Advertisers starved of one-stop-platforms to target men: Suveer Bajaj of Zoo Media on launching Man's Life soon

Mammoth Media—a media and publishing company that is part of the Zoo Media network—is set to launch an exclusive property, Man’s Life. It is not only going to be one-stop destination for all things ‘Men’ but will also allow the company to have monetisation opportunities way beyond those available to it as service providers, by becoming a media-tech company.

Founded by Suveer Bajaj, Co-founder, Zoo Media and FoxyMoron, the new-age media publishing platform is set to be launched on May 18.

In an exclusive interaction with BuzzInContent.com, Bajaj said the digital publishing ecosystem is very fragmented as there is no one-stop destination for all things ‘Men’. There are a few established publishers that cater to premium audiences via lifestyle and luxury content, respectively. These publications attract millions of unique visitors every month.

But if one were to take these magazines away from the mix, media planners draw a blank in suggesting avenues that can target men in general. They either suggest search engines such as Google, social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, maybe some large online publishers or perhaps OTT channels that show cricket and sporting matches. None of these platforms cater to men as a ‘generalist’ destination. Thus, advertisers themselves have been starved of such options for men.

The agency decided to amalgamate this insight with its experience in building online communities and leverage this opportunity. So far, it has only acted like solution providers to its clients.

“Thanks to our expertise, experience and technology, we have built several successful properties. But none of these are owned by us. By deciding to pivot into a media company, we now get to put our skills and experience to own and create a platform unique to us,” he said.

Man’s Life is adopting the content-community-commerce model, which also is a point of distinction for the platform.

It will be able to change the advertisers’ narrative from ROAS (return on advertising spends) to ROI (return on investments). In the earlier days, content deliverables were measured through engagement (likes, shares, comments, view, impressions etc.), whereas the Man’s Life model allows the brands to monetise the sum invested in creating a particular campaign by plugging in commerce opportunities and adding the measurement metric of sales.

Having already partnered with a few influencers and creators who have associated themselves with the magazine and are creating content with it, it is essentially tapping into these existing upcoming communities, which will eventually transform into its brand as well as advertise on their channels.

Bajaj said, “We are looking at a future wherein all content opportunities will eventually become shoppable. This ‘shoppable’ aspect will hardly be limited to only advertised products and brands. It will extend to encompass services and experiences.  We are also in the process of building video IPs. These IPs will rest on platforms like YouTube as well as SVOD platforms. Our greatest strength lies in the expertise within the agencies of the Zoo Media network. Collectively, we have years of experience in building digital platforms and businesses with a distinctive edge.”

The platform is looking at multiple influencers, especially influencers who are open to exclusive promotions and collaborations, and have a significantly higher male-skewed audience and up-and-coming influencers whom it can aid and support in terms of content creation and editorial capabilities. It is also looking for influencers under the entertainment, lifestyle, sports and auto domains. 

The platform serves content in areas of sports, lifestyle, entertainment and auto. In the second phase, it will introduce three more content verticals: Esports, gaming and fantasy, money (finance), sex and relationships.

Unlike most start-ups, it did not have to bootstrap with the editorial talent and has already on-boarded an editorial team of stalwarts in their respective domains, including sports commentator Suhail Chandhok leading the sport editorial, actor and content creator Chinmaya Sharma leading the entertainment editorial and journalist and actor Eva Pavithran leading the lifestyle editorial, among others. In terms of its overall content team, it has on-boarded 16 people under the content team for Man’s Life and is hoping to expand the team size considerably in the next few months.

It will soon introduce a whole new range of podcasts and vodcasts with prominent male talent in the country. In fact, the learnings from 883 to Infinity (a podcast under the Mammoth banner) will be instrumental in moulding its strategy for these podcasts.

How advertisers can benefit

The currently available avenues for one-stop lifestyle destinations for men are not directed exclusively at men. Here, the possibility of an ad getting lost among the common yet different ads is high. Thus, the agency identified a huge opportunity that was not being leveraged.

“Since we already have influencers as a part of the mix, advertisers will have the dual benefit of editorial content as well as engagement. Most publishers began with text and eventually moved on to video. However, another strategy that differentiates Man’s Life is that we are starting with a video-first content approach. Furthermore, our foundation lies in the content-community-commerce model. This means that advertisers will be presented with the opportunity to measure their sales beyond ROAS metrics such as engagement and impressions. There will be a chance to monetise the initial investment and deliver actual ROI,” he added.

Consumers leave a digital footprint when they consume content on the internet. Due to this footprint, advertisers are able to identify distinct consumption patterns among users. Its content-community-commerce model aims to showcase purchase opportunities to a cohort of people based on the content they are consuming and offer a monetisable opportunity. All this can be captured in a single consumer journey.

Revenue potential of content community-driven new-age media publications in India

According to a report by BCG, 30-35% of all spending will be influenced by digital by 2025. Currently, the overall digital retail spending may be at 2-3%, but that too will increase to 8-10%.

And by 2025, India is expected to be a 4 trillion dollar economy, and if one were to assert that 30-35% of the spends will be influenced by digital, therein lies our biggest opportunity, said Bajaj.

Essentially all content, whether focused on entertainment, edutainment, infotainment, etc., rests on owned platforms. Netflix and Spotify are examples of this where consumers can consume 100% of the platform’s content. So if new-age media is able to harness the combination of native and earned platforms, they have the potential to crack the formula to reach out to users via the user’s desired touch point and subsequently envelop them into the purchase funnel.

Bajaj added, “The idea is to reach the relevant audience with the right channels and content, in a manner that is most comfortable to him. As the owner of Man’s Life, when the content on my platform is extended to social media, it automatically becomes a part of the marketing campaign. But for an influencer (who is anyway using social media to publish the content), he is not marketing to someone else. The content rests on his page alone.”

It is designing an interesting campaign for the launch and will be releasing a film that challenges the stereotypes of the modern Indian man, as it intends to resonate with the common-man with its value proposition.