India: A massive emerging DR opportunity

I have just had four of the most energetic and enervating days that I have had for a long time. One of our clients asked me to join them for a trip to Mumbai to review the media scene there, and the opportunities for recruiting subscribers to their organisation.

Before I went I guess my understanding of India was hazy to say the least - major inputs being Slumdog Millionaire and EM Forster.

What I found was a group of bright, creative, motivated entrepreneurs. And that applied across the board from the smaller organisations right up to big corporates.

We met with a bunch of media owners, clients and agencies. What we found was a media scene of extremes. Fewer than 10 million broadband internet connections. More than 350 million mobile phones. The largest circulation newspaper at just 5 million copies, but pay TV penetration at nearly 100 million homes.

Direct marketing as a discipline is still fairly immature. It is used mostly for CRM (airline loyalty programmes, financial services cross selling). There is little direct mail for acquisition as data sets are small and of dubious quality.

But the DRTV scene is alive and flourishing. The suburban Indian housewife has discovered the delights of slow cookers, teeth whiteners and exercise equipment in the same way middle America did. And DRTV is beginning to creep into the mainstream marketers lexicon, with financial services and charities conducting campaigns that we would recognise in the UK.

It's potentially a very interesting opportunity for DM acquisition. A growing market of affluent middle class (numbers vary but think more middle class Indians than Americans in the next 10 years), very low media rates (say 10%-20% of UK rates) and a sophisticated call centre infrastructure.

I’m going back. I don’t know how yet, but I am sure India represents volume and value opportunities for our clients and ourselves.

Mike Colling, Managing Director