In 2024, Generation Alpha makes up over a quarter of India's population, displaying unique digital preferences and influencing family purchases significantly. Marketers will need to adapt strategies focusing on engagement through technology, immersive experiences, and personalized content to appeal to this cohort, while also navigating the growing prominence of addressable TV and e-commerce. The integration of AI and advanced data strategies will be essential for optimizing marketing efforts across diverse digital platforms amid the evolving retail landscape.

1. 2024
THIS YEAR

2. Gen Alpha, or children born after 2010, comprise over a quarter of India’s population. They
are set to be the most educated & informed generation ever. The level of precociousness
and maturity they are displaying even now is far ahead of previous generations.
As the oldest constituents of this generation approach their teen years, they are exerting
major influence on most important purchases made in the family, beyond just the products
targeted at them.
The disruption of Covid has accelerated their dependance on screens & digital technology
for information, companionship, and validation.
Their processing of information is different. If the earlier generation replaced pen and paper
with screens, this cohort is voice and visual first, with even typing, rapidly reducing. They are
also far more inclusive & socially aware. Marketers will create significantly different
strategies to appeal to this critical cohort. The key driver will be engagement powered by
technology. Focus on voice & video-based discovery, interactive brand experiences,
gamification and a focused influencer strategy will be critical to appeal to them.

3. More attention is being given by marketers to decode and better the targeting outcomes.
With a generation coming up whose attention span ranges from few seconds(snap) to few
hours (gaming), it is becoming imperative to test and frame up the question of how to
garner better ROI from media – to - how to optimize ROI of media for attention. Importance
of understanding the nuances of attention and tailoring attention strategies based on
brand size to achieve optimal business results and campaign success.
How will more research on attention planning change the narrative:
• Business growth metrics will it move from loyalty/repeat purchasers
to drive the upsell in light buyers and how to get their attention
• This layered with mental availability of the consumer is another
key factor that will define the ROI
• In a crowded market space, the need for mental presence along with
attention is another big push for brands
• All this layered with right data insights for action
• To strengthen short-term advertising strength of brands because
they are media busy in a cluttered space

4. “Phenomenal Momentum” in the space of Addressable TV over the last few years. We see
this momentum continue and hold sway. By the end of 2023, we saw 34 million addressable
TV homes streaming on connected TV.
In 2024 we expect this growth to be reaching 45 million homes with a YoY growth of 21%.
Besides the rapid increase in broadband connection at home and all new TVs sold being
smart; content has played a key role in driving this growth.
Major sporting events have accelerated eyeballs on addressable TV.
In the last year, markets like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and
Haryana impressions on CTV have grown by at least 4.5 times.
Today, we also have over 200 FAST Channels with variety of content streaming on OTTs and
OEM applications. The shift in content on FAST channels is also one of the reasons for
people to cut the chords.
In 2023, we predicted that we would see pilots of linear TV become addressable; however,
we are trailing on this and in 2024, some collaboration with distributors, broadcasters and
delivery ecosystem will see used cases.

5. TV advertising is becoming more and more programmatic. All DSPs and SSPs are working
on CTV solutions as they see demand growth rising on their platforms.
Impact for advertisers have come in the way of opportunities. It is becoming increasingly
critical to adopt Total TV planning. Because of addressable TV, we have seen more
advertisers get entry points to advertise on television.
The power and impact of TV; the levers of digital audience discovery and audience
targeting becomes a channel of choice for marketers to make impactful TV ads for
personalized and localized experience.

6. We have talked of immersive experiences in sports for the last few years and it became a
reality in 2023 with many brands leveraging these opportunities for enhanced consumer
connect. The stump camera enabled a view into the game of cricket like never before,
which enabled the Thums Up “Wicket se cricket” campaign while Airtel’s “5G Plus ultimate
Fan” used virtual reality to help fans interact with the legends.
With further improvements in internet speed and technology (affordable 5G and next-gen
VR headsets), immersive experiences are likely to get better and reach wider audiences.
Technology is opening a truly “Phygital” opportunity in sports, fans having the option to
engage with their favourite teams and players not just in the stadium, but in the comfort of
their home or in a pub or a sports cafe.
We are seeing more immersive solutions for brands in global markets, including Virtual
Sponsorships offering an alternative to on-ground and Smart Stadiums. While these may
not be available in India today, they are opportunities for the future.

7. Sports will enable marketers to innovate and engage their audience through the funnel –
from driving awareness to enhancing perception and trials. The advancement in tech will
help capture data, build richer profiles, and track behaviour.
The advancements in data and technology will also enable brands to capitalize on Fluid
moments in sports and create personalized content & promotions for consumers.

8. With growth ambitions becoming more aggressive and the need for balancing of budgets,
one cannot view the split in branding and last mile. Brands need the short-term impact as
well as making the brand live longer in consumer life. The entry and exit points might differ,
but the end outcome drives ending growth. With this focus, we see the narrative and
measurement shifting to full funnel which is not just the immediate brands need, but they
are topped with brand emotions. This brings in more relevancy to consumers and brings in
clarity on the overall marketing effectiveness. For this to work, brands need to enable a
strong data-driven strategy which will have ROI-based planning along with test and learn
optimizations. Linking brand building and acquisition to performance enables brands to
plan, buy, and optimize all media and content while holding it accountable to overall
business outcomes, like incremental revenue, customer lifetime value (CLV), and profitable
lead conversion.
This approach also takes an undue burden off the lower funnel, which is expected to carry
business performance in suboptimal conditions.

9. Achieve full-funnel marketing performance by understanding key important pillars, one of
them is Search. Paid search is much more than a channel; it is a behavioral insights
machine.
The digital ecosystem has expanded beyond traditional search engines like Google to
include a wide array of platforms, each serving different user needs and interests. This
diversification means that search marketing needs to expand from Google to other
ecosystems where consumers are seeking information or fulfilling their brand needs –
Amazon, OTT, YouTube, Quora, Swiggy to name a few.
Marketers must navigate a more complex landscape, understanding the nuances of each
platform to craft effective strategies. Success requires a broader range of skills, including
SEO, video production, content marketing, and platform-specific optimization techniques.
Gathering and interpreting data across platforms to gain insights into consumer behaviour
and campaign performance is more challenging but also more crucial than ever. The
diversity of platforms offers opportunities for more targeted and personalized marketing
efforts, which can lead to higher engagement and conversion rates.
Diversified search strategy encompasses deep understanding where your audience
spends their time and how they use different platforms. This knowledge is foundational to
choosing where to focus your marketing efforts. For e.g.- Quora – it is a larger level search
that addresses branding needs vis-a-via Amazon or Swiggy that has more intent for
specific category or products in need. A brand’s content strategy then gets then gets the

10. format and audience of each platform, tailormade. What works on YouTube won't
necessarily work on Amazon or an OTT service. Each platform also comes with its analytics
tools to measure performance, understand user behaviour, and adapt strategies
accordingly. Yet brands must integrate and coordinate to ensure that marketing efforts
across platforms are coordinated and consistent in messaging, while still being customized
for each platform's unique environment.

11. Over the years, we witnessed brands expanding their share of ecommerce on their total
brand GMV across all channels, expectedly taking the current ecommerce ~5% share of
total retail to ~7%. Few categories like FMCG, Beauty & Personal Care, Groceries, Daily Needs
and Fashion will index much higher.
Marketplaces, Vertical Commerce Sites and Quick Commerce platforms are more than just
point of sales; today they operate like product discovery platforms as today the digital
shelf holds more in market insights than ever, before making it an open market managed
by the algos of these platforms.
There is a surge in e-commerce advertising technology to decode this.
Tools providing market intelligence via share of search, availability, competition tracking,
user sentiment and ratings are important to take macro decisions to win on the
ecommerce race.
Automation tools are also being used by advertisers; to breakdown the complexity of multi
e-commerce platforms and create faster market actions and optimizations. GroupM will be
launching its own proprietary tool called Fusion 2.0 in 2024 which will be available to
advertisers for use.

12. Like digital advertising, e-commerce media is experiencing the adoption influencer
marketing, AR/VR, and gen AI at scale.
The rise of retail media is inevitable; and we will continue to see momentum in this space.
Retail Media Networks offer rich in-market data signals for brands to expand their top
funnel making their products more discoverable to related audiences.
Last year we spoke about ONDC. In 2023, we saw a lot of brands joining the network. ONDC
is steadily growing across categories and geographies as more buyers and seller continue
to join the network. The effort to educate the benefits on buy-side and sell-side would need
to continue in the same pace. Lastly, we also expect organizational changes which will
enable the coming together of trade marketing, branding and performance spends to find
synergies and deliver an omni-channel growth for brands with best ROAS.

13. In 2024 ecommerce share is expected to be 7% of overall retail trade, but marketers today
are spending over 70% time decoding the best strategies on ecommerce.
However, the real big transformative opportunity is the area of brick becoming click.
Lines between eCommerce and General Trade + Modern Retail are blurring.
In 2024, we see scale up in digitization of traditional retail; which starts with basic
automation in inventory management and POS systems becoming more mature with
collection of customer data; understanding buying patterns, communicating with
customers on WhatsApp, email, SMS, and other channels.
This intersection between technology and brick-n-mortar retail will help leverage the
power of digital to drive more store visits and shopping missions also help understanding
customer lifetime value and customer management at a macro level.
For mid to high value products, the consumer buying experience will become like
eCommerce-d2c.

14. As technology touches the kiranas (corner stores) at scale, which will promote hyperlocal
marketing and delivery to next level. Brands can help push more products in the front lines,
leading to more orders from distribution supply chain.
The e-commerce share of retail is in a minority; the massive opportunity continues to be in
traditional and modern retail becoming digital.

15. While the transformative potential of AI is beyond imagination, the most tangible and
immediate impact in 2024 will be in three broad spaces – messaging, media, and
measurement.
• AI has been used in media optimization for quite a few years now, with solutions like
GroupM’s Copilot providing the capability to optimize thousands of campaign line items
on the go – something impossible by human optimization. Moving forward, we will see
advanced AI powering optimization across platforms and an enhancement of predictive
capabilities
• The interplay between medium and message will grow stronger, with AI at the forefront.
While a lot of discussion has been on creative powered by Gen AI and deepfakes, the
larger power will be for real-time signal-based creative versioning across text, image &
video to create meaningful personalized messages at scale for brands. Solutions like
GroupM’s “Create” are at the forefront of this change

16. • Measurement will also be significantly enhanced by AI. Business Intelligence platforms will
leverage NLP and Gen AI to recognize patterns, respond to queries across text and voice
and provide personalized views. Traditional market mix models are moving to full-funnel
always-on analytics, with a focus on the interplay across variables. As advanced clients
will look for newer avenues of optimization, advanced creative analytics powered by AI will
come to the forefront - where every micro element of a message – be it text, visual or
video - will be dissected to determine what works and what doesn’t

17. The integration of AI in content creation is dynamic and evolving faster than our
imagination. It is playing a role in every stage of the creative process – be it identifying
consumer habits & preferences, helping ideation, speeding up the production and
enhancing post-production.
As influencers are creating their own platforms and brands, technology is helping them
engage with consumers through the funnel from awareness to purchase through
personalized content & recommendations.
We recently saw AR Rehman creating the voice of two yesteryear legends, in an album with
AI-generated songs sung by Mohamad Rafi and Asha Bhosle.
The field of audio has seen remarkable usage of AI. We recently saw AR Rehman creating
the voice of two yesteryears legends. Eros is scheduled to launch an album with
AI-generated songs sung by Mohamad Rafi and Asha Bhosle.
The ethical debate on AI-generated content, which is already heated, will play a significant
role in how marketers leverage this in 2024.

18. There has been a progressive shift from the one-size fits all approach based on economies
of scale to a sharp focus on marketing to the many Indias.
This has translated to the evolution of many “Micro” strategies which will all gain strength in
2024 with increased availability of data, artificial intelligence, and communication
platforms:
Micro markets: the availability of consumer & customer data at an extremely granular
geo-tile level will lead to micro-cluster prioritization and a highly de-averaged strategy
across distribution and promotion
Micro segments: The rise in D2C, content destinations, and on-ground strategies has led to
far richer 0PD and 1PD repositories for marketers. These will enable the creation of sharp
micro-segments which can be targeted in a highly personalized manner
Micro communities and influencers: Micro influencers and micro communities have a
higher level of credibility and authenticity. Their impact on product perception and trial has
grown exponentially. With an increase in the number of platforms and accountability to
business KPIs, these will form a larger part of the marketing mix in 2024

19. While the term “Zero party Data” was coined over 5 years ago, it is not a new concept.
Marketers have always been obtaining information from consumers through surveys,
quizzes, and interviews in exchange for some reward.
With data privacy regulations getting more stringent and the demise of the cookie more
imminent in 2024, this information - willingly provided by consumers with full consent for a
meaningful value exchange – has now attained more importance than ever before.
As touchpoints and transactions between brands & consumers increase exponentially, 0PD
will become the biggest source of insights into attitudes, behaviors, and product
consumption. It will help power all pillars of marketing – new product development,
packaging, channels of commerce, content creation & media strategies. It will also aid
premiumization, which is a key focus for most marketers, and cross-sell opportunities.

21. 2024
THIS YEAR
Contact us: marketing.india@groupm.com