TMCnet News
Vserv expands marketing platform in Thailand [EMBIN (Emerging Markets Business Information News](EMBIN (Emerging Markets Business Information News) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Vserv, an Indian mobile marketing platform that delivers data to marketers, app developers, telecoms and others, is changing its strategy to expand its business into Thailand, Dippak Khurana, chief executive officer and co-founder of Vserv, told The Nation in an interview. What is Vserv's new business model and strategy? The mobile marketing ecosystem is growing at a rapid pace globally. However, despite this growing adoption, the majority of mobile ads were irrelevant, and we decided to address this challenge. We saw that mobile interactions were generating a lot of data. But this data was not used effectively for mobile marketing. We also witnessed our flagship product, AudiencePro, gain a lot of traction in emerging markets, and we thus envisioned the need to take it to the next level. Hence we renewed our business model and focused on converting big data to Vserv Smart Data. To achieve our vision, there are three parts to our strategy. First is market strategy. Today, smartphone sales and mobile Internet are mainly driven by the demand from emerging markets, giving rise to the Emerging Connected Billion. As leaders in emerging markets, we are well poised to capitalise on this opportunity. Additionally, due to the lack of large sources of organised data in these markets, our smart data offering will be a key differentiator and help drive more actionable intelligence for marketers. Second is product strategy. We are leveraging our flagship product AudiencePro as our smart data management platform. We mine through petabytes of big data on the Emerging Connected Billion from multiple sources like telcos, apps, offline partners and data management platforms (DMPs), augment this data through our proprietary smart data algorithm, and transform it into actionable user personas and intent signals in real-time. This equips us to deliver relevant offerings to every mobile Internet user, enabling marketers, telecom operators and app developers to derive sharper results. And third is partner strategy. We are the only company that augments user profiles by connecting it with telcos to derive smart data. Vserv is the first company in the world to have formed strategic partnerships with key telcos in emerging markets like Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, Globe, Mobifone, and Robi Axiata. Tell us more about telecom partnerships. How do they work? We have forged partnerships with leading telcos across emerging markets. Some of these partnerships [are] Vodafone, Airtel and Aircel in India [and] Globe in the Philippines and MobiFone in Vietnam. In Thailand and Indonesia, we are on the verge of making a big announcement soon with similar telco partnerships. We are the only company to partner with telcos globally to accelerate our smart data offering to the emerging billion connected users. Our tie-ups with these telcos are key, especially in mobile first markets, where we see a phenomenal increase in smartphone and mobile Internet adoption. Additionally, through our partnership with telcos, marketers are able to customise their offers through over-the-top media, thereby driving increased conversion, retention and customer satisfaction. How do these solutions help marketers grow their business? Marketers are [among] the biggest beneficiaries of the Vserv Smart Data mobile marketing platform. As mentioned in [response to] the first question, with this offering, we enable marketers to target the right kind of audience for their products and services. They end up driving sharper results from their mobile marketing efforts. What are the company's business goals in Thailand? Vserv is well placed to become the No 1 mobile marketing platform for marketers in Thailand. Today, we are playing a key role in the mobile ecosystem empowering marketers, app developers, telcos and DMPs. We already have access to 6.4 million unique user profiles, which is 40 per cent of the total mobile Internet users in this market. We will continue to extend our leadership in this key growing market. How does the company plan to achieve these goals? We believe that through the Vserv Smart Data mobile marketing platform, we have differentiated product offerings, robust technology, local partnerships and teams in place as the winning formula to drive us to the next phase of growth in Thailand. Our award-winning and market-first products cater to all the key stakeholders in the market - marketers, end-users, telcos, app developers and other data partners. This makes us the most preferred partner for mobile marketing. How do you see the market opportunities in Thailand? Thailand has seen a phenomenal increase in overall mobile users, with 96 million mobile users in 2014. Thailand has a total of 16.2 million mobile Internet users and ranks among the top 15 countries globally in terms of the number of both Google Play and iOS downloads. Mobile advertising in Thailand has grown 70-80 per cent in the last 12 months. Today, Thailand is the second-biggest market for us after Indonesia and has a very vibrant mobile ecosystem, which spans across developers, marketers and telcos. Of the total 16.2 million mobile Internet users, Vserv has access to 6.4 million unique user profiles, which is over 40 per cent of the total mobile internet users in this market. How big is your business in Thailand and in the region, relative to market size? The mobile ecosystem is currently fragmented and there are no stats available on market share. However, we believe, with Vserv Smart Data, we are the only and first player in the region with such a mobile marketing platform. In the last 12 months, Vserv has witnessed a 120-per-cent growth rate in Thailand. Who are your competitors? Since this is an early-stage market, there are not many players that are focused on Southeast Asia or Thailand specifically. We are one of the first players in this market and believe that Vserv Smart Data provides us with a unique opportunity to evangelise this smart-data-led mobile-marketing opportunity. Could you please share any successful case studies? Some of our previous successful customer case studies were for Unilever's Pond's product, McDonald's m-coupon campaign, and a campaign we conducted for Nissan. (c) 2014 EMBIN (Emerging Markets Business Information News) Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |