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Smartphone usage is at a commanding 7.9 million in Sri Lanka
Latest media insight on Sri Lanka reveals that almost 6.5 million people can be reached via the YouTube channel and is currently in third place on reach, next to Derana and Hiru TV channels. This has resulted in brand marketing companies having to move to a new way in which media buying needs to be done in 2020, with a single person called an ‘ integrator’ coming to being.
If we look at Sri Lanka from a macro basis, the total population of Sri Lanka above 16 years is around 10.8 million people. Almost 94% of them can be reached if advertising is being done on TV during a given month.
Derana and Hiru are the top two channels being used by brand marketers to do this task but surprisingly YouTube becoming the number three media vehicle is an interesting development in the changing landscape of the lifestyles of a typical Sri Lankan consumer. 
Given this development, media buying will have to be done in a new way called ‘screen advertising’ given that a consumer of today is switching between a TV screen, iPad and mobile screen. Whilst some can say its ‘nothing new,’ what a brand marketer of today must be cognisant of is that a typical adverting/media agency will have to play the role of a ‘integrated communicator’ handling all these tasks than the compartmentalised approach that existed sometime back where traditional media buying is done by one agency and standalone suppliers are selected to handle advertising on digital channels like YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Gen Z1 and below
If one were to do a deep dive on the need for an ‘integrator’ role having to come in the media buying system, let me share the changing dynamics of a Sri Lankan consumer.
Gen Z 2 who are people between the ages of six to 17 consist of 21% of Sri Lanka population, to be specific, 4.1 million people. Gen Z 1 who are between the ages of 18-24 consist of 13% of Sri Lanka’s population at 2.4 million people. The above two consumer group stack up to 34% of the population who tend to move from one screen to another – mobile, iPad to TV. They are heavy users of Instagram with a penetration of 1.1 million in Sri Lanka and Facebook which is at a commanding 6.2 million penetration.
Research reveals that the Gen Z1 target group consists of 2.4 million people and is said to have had a strong impact on the presidential candidate choice on 16 November in Sri Lanka. Their mind works on quick rewards, strongly-held attitudes towards environmental protection and is driven on ‘cause-related’ behaviour like fighting against animal cruelty and corruption.
Gen Y and beyond
Gen Y, better known among many of us, are the people between the ages of 25-39 who account for 25% of Sri Lanka, totalling 4.8 million people. Gen X are those between the ages of 40-59 and comprises 5.2 million people. The skew to this age group highlights the ageing population of Sri Lanka in the next couple of years and the type of products that will be in demand in the near future. Gen X in particular is traditional in nature and the mindset is very different to the younger age group, Gen Y.
The last segment is called the ‘Baby Boomers’ who are above the age of 60 years and account for 14% of Sri Lanka at 2.6 million people. This group is hardwired to wanting to read hard copies of newspaper editions and has a very different way in which they look at life. TV plays an important part in their daily lifestyle.
Political marketing
Research reveals that at the last Presidential Elections, the combined spend on marketing touched Rs. 6 billion whilst the focussed marketing on digital swayed the campaign towards Gen Z 1.
Facebook reaching 30% of the audience was ideal to connect with a targeted consumer in a personal manner whilst reaching 6.2 million people. YouTube on the other hand having the ability to reach 34% of the population or 6.5 million people had the ability to drive brand equity given the long videos that can be used and was able to build attitude formation in the minds of a consumer. This helped change the behaviour of a Sri Lankan voter. The voter turnout to be touching 80% was one such indication of the behaviour change in Sri Lanka.
This is why the last election called for a strong demand for short clip producers and content writers on specific themes so that movement of consumers in the purchasing process up to the voting time was possible. It will be interesting to see the dynamics that will unfold at the General Elections in April, given that 225 brands will be fighting for space in the minds of a voter (which is Gen Z1 and above). The combination of media that different candidates will have to use to move the voter for election victory will make the election marketing move to a scientific stance.
Whilst the macro challenges continue to hit Sri Lanka, with disposable income being under pressure due to spiralling prices of rice and vegetables, the US-Iran Cold War has brought out a new challenge on the possible increase in the price of petrol and diesel in the near future. Both macro variables will have an impact to Sri Lanka’s business dynamics. To be specific, the advertising spends, the media channels that will be used and the brand management strategies that will come to play. The only reality we will have to focus on is the need to be skilled not only in data mining but also in new technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its implications on decision making
Media buying dynamics
Given the above changes taking place in the media template, the role of a new age brand manager has taken a new direction.
Being statistically competent has become a basic skill, given the complexity of media buying. Traditional media will include the usual indicators like reach, opportunity to see (OTS) and frequency. Impact can be computed by way of reach and frequency and hence different programs and channels can be selected based on this statistical computation.
On the other hand, given the weightage to new age media vehicles like Facebook and You Tube, as explained before, the computation will have to be impressions, likes and views whilst the engagement can be measured by the ‘ reviews/comments’ that can be elucidated from a viewer. This can lead to brand equity measurement that can be done using ‘digital data’ than on the traditional methods used via human interphase comes to play.
However, a point to note is that the judgmental decisions like the creative that has to be used or the content that has to be developed remains in the ‘human’ terrain and machines cannot replace this task. This brings out the ‘art’ element to brand management in today’s world of business.
Brand management dynamics
On this front we see that the brand management yet relies on the household panel data to understand brand penetration and share movement. This includes the famous ‘gains and loss’ analysis that make the foundation for decision making on measuring the brand marketing impact at the consumer end.
On the typical retail end the retail panel data will throw out the market shares of your brand at the retail outlet level whilst stock turnover (STR) will indicate the brand pull from the outlet. Based on the retail outlet availability, and the market shares one can decide on the strength of the organisation’s distribution arm.
With the simple view of how many consumers you want your brand to reach and determining the availability of the brand, media buying decisions would be made between ‘screens’. Hence, we see the ‘science’ that is at play in today’s brand manager’s life.
Qualitative decisions
The typical brand dynamics of making decisions on the creative for TV, radio, press or digital mediums can also be quantified with tools like ‘Milward Brown,’ brand equity tracking studies can help determine the content creation that has to be done for vehicles like Facebook and YouTube. This will be essentially qualitative in nature.
Macro challenges
Whilst the macro challenges continue to hit Sri Lanka, with disposable income being under pressure due to spiralling prices of rice and vegetables, the US-Iran Cold War has brought out a new challenge on the possible increase in the price of petrol and diesel in the near future.
Both macro variables will have an impact to Sri Lanka’s business dynamics. To be specific, the advertising spends, the media channels that will be used and the brand management strategies that will come to play.
The only reality we will have to focus on is the need to be skilled not only in data mining but also in new technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its implications on decision making.
Next steps
Whilst the year 2020 brings in a new leadership, from a traditional politician to a technocrat running the country, our duty will be how we can practice business with responsibility to support the leadership given the drastic changes taking place at the consumer end.
(The writer is an award-winning brand marketer and is the CEO of Clootrack – Sri Lanka, Maldives and Pakistan, an Artificial Intelligence based perception management company. The thoughts are strictly his personal views.)
