MUMBAI: The consumer of today is discerning and careful about where one is making expenditures but will not shy away from spending on good things, remarked MediaCom global managing director of Blink & strategic partnerships Bianca Best, as she interacted with Indiantelevision.com at the inaugural flagship BLINK_live event in Mumbai. The theme of the event was ‘Decoding Growth in A Slowdown’, which was well-timed given the current economic slowdown in India.

Best noted that brands need to be aware of how the consumer behaviour is changing in today’s time and how they are interacting with various advertising platforms. She laid emphasis on the use of technology-enabled marketing to target the new-age user.

She said, “If we think about the changes that have happened in the past decade, technology has changed how consumers behave and interact with brands. The marketing is so disruptive nowadays that clients often find themselves confused about what to do next. I think it is technology-enabled marketing that we should be focusing on right now. We need to understand consumer behaviour and use data to be present at the right place at the right time.”

Best, who was here in India for the first time, also noted that marketers are feeling a little daunted by the economic slowdown that is plaguing the global industries right now and only tactical marketing can keep them on the top of  the consumer mind and sail through these tough waters.

Speaking about the conference, which had speakers like Kantar Insights CEO South Asia Preeti Reddy, WPP overall lead for Borderless team Nihar Das, Mediacom chief product officer APAC Josh Gallagher among other, Best said, “I am superbly positive about the conference. I think clients need some reassurance in this era of volatility. Hosting events like this gives clarity around very specific points that brands can approach in this time of downturn and become positive they can control.”

She added, “In the volatile, exciting and ever-evolving landscape brands are operating in today, Blink satisfies not just the potential that comes from trialling innovation (which we see as part of every client brief) but is an absolute necessity to ensure clients achieve sustainable, long term business success. Only once brands partner with technology specialists are the ambitions of true digital transformation realised.  I’m incredibly invigorated to be enabling this for our clients and see Blink becoming an essential complementary pillar to MediaCom’s already world-class offering.”