Prospect Of Digital Marketing In The Creative Agency Industry In Dhaka

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A New Dimension in Creativity


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PROSPECT OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN THE CREATIVE AGENCY INDUSTRY IN DHAKA

Submitted to

Khaled Mahmud

Assistant Professor

Course Instructor: Brand Management (M406)

Submitted by

Group 2, Section B

Ahamed Najeeb Rahman ZR74

Zeeshan Ahmed ZR82

M. Samiul Haque ZR84

Hikmat Kabir ZR99

Institute of Business Administration

University of Dhaka, Dhaka

May 15, 2015


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May 15, 2015

Khaled Mahmud

Assistant Professor

Institute of Business AdministrationUniversity of Dhaka

Dear Sir,

Subject: Submission of term paper titled “Prospect of Digital Marketing in the Creative Agency

Industry in Dhaka”

We are pleased to submit to you this paper on the Beatnik Designs. We have chosen to work on thecreative agency scene in the Bangladeshi market. We have looked into the current standing of the firm

and accordingly suggested ways to achieve a market leader position. We have also looked into the

existing leader practices in this particular industry and then compared them to determine deficiencies,

lacking, and opportunities. Throughout the whole process, we have tried our best to adhere to your

high standards and have tailored our report to your specifications.

Therefore, we request you to accept this paper. We believe that you will find it in order. We are

eagerly expecting your feedback.

Sincerely,

Ahamed Najeeb Rahman - ZR 74 Zeeshan Ahmed - ZR 82

M. Samiul Haque - Roll 84 Hikmat Kabir - ZR 99

Section B, BBA 20th Batch

Institute of Business Administration

University of Dhaka


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Creative Agencies are a major part of the corporate world where they act as implementers and

creators of the ideas that managers think of. Acting as a bridge between the organizations and theirconsumers, creative agencies connect both parties through different creative mediums. The messagesthat managers want to convey is designed and implemented by creative agencies to the consumers.Digital Marketing is a segment of the creative agency industry. With a focus on the online marketingtools, digital marketing is what Beatnik Design is all about. Started off in August 2013, four partnersmade it their objective to provide high quality digital marketing solutions backed by comprehensive business knowledge. Currently Beatnik Designs provide services based on graphics content, experiencedesign, and digital marketing. Beatnik in the last 21 months have created a significant satisfied client

base. For Beatnik Designs to reach the top of the industry, it must look towards the top 3 firms currentlyoperating in the market, as well as its competition counterparts who too have the potential to reach thetop. The objective is to take Beatnik Designs to the level of top firms like Analyzen, Magnito Digital,and Strategeek, who through first mover’s advantage, heavy capital investment, and brand leverage

have captured significant market share. At the same time Beatnik has to compete to beat counterpartfirms like Cookiejar, Boomerang, and Bagher Baccha.

Beatnik Designs performs its marketing activities through Facebook and its own website andconsumer perception towards the firm is extremely positive. However what must be taken into accountis that the market is still not aware of the brand’s existence and the trickling of its image isn’t workingout. By implementing the Content Funneling model and working towards adjacency growth, BeatnikDesigns will be able to (1) increase brand awareness in the market and (2) enhance its already powerfulinfrastructure to provide the clientele with a comprehensive creative agency solution. The two strategies

in combination would ensure more market share and boost Beatnik Designs to the top of the industry.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 1

2.0 Industry Background ................................................................................................................................. 3

3.0 Beatnik Designs ........................................................................................................................................ 6

3.1 History .................................................................................................................................................. 6

3.2 Organizational Structure ....................................................................................................................... 6

3.3 Products And Services .......................................................................................................................... 7

3.4 Beatnik’s Point Of Parity ...................................................................................................................... 7

3.5 Client Base ............................................................................................................................................ 8

4.0 Competitor Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 9

4.1 Competitors .......................................................................................................................................... 9

4.2 Top 3 Firms .......................................................................................................................................... 9

4.3 Upcoming Firms ................................................................................................................................. 10

5.0 Branding Activity Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 11

5.1 Marketing Activities ........................................................................................................................... 11

5.2 Consumer Perception .......................................................................................................................... 12

5.3 Gap Analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 12

6.0 Proposed Strategy ................................................................................................................................... 13

6.1 Adjacency Growth .............................................................................................................................. 13

6.2 Self-Promotion .................................................................................................................................... 14

6.3 Open Pitch Participation ..................................................................................................................... 14

6.4 Client Testimonial .............................................................................................................................. 15

6.5 Case Studies ........................................................................................................................................ 15

6.6 Blogging ............................................................................................................................................. 15

6.7 White Papers ....................................................................................................................................... 16

7.0 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 16

Appendix ......................................................................................................................................................... i


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1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Origin of the Report

This report was assigned to us as a part of the group assignment in the Brand Management course byour instructor Khaled Mahmud. The topic of the report was chosen after receiving approval from our

instructor. An extensive set of instruction was also provided as guidelines for the report, which we havefollowed thoroughly.

1.2 Objectives

1.2.1 Broad Objectives

To find out the current practices of market leaders

To find out the challenges and prospects of Beatnik designs To propose strategies for Beatnik to become a leading player in the market.

1.2.2 Specific Objectives

Analyze the current players in the creative agency/digital marketing industry of Bangladesh.

To find out about the performance of the current players.

Analyze and compare the market leaders and Beatnik.

To examine and understand the lacking, challenges, and obstacles in Beatnik.

To analyze the feasibility of becoming market leaders in a given time frame.

To analyze the infrastructure of the company to house such changes.

To suggest marketing strategies to become market leader

1.3 Scope

Due to the lack of previous research and literature regarding the subject at hand, especially of the localcontext the scope of this report is taken into consideration as below:

The report will take into agencies such as Analyzen, Magnito Digital and any other agency of

that scale.

Using the models of these companies the success of Beatnik Designs will be projected.

1.4 Methodology

We have managed to collect our data from both primary and secondary sources.

1.4.1 Primary Source of Data

Interviews with employees and managers of digital marketing firms will provide with information andinsight regarding the companies. If required, customer perception can be obtained through theseinterviews. As we may not get access to every company mentioned, we will choose companies to

interview based on convenience of both parties. All contacted personnel information and sample surveyare attached in the appendix.


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1.4.2 Secondary Source of Data

The secondary sources of information are mainly from the websites of the mentioned companies andany related articles. Any information taken from secondary sources have been properly cited and the

references have been listed in the appendix.

1.5 Rationale

Agencies in Bangladesh, especially the digital agencies, are currently witnessing a tremendousmomentum as a result of growing demand for digital marketing. Beatnik is a young and upcomingcompany in this field.

1.6 Limitations

There were certain limitations that were met during the making of this report and on the methodologyused. They are given below:

Time: the time required to prepare a professional study on the industry is far greater than thetime that has been allocated for the coursework.

Access: access to different digital marketing firm executive managers whose input would be

very helpful for the report were unavailable due to the busy schedules of the managers andcompany policies.

Resources: Limited resources such as man-power and budget will restrict us from covering anappropriate market size.

Lack of Prior Research: lack of secondary data restricted us from building on prior work. As

the report is researching on an unknown territory, many aspects of the industry may be missedout.


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2.0 Industry Background

2.1 What is a Creative Agency?

Creative agencies are responsible for making you stretch for one product over another, they’re

the reason you stay on a website longer than the average 3 seconds. They help you remember businesses,and give you that little nudge to do and engage with them. Their job is to turn you into a loyal customer.(Collins, n.d.)

Creative Agencies like any other companies are fundamentally based on four core factors;services, employees, business model, and values (Pullen, 2013). These differences in factors is howeach firm differentiates themselves from the others. In the industry of creative agencies, many forms of

the agencies exists due to differentiated business models or due to an objective of serving a particularneed of the market.

2.1.1 Types of Creative Agencies

The types of Creative Agencies are divided according to their focus of work; strategy, design,

technology, and advertising. (Pullen, 2013)

Full Service Digital Agency – These agencies excel at executing on complex projects where

many disciplines are required. These are often the largest and most profitable organizationswithin creative services. While they have all four service categories, it is often the advertisingcomponent that leads the business and most projects serve larger campaigns or a marketinggoal.

Digital Agency – These are agencies similar to full service agencies but most commonly theydo not offer full advertising services. This means that they focus on building platforms or products over advertisements or microsites. These companies prefer to focus on building lasting

relationships with clients and help them create and execute a digital strategy for their business.Digital agencies focuses on Strategy, Design, and Technology, and typically forgo advertisingservices.

Design Agency – These agencies focus on design and often work with external partners like adagencies, consultants, or engineers to fully deploy their work. They often offer both digital and print design services as well as branding specializations and sometimes interior and productdesign. As a result they focus on Design services and occasionally offer some strategy services.

Interactive Agency – These agencies focus on building projects for the web. They often are

hired to create digital experiences that are a mixture of innovative technology, great design, andmultimedia content. Although they are sometimes hired to simply create a great website. Theywork with ad agencies or consultants to deliver on a complex component of a campaign or alarge digital project. Often these organizations focus on Design and Technology over Strategy

and Advertising and have a great deal more production capability in the form of digital videoand motion design.

Engineering Agency – These agencies focus on being technology experts. They offerengineering services to companies of all sizes, partnering with in-house teams and otheragencies to build complex projects. They often work with many technologies and platforms and

solve some of the most complex technical challenges. Engineering agencies focus onTechnology services and often offer some Strategy services as they pertain to technology.

Advertising Agency – These agencies focus purely on marketing and advertising services. They

prefer to work with specialist partners to build technology or complex design. They are PRcompanies, social specialists and traditional ad agencies. While traditional ad agencies ofteninclude many of the other services, they typically focus on Advertising and Strategy.


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2.2 Creative Agency Industry around the World

Although a relatively new industry in Bangladesh, creative agencies have been around the world for the

very long time in different forms. The first acknowledged advertising agency was William Taylor in1786, which was quickly followed by another agency started by James White in 1800. In 1812 George

Reynell set up another advertising agency in London, which stayed a family business till 1993 asReynell and Son, and is currently a part of TMP Worldwide agency under the brand TMP Reynell.While several agencies were started throughout history, very few lives today.

In the current global scenario a few big names are highly prominent when it comes to creative agencies;such as Ogilvy & Mather, and Leo Burnett. Below are the top 10 creative agencies in the world (Top50 Agencies , n.d.):

1) Ogilvy & Mather

2) IDEO

3) JWT

4) Leo Burnett

5)

Wieden + Kennedy

6) BBDO

7) Razorfish

8) McCann Erickson

9) Edelman

10) R/GA

2.3 Creative Agency Scenario in Bangladesh

It has been long that creative agencies have emerged in the local scenario of Bangladesh. The creative

agency industry arrived in Bangladesh in the form of advertising agencies. Firms like Grey and Bitopiinitiated the tidal shift of how advertising and pr omotion took place in Bangladesh. Slowly as MNC’sentered the market and local conglomerates realized the value of proper communication, the industrysaw new innovative entrants. Currently the industry has over 50 agencies, which come in all sizes andinclude everything from one or two person shops, small to medium sized agencies, and multinational,multi-agency conglomerates.

2.4 Players in the Industry

The players in this industry numbers to over 50 agencies (as of 2012), all working to obtain the same

share of the pie. While the number of agencies in the industry as a whole is considered here, for ourorganization at hand the number of agencies is narrowed down to a few, which we discuss later on in

the competition segment below.


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Being in 2015 however the scenario has changed a lot more than expected. Currently it is expected thatthe industry consists of over a 100 agencies. The size of the Digital Marketing market alone is Taka 110Crore, while it is expected by experts to be valued at Taka 452.54 Crore by 2017 (Desk, 2015).

2.5 Future of the Industry in Bangladesh

With the inflow of MNC’s such as Coca Cola, Proctor & Gamble, and Japan Tobacco Company intothe emerging market of Bangladesh the demand for creative agencies is going to increase in the

following years. Further backed by the realized interest of local conglomerates in high qualitycommunications, the creative agencies are likely to have more than they can handle. However a majorshift that is already being experienced is the Digital Media shift. Organizations are quickly realizing the

power that the social media is potent of, and by capitalizing on this growing need of the market, DigitalMarketing firms are entering to obtain the large chunk of the pie before it becomes too competitive.


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3.0 Beatnik Designs

3.1 History

Beatnik designs began its journey in August 2013 with 4 managing partners to whom the glare of the

corporate world never appealed much. From the strong urge to follow their passion about creative works

they decided to build this company which allowed them to put their talent and knowledge of running

and handling a business to use. They saw a huge opportunity to do great things in this evolving market.

Thus, this venture seemed to be the most viable option to them.

3.2 Organizational Structure

The whole structure of the organization is divided in four separate divisions: Accounts & Operations,

Sales & Business Development, Creative Unit, and IT Department. The first 3 divisions are run by three

Managing Partners and the IT Department has a separate head. The fourth Managing Partner is basically

a sleeping partner whose partnership is just limited to providing capital to the business but not running

it. Under the Managing Partners are the Project Managers whose main task is to supervise the whole

work done by subordinates and give them instructions. Under the chain of commands for Accounts

department there is an accountant; for Sales & Business Development there are Marketing Executives

and Content Managers; for Creative Unit there are Content managers and Graphic Designers; and finallyfor the It Department there are App and Web Developers. In total there are 19 people working for

Beatnik Designs including the support staff.


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3.3 Products and Services

Beatnik Designs provides specialized creative service in 3 key areas. In each of these areas they combine

their experience and expertise in designs, business communication and pure creativity to come up with

best solutions for their clients. The 3 key areas are as follows:

Designing & Content - This area includes all traditional graphic designs. Their team of graphic

designers, illustration artists make sure the designs are of top notch quality and conforms to the

latest standards in each platform. This area includes Beatnik’s services in audio-visuals and

visual effects.

! Graphic Design

! Video Content Design

! Presentation

! User interface

Experience design- This area includes their works on development on different platforms. They

provide development services for web, e-commerce websites, blog and magazine websites and

more. Beatnik provides professional data visualization and presentation designs for various business purposes. Their creative designs and data visualization techniques help sort huge

information into smaller chunks.

! Web Development

! App Development

! Game/Character Development

! Interactive presentations

Digital Marketing – This is the next big thing that all the brands are building on. Through

rigorous campaigns and management Beatnik offers one of a kind social media management

and digital marketing. Driven by audience engagement and great contents, their social media

management services ensure the goals are always met and successfully converted to customers.

Other avenues are analytics, banner ads etc.! Social Media Management

! Online Ads Management

! Social Media Analytics

! Online Campaigns

3.4 Beatnik’s Point of Parity

Points of Parity:

Being a creative consultancy company the basic services Beatnik offers are also being offered by other

creative agencies. Giving ideas to help a brand grow, helping brands to connect to their audience, givingcreative solutions are few points of parity that Beatnik has

Points of Difference:

Its differentiation also lies in its creative efforts backed by business knowledge. Most of Beatnik’s

creative team come from the business background each having a very clear idea about what clients

want. When a design is backed by sound business purpose or a clear goal, it really becomes effective.

Currently Beatnik has the liberty to experiment a lot which is not always affordable for bigger firms

and bigger clients. So it can provide a lot of radical ideas to clients. It also has some of the best

combinations of design skills, creative ideas and marketing knowledge.


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3.5 Client Base

Beatnik has a wide range of clients starting from the biggest tobacco company in Bangladesh named

British American Tobacco; multinationals such as Unilever, Nestle, Grameenphone and Marico; large

scale restaurants like Nando’s; ad agencies like Cookie Jar; and other renowned companies such as

BRAC university, MGH Group, BRAC IT (biTS), IPDC, George’s Café, etc.

For brands like Georges Café, IPDC Bangladesh, Sohana, Nando’s etc. they handle the digital

marketing and social media side of things. And for the other aforementioned brands, they offer services

ranging from building websites to preparing presentations.


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4.0 Competitor Analysis

4.1 Competitors

The competition of Beatnik Designs is limited to the Digital Marketing segment of the creative agency

industry. Being a new addition to the market, Beatnik has a lot of ground to cover which have already been completed by other veteran firms. While looking towards bigger organizations to topple in orderto reach to the top, Beatnik also has to lookout similar counterparts in the industry who could easily

snatch away market share if not wary.

The competitors have been segmented into two lists. The first segment will look into organizations whohave been present in the market for some time and are considered to be veterans in the eyes of clients.

These firms have already proven to clients of how they can provide the right quality and fulfill demands properly.

The second list looks into organizations that Beatnik considers to be at par with. These organizationsare new to the industry like Beatnik and are fighting to climb the ladder for the top shelf in the industry.This segment of firms have yet to prove to the market of that they can keep the promises they make tothe clients.

4.2 Top 3 Firms

1. Analyzen

Analyzen was founded in 2008 by two young entrepreneurs – Sumit Saha and Ridwan Hafiz.Although starting out as a mobile and web application Development Company, the company quicklygrew into the digital marketing scenario. Considered to be the first ever Digital Marketing agency inBangladesh, Analyzen has the largest market share in the segment, with the biggest clientele.

Capitalizing on its first mover’s advantage in the digital marketing arena, Analyzen also backed up its promises with high quality services.

Analyzen is considered to be the top digital marketing agency in Bangladesh by all the otherindustry peers and the clients. With a clientele base consisting of names like Samsung, Unilever,Standard Chartered Bank, Dell, Reckitt Benckiser, British American Tobacco, Pran, Berger paints,Banglalink and many more, the firm is seen as unbeatable at the moment. Analyzen’s main strength isits long relationship with clients and presence in the market.

2.

Strategeek

Previously a concern of Maverick Studios, Strategeek is currently an independent SBU working with

to fulfill the needs of digital marketing in Bangladesh. The third startup by the team behind MaverickStudios, Strategeek became and independent firm in 2014. Already carrying the promise of quality fromits previous parent firm, Strategeek came out to the market with great hope and focus.

Strategeek provides primarily services like digital strategy and digital planning. Along with those the

firm also provides services like social media customer service, social listening and online advertisingservices. Other than these the firm also help its sister concerns to provide supplementary services toclients. Strategeek believes that it’s providing services which are technologically advanced than themarket itself. With providing technology based digital services, Strategeek within a year boosted itsway to the top of the market. The firm has already won awards for its creativity in the Robi Human Flag

Campaign. The team behind Strategeek focuses more on a pragmatic digital marketing rather than beingadvertisement based, which sets them apart from all the other competitors.


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3.

Magnito Digital

The third of the top 3 in the digital marketing segment, Magnito Digital is growing quicker than anyother firm out there. With heavy capital, Riyad Husain came into the market in 2013 to have anaggressive stance when it came to market capture. The aggressive business strategy with a close tie withGrameenPhone paid off for the firm. Within two years, the digital marketing agency is one of the topshots of the industry, and their work is well appreciated by clients.

With social campaigns, partnerships with StartUp Dhaka and TedX Dhaka, and using the social media,Magnito Digital made sure that the industry was aware about its existence. Although much isn’t knownabout the inside mechanisms of the organization, Magnito Digital’s pride campaign is the A2I campaignfor the Government of Bangladesh.

4.3 Upcoming Firms

The following upcoming firms are considered from the perspective of the industry insider.

1.

Cookiejar

Starting off in 2014, Cookie Jar has made quite an impression on the digital marketing industry.Although still a startup the company boosts clientele like LG, Reckitt Benckiser, Pepsi Co, and

Microsoft. The firm is growing quickly and is currently at par with Beatnik Designs.

2. Boomerang

Started by Kazi Monirul Kabir, Boomerang too is a recent startup in the digital marketing industry.Unlike other firms in the segment, Boomerang targets primarily local conglomerates and the publicsector. With successful campaigns under its belt, Boomerang is one of the three “to watch-out for” firms

in the industry.

3. Adcomm’s Bagher Baccha

A new addition to the industry by Adcomm, an advertising agency, Bagher Baccha is the digitalmarketing wing of the firm. Starting off in mid-2014, the firm seeks to capture a large portion of themarket by leveraging its parents company’s brand status. Little is known about the firm, but industryinsiders believe that the firm is one of the potential future stars in the market.


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5.0 Branding Activity Analysis

5.1 Marketing Activities

A standard in the industry regarding marketing activities of Digital Marketing Firms revolves around

the Social Media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Beatnik Designs, or its competitors

are no exception to this rule.

For Beatnik Designs, their marketing activities include their Facebook Page, and posts on their page.

Their posts mainly involve current affairs, such as Bangladesh Cricket Team’s win or other sport related

issues, the more recent Nepal tragedy, or simply regarding festival or national events. They also share

and promote offers of their numerous clients, to both showcase their client list as well as create more

awareness for the clients. Finally, their Facebook posts include Job Openings, for designers, motion

artists, to the newly added Full-time internship. Posts regarding job offerings and client promotions are

usually boosted via Facebook Ads, to ensure a larger reach, as opposed to the unsponsored organic

reach.

Other than their Facebook page, Beatnik Designs utilize their website to showcase their recent projectsand work, as well as promote what they do. They feature a list of their clients, ensuring a high exposure

rate to visitors. Much like their Facebook page, they post job offerings on their website as well, albeit

in a separate section.

Although the Facebook page and website of Beatnik Designs is very active and act as a major portal to

attract new customers and to interact with the existing, a large portion of Beatnik Designs’ marketing

activity involves word-of-mouth marketing. As said by multiple sources, word-of-mouth is one of the

key factors behind attracting new customers. A good review from a client, or existing employees, alladd up to Beatnik Designs’ awareness.


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5.2 Consumer Perception

The consumer perception regarding Beatnik Designs is almost entirely positive. From their clients, there

has not been any overall negative feedbacks, and the company has been successful in retaining all of

their clients from the get-go.

Consumers (clients) speak greatly of the unparalleled quality of Beatnik Designs’ work, and their

professionalism in dealing with any of the task at hand. Some consider Beatnik Designs to be a

powerhouse of a firm. Even though relatively small, the company puts out products that are comparable

to much larger companies.

5.3 Gap Analysis

Even with a comparably lower amount of marketing activities, Beatnik Designs has gotten itself a large

client base, one who they have retained quite well, and one that has a highly positive perception

regarding the company.

The gap that is yet to be filled in is the fact that even with such positive consumer perception, Beatnik

Designs has a significantly smaller client base, as compared to the market leaders. Which means that

although they have a good work quality perception amongst their own consumers, the market is still

unaware of it. Market leaders including Analyzen and Magnito have significantly higher visitors, and

with that, reach, in their respective Facebook pages, they both promote their accomplishments of awards

or honorable mentions on their page. Both the companies boast their staff and team, something that

Beatnik Designs does not do. This may seem insignificant, but in doing this, the companies can appeal

to a more human side of the potential consumers. By showing their team as their family, they give off

a warmer welcome.

An advantage that Magnito Digital has over both Analyzen and Beatnik Designs, is their client baseincludes the Bangladesh Government, namely the Access to Information (a2i) sector, as well as the

Prime Minister’s office. Having such a client automatically boosts awareness of the company. Similarly,

association with big names such as Samsung, Unilever, Standard Chartered and Grameenphone of both

Magnito and Analyzen have contributed to the awareness of both the brands. A better, stronger client

base adds to a firm’s brand awareness, which further adds to attracting new consumers. This also serves

as an assurance of good quality work by the brand.

Beatnik Designs has a good reputation amongst its own clients, but it is not too popular in the market.

To fix this issue, Beatnik Designs needs to develop a better brand awareness, which is possible through

getting bigger companies as clients, to add to the credibility of Beatnik Designs.


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6.0 Proposed Strategy

In order to shorten the gap between the marketing activities and the consumers, we propose toimplement the Content Funneling Model (Appendix 3), to create brand awareness, and adjacencygrowth to enhance the organization infrastructure.

6.1 Adjacency Growth

Rationale:

One of the things that separate Beatnik from the top 3 agencies is that it is relatively small in size andscope compared to them. It must be remembered that both Magnito and Strategeek came into the marketwith a lot of capital thus allowing them to snare a lot of projects while Analyzen had plenty of time to build itself into the big company that it is today. Employee base is one aspect of the size issue. It has to be noted that the top 3 have around a hundred plus employee base compared to Beatnik’s 17. Thus, itcan be said with absolute necessity that Beatnik has to grow in size and scope in order to make a biggerdent in the market. As stated by Beatnik themselves, they need to make significant investments whichincludes raising up their small but competent employee base. This would in turn help them to tacklemore projects and keep up with the big three. Moreover, higher investments would allow Beatnik to

fiddle with more resources and make their portfolios more diverse which could attract more customers.Clients prefer a more complete solution rather than dividing up different parts of their works to differentcompanies which makes thing a hassle. Fortunately for Strategeek, Magnito and Analyzen they are ableto fulfil the clients’ wishes due to their size and capacity. Beatnik needs to expand in order to fullysatisfy the clients’ needs.

Downside:

Expansion seems to be an easy solution on paper but in reality it’s a much dark and grim prospect. For

instance, let’s have a look at the employee case. Beatnik’s small workforce can be termed as talentedand efficient. Replicating the competencies of this workforce in a much larger scale is a very dauntingtask. Also in order to expand Beatnik requires funds which it does not have much of within its coffers.

It may have to look forward to taking up loans from banks which is a pretty risky venture.

Pricing:

The total cost of an expansion that would make Beatnik as big a company as the top three firms wouldtake around Tk. 5,400,840. This cost is assumed to be incurred on a yearly basis and it has to be taken

into account that most of these costs are an estimation which may change with subject to further changesin Beatnik’s situation. If this were to be thought of as a five year expansion plan, the breakdown of the

cost would be as follows:

Estimated cost of recruiting new talent: Tk. 1,620,000 (one time overhead excluding monthlysalary. It is assumed Beatnik will employ around forty people full time for their expansion plans.)

Cost of licensing software – Tk. 540,840 (yearly)! Bitrix24 – Tk. 192,000! Dropbox – Tk. 163,000! Wave Accounting – Tk. 181,840! Copy – Tk. 4000

Cost of Developing projects (considering the fact that Beatnik will be contracted throughoutthe year): Tk. 1,800,000 (yearly)

Acquisition of new equipment: Tk. 350,000 (Included in the one-time recruitment cost)

New Office Space: Tk. 1,440,000 (yearly)


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6.2 Self-Promotion

Rationale:

A popular marketing adage says that one must know how to promote himself/herself in order to better

sell his/her product. Sadly, Beatnik has not utilized this advice really well. When looking at theircompetitors, it can be observed that they aggressively pursue self-promotion. For instance, articles aboutMagnito Digital regularly pop-up in SD-Asia detailing their achievements and how great their workenvironment is. Analyzen and Strategeek are not far behind in this regard with the companies regularlydisplaying their works and achievements in various news outlets in the social media. Beatnik has donesome really amazing projects but unfortunately the evidence of this can only be found in their Facebook page and their website. Beatnik has to be more forthcoming with their work in order to establish a strong presence within the digital marketplace. They should host events showcasing their works or participate

in national and international marketing award ceremonies in order to get recognition for their work.Partnering up with a news out would also boost Beatnik’s chances of gaining more recognition.

Downside:

Weak logic would dictate that one should let one’s own dictate himself/herself rather than boast ingabout it to the masses.

Looking at the success that the top have had with their own self-promotional activities, it could be saidthere is little or repercussion to face when Beatnik takes this initiative.

Pricing:

There is almost no cost for promoting oneself in their own website or getting featured in online news portals. It all really depends upon networking. Beatnik already had have some few favorable articles published about themselves and they need to keep up this work in order to see the fruits of this venture.

6.3 Open Pitch Participation

Rationale:

Although already taken as an initiative by Beatnik Designs, it is believed that the firm could participate

in more open pitch participation in the market. The sole purpose of this aggressive participation isn’t towin those pitches only, but also to leave a positive impression on the minds of clients whose pitch the

firm didn’t win. With a positive impression, those won’t only call Beatnik for future project pitches butrefer the firm to other organizations with the same Creative Agency needs. Moreover, the small and

focused size of Beatnik puts it at an advantage when compared to the big three. They can show off their

uniqueness in these pitches and offer a different and creative solution which could win the approval of prospective clients. However, it should be noted that Beatnik’s uniqueness might dissipate once it starts

to grow in size but that is a matter for a different time.

Downside:

There is not much of a downside to this initiative unless Beatnik perform poorly or hurt the sentimentsof the clients with their presentations which in turn would result in a bad name for Beatnik within themarket.


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Pricing:

The pricing for this process is more or less negligible since the work would most entail sending a lot ofemails and preparing presentations for prospective clients. Some minor cost may arise if Beatnik decides

to send out its work portfolios say in the form of a leaflet in order to secure pitches with clients.

6.4 Client Testimonial

Rationale:

Digital marketing is a relatively new field within the Bangladeshi market and clients are usually wary

when they seek out the services of creative agencies within this field. For them, it like stepping into avoid with no certain sense of where or how to go. A client testimonial or referral would greatly ease the

fear of companies willing to dabble in digital marketing. Referrals and client testimonials are goodindicators regarding work ethic and the reliability of the firm. Beatnik with its list of client, should makethe effort to share client testimonials on its websites and Facebook page. A small video showing theclients themselves approving the firm’s work could be made to validate the testimonials.

Downside:

None so severe that would hurt Beatnik’s prospects.

Pricing:

Negligible pricing over here as well.

6.5 Case Studies

Rationale:

At times clients are hesitant to discuss their lack of knowledge in the Digital Marketing industry. This

hesitation causes clients to either step away from the digital marketing segment or create expectationsthat the firm can’t deliver. Case studies on a few clients where Beatnik has operated heavily wouldenable the client to understand the capability of Beatnik in a measureable manner. The client

furthermore would not be in a stage of asymmetric information and be encouraged to step into the digitalmarketing world and move ahead with Beatnik.

Downside:

None to be noted here as well.

Pricing:

Nothing significant for Beatnik.

6.6 Blogging

Rationale:

The digital marketing industry in Bangladesh is currently in a phase of evolution. It is important thatBeatnik Designs pay a crucial role in this evolution by blogging their ideas and perceptions regardingdigital marketing. Furthermore this blog can be the platform for the firm to share insights of researches

they have done or international research in a Bangladesh context.


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The blog would allow clients and digital marketing enthusiast not only to be aware of Beatnik Designs but also relate to their work and perception.

Downside:

The blog could easily die due to decrease in traffic or insightful content.

Pricing:

None to be noted here.

6.7 White Papers

Rationale:

Clients at times are not aware of the exact process of Digital Marketing. By sending white papers to

key clients, Beatnik Designs can reduce the lack of knowledge towards digital marketing.

Downside:

White papers can be easily ignored if wanted.

Pricing:

Nothing significant for Beatnik Designs.

7.0 Conclusion

Beatnik Designs is small yet powerful digital marketing firm which can leave a mark in the creativeagency industry in due time. As we have seen from our interviews with different managers, whileBeatnik has been able to fulfill the expectations of its own clients, the market is yet to be aware of the brand itself. This gap can be easily conquered by the Content Funnel strategy that we have proposedfor Beatnik Designs. Implementation of the proposed sub-strategies will allow the firm to increase brand

awareness in the creative agency market. With the proper resources and strategy implementation,Beatnik can become one of the top 3 firms in its industry in Bangladesh.


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Appendix

Appendix 1: Works Cited

Works Cited

(n.d.). Retrieved from Top 50 Agencies : http://www.top50adagencies.com/

Collins, T. (n.d.). What is a Creative Agency. Retrieved from Rubber Cheese:

http://www.rubbercheese.com/rc/blog/comments/what-is-a-creative-agency

Desk, S. A. (2015, May 9). Retrieved from SD Asia : http://sdasia.co/2015/05/09/bangladeshs-entry-into-the-digital-vortex-part-3/?utm_content=buffer2aba4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Pullen, B. (2013, May 3). Defininf Creative Agencies . Retrieved from Playground Inc. :http://playgroundinc.com/blog/defining-creative-agencies/

Appendix 2: People Contacted

1. Walid Khan, Founder and Partner, Beatnik Designs.

2. Mashfique Khaled, Analyzen.


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Appendix 3: Content Funnel Model

Prospect Of Digital Marketing In The Creative Agency Industry In Dhaka

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