InDrive to double down on OTT, mobile app ads for better targeting and localisation

Started more than a decade ago as a ride-hailing app and headquartered in California, InDrive is a ride-hailing app that currently operates in 700+ cities across 48 countries. In India, it is present in 10+ Indian cities like Chandigarh, Lucknow, Bhopal, Ludhiana, Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune amongst others.

In fact, as per the latest App Annie report published in 2022, it secures the second position globally with 175 million downloads when it comes to monthly app installs, maximum app downloads, after the ride-hailing giant Uber.

Speaking to BestMediaInfo.com, Avik Karmakar, GTM Manager - South Asia, inDrive, stated that, unlike other ride-hailing apps, the people-driven company is on a mission to build a super app which combines various services apart from just the core product which is rides, such as freight, courier etc. in one platform and bank on the proposition of fair prices.

In the coming times, he also pointed out that InDrive will also launch its EV Fleet in the country, which as of now is in testing mode in Delhi NCR in addition to InVision, the CSR wing of the ride-hailing app. along with a to-be-launched soon vertical which will allow people to book home-related services such as fixing electricity-related problems or ever carpentry repair works done.

Having said that, he also emphasised that what the brand does is that it believes in being transparent and facilitating no price manipulation owing to which there is no such feature as ‘Surge Pricing’ or even ‘Cancellation charges’ on the InDrive app.

The company also operated at zero service fee (alias commission) for a long time and only began charging a minimal license fee of 9.9% from drivers some time back, he pointed out.

In his view, it is because of these aforementioned reasons that the main source of marketing and promotion for the brand is Word Of Mouth.

However, the brand does roll out ad campaigns and it was only in this year’s May-June-July period that the brand came up with a digital campaign highlighting its proposition of ‘fair prices’ to both consumers and drivers.

 

 

 

 

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Commenting on the short and long-term marketing objectives that he has set aside for himself and the company, Karmakar stated that the company aims to ensure that it is present in all the places where they see a high amount of TAUs and MAUs and where people really spend time in the modern world.

“It is because of this that we also aim to leverage the ongoing Cricket World Cup 2023 along with a slew of upcoming festivities such as Durga Puja in Kolkata, Diwali in North India, etc. Also, we are currently trying to leverage an influencer or a celebrity who can build up the trust among people in a trust-sensitive market like India and are in the planning and conceptualisation stage of the campaign which is slated to roll out in 2024,” he said.

Throwing light on the different mediums that the brand includes in its media mix, Karmakar stated that the brand in its kitty has everything ranging right from performance marketing campaigns, to social media marketing, to influencer collaborations, to digital campaigns along with OOH including branding on iconic buildings and auto rickshaws.

One of the Out Of Home Billboards set up by InDrive in Gurgaon:

But given that apart from the customers, it is the drivers who are equally crucial for the company, InDrive also carries out initiatives, contests etc. for them, with the recent being the ‘Driver of the Month’ campaign in  Delhi NCR and Mumbai wherein the winner walked away with a motorbike, and the 20 runner ups with OnePlus Smartphones. Last year, it was only the cab driver who could participate in the same, but going forward the company intends to make it available for moto and rickshaws as well.

He further pointed out that it was post this 360-degree marketing campaign that the number of rides on the app went up 79% and the new passengers on the app on and above the existing users grew by over 54% along with the active drivers who also increased by 74% along with a 115% growth in terms of new drivers joining the ride-hailing app.

“This year, what we also did was that we tied up with Havas Media Network India to leverage their expertise for our outdoor ads and activations. But apart from it, we do everything in-house, albeit coming up with the creatives or optimising our spends on different channels,” he elaborated.

It was after joining hands with Havas Media Network India that InDrive branded the entire Rapid Metro Line in Delhi.

Sharing the viewpoint that today both Facebook and Instagram have already become cluttered, InDrive is also considering working with different sources or channels for bringing traffic, starting from OTT to mobile game apps.

“We are thinking of advertising on the gated communities and apps to be more close and relevant to the people for our very localised ads because we take language quite seriously. For us, we have a different go-to-market strategy for each city that we have and run targeted ads, based on the audience’s preferences, whether they like English as a language or local language or what kind of ads they would like on a day-to-day basis,” he added.

He also went on to add that inDrive mainly targets people in the age group of 18-40 years of age because today many people in India are already habituated with the existing ride-hailing apps which is why the idea is to highlight the new and fresh features that the app brings along with it in the country to youngster who can then spread word-of-mouth in their friend circles or families.

“Going forward, in 2024, our focus would be more on digital as compared to Out of Home, in fact, the split would be around 80-20. In fact, this time also, we had the opportunity to advertise on TV, but we decided to choose OTT above television and therefore advertised (Targeted on five major cities including, Delhi and Mumbai) on the top OTT platforms in India apart from Netflix and Prime such as Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5, MX Player, Voot, etc. and the response was pretty great and therefore, we will be putting out more ads in OTT given that a lot many people are moving from cable networks to OTT today,” he said.

In the coming future, he also mentioned that InDrive will also leverage innovative and new initiatives such as putting in labelled ads on the mobile phone launchers which have the potential of being an entire game-changer for the brand along with both App Store Optimisation and Search Engine Optimisation.

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