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MEXICO
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
TOP 50 MOST VALUABLE LATIN AMERICAN BRANDS 2015
A STORY OF DAVID
AND GOLIATH IN THE
DIGITAL MEDIA ERA
The changes that the communication industry has to face in Mexico
today – including the telecommunications reforms, the analog
turnoff, and the growth of content delivered through new platforms
– remain the major topic of discussion.
*Source: E-Marketer, July 2015
LILIA BARROSO
CEO
GroupM, Mexico
Lilia.Barroso@groupm.com
Today, advertising in digital media
continues to grow and gain relevance:
in 2014, there was an 11 billion pesos
investment in Mexico, according to IAB.
Of special interest are the platforms
with video, which in 2014 had an impact
on 83% of internet users in Mexico, as
well as the mobile platforms, which have
a total of 83.1 million users, with almost
half of them (38.5 million) owning a
smartphone.*
Is the story of David and Goliath
repeating itself in the 21st century?
What can brands expect from this
battle and how to know which opponent
to back?
DAVID AND GOLIATH
IN 2015
The same characteristic that made
traditional means of communication
– our Goliath – strong and invincible is
perhaps their greatest weakness today:
organizational complexity and large
infrastructure. These make it difficult
for them to adopt new technologies or
to understand and adapt to new media
consumption habits.
However, and positively for them, they
still have their large-scale vision, the
ability to connect with big audiences
and to generate an immediate
mass impact and, thanks to this,
the likelihood of influencing current
consumers.
Meanwhile, digital media – our David –
are naturally less complex organizations.
They tend to operate as cells (business
units) to achieve their objectives in
the short term and wind up grouped
as comprehensive communication
offerings and platforms that provide
solutions to consumers’ needs.
Likewise, digital media have focused on
perfecting their most powerful weapon:
their ability to measure and quantify
the results of their solutions. This allows
them to understand the potential of
the million niches existing today among
consumers and to deliver relevant
messages to each of them.
However, data measurement and
analysis has still a long way to go: the
industry has much to do in terms of
standardization and the use of reliable
digital metrics that favor interaction
and data crossing among different
points of contact.
THE STORY IS
NOT OVER YET
Although it seems that my analogy
establishes who I think the winner will
be, the truth is that there is a noticeable
and natural wish on the part of the huge
digital players to become preeminent
and gain a larger part of advertising
investment. On the other hand,
traditional media make remarkable
efforts to create new models, adopt
new technologies, and get close to an
audience that will soon become their
potential consumers: youngsters.
Thus, circumstances in our industry are
constantly changing, the roles of David
and Goliath are interchangeable, and
therefore nothing is definite yet.
SO... WHO'S THE
WINNER OF THIS
BATTLE?
Doubtless, up to this point the ultimate
winner of this battle are brands, which
now have a wider variety of means to
combine and consequently present
their messages in a more efficient and
customized way.
Nevertheless, brands will only be able to
make this victory theirs and capitalize
upon it if they use a media mix that
allows them to interact with consumers
using the strengths of both David and
Goliath.
THE GIANT’S PERCEPTION:
Because mass media consumption,
especially television, is still preeminent
in Mexico, all these means must
be integrated into communication
strategies working as important action
triggers. Then, these actions can
become more specific and focus on the
different niches through supplementary
means connected with media
consumption habits.
AIMING AT THE OBJECTIVE:
More than ever before, the traces (data)
left behind by consumers when going
through media must be collected,
measured and analyzed. This will
provide the information needed to
develop an assertive strategy, allowing
brands to connect with consumers at
the right moment and in the right way,
so as to support the closing of the sale.
MEDIA AGILITY:
The growth of mobility and access to
the internet in Mexico forces brands
to accompany and interact with
consumers in real time. Those already
able to do this and take advantage of
spontaneous events are the brands that
are top of consumers’ mind.
RESILIENT CONTENT:
Besides being relevant, from the very
moment of its conception, brands’
marketing and messaging content must
be able to blend with each medium’s
distinctive features so as to connect
naturally with consumers and thus
enhance the chance for those messages
to be heard.
Finally, I think all of these
characteristics constitute the
advantage that, as a group of media
agencies, we should offer brands:
• Deliver acute and objective knowledge
of consumers – supported by
qualitative and quantitative data,
derived from the use of technology
and our proprietary metrics and realtime
analysis tools.
• Put into use our large-scale
implementation and negotiation
abilities so as to execute multiplatform
strategies suitable to each
brand’s needs and audiences.
• Collaborate with each of our clients
in order to develop – from strategy
to implementation – innovative and
relevant content for their consumers
and thus build, together.
GroupM is the leading global media investment management operation serving as
the parent company to WPP media agencies including Mindshare, MEC, MediaCom,
and Maxus, each global operations in their own right with leading market positions.
GroupM’s primary purpose is to maximize performance of WPP’s media agencies
by operating as leader and collaborator in trading, content creation, sports, digital,
finance, proprietary tool development and other business-critical capabilities.
GroupM’s focus is to deliver unrivaled marketplace advantage to its clients,
stakeholders and people.
www.groupm.com
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