As digital becomes the backbone of every brand’s growth journey, Rajeev Jain, Senior Vice President, Corporate Marketing at DS Group, underlined that success today depends not just on presence but on precision. He stressed that with consumers spread across multiple platforms and attention spans shrinking rapidly, marketers need sharper frameworks to balance creativity with consistency while ensuring every digital move strengthens long-term brand trust.
In an era where every consumer click, swipe, and scroll adds to a marketer’s growing to-do list, navigating digital has become less about presence and more about precision. Recognising the need for a structured guide to cut through this clutter, DS Group, in partnership with WPP Media, introduced DCODE in Delhi – a comprehensive playbook crafted to decode the complexities of digital marketing.
On the sidelines of the launch, Jain, in a candid conversation with Marketing Mind, highlighted how DCODE seeks to empower brands with a systematic framework to manage countless digital touchpoints while keeping authenticity and trust at the core.
When asked how DCODE could formalise the DS Group’s long-standing balance between television’s mass impact and the precision of digital targeting, and further serve as a guiding architecture for omnichannel execution, Jain clarified that this is not about omnichannel; this book is purely about digital.
“The origin of this book lies in the fact that with consumers increasingly shifting to digital, their presence and time spent online continue to rise. Naturally, as marketers, our spends are also going up. Within digital, however, there are countless activities, influencer marketing, social media, paid media, each with its own science and approach,” he explained.
“Through this playbook, we have captured every aspect of these activities and outlined the right methodology to handle them. Without a process-driven, systematic approach, mistakes and inefficiencies are bound to occur. We therefore strongly believe that following the right processes and systems is critical to managing digital activities effectively and ensuring efficiency in media plans. It is with this perspective that we developed this book,” Jain added.
Addressing the role of AI/ML in current targeting strategies and the enhancements or guardrails DCODE should introduce to ensure its responsible and creative use in brand storytelling, Jain pointed out, “Right now we haven’t captured anything about AI in this book, as it is still in an evolving stage, and there are already many other things being addressed. In this version, we have included all of those aspects. Every year we will be launching a new version. By the next edition, AI will likely be more mature, and at that time we will definitely capture deeper insights about AI in the market.”
When asked how consumer trust and quality, values he has consistently emphasised, are being challenged or redefined in the age of AI-led personalisation, Jain explained that the trust quality, whether it is irrespective of media or irrespective of practice, will always remain a cornerstone.
“Nowadays, the consumer is far more conscious, as they study reviews about any product or brand. Advocacy is playing a very important role, which makes it even more critical that any company, whatever claim they are making, should ensure it is authentic and backed by a product of very good quality. That itself will lead to stronger advocacy, which will automatically translate into higher sales,” he added.
In conclusion, he emphasised the need to look ahead and highlighted the emerging consumer behaviour that, in his view, marketers continue to underestimate but which will dominate over the next five years, saying that personalisation is becoming very important.
“Every customer today wants customised, tailor-made offerings from a brand. At the same time, authenticity is equally critical – whatever claims are made, whatever the communication strategy, it should be authentic, relevant, and reliable. Otherwise, consumers will neither buy into it nor go by the brand. This is particularly true for Gen Z, who are extremely particular about authenticity. Beyond this, brands must also take up social causes and address human problems, going beyond just selling products. This will be very important,” Jain added.
