&

present

DRIVERS OF
GROWTH SURVEY
The New World Order: Strategic
priorities for the CMO, 2022
ABOUT DRIVERS OF GROWTH
&

SURVEY 2022

ad:tech and Tyroo

The 2nd edition of the annual survey by
will explore the opportunities, priorities, and
challenges of Indian Marketing leaders as they
prepare for 2022. ad:tech surveyed nearly 60+ senior
marketing leaders in India to understand how they are navigating
through uncertainty and planning for business growth in 2022.

This survey lays particular focus on identifying CMO's growth levers for
2022 by focusing on their capability development priorities, key
investment areas, technologies, and marketing mix alignment.
KEY INSIGHTS
&

The pandemic accelerated digital transformation for most brands and brought in an onslaught of changes in a short period of time. Since
most brands have returned to business-as-usual new challenges that await marketers include customer retention and creating seamless
consumer experiences across multiple touchpoints.

More than 60% of

46% of marketers marketers predict
report a that spends on
Creating a better traditional Paid search,
significant
94% of marketers customer marketing Digital OOH, social
increase in their
expect business experience channels will be media marketing
marketing spends
revenues to (more than 30%) from remains the reduced; as and email
increase as 2021 and 37% number 1 priority compared to last year marketing are
compared to 2021, a marketers report a for marketers, and there is a responsible for a big
good sign of things to moderate increase in followed closely by significant boost in chunk of the
come for the Adtech marketing spends as increasing brand investments on digital investments within
and Martech industry compared to 2021 awareness marketing digital marketing
KEY INSIGHTS
&

84% of marketers
are looking forward
84% of marketers
to building more 59% of marketers feel they are
Martech capabilities are looking forward
and consider Omni prepared for the
channel personalization to investing in Programmatic cookie-less future
and customer data Metaverse but, most Priorities for and say responsible first
management as their marketers have expressed marketers include digital party marketing and
focus area of developing concern around their ooh, mobile marketing, alternative identifiers
marketing spends as limited knowledge of the online marketplaces and will be the way forward
compared to 2021 platform social commerce for them
FOREWORD
&

Business as usual..?
The most common term heard in calls, meetings, and The 2nd edition of Drivers of Growth by ad:tech and Tyroo
corridor conversations - we are back to B-A-U Business surveyed leading CMOs across India and from across
as usual. But what does this really mean? industries about how they feel about the new normal and
how they are rethinking their priorities, capabilities,
Yes business is bouncing back and we are back in our processes, and technologies.
offices and in meetings, but there is one thing that has
forever changed because of the past 2 years - The The study clearly communicates a steep rise in marketing
acceleration of digital behaviors isn’t abating, and nor investments, especially across digital and increased
Jaswant Singh are customers’ expectations. interest in exploring new tech that can enable marketers
Country Managing, to engage consumers across their buying journey.
Director Evolving consumer behavior including how they shop,
what they buy, and things that matters to them, are Our vision is to create a handy guide for Marketers and the
some key trends that are expected to shape the face of ad:tech community at large, for planning ahead and
Marketing going forward. Marketing must now connect benchmarking against industry peers for 2022 & beyond.
with customers in meaningful ways, build a reputation, We are hopeful that 2022 gives Marketers a host of
and nurture those relationships, which means opportunities to set a fresh agenda, harness digital
customer retention and creating seamless consumer acceleration, and re-energise their teams to redefine what
experiences across multiple touchpoints are more success in 2022.
important than ever.
FOREWORD
&

Digital transformation is not a fad, but a transformative process that It is key to make businesses understand that all the items in the media plan
businesses need to adopt. It is a major driver of business growth and are big opportunities for them in the areas of social, OTT/video, gaming,
expansion. The economic climate of the modern era is fundamentally addressable TV, e-commerce, fintech, and influencer/WhatsApp
different from what it was five years ago and digitalization has profoundly advertising. Considering the scale of consumers and changes in the
altered business processes. As customers take up fragmented and multi- landscape, we need to move toward a digital-first approach to demand
channel journeys for discovery, brands are pivoting their linear models to generation, which implies the following:
become digital-first. In the post-COVID-19 world, companies must invest in
digital transformation, which goes beyond business or technology. It • Increase the number of digital shelves where your brand is present-
represents a shift in culture in the way the world now operates. An effective multichannel as it offers unique opportunities in terms of audience
digital transformation helps businesses grow, become more productive, optimization. Brands need to take themselves on exploring the ever-
and gain a competitive advantage. So, a million-dollar question is what expanding digital shelf.
major shifts have brands witnessed in their demand generation life cycle • Building a more fragmented top-of-funnel awareness, and consideration
post covid? across the spectrum of channels - a holistic approach that combines the
The demand generation cycle has consequently undergone an upheaval power of both brand building and performance marketing through linked
Siddharth Puri driven by 2 major shifts, firstly brands are drastically taking a Direct to
Consumer approach, leading to increased competition, and then there is a
teams, measurement systems, and key performance indicators (KPIs)- is
driving leading organizations toward full-funnel marketing.
Co-founder and CEO shift in the privacy landscape leading to loss of user-level targeting. While • Develop context-sensitive measurement models - Developing your
brands' main goal has always been to generate demand, the methods they context-sensitive measurement model will reveal the impact of your
use to do so have undergone significant changes over the years. marketing activities on your company and, ultimately, your business
Traditionally, communication was one-way, with only the companies goals.
possessing all the information and promoting their products and services
through the upper funnel channels like TVCs, sponsorships, etc. Now, • Build a marketing infrastructure that is ready for today and tomorrow
thanks to micro-influencers, digitization, communities, podcasts, and with more connected devices and humans themselves as
closed Slack groups, information has been decentralized and everything is advertising/marketing channels - Technology is used by modern
based upon performance. Earlier lower-funnel marketing (search/ marketers to assess, analyze, and ultimately guide marketing
retargeting/ affiliate)- streamlined the flow of traffic through the funnel by campaigns.
channeling website traffic in one direction, mid-funnel marketing
(programmatic display/ social) enabled tracking down of the user and In conclusion, marketers who can adopt full-funnel advertising faster with
retargeting as per the user behavior and then we had top-of-the-funnel more aligned demand generation goals will succeed over teams that run
marketing (video/sponsorship/audio, etc); aimed at attracting, educating, brand and performance marketing on one marketing infrastructure.
converting, and retaining buyers. Now, while each segment continues to
serve their specific purposes, increasingly to scale brands to have break
silos and take measurement model full-funnel while adjusting for the
uniqueness of each stage of the consumer journey.
INDUSTRY LEADERS WEIGH IN
&

Our customers are everything to us; they are the ones who Responsibly aggregating first party data and mining it successfully
determine our brand's success and recognise our true and insightfully is our absolute priority for 2022.
potential, so creating a deep impact and working on improving
consumer experience will be our top priority for 2022. We are - Rajnish Kumar
excited to learn more about new tech that can help us on this Head Digital Strategy and D2C,
journey” ITC Limited

- Resha Jain
VP Content Marketing,
SUGAR Cosmetics

Our aim is to build a brand on the back of strong content, The enterprise client is consistently on a learning journey and as
relatable brand ambassadors, and memorable ideas. We also b2b marketers we need to stay ahead of the curve to leverage the
plan to scale up innovation in product development and ramp latest update in tech and consumer behavior.
up our offline presence. We have a data-driven mindset and
leverage D2C as an insights driver to understand changing - Niyati Sah
customer preferences and respond to them swiftly. We are Enterprise Marketing Head,
also foraying into the hyper-local marketing approach, which Spotify India
we had experimented with in 2021 with good success.

- Deepak Gupta
COO, Bombay Shaving Company

The purpose of implementing innovative technology in At Plix we plan to grow our customer base exponentially and
marketing is to drive an experience and make our audiences expand into high potential markets, address consumer demand
engaged. We are excited to experiment with new tech and through a pioneering product portfolio and engage the consumers
platforms making us, closer to our customers. deeply with a holistic communication approach. Plix is ushering in
a Plant-based revolution by enabling consumers to transition to a
- Aninda Gupta healthy, green, clean lifestyle. We are excited to explore tools that
Lead Marketing, can enable us stay close to our consumers during this journey.
Saint-Gobain Gyproc
- Krithika Siaram
Chief Growth Officer, Plixlife
PROFILE OF PARTICIPATING
&

MARKETERS
Industry Breakdown Roll

BFSI (Banks & Financial Services 31% Marketing Head 44%

eCommerce 16% Director 9%
FMCG/CPG 16% Digital Head 41%
Retail 9% CMO 6%
IT/Tech 10%
Energy/Petrolium 3%
Over 60+ senior industry leaders participated in
Real Estate 3% the 2nd annual Drives of Growth Survey.
Influential Marketers - decision-makers took
Consumer Durables 3%
part in this online survey about changes,
Travel/Transporation 3% challenges, and areas of growth for 2022.

Entertainment/OTT 3%
Telecom 3%
IN THIS REPORT
&

Priorities Building
for 2022 Capabilities
Changes and Automation, Gaming,
Challenges Metaverse & Beyond

Programmatic Priorities

eCommerce Priorities
 &

PRIORITIES FOR 2022

CHANGES AND CHALLENGES
WHAT’S TRENDING TOP AREAS OF CONCERN &

IN 2022 FOR MARKETERS - 2022

31% 13%
Customer engagement Adjusting plans to keep up
and retention with new trends (Gaming, CTV..)

BRAND PURPOSE

EVOLVING MEDIA
INCREASE IN
ECOMMERCE
WORK FROM

25% 9%
Increase in investments Alternatives to
HOME

around eCommerce, Walled Gardens

mCommerce & Social Commerce

With the world returning to business-as-usual

post multiple waves of COVID, wherein consumer 19% 3%
behavior underwent dramatic and lasting changes Phasing out of Data Protection Laws
3rd Party Cookies and Increased concern
it remains on top of the list of trends that will around Privacy
impact brands marketing decisions.
Customer retention and engagement emerge as the number 1 concern for
A close second is an increase in eCommerce and
marketers for 2022. With the hastened shift to digital for a lot of brands
social commerce and keeping brand purpose at
the heart of all the changes has never been more during the pandemic, retaining the fresh influx of consumers from these
important. channels is a concern and a priority for most.

If CMOs get this right, they can help their business This is closely followed by a concern over increasing investments in
and their brand stay ahead of the curve, both now eCommerce / mCommerce / social commerce and phasing out of the 3rd
and as new disruptions arise. party cookies.
BUSINESS SET TO
&

BOOM IN 2022

Business Revenue as compared to 2021

94%
of marketers expect business revenues to
Increase in Investment

Decrease in Investment
94%

increase as compared to 2021, a good sign

of things to come for the adtech and 3%
martech industry
Same as last year
3%
MARKETING INVESTMENTS
&

SET TO RISE
Significantly increased 63% 47% marketers report a significant increase (more than 30%) in
(more than 30%)
47% their marketing spends from 2021

38% marketers report a moderate increase in marketing spends

Moderately Increased 23% as compared to 2021 and NONE of the marketers have reported any
(within 10 - 30%) cut-backs in budgets!
38%
Marketing budgets were under tremendous pressure in 2020,
however, 2022 will have Marketers take a more positive outlook and
Similar 13% see an increase in investments as organization’s are well on their
(upto 10% change) way to business as usual.
16%

As compared to 2019

As compared to 2021
MARKETER’S TOP PRIORITY IS
&

CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
Consumer Experience

The absolute priority for a brand marketer is and has always been
Consumer Experience and that still holds true today especially
when most brands are present on multiple channels so a seamless Brand Awareness
experience for consumers is paramount.

Followed closely by increasing brand awareness while keeping a Consumer Journey

keen eye on the Consumer Journey. While many brands have vastly
expanded their online footprint during the pandemic and seen a
boost in their revenues, sustaining this growth is imperative which Retaining Consumers
is why customer retention makes it to the top 5 priorities for
marketers for 2022.
Building Omnipresent Brand
Last but not the least, having tasted success on eCommerce and
digital marketing overall, brands are exploring other platforms to
test and expand their presence while retaining and engaging their
consumers and community. eCommerce Priorities
DIGITAL TAKES THE LEAD IN
&

MARKETING MEDIA MIX

Digital Marketing

Programmatic
Digital marketing has gained an even stronger foothold post
pandemic and is likely to remain the number 1 channel in the
marketing mix for years to come. Programmatic Advertising has
come a long way from being one of the channels to one of the most TV Traditional - TV, Print, Radio
top channels of investment for marketers.

Traditional media is slowly regaining some foothold in the post VR

pandemic world, though this channel has slipped from Rank 2 to 3 Immersive Tech
this year.

So digital transformation continues as a strong trend this year as

well with marketers creating a razor-sharp focus on building Audio Advertising
better consumer experiences across touchpoints and platforms.
DIGITAL OOH, EMAIL AND PAID
&

SEARCH MARKETING CHANNELS LIKELY

TO GET A BIGGER CHUNK OF INVESTMENTS
All marketers state an increase in investments across digital marketing channels. While there is a substantial increase predicted for
Digital OOH, Email Marketing, Paid Search. Newer channels like Audio Marketing and CTV are also catching up!

Digital OOH Email Marketing Paid Search Audio Marketing CTV

87% 90% 94% 52% 64%

13% 10% 6% 48% 36%

Increase in Investment Decrease in Investment

PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING
&

RISES UP THE RANKS IN DIGITAL

MARKETING MIX
Search Engine Marketing

Programmatic

Within the Digital

Marketing Mix Social Media
the top 5 channels are – SEM,
Programmatic, social media, affiliate and
content marketing, and email marketing.
Affiliate & Content
Newer channels like CTV, gaming,
Immersive tech, and audio marketing are
also picking up pace.
Email Marketing
META TAKES THE CAKE IN
&

SOCIAL MEDIA INVESTMENTS

Marketers are still sticking to the traditional social media platforms
such as Meta and LinkedIn and haven’t yet diversified their investments
to newer platforms, even when they think of AR capabilities Instagram
remains top of mind.

We predict that this shift is coming soon with the need to reach a larger
audience and engage with them deeply.

Facebook 44%

Instagram 44%

Linkedin 13%
INVESTMENTS DECLINE IN
&

TRADITIONAL MARKETING CHANNELS

As investments decrease in Traditional channels Print, Radio, and Traditional OOH all will witness a steep decline in investments.

Traditional OOH Print Radio

33% 37% 30%

67% 63% 70%

Increase in Investment Decrease in Investment

 &

BUILDING CAPABILITIES
AUTOMATION, GAMING, METAVERSE
& BEYOND
THE EVOLVING
&

MARTECH STACK
84% of marketers are keen on building new capabilities and will be investing
to acquire new tools and resources in 2022.

Our Martech is OK and can be better

Martech Investments Martech Investments
59%
as compared to 2019 as compared to 2021

Our Martech needs a major overhaul

and we need better solutions 22%
13%
25%

Our Martech is Best in Class 87% 78%

16%
CUSTOMER DATA MANAGEMENT
&

A PRIORITY
Customer Data Management

Omni Channel Personalization

The top 5 capabilities that
marketers are looking forward to
building in their Martech stack are AI and ML
customer data management, omni
channel personalization, AI and ML, Data
privacy, and ways to build more empathic
relations with consumers. While newer Data Privacy
tech like CTV, immersive tech, and voice
interfaces are catching up.

Empathic Relations with Consumers

ENTER THE METAVERSE –
&

WEB 3.0 Marketers are eager to see how they can leverage
Metaverse to engage a younger
Metaverse has peaked everyone’s interest! About 54%
audience for their brand, build engagement
and brand loyalty through immersive experiences
of marketers have said they would be excited to and grow their AR capabilities.
explore the platform and most still want to understand
what it can offer and what it would mean for their brand.
Building brand loyalty 44%
Creating immersive
experiences 34%
20% Growing AR capabilities 34%
Growing NFT capabilities 25%
54% Retail space in meta 25%
26%
Gaming 25%
Growing VR capabilities 22%
Yes
New way to be a part of
No the UGC wave 19%
Using Crypto instead of
Undecided marketing dollars 6%
ENTER THE METAVERSE –
&

WEB 3.0

Though marketers are eager to see how Too early to say 44%
they can leverage Metaverse they feel
there is still a lot they don’t understand ROI measurement
22%
about the platform. Around 75%
marketers expressed their concern Brand safety - privacy 3%
around their limited understanding of the and data security
platform and its regulations.
Limited understanding 31%
 &

BUILDING CAPABILITIES
PROGRAMMATIC PRIORITIES
PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING
&

TAKING CENTER STAGE IN DIGITAL

Percentage of digital marketing spends you intend to
use via Programmatic in 2022

94%
of marketers use programmatic
buying, it has gained a foothold as a
>20%

Between 20 - 50% 34%

53%

priority for marketers for 2022

Between 50 - 75% 6%

I do not use
programmatic buying 6%
MOBILE MARKETING, E/SOCIAL
&

COMMERCE, AND DIGITAL OOH ARE FRONT

RUNNERS UNDER PROGRAMMATIC
INVESTMENTS
Except for programmatic investments for Audio advertising which remain the same as last year, there has been an increase in
programmatic investments in Digital OOH, Online marketplaces, Advanced TV, and mobile marketing

Digital OOH Audio Advertising Online Marketplaces / Advanced TV - CTV/OTT Mobile

Social Commerce

0% 54% 14% 18% 48%

86% 96%

0% 3%
4%
29% 46% 10% 28% 0%

Increase in Investment Decrease in Investment Same as last year

AREAS OF CONCERN FOR
&

PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING

Supply Chain Transparency /

While programmatic advertising Privacy Compliance
has gained a lot of importance in
the digital mix a lot of concerns Data and Targeting efficiencies
around the method remains.
Transparency and Cost of Media

compliance being Access to Premium inventory

number 1, followed by
data and targeting efficiencies, Measuring impact of
programmatic on Revenue
cost of media and measurement
of impact.
Omni channel Capabilities
THE COOKIELESS
&

FUTURE 1ST PARTY DATA TAKES

CENTER STAGE AS
THE COOKIE CRUMBLES
Ever since Google’s announcement of a cookie-less
future it’s been a great topic of debate in the
adtech/martech space. 85% marketers feel they are
prepared for this change and a fewer than 15% are still Marketers feel that responsible marketing with first party data
grappling with this news. and alternative identifiers/ open-source ID frameworks are the
best bets for a hassle-free cookie-less future!

Somewhat prepared 69%

Responsible Marketing
with First Party Data
Well Prepared 16% Alternative identifiers /
Open-source ID framework
Not Prepared at all 9%
Publisher Alliances
I don’t know
6% Contextual targeting

Google’s Privacy Sandbox

 &

BUILDING CAPABILITIES
ECOMMERCE PRIORITIES
ECOMMERCE CONTINUES
&

TO BE A PRIORITY

There is absolutely no
the shift to
doubt that
D2C formats and 9%
eCommerce that was 91%
hastened by the pandemic
will remain a major focus
area for 91% of marketers
in 2022 as well! Yes
No
WINNING STRATEGIES
&

FOR ECOMMERCE
Social Media Marketing

Search Engine

Influencer Marketing

Video Advertising
Social media marketing,
Content Marketing
search engine optimization,
influencer marketing, and Email Marketing

video advertising are still among User-generated content

the top strategies for marketers to reach
their eCommerce goals. Chatbots

Native Advertising
AMAZON LEADS THE WAY IN
&

ONLINE MARKETPLACES

When it comes to the most important online

marketplaces majority of the marketers still
rely on giants like Amazon, Flipkart
and Paytm. Though platforms like
Others
Shopify, Meesho and Twitter are
catching up.
FOR ECOMMERCE MARKETERS,
&

PERSONALISATION REMAINS
A PRIMARY PRIORITY

35%
Personalisation 35%

Increase social commerce 23%

marketers say they are looking at
Omnichannel experience
building their personalization 23%
capabilities, followed by 23% who wish
to work on their social commerce skills 16%
Use Influencers ot sell your product
and omnichannel presence to achieve
their eCommerce goals.
Immersive Tech 3%
CUSTOMER RETENTION IS THE MAIN
&

GOAL ACROSS MARKETING & BUSINESS

Mobile App

Email Marketing

Mobile App, Email

While Social Commerce
Marketing, SMS Marketing
SMS Marketing
and Display Ads which are
considered as traditional marketing
Display Ads
channels for eCommerce remain the most
dominant for retaining consumers.
Call Centre
The notable trend here is Social
Commerce claiming spot 3 as a customer In-store ads
retention channel.
Other channels
ABOUT US

ad:tech is India’s largest Digital Marketing conference Tyroo is a leading APAC based Ad tech platform powering brand
and exhibition. For more than 11 years, ad:tech is where growth with performance. We help brands scale business by building
the Marketing, technology, and media communities depth across advertising channels, formats, audience and data with
come together to share new ways of thinking, build & our no-code, low code solutions. We are performance-driven and
network strong partnerships. build solutions to drive impact across the marketing funnel. The
mobile-first world has been our domain for the last decade, and we
Learn more about us at newdelhi.ad-tech.com have empowered brands to enter and scale in emerging markets. We
are Singapore headquartered with regional offices across Southeast
Asia and India.

Learn more about us at www.tyroo.com

PLEASE REACH OUT TO US FOR MORE INFORMATION