prayag consulting: thought leadership marketing in india (may 2013)

May 2013

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OPEN© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved

Thought Leadership Marketing in India

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© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved

Tool Box: Getting the Basics Right Content is King Making Themselves

Heard Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take Report SnapshotAbout the Report

ContentsCover Page

About the Report 3Introduction 3Key Trends 4Who’s included 5

Tool Box: Getting the Basics Right 6Are companies serious about thought leadership? 6Who do they target? 7

Content is King 8Content Diversity 8Are Thought Leadership Individual Campaigns or Company Driven? 9

Making Themselves Heard 10

Outcomes 12

Corporate Podium 13

Our Take 15

Report Snapshot 17

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Heard Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take Report Snapshot

Introduction Key Trends Who’s included

About the ReportWelcome to the first edition of ‘Leading with Thought,’ Prayag Consulting’s first report on thought leadership marketing in India.

For many years, we have been advising clients on setting up thought leadership initiatives for their companies. It is a familiar path but not one that is very well trodden, and we have seen companies struggle to sustain their efforts. A well-crafted thought leadership plan can deliver the desired results – positioning within the clutter, brand prominence, media attention, higher recall and eventually more business from customers – but these are mid- to long-range benefits. The low chances of immediate success in the thought leadership game poses challenges to its adoption as a key marketing strategy.

Increasingly, however, technology companies operating in India are demonstrating their commitment to formulating creative thought leadership strategies. The purpose of this report is to study the approach to thought leadership strategy within large companies in the IT industry (both services and products). We have restricted the study to large companies as it is these companies that have the resources and appetite for creating sustained campaigns.

The report looks at the span and depth of the thought leadership campaigns of these companies as well as the quality of content and how well they have sustained their campaigns. We have also studied the manner in which the campaigns have been marketed and distributed as well as, most importantly, the key outcomes of the thought leadership initiatives.

About the Report

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Key TrendsLimited Budgets - Key Challenge

● Even within the large companies studied, budgets for marketing remain low (1% - 2% of revenues) and in spite of this major constraint, it is interesting to see how companies have managed to carve out an effective thought leadership program. This primary challenge is compounded by lean marketing teams struggling to juggle various priorities with few resources.

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About the Report

Introduction Key Trends Who’s included

IBM has established a sustained thought leadership program with

● Publications like the Idea Watch newsletter that caters to 11 different verticals, showcasing its breadth of thought leadership

● The IBM Institute for Business Value initiative that regularly conducts research and analysis to offer practical insights for the business executive

● Frequent and relevant presence on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, blogs etc.

● The Smarter Planet campaign that won the 2010 Global Gold Effie award for market success and creativity

● As a possible result, the campaigns of some companies fail to communicate a point of view and instead appear to be more on a self-promotion mission. In such cases, publications are typically one-off productions with little coordinated effort to leverage new thinking into multiple formats, networks, and channels.

Cognizant effectively uses several mediums such as ● Its Future of Work microsite, outlining the opportunities and

efficiencies latent in tomorrow’s workplaces, showcasing the intellectual capital that resides within Cognizant. This campaign also won the 2011 ITSMA gold award for driving business with thought leadership

● The channel Cognizanti which assembles the best minds worldwide to share insights as well as the biannual thought leadership journal Cognizanti, which does its bit towards building a thought leader brand image

● The web with regular publication of white papers, establishing a social media presence, with blogs, etc., showing that they want to connect with their stakeholders

● The print media with regular thought articles / interviews in newspapers and online journals

Despite this, our research found several examples of thought leadership initiatives that stand out for their approach and effectiveness, while highlighting best-in-class ideas and practices.

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Who’s IncludedThe report studies the thought leadership practices of 30 large technology companies operating in India with revenues in the range of US $ 50 million – US $ 100 billion+. The scope of the report is thought leadership initiatives for the India region but in the case of global companies, international collateral visible to Indian customers and prospects has also been included in the study.

The report includes ● Services and product companies ● Indian companies and MNCs

Definitions

IT Services: Companies deriving most of their revenues from diverse vertical and horizontal servicesIT Products: Companies deriving a major portion of their revenues from software products

IT Services IT Products

61%

39%

Indian Companies MNCs

71%

29%

Distribution of companies by business type Distribution of companies by ownership

Who’s includedKey Trends

About the Report

Introduction

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Content is King Making Themselves Heard Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take Report

SnapshotAbout the Report

Are Companies Serious about Thought Leadership?Large companies are increasingly according mind space and budgets to thought leadership programs through booklets, whitepapers, blogs and webcasts. In most cases, these initiatives are driven by senior management executives.

Tool Box: Getting the Basics Right

Are companies serious about thought leadership? Who do they target?

In-depth publications on specific topics which showcase Accenture thinking and perspectives

Cognizant’s Cognizanti eCommunity

A private, online community for senior IT executives and business leaders

Infosys Blogs

Domain-specific blogs focused on issues revolving around business transformation and innovation

White Papers, Webcasts, Blogs

NetApp’s Advanced Technology Group (ATG)

Attached to the CTO’s office, the ATG is focused on new thinking related to the storage industry that goes beyond areas covered by NetApps, established product lines

Future-oriented technical publications for verticals under the title “Capgemini Point of View — the way we see it”

IBM Institute of Business ValueA business research organization with dedicated consultants to provide industry and business perspectives for business executives

Wipro’s Council for Industry Research (WCIR)In collaboration with leading academic institutions like Knowledge@Wharton and industry bodies, WCIR conducts studies on business and industry issues

Cisco’s Global Education Group

An organization engaged in improving education on a global basis

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Content is King Making Themselves Heard Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take Report


Cisco C Club

As the name suggests, the club caters to C-level audiences giving them fresh perspectives on technology, strategy and business leadership through books, online resources, and interactive forums.

Accenture

Its financial services industries thought leadership is clearly intended for CEOs and CIOs.

HCL Technologies

One of the few companies with employee-focused thought leadership.

Who is the Target Audience?Typically, clients, influencers, and alliance partners are the intended audience. Occasionally, companies target employees.

Who do they target?


Are companies serious about thought leadership?

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Making Themselves Heard Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take Report


Content Diversity: How Companies CompareFrom technical to a combination of business and technical, thought leadership topics vary across the industry. Services companies are more active in creating thought leadership than product companies. The latter also tend to focus on technical topics.

Some companies express clear views successfully, have stronger content and hence are able to establish credibility for newer ideas; while some play it safe and adopt a dual approach, presenting both new points of view and generic approaches. Smaller companies in general take the less risky and well established route.

A Fresh Perspective – Clear thinking carries the day for the companies below who project a clear POV in their thought leadership campaigns.

Content Diversity Are Thought Leadership Individual Campaigns or Company Driven?

Content is King

Latest Thinking Thoughts for Tomorrow’s Enterprise

Cognizant Perspectives

Insights

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Making Themselves Heard Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take Report


Are Thought Leadership Individual Campaigns or Company Driven?Although thought leadership is mostly tied to the company brand with credits attributed to contributors, there are a few successful cases where companies have showcased individuals as thought leaders.

Here are two examples that stand out.

Padmasree Warrior

Chief Technology & Strategy Officer, Cisco Systems -

As of March 20, 2013

1,445,021 followers on Twitter

11,526 Tweets

Several blogs

Vineet Nayar

Vice Chairman & Joint Managing Director, HCL Technologies –

As of March 20, 2013

13,445 followers on Twitter

3,722 Tweets

Content Diversity

Content is King

Are Thought Leadership Individual Campaigns or Company Driven?

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Tool Box: Getting the Basics Right Content is King Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take Report


What are the Different Tools used to Promote Thought Leadership?From traditional tools such as articles, newsletters, books, workshops, public lectures and seminars, white papers, and research reports to newer digital and social media tools such as podcasts, videos and blogs, companies are using all available channels to drive their thought leadership programs.

Typically, the company website with a blog platform, internal TV channel and internal magazines/newsletters are the tools used to connect with internal audiences. On the other hand, magazines, white papers and research reports, events, online portals (third party), social media channels like YouTube, podcasts, blogs, and certainly, the company website are used to engage with external audiences.

A few companies have embarked on co-branded programs and it is easy to see why these are attractive. Co-branding is a powerful way to gain a new audience through a partner’s established and loyal audience base. It is also a means of securing a highly credible endorsement for your point of view. Such partnerships, especially with highly sought-after institutions and research companies help IT companies break through the competitive clutter and heighten brand awareness. However, very large companies prefer to rely on their own branding engine and rarely take the co-branding route.

Making Themselves Heard

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Tool Box: Getting the Basics Right Content is King Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take Report

SnapshotAbout the Report Making Themselves Heard

Internal channels External channels

Videos on internal Wipro TV

Videos on internal Adobe TV

Company website showcases thought leadership content

Point-Of-View newsletter and Synnovation magazine

Internal newsletter—Speak

Social media sites such as YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook

TM

Premium sponsor for Outsourcing-Center, through which Wipro whitepapers are published

Microsoft CIO Tony Scott and members of his staff share their perspectives on IT on MSDN Blogs

HCL, TCS, Cognizant, IBM, Microsoft, Wipro, Mahindra Satyam and several others

Making oneself heard

Forrester, Gartner, IDC, and several others have been commissioned to create Thought Papers

NetApp and research/ advisory companies

Blogs in Forbes

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Heard Corporate Podium Our Take Report SnapshotAbout the Report

Outcomes – Where has all this led to?While it is rare for thought leadership initiatives to be recognized and commended, a few programs have won awards, honors and/or media mentions. In every case, they have contributed to the overall positive brand visibility of the companies awarded.

Outcomes

Media Awards Analysts

● Favorable thought leadership rankings for Infosys and the Tata group

● Poll conducted in USA Today positioned Adobe as “a thought leader to the mass market“

● IBM won the Diamond Award in thought leadership marketing at the Marketing Excellence awards 2009 held by ITSMA

● Mahindra Satyam received the PEGASYSTEM’s thought leadership partner award 2012

● Gartner’s acknowledgement of Capgemini’s Technovision documents – the ‘Capgemini Point of View’ series

● Forrester discussed the findings from a Global CIO study published by the IBM Institute of Business Value

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Heard Outcomes Our Take Report SnapshotAbout the Report

Describe your company’s efforts on thought leadership and outcomes achievedSpecific examples of initiatives and what they led toThought leadership is a very important part of marketing efforts at Cisco. It helps build brand awareness, establish preference, support demand generation, and enhance customer relationships. Thought leadership helps demonstrate our leadership in technology and also showcases how customers can improve business by using our innovative solutions. It also helps us predict trends and take a look at how technology will impact specific industry verticals.

At the beginning of our fiscal year 2012-2013, we devised a strategy for thought leadership across targeted customer segments based on a combination of country, company and Cisco’s business priorities. To execute the plan, we used a combination of offline and online channels including social media.

I can give you some recent examples of what we did - ● Taking the advertising route, we tied up with a leading business daily for a series of 12 advertorials

spread over as many weeks. This series featured various Cisco spokespersons who talked about technology innovations, while customer CIOs explained how they benefited from Cisco solutions. Editorial support plus a relevant advertisement for the particular technology in focus were also part of the exercise. The advertorial series helped invigorate our thought leadership initiative, provided visibility to our stakeholders and ensured customer satisfaction in the bargain.

● Hosting CIO summits – We regularly organized CIO forums for specific technology segments. The Cable Summit, which we conducted in 2011, was one such effort. It served as a platform for analysts, government officials and our own executives to discuss the cable TV digitization bill and its impact on cable TV operators and consumers. Cisco’s efforts at the Summit helped increase the sales pipeline and subsequently the revenues.

● Association with industry bodies – Traditionally, Cisco has associated with industry bodies such as NASSCOM, IBA, FICCI where we take advantage of our global pool of experts and share best practices with key stakeholders.

Nand Kishore BadamiSenior Vice President, MarketingCisco India & SAARC

Corporate Podium: How Cisco plays the Thought Leadership Game

Corporate Podium

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Heard Outcomes Our Take Report SnapshotAbout the Report

How do you define the success of a thought leadership initiative?

Thought leadership helps to spread awareness and hence it is difficult to measure the impact directly. At Cisco, we consider different aspects to get a composite view — market share gain, incremental business, impact on C-level people, customer and employee feedback, analyst quotes, citations in magic quadrants and the like. Tactical metrics such as number of whitepaper/case study downloads, reach of advertising and so on indicate the impact of a specific initiative. To make it as accurate as possible, we also track what we call ‘marketing influenced opportunities (MIO)’. If there is spike in MIO, we can directly attribute it to thought leadership activities.

A combination of the above provides us with a pretty good view of the success of our thought leadership initiatives. Have you seen any change in the way your stakeholders perceive you?

Yes, most definitely, and on all fronts. On the customer side, we have seen that doors open more easily as we engage more deeply with customers through our thought leadership initiatives. Customers’ awareness of Cisco’s solutions has gone up significantly. Customer endorsements and case studies have motivated their peers to work with us.

Corporate Podium

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Heard Outcomes Corporate Podium Report SnapshotAbout the Report

Our TakeAs part of the thought leadership study, Prayag undertook a thought leadership ranking of the country’s top information technology companies. Other than Mindtree, all the companies posted revenues in excess of US 1 billion, and many of them several times that. The study was restricted to high revenue companies as this largely levels the playing field in terms of the financial commitments that a company can make to a thought leadership program. Many of the companies in the list are global players but they were chosen as they targeted India as a market. While examining their artefacts, only those that were targeted/available for their Indian audiences were chosen.

Key Parameters studied

● Basic Thought Leadership Hygiene Factors • Was the company committed to a sustained thought leadership

program? Did it have a clear target audience? ● Content

• Messaging/quality/sophistication/range of topics ● Reach

• Distribution spread/channels and partners ● Outcomes

• Media impact/idea ownership

Our Take

Mature CompaniesCompanies in this group have managed to

propagate a clear thought leadership positioning for their brands. Their high quality content is targeted at

specific audiences and has a clear point of view. They typically work across multiple channels and some of them have built highly

valuable partnership programs for thought leadership.

Developing CompaniesCompanies in this group are in the process of securing a foothold in the

thought leadership market. They focus on technical issues or tend to play it safe by treading the established path while expressing views. They use fewer platforms than the top players. Content

diversity may be low and while there may be attempts at campaign style strategy, their thought leadership

programs are not sustained. Clear idea associations may not be visible for

the brand.

Developing to Mature

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Heard Outcomes Corporate Podium Report SnapshotAbout the Report

IBMAccenture

IntelCisco

MicrosoftOracleNetAppNvidia

McAfeeSymantec

SAPCapgemini

InfosysTCS

WiproCognizant

HPDellHCL

iGATEMindtreeLenovoAdobe

BroadcomMahindra Satyam

Aditya Birla Minacs

And how the results played out

Our Take

Pace setters

High Performers

Potential Upstarts

Also-rans

Companies that set the standards of thought leadership in the business, who are able to match style with substance. Typically the innovators of thought leadership plays, these companies have tasted the success that being a thought leader brings and are keen to push the envelope further.

Companies that are just behind the leaders when it comes to implementing thought leadership plans. Typically what differentiates them from others is their ability to establish ownership of an idea and gain media leverage from the same.

These companies lag behind the leaders when it comes to content delivery style and breadth of distribution. They may not always be able to translate strategies into business outcomes in the thought leadership game.

These companies are at the starting point when it comes to thought leadership planning, strategy and execution. They need to improve the depth of their content offerings and spread of distribution.

Mature

Developing

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Heard Outcomes Corporate Podium Our TakeAbout the Report

Key Reasons for Failure in Executing a Thought Leadership StrategyLow marketing

budgets

Journals & specialized publications Whitepapers Events

Research initiativesand reports

Social Media

Key Targets

EmployeesLack of a

clear point of viewNo long term

outlook

Clear Thinkers

Power of Partnership

Outcomes

Multiple Channels in Play

Whose Voice is Heard?

Prospects InfluencersClients Alliance partners

BlogsWebcastsVideosCommunities

Service companies are more active than product companies

Some companies use powerful partnerships to enhance the reach of their thought leadership programs

Favourable Media coverage

Awards Analyst Mentions

Wipro Technologies and Knowledge@Wharton

NetApp and Forrester, Gartner, IDC

Thought Leadership Marketing in India

Report Snapshot

Prayag Consulting Private Limited45/B, 2nd FloorFront Wing, 1st MainJ P Nagar, 3rd PhaseBangalore - 560 078Phone: (91) 80 26593328/29 / 41200439Fax: (91) 80 26593328

Thank you for reading our report. If you have any queries or comments, please write to us at [email protected]

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