Group M, Tagit in a Strategic Alliance

Televisionpoint.com Team
Following the recent announcement about Tagit launching its imaging technology exclusively with Nokia camera phones in the Indian market, comes the agreement between GroupM and Tagit to form a strategic alliance.

The alliance will provide Tagit a strong foothold in the Indian market, where advertising revenues are seeing double-digit growth at over 20 per cent per annum. For GroupM it is a commitment to introduce Tagit's innovative, interactive platform for direct marketing on mobile phones to brands in India.

Ashutosh Srivastava, CEO, GroupM South Asia, said, "This strategic alliance adds an exciting dimension to our group agencies' ability to offer their clients innovative mobile solutions. This will greatly enhance the effectiveness of direct marketing to consumer brands, especially the ones focused on the youth market."

Shankar Narayanan, Founder and President, Tagit Pte Ltd of Singapore, said, "The mobile phone has evolved into a dynamic infotainment machine in the hands of consumers and Tagit's proprietary technology is the perfect answer for today's highly demanding consumers who expect instant gratification anytime, anywhere."

GroupM's agencies handle media strategies for many of the top Indian and global brands. In the last few years the explosive growth of mobile phones has increasingly shifted the focus away from traditional media to emerging channels such as mobile platform-based marketing to reach out to affluent young consumers on the move. Innovative mobile technologies are becoming the focal point for creative concepts as part of a total integrated marketing solution for brands.

The two partners will offer creative mobile solutions which will benefit not only brand advertisers but also media owners and mobile service operators. For instance, newspapers will be able to make their printed pages come alive with dynamic content, and cable TV channels will add an important revenue-generating market for their interactive TV shows, the 25 million NRI population which is currently unable to participate and interact with such shows.

Tagit offers a platform to transcend geographical boundaries and will enable interactivity with a global audience. Indian brands will thus be able to extend their reach overseas through Tagit, and the same will apply vice versa, i.e., global brands that want to reach out to a niche market in India will now find a captive customer base provided by Tagit.

Whilst Tagit's primary role is to provide technology implementation and technical support, GroupM's agencies will evangelize the concept to brand owners to adopt mobile marketing as part of their integrated marketing campaign in order to extend their brand's reach in a fast-growing mobile market.

The first such brand campaign using Tagit is slated to be launched soon. A multi-pronged strategy involving leading names in mobile service and media will kick-start this exciting new technology.