Saumya Baijal Appointed as Director-Brand Strategy by Virtue Worldwide
Saumya Baijal has been appointed as Director of Brand Strategy at Virtue Worldwide, a cutting-edge creative agency under VICE Media Group, which bolsters the company’s leadership team in India. Virtue is an expert at assisting brands in finding a genuine voice at the center of culture. Virtue is a “borderless” agency with operations in 17 cities across 13 countries. It assembles customized teams with a range of backgrounds, perspectives, and skill sets to foster creativity and innovation.
Saumya Baijal appointed as Director-Brand Strategy at Virtue Worldwide
Saumya Baijal provides Virtue with a diverse range of experience. Saumya is well-known for her roles as an activist, feminist, ad woman, bilingual writer, storyteller, poet, radio host, theater personality, and Ogilvy. She has worked for MullenLowe Lintas Group, McCann Erickson, and the Ogilvy advertising networks. In addition to working with companies like Absolut, Google, and Fabindia, Saumya has a long history of jury service at the Effies. She has also been a key member of the Laadli Media Awards for Hindi Journalism since 2021.
Virtue Worldwide’s presence in Indian advertising market
Virtue Worldwide is improving its team and leadership while making notable progress in the Indian advertising market. The business is dedicated to breaking down barriers, embracing innovation, and building reliable alliances. Notable companies including Diageo, poppi, Delta, Vanguard, P&G, General Mills, H&M, Volkswagen, McDonald’s, eToro, Red Bull, and Converse have partnered with them. Award-winning ads like Backup Ukraine, Weedmaps’ Museum of Weed, Dove’s Dear Future Dads, Q the Genderless Voice, and Carlings adDRESS the Future were all conceptualized by Virtue. At Virtue, they foster a culture of diversity and innovation by selecting team members not only based on their experience but also on the special skills and viewpoints they bring to the table.
Read More: Dentsu Creative Names Jon Holloway as Managing Director, Brand & Experience
Here’s what they said
Huiwen Tow, head of strategy, Virtue APAC, shared her thoughts on Saumya’s appointment, stating,
“In a world that is more divided than ever before, Saumya is one of those rare individuals that sees the world, not for what it is, but what it can be. She is a force of nature, unafraid to confront the real or challenge the status quo to move the conversation forward in culture. We are beyond ecstatic to have her with the Virtue India leadership team to take us into our next era of growth in India.”
Saumya Baijal, the newly appointed brand strategy lead, India commented,
“I am very excited to be a part of Virtue. The idea of diving deep into constantly evolving culture, extracting the insight, and then giving it a distinct flavour, is a very very interesting challenge. In a world that changes so quickly and so drastically, finding anchors for a brand, embedded in culture, is not only important, but necessary. Virtue understands this, and I can’t wait to explore more with the very talented team that has already set up a young, energetic, spirited place, committed to the same endeavour.”
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Dentsu Creative Names Jon Holloway as Managing Director, Brand & Experience
Dentsu Creative MENA has named Jon Holloway, a highly acclaimed creative leader, as Managing Director of Brand and Experience. As the leader of the brand and experience teams for the entire region in this recently established position, Jon will promote operational excellence to deliver next-generation projects and transformative work that promotes brand growth through engaging customer experiences.
Dentsu Creative welcomes Jon Holloway as MD – Brand and Experience
Jon brings a wealth of experience to the table, having held prominent positions at Dentsu Creative EMEA, R/GA, and Zuper, among other prestigious agencies. His prior positions included Managing Partner, Experience at Dentsu Creative EMEA, where he was instrumental in creating the regional experience team’s structure and identity. In addition, Jon oversaw the Australian offices and established the regional product strategy in his role as VP, Managing Director. In addition, Jon was a co-founder of the fintech company Zuper, where he served as Chief Product Officer. Before rejoining R/GA as VP, Executive Strategy Director, he was crucial in developing the teams and the strategic offering in Australia and assisting with APAC initiatives.
Responsibilities include emphasizing Dentsu Creative’s growth
Jon will be in charge of managing operations to support growth, emphasizing Dentsu Creative’s quickly growing operations in Saudi Arabia, along with a strategic focus on inspiring and leading the brand and experience teams throughout the region and guaranteeing alignment with organizational goals. Jon’s duties include building an exceptional team in the area that can produce ground-breaking work by leveraging brand and experience, as well as establishing DC MENA Lab as a leader in the rapidly growing field of emerging technologies.
Jon has also worked with clients such as Nike, Google, YouTube, Samsung, Toyota, Uber, Skoda, Timberland, American Express, Qantas, McDonald’s, and KFC, and his work has received numerous awards, including Lions, D&AD, Global and Local Effies, and Spikes.
Read More: Dentsu MENA Opens Flagship HQ in Saudi Arabia
Here’s what they said
Ziad Ghorayeb, Regional Managing Director at Dentsu Creative MENA said,
“We are thrilled to welcome Jon to lead our Brand & Experience division in the MENA region. His track record of driving innovation and delivering exceptional results for clients aligns perfectly with our vision for growth and excellence. With Jon’s leadership, we are confident in our ability to elevate our capabilities and make a significant impact in the region. This newly created role comes as a testament to the accelerated growth we’ve experienced at Dentsu Creative over the past few years. It’s part of our overarching vision to further propel this momentum and solidify our position as a leader in the industry.”
Commenting on his new role, Jon added,
“Throughout my career spanning three continents and diverse roles ranging from startups to global creative agencies, I’ve witnessed the power of diversity, innovation, and opportunity firsthand. Now, I’m excited to bring this experience to the vibrant landscape of the Middle East. It’s a region brimming with potential, and I look forward to leveraging my background to drive transformative growth and innovation in brand experiences here.”
Read More: Dentsu Creative Names Abhijat Bharadwaj As Chief Creative Officer – Digital Experience
mFilterIt Announces Rebranding Initiative, Reveals New Brand Identity
mFilterIt, which provides ad traffic validation and brand protection solutions, has announced a rebranding initiative and revealed a fresh brand identity. The rebranding initiatives are a reaction to the quickly changing digital landscape.
New Brand Identity and Rebranding
mFilterIt has undergone a thorough rebranding process to emphasize its commitment to offering a transparent and reliable digital ecosystem. The company claims that by utilizing cutting-edge technology and data, the new identity will help it become the pinnacle of dependability and trust in the digital ecosystem. They have redesigned the website and created a new visual identity with an updated logo as part of the rebranding strategy.
Redesigning to exude brand identity
Their website has been redesigned with a focus on efficiency, growth, and advancement while maintaining the essential goals and values. They have also created a new visual identity that includes brand colors that convey innovation, dependability, and evolution, as well as a modern and updated logo. The company has added new products to its lineup and unveiled a framework for collaborative verification, optimization, and protection, or V.O.P.
Read More: DoubleVerify Includes YouTube Shorts in its Brand Safety Measurement Expansion
For the last eight years, mFilterIt has partnered with over 100 brands. It includes some of the biggest names in the BFSI, FMCG, and eCommerce sectors. It will provide them with transparency and trust.
Here’s what they said
As reported by Campaign Middle East,
Amit Relan, CEO and co-founder at mFilterIt said
Our rebranding marks a milestone on the completion of an 8-year journey of empowering digital brands with trust and transparency. We are happy to introduce our new and enhanced identity, which represents our commitment to bringing a revolution in the digital ecosystem with the power of data, intelligence and technology to serve our clients better than ever before and help them advertise fearlessly.
Dhiraj Gupta, CTO, mFilterIt added,
This framework is created to revolutionise digital advertising with transparency, efficiency and protection at every touchpoint and combat the ever-evolving nature of threats and opportunities in the digital ecosystem.
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A Case Study On Why Case Study Is The Start Of Epic Marketing.
The marketing landscape is wide and marketers are increasingly finding it difficult to create a foothold in the crowd. Companies big or small posts on social media, enhancing their website, blogging and promoting their content effectively to new prospects. With so much information available, it is challenging for a company to get people to read the content.
Well, to grab the eyeballs of the readers, marketers need to exhibit the value of the product and service and not do only talking. This means don’t just hype about your company or products but share real experiences of your customers with your products in the form of CASE STUDIES.
Case studies take time and money to create but the results can be tremendous.
Why are case studies so valuable?
Every business has its marketing materials like brochures or sales copy for promotion and sales. But is it sufficient to close sales? Well, not really!
Do you know case studies are more effective than any traditional sales collateral? Why? Here it is:
According to Ascend 2 survey, 60% of marketing influencers prefer case studies as the most trusted content type by the target audience.
Image Credit: Marketing Charts
Case studies tell stories about your product and company. It is under-optimized but wholly effective. As the saying goes, “ A picture speaks a thousand words”, the same logic applies to sales and marketing. You narrate stories of your brand, weave pictures and evoke emotions and logic.
People connect to stories and case study is an apt marketing tool to boost your conversions and increase your sales. When you release content which is a case study, you emphasize a particular problem that you solved using your product or service. They are simply testimonials for your brand.
Research by Content Marketing Institute, case studies are the second-most preferred B2B content marketing tool by marketers and are amongst the top 3 effective types of content used by B2B marketers. So, a well-crafted case study should highlight ‘this is exactly what we are looking for’ from a prospective target after looking or reading it.
Case studies are flexible and don’t have a single format to follow. You can choose any type to present your facts and observations:
- Video: An interactive format for a prospect where you interview a customer who shares their story.
- Blog Posts: Publish your written case story as a blog post.
- Ebooks: An Ebook for a lengthy written case story.
- Infographics: Time consuming but visually appealing to share the information in a precise manner. You can share it easily on social media.
- PDFs: A professional and easy-to-read format with detailed information and facts. You can e-mail it to your prospects.
Why your business needs case studies?
After a clear understanding of the value of case studies, let us comprehend the benefits of case studies for your business to increase website conversions and drive sales directly.
1. Brand positioning as Market Authority
Case studies are built on the premise of facts and statistics with actual conclusions. Therefore, documenting a case study with researched numbers and facts helps you to position your brand as authoritative in your industry.
It doesn’t matter if you are in a software service or pizza delivery business. What counts is the number of pizza baked and delivered or software downloaded as these facts and figures will help you to be the market leader in your industry. Publishing insightful case studies will help you to become a thought leader and first advantage mover in your niche.
For example, in the App Annie case study, it helped FDG Entertainment with the aggregation of data and have all their apps and ad platforms in a single dashboard. As a result, advertising revenue has grown its bottom line by 50% compared to the previous year.
A case study with a renowned brand uplifts your brand value as well.
2. Target Niche
By niche, we mean a specific target/ prospect. If your case study is well crafted, it will not be vague or general.
Companies may have a wide range of services and products. The general information about it might be suitable for your webpage to show the array of products or services but an effective case study should be specific and in line with the goal of your product offering catering to your target market.
Super Top Secret created a design and develop every new character for the gaming company Riot Games. It was a success with massive visitors on the site and millions of hits in a short span. A classic example where the company has a perfect sales pitch for the target prospects from the gaming industry.
3. Be prospect focused
Most companies focus only on their products and services, mission and vision, and achievements. It’s all about them like other companies and not their prospects.
However, the motive of case studies is to provide optimal solutions to your customer’s problems with your expertise, resources, and efforts. It answers your prospect’s question “ what can you do for me” before making any buying decision.
A well-crafted case study can reach different prospect or personas. For example, your company produces a conveyor system for a manufacturing company. The project is an overall success and you can write one case study that is relevant to the different people involved in the buying decision-making process of the equipment.
- Heads Operation Manager: the case study will focus on the seamless working of the equipment, connection with the existing ones, and easy maintenance.
- CFO: the case study will focus on the financial aspects including costing, productivity, feasibility, etc
- CEO: the case study will focus on how the equipment enabled the featured customer to have a competitive edge, improved productivity and technological upgrade.
In B2B marketing, there are several people involved (especially in high capital investment) looking for role-specific information to consider the options.
4. Social Media Proof
In this digital age, customers need more proof to be convinced.
In the early years, a sales copy would suffice to convince a customer to buy a product. If an ad said that this woolen sweater will keep you warmer than the competitors’, the customer would buy it on face value.
Today, times have changed with technological advancements and social media, customers have more access to find information about the product at a lightning speed before purchasing it.
As a result, peer reviews and product reviews are very important. 92% of online consumers read product reviews before making a purchase decision with the majority of shoppers reading product reviews between one and six (see the chart)
Image Credit: Bizrate Insights
5. Case studies independent of sales material for online and offline
You may have different sales materials like brochure, website, portfolio of clients, or samples depending upon the nature and type of business.
But your prospect is still unsure between you and your competitor? What to do next?
Present your case study. It can persuade the prospect and convert into a potential customer who wants to buy your product. Feature the case study on your website and other social media platforms to gather more eyeballs.
A key point to remember, after any sales meeting or follow up call send a pdf of your case study to the prospect and for a high-value deal, present it in person.
Maximize your sales conversion
Case studies are time-consuming and can take weeks or months to develop depending on the data, process, and format. It can be an expensive affair too.
Having said that, only creating and publishing data isn’t enough but for high returns and sales conversion, make sure that the readers enter your sales funnel to get converted into your customers.
Harvard Business Review has found in a study of 34 million interactions between buyer and content that case studies have an 83% completion rate- orders of magnitude higher than any type of marketing content. Therefore, case studies are remarkably an effective marketing tool and commonly used as a testimonial in B2B sales. Case studies act as a credibility builder for the brand.