to each of them.
However, data measurement and analysis has still a long way to go: the industry has much to do in terms of standardization and the use of reliable digital metrics that favor interaction and data crossing among different points of contact.
THE STORY IS
NOT OVER YET
Although it seems that my analogy establishes who I think the winner will be, the truth is that there is a noticeable and natural wish on the part of the huge digital players to become preeminent and gain a larger part of advertising investment. On the other hand, traditional media make remarkable efforts to create new models, adopt new technologies, and get close to an audience that will soon become their potential consumers: youngsters.
Thus, circumstances in our industry are constantly changing, the roles of David and Goliath are interchangeable, and therefore nothing is definite yet.
SO... WHO'S THE
WINNER OF THIS
BATTLE?
Doubtless, up to this point the ultimate winner of this battle are brands, which now have a wider variety of means to combine and consequently present their messages in a more efficient and customized way.
Nevertheless, brands will only be able to make this victory theirs and capitalize upon it if they use a media mix that allows them to interact with consumers using the strengths of both David and Goliath.
THE GIANT’S PERCEPTION:
Because mass media consumption, especially television, is still preeminent in Mexico, all these means must
be integrated into communication strategies working as important action triggers. Then, these actions can become more specific and focus on the different niches through supplementary means connected with media consumption habits.
AIMING AT THE OBJECTIVE:
More than ever before, the traces (data) left behind by consumers when going through media must be collected, measured and analyzed. This will provide the information needed to develop an assertive strategy, allowing brands to connect with consumers at the right moment and in the right way, so as to support the closing of the sale.
MEDIA AGILITY:
The growth of mobility and access to the internet in Mexico forces brands
to accompany and interact with consumers in real time. Those already able to do this and take advantage of spontaneous events are the brands that are top of consumers’ mind.
RESILIENT CONTENT:
Besides being relevant, from the very moment of its conception, brands’ marketing and messaging content must be able to blend with each medium’s distinctive features so as to connect naturally with consumers and thus enhance the chance for those messages to be heard.
Finally, I think all of these characteristics constitute the advantage that, as a group of media agencies, we should offer brands:
• Deliver acute and objective knowledge of consumers – supported by qualitative and quantitative data, derived from the use of technology and our proprietary metrics and real- time analysis tools.
• Put into use our large-scale implementation and negotiation abilities so as to execute multi- platform strategies suitable to each brand’s needs and audiences.
• Collaborate with each of our clients in order to develop – from strategy to implementation – innovative and relevant content for their consumers and thus build, together.
LILIA BARROSO
CEO GroupM, Mexico Lilia.Barroso@groupm.com
*Source: E-Marketer, July 2015
GroupM is the leading global media investment management operation serving as the parent company to WPP media agencies including Mindshare, MEC, MediaCom, and Maxus, each global operations in their own right with leading market positions. GroupM’s primary purpose is to maximize performance of WPP’s media agencies by operating as leader and collaborator in trading, content creation, sports, digital, finance, proprietary tool development and other business-critical capabilities. GroupM’s focus is to deliver unrivaled marketplace advantage to its clients, stakeholders and people.
www.groupm.com
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