India’s Strong Digital Push Drives Demand for Creative Technologists

India is in digital hyperdrive mode, and the Digital India initiative is considered to be the most ambitious programme launched by the government to ensure individuals and businesses – both big and small – are connected in the online space. Also adding momentum to the trending offline-to-online (O2O) space is the Open Network for Digital Commerce initiative to help smaller retailers ramp up their online presence and to sell more effectively. 

These nation-wide initiatives provide the fertile conditions for Wunderman Thompson South Asia to nurture its relationships with clients, many of whom are traditional brands moving towards the B2C space. With commerce and martech as critical drivers for the agency, brands will be able to benefit from its spectrum of expertise in creativity, data and technology, boosted by the expertise of an in-house innovation team and its technology partners.

“Brands understand the importance of that, and we are working with a lot of clients to enable them to have a very seamless consumer journey across O2O… and I think data is at the core of that. Data that tells us ‘how am I understanding the consumer’; ‘how am I identifying the consumer’; and ‘how am I making his or her journey very seamless across O2O’ is going to be key,” says CEO Shamsuddin Jasani.

Shams adds, “We want to be more relevant to the entire consumer journey by leveraging the tech and commerce capabilities that Wunderman Thompson’s reputation is built upon. Aligned with this goal is the need to elevate ourselves from a brand experience agency to being more of a consumer experience agency.”

He emphasises the need for creativity and technology to work hand in glove in the industry, considering the big shift in digital spend as a result of increased accessibility to technology – and the pandemic, which changed the way consumers interacted with the TV as a platform of advertising. 

“In the traditional sense of creativity, great storytelling and great artwork are, of course, important. But I think the creative use of technology is becoming increasingly more important in current times. That means asking ourselves ‘how am I using every platform to its fullest potential’; ‘how do we marry the storytelling with the creative use of technology’,” says Shams.

The technology push will be a strong agenda for Wunderman in 2023, with efforts made in blockchain technology to assess its application on gaming platforms, AR, VR and other forms of mixed reality experiences. This move rides on the strong waves of digital consumption, whether it’s in e-sports or casual gaming that generates high commerce activity; or in e-commerce consumption of physical products. 

“Both of these trends are growing at a substantial rate; and certainly, the explosion in demand creates opportunities for us to explore,” says Shams. “Another trend worth noting is that this growth and consumption of e-commerce is happening in the smaller towns and cities that make up a very large and untapped market of 1.4 billion.”

Shams reckons that these strong market trends, boosted by the support of government initiatives, lends traction to the role that Wunderman Thompson will play in 2023. “It will be important for us to think about how we can be impactful as creative technologists for our clients. ‘How are we taking advantage of newer technologies that are coming out’; and ‘how are we using them to enhance the consumer experience?’ It's also about what is the best experience that we're delivering to the consumer. Because that's where the brands are now really trying to push the envelope.”

Brands too are increasingly realising that they need a strategic partner who can provide integrated support across the entire value chain. “They don't want to work with multiple partners, and that's where our proposition across the gamut of creative tech and commerce really comes in because they want a single partner who oversees the entire process,” concludes Shams.