Audio tech company Dolby recently launched a campaign in order to introduce Indian audiences to the Dolby experience, shining the spotlight on bringing audio-visual experiences to life. "Dobly mein suna kya? Dekha kya?" is a campaign that showcases the life-like quality of the brand's audio-visual experience, and it highlights the heightened experiences viewers have while consuming content enhanced with Dobly's audio-visual tech.

The company’s agency on record is Tonic Worldwide, which has creatively collaborated with the company and others like Sony and Xiaomi who help to enable these technologies and experiences through their devices. The film was executed by Pipip Media showcasing different scenarios in which people in the film find themselves physically immersed in the content they are watching.

e4m spoke to Sameer Seth, Director-Marketing, Dolby India spoke about the campaign and how the Indian audience’s content consumption has changed over the period of time.

Speaking on the concept of the film, Seth said, “Technology enhances the delivery experience. Consumers are looking to enhance the experience even on the go when they are perhaps even talking on a PC in a video call. India is a mobile-first country. We all consume a lot of content on our mobile. To consume that entertainment comes in the best possible manner and that is where Dolby comes in. We unlock this power of sight and sound to enable and deliver spectacular or inspiring experiences that we do. And all of this is possible through a collaborative effort that we do with the ecosystem partner.”

Seth highlights that there's been a behavioural shift with consumers spending more time with content. "Prioritizing on an enhanced experience, that is one of the insights that we picked up in the new campaign that we've launched," he said. This led to the central concept of the campaign -- that Dolby brings entertainment to life.

The pandemic has led to changes in the pattern of content consumption, primarily because it made available a wide array of content across platforms. An average user spends more than 2.5 hours of their day scrolling through their mobile devices, in which 150 minutes are used in consuming online content apart from the AVOD/SVOD services available. And this is the major reason behind companies are leveraging online mediums to reach their target audience.

Seth explained, “The most important insight that we saw when we were deliberating on the campaign was the active consumer behaviour in terms of online purchase of devices. There is an increased volume of keyword searches by consumers today when they think of an online purchase but with the word Dolby such as Dolby-enabled phone, Dolby-enabled TV, and Dolby-enabled soundbar. Those were huge search volumes."

With this campaign, the company aims to influence people to look out for Dolby-enabled devices which will give them an immersive experience in whichever content they are engaging themselves with. Seth said, “There is content out there and you want to experience it in the best possible manner. Go look for a device that gives you that experience. So there's a call to action that's been forwarded and added here now.”

But Dolby is not a consumer-owned product. Rather it is a technology which helps electronic devices to help their customers to have a seamless experience. To reach the audiences effectively, the company needs a different marketing strategy -- one that informs consumers about the Dobly tech and encourages them to go for a Dolby-enabled device. To achieve this, Seth said that the brand banked heavily on "collaborative marketing."

He said, “It's a concept that helps co-create value with like-minded partner brands. As long as you can identify a common goal around which all the partner brands can gravitate, a unifying thought. This tool has helped us build salience in multiple campaigns that we've done. What Co-marketing as a concept can also do, if used effectively, it can help you broaden your know audience base. It can help to increase engagement. Just imagine the additive impact that a campaign can get. If you can get collaborative partnerships, curated in with partner brands, there are unique audiences that you can reach which is beyond the brand.”

When asked about whether the company uses the popular influencer marketing channel which nowadays has become a crucial part of every company’s marketing strategy, Seth said that their biggest influencers are their partner companies like Sony, Samsung, Xiaomi and many more. However, they also go for micro-influencers as they have a more impactful hold over their followers.

Seth added that the brand works on a limited budget, a big part of which is spent on content-led video marketing. "I mean there's a lot of video story card and marketing stuff that we do both from a creation influence standpoint," he said.

Talking about the media mix of the campaign, Seth said that digital is a major part of the mix, though the campaign will be run in the retail stores of the partner brands.

When asked about the challenges faced by the company, Seth said that creating awareness and educating consumers about the technology is a challenge as well as an opportunity for Dolby.

We also quizzed Seth about jumping into the Meta and AIML bandwagon. It's not on the cards anytime soon, but the company will "surely experiment with something in the future," he replied. This year, Dolby's focus will be on consumer content consumption patterns and how they can maximise the experience for them.