Sameer Seth, Director, Marketing, India – Dolby Laboratories, speaks about Dolby’s co-marketing campaign, which was an extension of the Dolby Everywhere campaign. He tells us how the campaign was executed, the traction it has received, its collaboration with LG, Lenovo, Netflix, PVR Cinema and Hungama Music and about the opportunities that co-marketing presents brands.
Sameer brings diverse experience of more than 15 years, with expertise in P&L Management, Business Planning, Brand Management and Communications, Strategic Marketing, and Partnerships across the Consumer and Entertainment category. Prior to Dolby, he worked with some of India’s best-known brands including Star India, Network18 and the Essel Group.
What is key message that you wanted to portray/convey with this campaign?
The Dolby Everywhere campaign aims to educate consumers about the Dolby difference available in the living room, at work, in the cinemas or on the go. We wanted to create awareness for lifelike experiences in Dolby for consumers, by connecting with them through their passion points like TV, Movies, Sports & Music. The creative direction of this campaign focuses and explores the relationship and connection between the fan and the creator.
What was the consumer insight behind this campaign and why is an emotional connection with consumers an important part of it?
The campaign is based on insights from three consumer studies. Recently, we conducted a global survey with Wakefield Research that revealed that ‘Consumers are spending more on quality to better connect with content —and connect with each other’.
The study for e.g. shows that 94% of respondents in India are willing to pay more for a premium subscription for enhanced video & audio quality. At the same time, 96% say they plan to upgrade their entertainment equipment and are willing to invest in best-in-class technology products and sound-enabled systems.
A study by CMR on the ‘Importance of Audio among smartphone users in India’, reveals that one in every four Indians, stated audio quality as the most important factor while selecting their smartphone. For the first time ever, consumers are more tuned into ‘audio quality, possibly driven by long hours spent alone in a homebound economy. In doing so, they are also seeking better, immersive experiences.
And a third study by Kantar on music, ‘Understanding the Music listening behavior in India’, reveals that 9 out of 10 active music listeners believe premium audio quality is important while streaming music on a smartphone and prefer a personalized music experience rather than a shared one.
All three studies point to a strong consumer intent for an enhanced visual & audio experience across screen types – living room & mobile, as consumers spend more time on entertainment & music they love. Drawing insights from these three consumer studies, the Dolby Everywhere campaign highlights the Dolby experiences that bring entertainment to life through consumer passion points like TV, movies, sports, and music.
What are your short- and long-term goals you wish to achieve with this campaign?
Our goal has been to create magical, transformative moments for audiences everywhere. This campaign is aimed to educate consumers about the Dolby difference available in the living room, at work, in the cinemas, or on the go.
Dolby’s immersive experience enables the consumer to feel a deeper connection with the movies, shows, music, and sports that they love, which is what is highlighted in our campaign Dolby Everywhere.
Dolby Laboratories has leveraged its campaign by partnering with five brands LG, Lenovo, Netflix, PVR Cinema, and Hungama Music. Tell us more about these collaborations, and what results have they yielded?
Dolby creates breakthrough experiences for billions of people worldwide through a collaborative ecosystem spanning artists, businesses, and consumers. For the Dolby Everywhere campaign, we collaborated with LG, Lenovo, PVR, Netflix, and Hungama Music to create awareness about lifelike experiences in Dolby, by connecting with consumers through their passion points like TV, Movies, Sports & Music.
The campaign is being promoted with a digital-first approach for maximum impact. Through video-based content marketing, we aim to maximize our reach and engagement. We lead through our social media assets where we have a very engaged community, through our consumer-friendly and new-look website, Dolby.com/India, and through a Dolby Brand Store, we built on Amazon, to drive education & awareness.
In addition to this, most partner brands leveraged the film cutdowns snippets on their respective social media channels, thereby, amplifying the message and maximizing the impact.
We have shown a consumer enjoying Netflix show on his smartphone, while on the go.
In another setting, a family comes together to watch their favorite sport in Dolby, on their LG OLED TV, in their living room
In one cutdown of the film, we show a consumer consuming his favorite TV show in Dolby, on his Lenovo Yoga Laptop, while at work.
We also depict a scenario, where the protagonist is seen enjoying his favorite movie at PVR Cinemas in Dolby Atmos
In our fifth edit, we show the protagonist enjoying his favorite music in Dolby Atmos on the Hungama Music app, while he’s on the go.
In the coming years, how will co-marketing campaigns revolutionize brand partnerships?
Co-marketing is a great way to co-create value. Likeminded partner brands with a common goal, can use this tool for effective storytelling and can build value around a shared product or a service. Doing this, not only builds trust among the audience and can benefit all involved partner brands.
Co-marketing campaigns allow brands to broaden their audience sets, cross leverage audiences, increase brand awareness and tap multiple channels at once. Co-marketing can capitalize on the strengths of each brand and enhance the chances of success of a new product.
What have been the challenges in executing a co-marketing campaign with multiple brands?
No challenges whatsoever. The collaborations are aimed to co-create value with our partners for the end consumer. An integral aspect of any co-marketing campaign is to ensure that the partners are collaborating for a common goal.
In the Dolby Everywhere campaign, the agenda was to strike a chord with fans from across genres of sports, movies, streaming music, amongst others, and educate them about the Dolby difference while consuming the content they love.
All the partner brands collaborated to highlight the unforgettable experiences delivered on our partner-enabled devices and services with Dolby technology. With all partner brands aligned on this common goal, the execution and amplification became seamless.
How have people received the campaign so far?
The films have received a great response from the audience. Our intent was to strike a deeper connection with the audience, by highlighting their passion points and we believe it has hit the right chord with enthusiasts from across genres that include – sports, movies, music, amongst others.
In addition to this, each partner brand leveraged the film cutdowns on their respective social media channels, thereby, ensuring increased visibility and maximum impressions.
What is the traction this campaign has achieved on digital and social media platforms?
The campaign has seen great tractions on platforms, in terms of impressions, engagement & video views. The campaign is being promoted with a digital-first approach for maximum impact. The campaign is still ongoing, by means of video-based content marketing, we aim to maximize our engagement& video views.
We lead through our social media assets where we have a very engaged community, through our consumer-friendly and new-look website, Dolby.com/India, and through a Dolby Brand Store, we built on Amazon & Flipkart, to drive education & awareness.
Additionally, we have also reached out to several influencers to share their view and help us reach out to a vast audience. We have also created a FILTER on Instagram & Facebook, that will transport you right into the moment, in Dolby (yes literally). The filter will give the Dolby fan, three passion points to relive – Music in Dolby, Movies in Dolby, and Sports in Dolby.
How will you measure the success of the Dolby Everywhere campaign?
Today, the consumer wants to discover content and have a premium entertainment experience, as it enables them to strike a deeper connection with TV shows, Movies, Sports, and Music they love. With increased awareness of their content consumption needs, consumers seek immersive experiences like never before.
This is how Dolby revolutionizes the science of sight & sound through its innovative research and engineering, empowering creatives to elevate their stories, and offering fans unforgettable experiences in Dolby. Imagine the heavy downpour in a moody scene. The stunningly vivid sunset in the show’s season finale. The song that hits a chord deep down your chest. Now it’s easier than ever before to experience the TV, Movies, Sports, and Music you love — in Dolby.
The film tracks a day in the life of a consumer, and how Dolby brings alive experiences you love – on the go, at work, in your living room, or at the cinemas. We will measure our success by engaging with as many consumers as we can with this campaign.
What’s next on the cards for Dolby Laboratories, how do you plan to grow/scale-up in the near future?
It is our constant endeavor to deliver breakthrough experiences to billions of people worldwide through a collaborative ecosystem spanning artists, businesses, and consumers. We wish to continue our work with content creators by providing them the tools that enable them to bring the end consumer closer to their stories and to their original intent.
We will continue our work with delivery platforms like broadcast and OTT services both for steaming video and music content. And last but not the least, with the playback ecosystem of devices across the living room & mobile. We believe when the content, the service, and the device are in Dolby, the consumers get the best experience.
Anything else you would like to add?
Strong, relatable content, especially through video enables one to strike a chord with their consumers. Campaigns that ‘tell your story or ‘solve and not sell,’ are bound to leave a mark in the minds of the audience. I see these as opportunities more than as a challenge, to connect with our consumers.
Dolby has on myriad of occasions launched and executed unique consumer-centric campaigns in India in the recent past, like Dolby Audio KeSaath Noise Nahi Experience and Mobile Par Dolby Hain Kya? in 2019 and a series of films under Ghar Par Dolby Hain Kya? – Ph.D. aka Poora (Complete) HD in 2018, Bringing The Stadium Experience Home With Dolby Audio in 2016 and From Mono To Surround Sound with Dolby Audio in 2014.