The Advertising Club will host its inaugural India Digital Review in Mumbai this evening, that’s Wednesday, August 1. We got Vikram Sakhuja, President, Advertising Club, Group CEO, Madison Media and OOH and moderator of the event – interestingly called D-Code to take a few questions – on the digital review event and on the digital media in general in India. Read on…

Does the fact that The Advertising Club is organising the India Digital Review or D-Code for the first ever time indicate that digital has finally arrived and is being considered as serious field of activity by even the Big Boys and Girls of Advertising in India?

Digital is of course a serious field of activity. Anybody who thinks otherwise is not a very big boy or girl in advertising.

While the growth of adspends on digital has been highest on digital (vis-a-vis other media domains), spends in absolute terms are still very low in comparison to budgets on television and even print? When (and how) do you see these rising?

The momentum for digital over the past four years has been that of a juggernaut. So not right to say it is small. That said there will be a phase where this growth will stabilise as adoption makes way for understanding and optimising of the media mix. In my book, role of digital in the awareness phase is supportive but not leading, in engagement it gains in prominence, and in sharing and performance, it takes on a lion’s share. So, long story short, I see some stabilisation of digital growth in awareness phase, but huge increases in lower funnel activities

Would you say that the relatively low budgets have impacted the spends on digital craft? As in would you say the best brains still work on traditional media because the bucks are there?

That is somewhat true as far as production budgets are concerned, not media budgets. But it’s getting better.

In the backdrop of the last two questions, would you say “digital is a good-to-have, but, well, not a must-have”?

I think it is a must-have for most businesses

Back to D-Code: Your brief to the speakers is very precise: speaking about one great campaign of yours, one campaign done by someone else and three lessons for marketers… that’s 26 showcasing breakthrough digital work done in India and 39 tips for the year ahead. And all this in 150 minutes – that’s two-and-a-half hours. And will there be a Q&A at all or just back-to-back presentations?

Awesome isn’t it? Promises to be hell of a ride. I’m hoping we can squeeze a few questions. Will depend on how much adrenalin is flowing in the room

Did you deliberately not have any one from the digital agencies?

Not at all. We have some very credible agency faces who arguably handle the largest body of digital work. Specialist Digital Agencies vs Creative & Media Agencies who do digital is an artificial construct that some people have. I’m not one of those

How have registrations been for the event? And a word to those who are unsure about coming?

The reaction has been phenomenal. My advice is do get your ticket fast before the event is sold out.