Amazon Echo and Google Home to Get $9.1 Million in Ad Spend in India in 2018

Livemint is reporting that industry sources expect Amazon and Google to spend a combined $9.1 million to advertise their respective smart speakers Echo and Google Home in India. The article cites Navin Khemka of Wavemaker India, a division of GroupM. As a leading media buying agency, Wavemaker has specific insight into ad purchases in India. The article reports:

“[Google] has started running a ‘Make Google Do It’ campaign, which, for now, is helping users inculcate the habit of using voice assistants on Android phones. Along with outdoor, digital and print, the current series of television ads promotes Google Assistant and shows young users asking for directions, playing music and texting by speaking to their phones.”

A Google India spokesperson told Livemint in an interview that the ad campaign is already having an impact.

We have been seeing an increase in the number of people using Google Assistant on phones…we believe there is definite user interest to interact more seamlessly and conveniently with technology, where voice is a key part of the new experience.

Wavemaker’s Khemka added:

[Google’s] early adopters will be young users who already use voice assistants on phones. They are more likely to buy the speakers that will be adopted by others in a household.

Amazon Echo Ads Focus on the Family and Home

Amazon is taking a different advertising approach. Instead of focusing on mobile interactions and getting information, Amazon Echo is portrayed in family settings. Ravi Desai, director, mass and brand marketing, Amazon India, commented:

The team’s focus was to highlight Echo as a family device with varied use cases relevant to each and every member of the family. Our target groups for Echo devices are families that are technology-friendly and willing to spend for convenience.

The new data around ad spending targets is confirmation that Amazon and Google will fiercely compete for Indian consumer mindshare and market share related to voice assistants. Their marketing campaigns in India today mirror the efforts and messaging in the U.S. Over time, these are likely to take an even more localized flavor than the current focus on using Indian actors in nearly identical settings as used in U.S. ads. India is the biggest available market for Amazon and Google to expand adoption of Alexa and Assistant. You can expect more advertising spend and discounting as the companies fight for new users hoping to become the favored voice assistant in India.
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