Digital branding now relies on ‘fastest finger first’ specialists

Santosh Desai, MD & CEO, Future Brands, spoke about the rise of the new angootachaaps (used to describe those constantly using thumbs to learn on the move), while sharing insights on how digital technology is dictating the future of business. 

Technology has made it possible to access newer modes of learning. Learners are open to use the trial, error, play and search methods in their quest to find out. This has given rise to the “new angootachaaps ” (not illiterate, but those constantly using their fingers to navigate the world and learn). He cited the example of a youth in Kolkata, who coined this term, as having the opportunity to build an enterprise. That could be possible for the young entrepreneur as he was able to leverage technology to learn and make prudent decisions. 

Desai said digital can detach an individual from a collective and it is time to recognise the ubiquity of technology. Likening the cellular phone, which an individual is never without, to a genie, he said “we are always armed in a wraparound world.” 

The digital era provides individuals a deep and intuitive aspect of technology especially at a time when the “self” itself has become a broadcast medium, which seems to perennially be enveloped in a “social embrace.” It is the ability of being able to don a persona that has to be understood, Desai sought to point out.

At a session on ‘Relearning Marketing: Creating Brands, Digitally,” organised by the Madras Management Association, Ambi MG Parameswaran, Brand Strategist and Founder, Brand-Building.com, traced the evolution of the digital era. From the period when it used to be difficult for advertisers to find a slot despite the limited number of programmes (during the Chitrahaar, Oliyum Oliyum days), the 90s saw the explosion of TV channels. The complexity increased leaving media planners the onerous task of putting spots, leading to another round of learning about marketing brands. 

Parameswaran then went on to describe the historic November 8 demonetisation exercise as the “VUCA” or Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous moment, disrupting the entire country. “How is brand-building going to change post digitalisation?” is the question the note ban threw up. This has led to the advent of a new breed of digital thinkers who only seemed to understand the digital world, but not brands, he said, setting the context for the discussion on the importance of creating digital brands.