From around the globe, it's theCUBE with digital coverage of AWS re-invent 2020, sponsored by Intel, AWS, and our community partners. Welcome to theCUBE virtual, our coverage of AWS re-invent 2020 continues. I'm Lisa Martin. Got a couple of guests joining me next. Wendy Moore, the VP of product marketing from Trend Micro was here and Gava Salamonovich, global alliances CTO from Sneak, Wendy and Gava. It's great to have you both on the program today. Thanks for having us, great to be here. Hi, Lisa, thanks for having us. Last year, we were probably all crammed in Vegas together. Here we are virtually, but it's great that we're still able to connect. So a lot has gone on since we were all at re-invent in Vegas last year. Wendy, let's start with you. From a security perspective, there's been a growth in open source vulnerabilities that have impacted enterprises globally. Talk to me about what you're seeing there, what's going on. Yeah, well, I think everybody in this audience recognizes the rapid shift to the use of open source in development teams. And what we've seen alongside that is a rapid increase in the number of vulnerabilities that are showing up in open source software. So that means that vulnerabilities that can be exploited and cause damage to your company's application, reputation and your customers are on the increase out there. And a number that you sent over was two and a half X growth in open source vulnerabilities in the last year. Has that number gone up during the pandemic? So I'm not sure if the vulnerabilities have gone up during the pandemic, but we've definitely seen an increase in exploitation of vulnerabilities. You know, there's so much in the news about ransomware incidents in healthcare, targeting pharmaceutical organizations, and most of those are taking advantage of vulnerabilities, not necessarily in open source, but some of it is definitely happening in open source. Yeah, we've been talking about the rise in ransomware for a while and it's all the numbers and types of companies and healthcare organizations, like you said schools, governments, for example, lot of vulnerabilities being exploited, that's for sure. So yeah, well, let's go over to you, talk about from Sneak's perspective, the impact on businesses and how can you guys help? Yeah, and I'll put in a few insights there on the open source risk as Wendy talked about it. Why is it growing? One, of course, just open source usage is growing. So of course, we've got just the amount of vulnerabilities is growing and the amount of exploits. But when you look at it from a hacker's perspective, attacking is an ROI based activity. Hackers want to spend their hacking hours where they're more likely to get a reward, be able to get that ransom or steal the data or do whatever they can. And open source actually makes it much easier for them than a lot of these other alternatives. One, the source is open, so just finding the vulnerabilities much easier than trying to find the vulnerability in proprietary code. Two, there's like a market for these exploits and companies even like Sneak, which have bases of all the known vulnerabilities. One of the byproducts of that is that you can just go and see all the vulnerabilities out there and pick the ones that you want to try to exploit. But three, which is really the most critical piece is that if you do find the juicy vulnerability in a very popular open source package, the amount of companies you can attack is not one, it's thousands or tens of thousands because that's precisely what makes the popular open source package popular. It's being used broadly. And so if you spend this effort to develop an exploit and then you can send it like they're just across the board to tens of thousands of companies, you're more likely to be successful. And that's what's driving a lot of the hacker attention into the open source vulnerabilities. And that's where the growing. So it's a low cost, high reward for those hackers. Wendy, what are some of the ways that organizations can protect themselves from this? Well, one of the best ways to protect themselves against exploitation of vulnerabilities and against vulnerabilities showing up in their code is to actually analyze their code and scan it looking for vulnerabilities. And the best possible place to do that is actually in the code repository. So before code is ever packaged up and deployed, it actually gets caught really early. So it's all about shifting security left. But some of the challenges with that is that the code repository and the code and open source has largely been the domain of DevOps and the developers. And security who is tasked with managing the risk of the organization has little to no vulnerability into what vulnerabilities might exist. So something that's a growing part of an enterprise risk profile, the security team doesn't really see. And that's a big gap for most organizations. So in terms of that visibility being essential, sounds like maybe even a cultural gap there. Gabba, what are your recommendations? We talk about SecOps, we talk about DevOps. Is the solution that SecOps or SecDevOps? And I mean, all these developers are definitely helping there but you kind of need to break it down and understand the problems, which is what Wendy was articulating. One, you have these traditional security teams have all their traditional tools. They look at mostly, and let's call it IT type of security. Then you have this entire new category of risk, which is let's say open source risk, but it sits inside the code repository inside a GitHub repo or somewhere where they completely have no visibility into. And what that causes is, one, hard to have a conversation with the developers who are those who ultimately need to pick those vulnerabilities, remove them from the code. But two, also just from a mind sharing that in allocation, it's hard for you to protect something you don't have visibility into, which causes open source security to be possibly under provisioned in your entire security stand as you're looking at security risk. And as you're talking about solutions, so one of the movements we've seen with the DevOps where engineering team and IT teams have come together and to have a shared ownership of the results of deploying these applications in production. Now you expand that into DevSecOps and it's okay to actually make this work. We need to have a shared the responsibility model where both developers step up to take some ownership and the traditional security team step up to understand what the developers are doing, build tools to make it easier for them. And ultimately I think when they nailed it in the head they said the best way to protect yourself is actually to remove the vulnerable line of code from your application, not wait for it to be deployed and try to put some blocks there. All right, so Wendy, how are Trend Micro and Speak working together to resolve that challenge that you guys just described? Yeah, well, Trend Micro and Speak have been working together for over a year now and we came out with an initial offering and now we're coming out with a new offering that is really focused on basically delivering that code scanning ability right in the code repository. And through Trend Micro's Cloud One platform, we are delivering this as a service to the security operations team so that they get visibility of anything that Speak finds in the code repository and they can take action from there. So Trend Micro's Cloud One security services platform basically equips cloud builders with a whole bunch of different types of technologies to satisfy their different infrastructure requirements. So we've got things like workload security, application security, network security, a number of different types of security tools and this just brings another security tool to the security operations team and the DevOps team so that they can basically extend their visibility and their security controls back to the code repository. And Geva, what are some of the impacts that you're seeing? So for obviously, besides wanting to find those vulnerabilities faster is when we talked about shifting left, but give me some examples of some customers that you were working with maybe in the first iteration and what the impact has been. Well, the impact of what, Harry, can you repeat the question? Yeah, the impact of your technologies together. You said that there's a new offering coming up. But talk to me about some of the impact that these customers are making. Yeah, okay, sorry, thank you for repeating the question. And so this joint product is very exciting from multiple perspectives. The one is going to be delivered inside the Cloud One platform which Wendy just talked about. You're asked before, what is the impact of COVID and one of the big impact has been on the financial stress every company and every vendor is having. And so just the ease of managing less vendors and less tools and less places to procurement is of high value for every organization just in terms of efficiency of operations and just being able to acquire this new product on an existing platform where there are already consuming security tools that by itself is amazing value. And number two, we're taking again, we're taking a technology which is a cloud native it's a modern technology that typically has been outside of the purview of the traditional security team and making it accessible to them in a place where it's easy for them to try out. They can start small and grow from there. They don't have to make a big commitment to get going. And more importantly, it's giving them visibility into this important technology that they didn't have before. So Wendy, this is all intended at bridging that gap. I'm just curious like if we take a peek inside what this enables SecOps to do what it enables DevOps to do? What are some of the feedback that you're hearing from customers about those teams coming together and actually being able to work very collaboratively with that shift left actually being able to be done? Yeah, I mean, if you talk to, there's some organizations who do this really well they're very mature and their security operations teams and their DevOps teams work very closely together collaboratively, excuse me and they also understand each other's needs. So they're able to insert tools into the security pipeline that don't slow DevOps down but also meet the needs of the security team. Whereas we see some other organizations where Dev is at one side of the pipeline and you've got security at the other and they don't tend to converse or meet and those are the organizations where there tends to be more challenges. So the idea with this new solution is it's going to give the security team visibility of basically the scale and scope of their open source situation. So that they've actually got some data to go have conversations with the DevOps teams and start going in that direction of making those teams work more seamlessly together. I mean, you use the term DevSecOps before some organization that's a very real situation others still have a long ways to go and we think this is a great first step to bring those teams together. Fostering long-term friendships, I'm sure. So talk to me about the go to market, Wendy. How are you guys going to market together a Trend Micro and Sneak selling direct channel? What's that like? So this is actually going to be a Trend Micro Cloud One offering. So we jointly developed it with Sneak but it's going to be Trend Micro who is selling it and we go to market a number of different ways. AWS Marketplace is a big channel to market for us and this will be available for purchase there when it becomes available in January. And also we also work very closely with channel partners as well who also participate in AWS Marketplace. So what are some of the things that you're expecting to customers to be able to take advantage of around the time of re-invent and into early 2021? Yeah, I really encourage customers to visit our page on the AWS re-invent platform. We're going to have all kinds of exciting demos there. You can go learn more about this new offering that we're delivering jointly developed with Sneak and you can also ask about how you can sign up for early access to this new offering. So highly encourage you to go check that out. Excellent. Early access is always nice to be a beta tester and really get that symbiotic relationship. Kev, the last question for you is as the Global Alliance is CTO, I imagine your customer conversations in the last year have changed dramatically. Talk to me about some of the things that you really think, in terms of like exposing vulnerabilities, let's talk about exposing opportunities that Sneak is helping organizations do so that they can not just keep the lights on during this very unprecedented time but actually be winners of tomorrow. Yeah, I think again, at the heart of the DevOps movement and why it's been successful, it's reducing that feedback loop between writing some code, getting it to production in the hands of customers, getting the feedback from them and rinse and repeat. And it's shortening that loop. And those who have it the faster can get to market faster and can deliver value faster and ultimately are the winners. Now, one of the things we've seen with COVID is a lot of this outbound activity has been going down. People are going to advance and need to look more internally on how you can become better as an organization. And we've actually seen an increase in the investment of the digital transformation and cloud journeys and stuff like that. And one of the traditional inhibitors that's going fast and all into the cloud is that sense of loss of control of the traditional security teams on the application development where now people can deploy hundreds of times every application to the cloud a day. And what we've seen is that they come to Sneak or to companies like us so we can secure those new modern development life cycles and give the security feedback to the developers as they're building the applications and give the security teams the visibility into those built pipelines and application building. So they have a sense that they're not losing all the control they used to have they're still getting visibility into those application development and actually allowing the organizations to go faster because of it they can sign up to these new methodologies and actually increase the speed of going to the cloud. Yeah, and that's critical because as you mentioned as we've been talking about for months now the acceleration of cloud adoption the speed of digital transformation it's one of those things that's challenging to do you've got to have visibility period in order to facilitate that. And if it's another thing that you kind of we're describing at GABA as that visibility provides that sense of control or trust and that's also huge for not just a business to catch vulnerabilities but for teams the DevOps teams the SecOps teams to be working together in a highly collaborative way. Do you agree, Wendy? Absolutely, and the beautiful thing is this sets that up, this tool. So it allows them to work together very collaboratively but it also sets up that visibility so that down the road there could be even further automation into that process because the whole purpose of DevOps is to take the people out of it, right? But in order, you need to set up those processes to begin with. So this is a first step in terms of setting up that automation and visibility amongst those two teams. Excellent, and can you say one more time, Wendy where prospective customers can go to learn more and become a early adopter? Yeah, absolutely. So visit our trend micro page at the AWS re-invent platform and there you'll be able to learn much more about the offering and also learn how you can access the early adopter program. Excellent, you guys thank you so much for joining me on the program today and sharing what Trend Micro and Speak are doing together and how you're helping organizations cross-functionally be successful. We appreciate your time. Thank you, Lisa. Appreciate it. Thank you so much. My pleasure. For my guests, I'm Lisa Martin and you're watching theCUBE Virtual.


All right, next we have a panel discussion about the festive season which is coming up. No, everyone is excited and you have questions, you have ideas, they have ideas. They'll be sharing it. The topic for the panel discussion is the season of opportunity strategies for marketing during India's festivals. The session will be chaired by Aaltya Vandirveen, director of South Ad Sales. True quality, please put your hands together for her. The panelists, I'll request one by one, everyone to step on stage. Gunidhi Singh Sareen, VP Marketing Head, Digital Works. Jitain Mahendra, VP Marketing, BTC, Baiju's Tution Center. Sai Bal Deswas, Head of Marketing Partnerships and PR, MediBuddy. Nikhil Mayane, Principal Partner, Content Plus, MindShare. Wake up a little bit and welcome the panelists here. Aaltya, thank you so much and please, all over to you, thank you. So while we were putting names to faces, you kind of missed that boat now, but yeah. Thank you everyone for joining us today. It's a pleasure being here for a physical event after a really, really long. Appreciate the turnout, appreciate you all staying awake after lunch could be difficult. Thank you Eforum for really bringing us together and bringing us from an online to an offline environment. It's long overdue and it's most welcome. My esteemed panelists, thank you. It's been lovely getting to know you all over these past few days and I'm really looking forward to this conversation. And yeah, let's get down to business. So I'd like to set a little context to the theme today or topic for today in my mind, but my experts here will kind of dive into it a little bit more and I'm just here to look pretty and add to this panel, but they're gonna do the hard work. So let's get to it. So two parts to it. I'm looking at the performance that this festive season early brings to the table and the contribution to business. And the key focus that this entire festive, the season again kind of looks at and for me that's the end consumer. So the best of the season really is upon us and there's so much like to two Indians, it's more than just, there's a lot on the table, literally and figuratively. And it's not just about celebration, it's also an auspicious time to buy and sell products. I'm sure everyone's looking forward to those wonderful sales that you can really mileage and it's all on live right now. So after this session, you all can get shopping. So as per media reports, there are, this time accounts for an estimated of 30 to 45% of company annual sales. And this is expected to actually cross pre-pandemic levels, something that we're all looking forward to. I'm sure marketeers and agency folk too, targets, budgets, everything being met and consumers being really happy about it. So I was reading a report the other day that talks about how the first week of this upcoming festival is likely to witness 24% boom in the online sales and that's incredible. I mean, give us all credit, we participate in this, right? We shop and if we don't shop, who's gonna win? Even on our platform, we actually find we see how patterns of consumption and behaviors change as well and this season comes around where transactional engagement goes up also at about approximately 50%. Now if you can see shifts of patterns like this, there's really something to take a deep dive and really a season to kind of build in and optimize. The second part of it is I wanna talk about how brands are really, really getting to the heart of things. A lot of our e-com players, our leading e-com players as a matter of fact are rolling out with such engaged sales. They're promoting the plethora of opportunities and options that are there, promoting upgrades and wardrobe refreshers, makeovers, presenting the biggest marketplace. I mean that's incredible. The kind of platforms they're bringing together, all to promote affordability, choice and regionalization. A special call out to actually how they're enabling the end user to meet their needs, fulfilling their purchase needs, merchants to sell and build their businesses. I mean that's a really important part and let's not forget the job opportunities they're creating with the workforce that's making all these connections. So I mean this leads me to the theme today where it's a season of opportunity, strategies for marketing during India's festivals. I mean it's such a statement and it's so broad. You can really, really build on ideas, innovations and we don't, we need more than an hour to kind of really have this conversation. But we have only an hour so let's get into that. So my panelists today have come with a rich and a mixed bag of experience. And we're gonna dive back, dive into that. They're gonna help us break down and dive into what 2022 festive seasons has in store for us. So my first question to all of us here is about consumer sentiments and expectations from the upcoming festive season. Post a COVID scenario and versus an inflationary environment, how are you as marketeers or media person seeing current sentiments and working with it? Hi, thank you for having me over. My name is Gunithi Sareen and I belong to a company called Head Digital Works. You would have heard of the brand AD3. I hope you have. Great, I see some hands there. Yeah, so as far as this festive season is concerned, I don't think there could be a better time for marketeers as well as sales guys, right? After a gap of about two years or so where people are gonna actually, we are gonna actually witness a festive season where people will not be restricted as far as their movements are concerned. They'll not be paranoid also, right? It was still there last year, but yeah, this year is like completely free of all that. There will be a lot of avenues for the consumers to spend money. We accord a lot of respect to our festivals, to our traditions and whether it's an expression of self-love during festivals or it's about gifting somebody some gift to your near and dear ones, or it could be for your home as well, right? So people are gonna spend money this time and it's considered to be good. It's considered to be auspicious as well. We will kind of see like a revenge spending, right? I was reading a lot of surveys. Some surveys said 50% of people will spend more, 28%, I think it was by the Red Sea or something like that. But bottom line is people will spend more, so yeah. And like I was talking about a lot of avenues for people to spend on, we've already started seeing a whole lot of sales offers. Today I was reading Times of India here in the Bangalore edition. There were two or three jackets of offers and stuff like that, right? So customers are like kind of spoiled for choice. Having said that, they'll obviously not just dive into the first offer that they get. The one who gives the better value to them, as well as pre- and after-sales service support, I think that would be the key to kind of fetch that kind of share from the customers. If I were to talk about gaming per se, which is the sector that I belong to, online gaming, it doesn't really fit naturally in the customer's scheme of things when it comes to festivals. Of course, they meet offline and they wanna basically create some fun moments together. But see how we blend in. Alter that behavior because at the end of the day, marketing is not just about meeting the needs and demands of the customers. It's about altering the customer behavior as well. So I'm very, very optimistic upbeat about this upcoming festive season. We will be looking at, as far as eight to three is concerned, we will be looking at a variety of offers and product features for our customers to kind of come in and play with their extended family of about four crore people that we have on our platform. Fantastic, I mean, that's a positive note to kind of kick this off. We've set the bar. Everyone's looking forward to a really, really good season. Over to you, Mr. Saibal. Hey, hi, I am Saibal Biswas. I sort of represent MediBuddy. We are the largest online healthcare platform in India. For us, I think if I go by my colleague's sentiment here, I also completely echo his thoughts. Like last two years had been those years where people had concerns on the back of their mind. They were not sure or they were uncertain about the future. I think what I see when I read the different research reports or even when I look at some of the online sales which is already happening and it started to happen and especially the buildup to it, I see a lot of positivity this time and I would probably relate it to that uncertainty going off and people really now shopping back with the vengeance. They want to spend, pamper themselves and I do see that resulting in both the purchases of discretionary items as well as non-discretionary items all going up. A few interesting things which probably happens is and if I were to really split the consumer into a male and a female audience, I do see basis also the past experiences that mostly the men audiences here have already pre-decided what big item or what are the items they want to buy this festive season. Women are more impulsive. They can be influenced by ads more at the end of the day to sort of shop on impulse basis purchase and I see that already happening in some of the platforms which have already gone on sales. Coming specifically to the industry where I work and everybody as a company, I'm currently in the healthcare, we currently operate in the healthcare sector. So while directly we don't see a peak on the overall sales going up during festive season because end of the day healthcare is a need-based service. At least most part of it where and this is something which no one willingly wants to consult a doctor or order medicine or take a surgery in the worst case, God forbid. Only when they have a need they do it. But interestingly, when we look at the data and we end of the day are a data-based company, consumer-centric data-based company, I see very interesting trends which I may share with you. As a build-up to the festive season, I'm sure and you will relate to it, most people want to look at their very best. So what do we see on the platform? We see the online consultation for Dharma which is skincare related queries or requests of consultations or consultations really going up. Similarly for weight management, people may want to look more fit or they may want to sort of look their very best during festive seasons. So these are two interesting observations I thought I would like to share. Having said that, I think festive season also provides opportunity for us who are in the online healthcare space to create that visibility or top-of-the-mind awareness that there is an option to sort of use online healthcare because they are also shopping and their digital footprint increases for brands like us. We also use it as an opportunity to sort of create top-of-the-mind recall for those consumers who are shopping online. And given the positive sentiments, while healthcare is not something which consumers will intuitively want to consult, but at some of the disciplines like dermatology, weight management and even for that matter diabetes related queries we see peaking and those are opportunities and also it's also opportunity for us to use the digital presence of the consumers to also build top-of-the-mind share for this so that when they need it, they know that we are there 24 by seven to support in all their healthcare needs. Fantastic, so it's amazing what data can tell you, right? I would never have thought this, but it makes complete sense. I mean, I want to look good, I want to lose weight and I've had too many sweets so how do I cure that quicker? Thank you for that. Over to you, Jitthi. So hi, hi everyone. So I think adding to the point which my fellow colleagues have made, see I think festive, it brings in a buoyancy not only in the environment but also in the mind of the consumer. And the energy which it generates that what would seem like impulsive decision becomes a normal scenario, you take a call of right from painting the house to buying a wardrobe and it's an extended conversation. So your consumption is not a personal consumption but it actually becomes an extended consumption and that's where the bucket size, your average bill value, everything really goes up. Now the point being that with COVID last two years so definitely there is going to be a major boost in terms of the revenge shopping what we are calling people will really come out and shop and people really want to celebrate it. Also festive is not a marketing created event. It's already there, it's a life event. So we remember the Diwali which we celebrated five years back or a puja four years back. So this is an event and it's a core memory so it's not something where the market here. So when I look at the festive I think marketers have two opportunities. One, to build the brand because there is a lot of emotional conversation which can happen in the festive because the consumer is tuned to it. And at the same time because there is a buoyancy you can push in and increase your off-take and by giving consumer promotion. So this is a very good opportunity from a brand point of view that you interact and you connect with the consumer at an emotional level and obviously there is a requirement from the consumer. So you play and each category will have a different rule or a sign to play. The other thing is that tier two, tier three will play a very, very important role because that's where there is a fixed buying pattern. So if you see over the years just before the COVID you know that a certain market spikes up during a puja it gets spiked up during the Shaira Diwali. So people want to buy during that time. Unlike metro where buying becomes a normal scenario but this time because of COVID I think even in metro people will be looking forward and eagerly trying to consume more. So I am pretty sure that this festive it will be extremely bullish and brands will really end cash on this whole opportunity. Thanks. So yeah just playing on that point I think tier two, tier three have really, really brought in game this year and the affordability that brands are kind of extending is what's making it also possible. Okay as the agency I am cautiously optimistic. Yeah because either way I can be wrong. Okay so we help brands sell biscuits to very expensive cars and we're seeing we're cautiously optimistic for the reason. I think across the strata we're seeing different kinds of intent. It's interesting what I'm hearing everybody say. Beauty is not for everybody because I can't afford it. So you know and therefore we are cautiously optimistic. I think I agree with Jitain specifically. We are looking at tier two, tier three we think that's going to explode. I think they, I also like what he said. This is not a marketing-created event. It's a core memory and therefore we can capitalize on it and we should capitalize on it but we are cautiously optimistic. I'll speak for sales as well. But yeah I think the users are really communicating to brands and telling everyone what they want. After two years of a lockdown and restriction people have realized so many things. So there's really innovation and there's really opportunity that's out there. So let's talk about the most pending question really about ad spends, right? So 2022 was set to be and look forward to be quite a revival year. We are talking about vengeance return and it's going across categories. Like everyone's really coming out of those little holes that they were in and kind of going after it. So how are your advertising budgets trending for this year and what has been the thought backing it? Yeah, so one interesting side that I picked up was listen to customers. So customers are saying that I want to look good as weight management or I wanna look my best during festive season. Listening to customers and hence paying attention to what's happening around you, right? What we've been witnessing as far as gaming industry is concerned is basically we've seen a solid growth over the last couple of years and it's not really coming down because we thought that after lockdown, et cetera, it will come down, no, that's not happening. And hence gaming is actually now becoming a very popular form of entertainment and stress buster. So we were looking at these growths and we said, you know, we definitely need to build a brand. And this year we actually roped in Shah Rukh Khan as our brand ambassador. We ran a very high decibel campaign with him.   We actually ran this campaign pre-IPL as well as during IPL. We saw some very solid movement as far as a brand indicator is concerned. And a very good uplift from the non-metro, non-tier one towns as well. So they were really responding to our advertisements, to our engagement, to the engagement overall, even on digital world. So looking at that success and as a run up to the festival season, we decided again to follow up that campaign with a very recently launched campaign that we did about three weeks back. We wanted to start early as far as this festive season is concerned. Not really wait when everyone else is also kind of participating in that, if I would say chaos, per se. But yeah. So yeah, we wanted to reinforce the same message of, you know, chalo saad khale, let's play together. And overall, you know, kind of still talk about our brand strength at the same time. Again, a very good response in the first three weeks that we've seen. So yes, if I were to look at this festive season coupled with the upcoming sports calendar, it definitely gives us a lot of opportunity to kind of reach out to our customers in a very meaningful way. Without really talking about the numbers, I would basically say that we will continue to invest in the right channels, depending on which target audience are we targeting, which, whether it's metros or tier one, tier two. And very high impact properties as well going forward. So that, you know, we do not become part of the chaos like I mentioned earlier, but at the same time, you know, reach out in the most impactful way to our consumers. Music to our ears. From the healthcare perspective, I think last two years did provide a lot of tailwinds for the online healthcare space specifically, because during COVID lockdown, you couldn't go out of your home to even consult a doctor for minor ailments. You were forced to figure out the online option of doing it. So the category, some of it automatically moved from offline to online. But if you look at the bigger problem as well as the opportunity. So the problem in India and specifically my colleague here mentioned the tier two and tier three and the rural India. Today in healthcare, quality healthcare in terms of availability and accessibility to good quality doctors, or even to doctors itself doesn't exist. And healthcare, mostly people understand by online medicine delivery. That ability to sort of consult doctors. We made a good start during COVID online and we see continued traction happening both in the metros as well as the tier two, tier three cities. And we have consistently chosen to spend in making consumers aware that there is a option where if she or he doesn't have access to a good doctor, it's as easy as logging onto a website or downloading a app. As easy as doing online e-commerce transaction as setting up an appointment and doing online consultation, whether it's phone or a video-based consultation with a doctor. And it is cheap and affordable. So on both these points, creating awareness for the large masses of India that such a service is available. It is much cheaper, much convenient, building on to the overall objective of the government of India, which is Aushman Bharat, healthcare for all, making quality healthcare accessible to a billion Indian lives is the mission which we have as a company and we have been continue to invest in creating the basic awareness that such a service today is accessible, available to you. And for that, in the beginning of the year, we roped in who else than Amitabh Bachchan as a celebrity endoser for everybody as a brand. Because there are of course apprehensions other than few people who are really very early adapters who are conversant on doing online doctor consultation or online health check or medicine delivery, which is still relatively easy. Most of the people are apprehensive. They don't know if they will get a good doctor, what will be the quality of the consultation and all. So we also sort of wanted to build some trust and authority for us as a brand. We propped in a celebrity like Amitabh Bachchan who already has this mass following on the hinterland who is someone who people look up to and did a high decibel campaign. In fact, two campaigns we did. And the tailwinds of COVID have also held for our brand as well as the industry. And we see continuously that people who have shifted from offline to online. By the way, offline still is 99%. Most of the people sitting in the room would still probably prefer if God forbid, they fall sick, meet a doctor offline or go to a diagnostic center offline or walk to a hospital. So that is still not the common behavior. So there are certain barriers like lack of trust, lack of belief that the doctor sitting online, it can also give you the best consultation. So it's not a easy job for a marketer. It requires an ongoing reassurance to generate trials to create top of the mind and through each service which you do build the consumer trust. So while we continue to keep investing, I think festive season as I sort of also look at it, there are certain categories within healthcare where people are more open to doing what I would say discretionary healthcare spends which are sort of either making them look good, look better or even for that matter, some kind of preventive consultations which is including preventive annual health checkups, because they know they will be enjoying with their loved ones during the festive season and some kind of proactive health check gives them the assurance they can probably binge on the food, alcohol or whatever they will do during the festive seasons. So we continue to invest also into the festive season with specific focus on targeted digital spends also which is absolutely essential for a category like us because ours is a need-based category. We normally don't want anyone of our consumers or lives which we touch to fall sick but if they fall sick, we have to be available 24 by seven and we have to communicate the accessibility, the convenience which we offer and that's why during the festive season we do more targeted digital spends basis the demands which we see in the subcategories which I mentioned like diabetes related consultation, dermatology, wet management and a few other preventive health check related things which consumers are interested in. But overall I do see a strong demand also going into the festive season and I think it is also good to see most people not only from the metro cities but also from the tier one, tier two also taking on this online consultation where they realize it's much, much cheaper also than doing it offline in lots of situations so it provides value also. Fantastic, I'm getting a sense of always on and really understanding what that need-based is coming and requirements are coming in from your users and accordingly talking to them. Jithin, are you spending lots of money? So I think brands will be conscious as the media agency said and I agree with him that I think the Pujo, the Onam is where people will start getting warm up in terms of what is happening. I think the larger challenge from a brand point of view is that there's a lot of convergence across media so today the OTT, the TV has almost become a sort of a single channel so it's no more a digital plan versus a TV plan versus a conventional print plan so today everything is becoming seamless and we can put attribution to it. I think from a brand point of view content is extremely important and then where the media piece will come in because as I told previously that there is a buoyancy so it's not that you are going to launch a brand in festive and people are going to buy you. So what you're trying to be is you're trying to be topical, you're trying to build a connect, you're trying to take an emotional high ground so that the consumer keeps you in the concentration set. So for all this the content plays a very important role and there is a community because you are existing brand, there's a community which you are catering to. Now how do you, so a lot of brands try actually to reinforce to the same TG who's consuming them because you generally don't acquire new customers during festive but actually you increase their basket size during festive so your media plan goes in a very different direction. You know, we are trying to acquire new users through this particular thing. So I feel brands are conscious, media will be seamless in terms of and it will not be a medium based planning, it will be a convergence piece which we'll take on and then obviously the content is very, very critical. I think one thing which we need to keep in mind is that if you are spending X amount on the content and if you're not spending 4X or 3X on the media that content doesn't reach the right audience and vice versa that you have really cut on the content cost and put only the amount on the media that also doesn't work because finally the content has to connect with the audience. So I think the balance of both is very, very critical when you're doing the media planning. Yeah, thanks. So Nikhil you'll have a different take on this. You're looking forward to this budget. I agree with everything Jitain said. No, but I think festive has been, it's been pretty decent for us. Nobody has gone home in the office for two weeks so I'm very happy. Yeah, so again, optimistically cautious. I think spends have been higher than they've been for a long time. Like Jitain said, we're going cross media this time. It's not TV pay-impact, right? I don't think people are looking at one avenue today. Yeah, and like Jitain said, it's my purchase funnel is just all over the place. It's not, you know, the three buckets and I'm going to go after one. When it turns into trial immediately today. So it's all connected. So it is kind of omni-channel. If brands are not omni-channel, we're losing out. I think more and more of my brands are realizing that. Everybody has the call to action where I can go to a D2C website and I will deliver it to your house. And therefore the role media plays kind of also changes, yeah? Like Jitain said, if I'm not talking to you through what influences you, I'm going to get lost, yeah? And what influences you is different. It's cricket through impact. It's Shah Rukh Khan, it's Amitabh Bachchan and it's, you know, an influencer, yeah? So how do I spread my money across all of these places and therefore give you the best ROI? But yeah, I think it's cautiously optimistic and this festive has been much better than we've had for maybe three or four years. The revival is definitely in the house but cautious, very smart spending and I think there's really the innovation that's coming around it where each brand is looking at the need, looking at the objectives, looking at what users are asking for and then building solutioning and presence accordingly. Mrs. Taiba, I have to ask you this. Jumping into do's and don'ts. Now many body has seen many changes over the last few years. As you've rightly said, you all have moved from, you all are battling an offline to an online. You all are looking at a certain amount of building your brand position, your services. All in all, you all have changed the way healthcare has been engaged and perceived. So looking at not just healthcare but all the brands that you've worked with in the past.  You come across e-commerce, consumer durables, OTT, there's a mixed set of brands. What does that do's and don'ts list that you follow to maintain a certain sanctity for your brand and consumer experience? Oh, that's an interesting question, Haltia. I have to really think through it. Okay, so I think if I were to just look at everything and try to sum it up in one word, I think consumer centricity would be one thing. End of the day as a business or as a marketer, it's all starts with a consumer. If you really understand what he or she wants or demands from or seeks and you are able to sort of cater to those in the most effective way we win, I think that in my entire career journey, I have seen it remaining constant. It all starts with the consumer and how do you sort of build your product, service value offering to cater to the consumer needs, whether it's e-commerce, OTT, whether it's the current healthcare business. Fortunately, in MediBuddy, when we started building the business, we always kept the needs of the consumer in the center. So we had built in processes where we listened to each and every consumer feedback. We measure each and every consumer metrics which we have built in. And actually I have a 38 marketing metrics which I look in the morning every day. And 19 of them have direct implication on the consumers. They're not business matrices. They're consumer related matrices. And I think we today have the luxury of capturing those matrices digitally. Earlier we didn't have. I first saw it in Amazon earlier when I used to work for Amazon. But I think now many people have that ability to track consumer metrics. So it starts with the consumer and then you build a business around the consumer. Specific to the question which Altie asked was, MediBuddy, we have always built the brand consumer backwards. We try to be consumer centric. We try to keep listening to the consumers what pain points they have while they use our service. And we proactively try to build solutions which increases the value for our consumer. We know and treat each of our consumers differently. If it is a new consumer, we ensure that the kind of messaging, the kind of onboarding journey we do for her or him is very different from a consumer who has been repeatedly using our platform. We address all the pain points of a consumer and we have been doing it very programmatically over a period of time so that any friction he or she has in terms of our services we can reduce. The big job here is to move, to provide quality healthcare service to a billion Indian population and many of them don't have that today in a way which is affordable. So we need to sort of ensure that while doing so, we focus on things which matter to our consumer and cut the rest of the other things so that when we deliver that value, we are able to do that efficiently. So that's what we will continue to do and that's always going to be the primary focus of the company and that will ensure whether we win or are able to sort of build that vision of providing quality healthcare or not. In terms of don'ts, I think what is very important is never ignore your consumer, even if it is anything which is of a minor pain, minor irritation or a major escalation. I think brand, even if they become very large, have to be very humble because it's the consumer to whom we are responsible. We exist so that we can serve them and without him, we are nothing. So I think don'ts is never become arrogant as a brand, always listen to the consumer, always work and don't ever sort of underestimate or ignore any consumer feedback in any medium and always use it to improve the quality of your product brand or service you offer. Fantastic. I think besides revival, I think the essence is the end consumer this year and they are speaking loud enough and if you're listening, I think we'll get all our theories right. Nikhil, over to you. You work very closely with Ecom brands today. We just touched on the topic of accessibility and certain, the consumer being the heart of everything, certain amount of affordability. Let's just look at Misho for a second. It went from a B to B to picking up an essential grocery module, now contending with the B to C space. I mean, there are players over there and how, but how do you all deal as agency for them to build brand presence? If you're loud enough, how are you dealing with clutter and if you're not and sustained, how are you staying present? We're doing it really well. Okay, so for us with Misho, it was about finding spaces for dominance, whether that's within media or whether that's within my consumer's mind. And I think we spent a lot of time with the Misho team trying to identify those moments. Let's call them that. It's looking at your competition, what your competition is doing and more importantly, what they're not doing. What is it that they're not talking to with your consumer? So listening to your consumer became extremely important. And we found that window. All of us know who Misho is. All of us know that we're competing against the largest e-commerce brand in the world. We're competing against the largest Indian e-commerce brand and we're giving them a run for their money. So we did find those moments of dominance. I think everything we said today is a little relevant. We've been always on, right? Because my consumer is always in the market, right? And I think that's critical. If we weren't always on, we wouldn't be where we are today. We took impact when it was necessary. We've not done more than maybe, I think two large impact properties because do I really need to be in my consumer's face all the time? I think what we did from a digital perspective was also quite smart, right? It is identifying your audience like everybody's saying, listening to who they are and then delivering that message to them, right? We treated, I would say, we did a lot of what FMCG has been telling us to do, but a lot of these new age brands will come and say, I'm going to break the mold. No, you can't, right? It is FMCG is FMCG for a reason, right? And I think we took a lot of, we implemented a lot of our learning from FMCG and as Minesha obviously, we know FMCG, right? Yeah, and this is why Minesha is where it is today, I would say. I would say it's also because the brand and the media team, it was highly evolved every conversation. Every number we got back was debated, discussed. I think we've spent, and some of the team is here, we've spent five or six hours debating one week of data from Gujarat, trying to understand what went wrong, why did my VTR not go up, and again, listening to your consumer. So I would say this festival is touch wood. Our sales started today. We're looking good, and we're looking good because we were always on, we found those windows of dominance, and we spoke to the consumer in the way that the consumer wanted to speak to us. Fantastic. We're looking at a piece of that pie as well. But I mean. Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed, everything. Okay, brilliant. Going from this online world to an offline world, you have some years of experience and some really good experience in the retail line. I want to hear a little bit more about that, and more of those opportunities you've seen as a marketer, and just worked with it with those must do strategies that you know you have to do when you win, or you don't do when you lose. So I think as a marketer, we are always either spotting opportunity or surrounded with opportunities. I think one of the key learning which I had over the years is that there is a code of occasion. So let's say there is a festive happening, or there is a friendship day, or there is a Valentine day. There is a code which exists. There is a nuances with the occasion is already built on. Then there is a category in which you operate. There is a code of that category. And then you have the filter of the brand. Now, not every occasion is relevant for every category, and not every brand can leverage that occasion. Now, that's very important. Sometime in this whole case of being everywhere, there's a lot of, I would say, dissonance which gets created with the brand, because as Nikhil rightly said, it's not about being on the face every time. I think saliency is a past. I think this whole conversation that I reached, it doesn't mean anything. It's equivalent to an impression. It doesn't mean anything, unless you are able to convert it back and lead it to your brand or the product. So I think very critical for the marketer is not to try to just do anything and everything which is available. Like they say in cricket, well played. I think in marketing it should be well left because that is very important that if you don't leave the opportunity which is not relevant, you might really put in a lot of energy on it and it will not mean anything to the brand. So that I think is a very important thing. The other thing is that it is never about putting in more money or less money. It's about whether it is making sense to the brand, is it reinforcing what you stand for just because it's easily available. So I came across this proverb yesterday that overnight success lasts for fortnight. So it's a very important thing that it's not about just being viral or just being topical and getting shared, but for the right reason and if you're able to sustain that. That's very critical because brand is like an individual or a journey of an individual. It needs a sustainance part of it. There is an impact, there is a hero movement and there is a sustainance. A lot of people get carried away with the hero movement without understanding what next. And that's where brands really tumble down and you see a lot of big brands not existing around us. I think that's where the challenge is that you just thought about that moment when all out and it doesn't make sense to you right now. So I would say that's my learning, yeah, thanks. Fantastic. So remember to let go of those few opportunities that don't work, you get better ROI and returns. Playing a new card here or a gaming card here. So traditionally the festives have brought people together to celebrate, to feast, to play the most famous theme pati. I personally was put around the table and I enjoyed it. I won little money, but I won. How is this, how is this category dealing with it this year? Post pandemic. So yeah, I belong to North, so I know how theme pati is really part of Diwali festival of celebrations. Pretty much we all used to get together and play offline, that's why initially I said, online gaming per se doesn't fit naturally, right? Rummy, which is our core product also, it's very predominantly big in South and western part of the country. While it's there during Diwali and all, it really picks up during some grand theory. Having said that, of course, yes, it's like in the beginning I had said, we need to alter that behavior and we're working towards that. How do I start being part of those celebrations as an online gaming platform? And hence I gotta be where customers are, which is basically the digital world. I was part of the industry when the proliferation of smartphones happened and the data became very, very affordable, and hence there was democratization of data and with the content explosion, I think pretty much everyone is now right now glued onto their smart screens, which I can see in the audience as well. Pay attention everyone. Yeah, but that's understandable, right? So good thing is I think it's easier now to target very, very sharply. You know, this is the interest, this is the history, this is the demographics. You can target very sharply, right? You can also, basically this would mean it's better for you in terms of costs, ROIs, and instant delivery.  But this is something which everyone knows, right? Here, it's nothing new that I'm talking about. But I think what's the downside here is because since there is this fear of missing out in which Jitain also pointed out, you know, you need to leave out sometimes certain things which marketers don't. I mean, yeah, we all want to be part of that, really cool property and how do we become a part of that and make our brand, you know, make it visible. It's leading to a lot of clutter on the smart screens and in the minds of the consumers. You look at the smart screen today, you're reading some news and suddenly you click on an ad because you thought that was a side arrow towards the next page or whatever, but you actually clicked on the ad. And hence, coming back to that point of, you know, what Sebel was talking about, you know, be very consumer centric and hence, you know, even, you know, as a publisher, I would say that, you know, you should look at how do we more, how do you become more consumer centric because consumers should not get annoyed at the end of the day. I'm spending money as an advertiser. Consumers should feel good about that ad and not get annoyed by it. So, you know, I said gaming is a form of entertainment. And hence, I compete for consumers' time versus OTT, versus news, versus social media. And it's not easy, especially during festive season. And hence, there are certain ways to kind of, you know, stand out if you have to kind of do this, right? One way is to kind of create a big property that people wait for every year, like the big sales that happen. People actually postpone their purchase because they know something's gonna come up, right? Second is to make something which can go viral, but you can't really predict that. You can try, for sure. Third is innovative formats on digital world. And fourth is, you know, the kind of message that you give. It has to be unique. It can't be the same as your competitors. And hence, this is where we actually did something very interesting this time. And we've been, you know, talking about it ever since we launched these campaigns. I imagine I'm a gaming app and I go to the customer and say, you know, hey, I have this really kick-ass game. Why don't you download this, but do not play so much. Take regular breaks, set your limits. So I'm talking about my game. I'm also not telling them to, you know, continue to play forever. And hence, you know, that's what we call responsible gaming. And of course, when Shah Rukh Khan talks about it, it lends a lot of credibility and weight to it. You know, as a company who's been in this skill-based card gaming, or skill-based gaming industry for the longest time, as a flag bearer, so to speak, we are very committed to the cause of responsible gaming. We actually want people to actually follow this. That's why our product features have all of this in the app. They can actually go inside the app and set limits. So whatever we talk about, we actually promise through our delivery as well.   We actually left TV out. Yeah, we said we don't want to do that. And it's been very impressive in terms of, you know, fraction of the cost that we spent during IPL. We actually got a good number of impressions. Lastly, like I said, there are innovative formats. We actually, and influencer campaigns are becoming very popular. Again, everyone is doing influencer campaigns. Again, how do you really stand out there, right? So we reached out to these micro influencers. We started this campaign about a week or 10 days back. We asked them to kind of lend their art to our message. So this rap artist in Karnataka, he actually sang for us and communicated the same message. We got a pretty good response there. Likewise, you know, some comedian who was giving a comic twist to the overall message. And talking in their own language, vernacular language, and reaching out to a much larger audience. At the end of the day, I think, you know, this digital advertising will have to move towards digital and social conversations more and more. And we'll have to stop this clutter as market is for sure. And that's our responsibility. Thank you. I think it's important to realize that responsible advertising is needed. Paying attention to what you're doing right and wrong is needed. New formats. I mean, there's opportunity there alone. And which brings me to my question to you, Nikhil. As an agency, y'all are dealing with different brands. Y'all are well-rounded with every kind of category with brands. And switching that thinking hack accordingly to the need of each category could be difficult. I think that y'all have kind of got down. But how do you keep up with the new formats and the platforms that users are engaging and kind of constantly throwing at you? No, okay. So if you look at RTMI and my report, right, this year, next year, we're looking at digital actually being, or the digital spends in the market outweighing television, right? And with that, it simply means that there are more avenues on digital to spend, you know? And digital is not one medium, right? We keep saying, let's do digital. Time's up. No, no, you can't. Hello, Alam. Do I need to start again? You're missing on your valuable words, sir. I said we do it well. No, okay, so I'm saying, with our report, TYNY, the Group M Report, right, we're seeing that digital is actually going to outspend television for the first time in Indian media history. And if you look at the digital universe itself, it's super fragmented. It is not one thing for one person, right? It is many things for one person, right? And therefore, if you look at the day in the life of, and we've all seen this in marketing presentations, it is super cluttered, right? So there is brand clutter and then there is platform clutter. The way we approach it, to be honest, is with a little bit of, we want to experiment, yeah? And it has to be a learning investment. And that's what, at least we talk to brands about. The way they're responding to a certain brand doesn't mean they're going to respond to you in the same way, yeah? Because the context of your brand and your product is different, right? And therefore, where I talk to the person and how I talk to them and how they're going to receive it is completely different. The problems we face is brands want immediate action, right? Without wanting to put money in and learn, yeah? But it is a learning investment for us. And if you're not going to put that money in, you're missing out on your consumer, yeah? And I would say cautiously optimistic, yeah? We like to, yeah, but I would say this year, even if you look at where we've spent our money, it's not the big two on digital, right? We're moving out a little bit. Nobody got fired investing in Google, yeah, from a media perspective. But if you're looking to learn more about your consumer, I would say, please experiment, right? There are a lot of platforms that are giving us great ROI, both in terms of, I would say, brand lift, click-throughs, true call-up, one of them, yeah? But yeah, I would say, look at it as a learning investment. Fantastic. So we're running out of time, so I'm going to do a quick, rapid one here. So, looking at this year's season, what is that one word that comes to mind? Alive. 24 by seven. Engage and reinforce your brand. Thank you for spending the money. I was just going to say, no one said money. Yes, thank you too. Okay, and what is that one piece of advice you'd give? I would say, don't chase your competition when it comes to doing something, as far as advertising or marketing is concerned, chase your goals. And I keep telling this, if competition does something, there's definitely another way to do it. Just because they're doing it, don't think that that's the right way or the best way. Of course, respect it, but you will find another way. I would reinforce, keep consumer at the center, think through the moments where he's likely to think about your service. And when you spend on advertising, try to own those moments. I completely agree with the, Guninder, don't chase your competition because it's an endless journey. But I personally feel that if you are in a position where you can influence the category, try to grow the category because the moment the category grows, and if you are a trigger to it, you will definitely benefit out of it. Instead of just looking inert and trying to take some share from the competition, it doesn't help in the long run. Talk to your consumer more often. Have a conversation, listen to what they're saying. If you talk to them once a year, nothing's gonna happen. Always on, lots of money, and thank you. So very quickly, can we open two questions? No? Yeah, or drinks, yeah. But thank you, thank you very much.  Like I said from the start, getting to know y'all, getting to know what y'all are up to, how y'all are thinking. It helps us as, at the other end, other sides of the tables as publishers, really make the effort to kind of work alongside y'all and be an extension of what y'all are. Thank you, audience. It's been a pleasure, and yeah, you all paid attention. So, if you'll ever, thank you so much. Thank you, panelists, thank you so much. Can we have a photograph of the front? And meanwhile, I'll also ask Mr. Vidhu Shankar, Assistant Vice President at SEALS, the Hindu group to step on the dais and thank them. Thank all the panelists and Chef.


What's going on guys it's your boy dpj here today for another destiny video and today we have top five What the fuck moments are the week if you guys do enjoy this video if you could hit that like button That would be absolutely amazing, but let's just get straight into the video in at number five We have a clip sent in by show me the money 85 now I am unsure about this clip if he legit sculpt that rocket that was heading for his face This should have been high up in the list, but I just can't really tell what you guys think In at number four, we have a clip sent in by Darf CF.