Ritesh Bhatnagar on building a secure online community with AI & ML
In this Research NXT Interview, Ritesh Bhatnagar, the Chief Marketing Officer at U2opia Mobile/WOO and Business Head Content and Ad-Tech platform talks about his journey from being an advertiser to a salesperson to currently being a new age marketer and P&L owner.
He also shares how WOO – a leading dating app is building the largest platform with a user base of around 10 Million and growing for young Indians to connect socially and romantically at a very intellectual level.
Key takeaways from this Research NXT interview:
- Importance of building a user community on the premise of trust, privacy, and security for platform continuity.
- How Ritesh feels that AI is more of a strategy than a solution and why.
- Emerging trends in AI-led personalization and what every marketer should be aware of.
Here are some extracts from the insightful conversation we had with Ritesh Bhatnagar.
ResearchNXT: Could you tell us a little about your background and how you came to be the CMO at U2opia Mobile and its Apps?
Ritesh: I have been a brand and marketing strategist for more than two decades now. I started with advertising, moved to a conventional marketing role, and even was in sales for almost two years. So, it’s an advantage and also an accomplishment that I have a great combination of traditional and new-age marketing and business experience.
U2opia Mobile is a Singapore-India based mobile technology company. The company has a diversified portfolio of consumer and enterprise products in more than 70 countries.
- Dating: Woo is a leading dating app in India and for Indian diaspora globally, with over ten million-plus subscribers.
- Gaming: Hypr Games is India’s first indigenous high-quality social gaming portfolio, along with a distribution and publishing platform. Exclusive partners to One animation and Go Games to bring Oddbods Turbo Run Game to India.
- Content: Mr. Phone is a video content platform on Technology.
- Telco-Tech: Our B2B leg, A Digital Lifestyle platform, has operations in 70 countries, with 120 telecom operators. Our products like Chatezee, SportsMoby, FanMoby, Bid & Win, Gaming Players’ league, Reycreo, and Spin N Win reach billions across the globe.
- Fantasy Sports: Fanmojo is the fastest growing fantasy sports platform, with over 5 Million users in India. Fanmojo covers Cricket, Football, and Kabbadi and available in multiple countries.
- Ad-Tech: SupremeDM is a global digital marketing platform with deep expertise in reward marketing, affiliate marketing, offering an exclusive and unique inventory with products like Cashbuddy. Cashbuddy is a shopping and offer platform with a presence in India and Indonesia.
Currently, as Chief Marketing Officer – U2opia Mobile/Woo, I am responsible for marketing, brand management, and growth strategies internationally. I am also the business and P&L owner for the entire AdTech and the content platform.
At Utopia Mobile, our personalization strategy is derived from the fact that every platform has its specific need, its own messaging, and unique consumer categories.
ResearchNXT: Since U2opia Mobile on its B2C side of the business has multiple apps right from dating to gaming, it is evident that the end-users are vastly different in each case. How do you ensure your brand delivers personalized experience across channels and user categories?
Ritesh: As a CMO, this is precisely where my job becomes enjoyable. As you would agree, marketing has shaped up to be more performance-based and ROI driven. And to ensure this, our aim has always been to understand the customer segments and position our platforms based on insights. At WOO, for example, we are building the largest platform for young Indians to connect socially and romantically. At present, we have a base of around 10 Million subscribers and growing. We believe that technology, layered with the right human insight, has immense power to remove barriers and help connect people and create the magic.
MoreAI is more of a strategy and not a solution that needs to have measurable goals, and accordingly, the marketing tech stack systems need to be created.
ResearchNXT: What’s your take on the use of AI and ML by Indian marketers, and how it is done at Utopia. Please share some use cases.
Ritesh: In my opinion, though Indian marketers are using multiple facets of digital marketing and leveraging customer data, they still are not well onboarded with AI on an extensive scale. AI is already disrupting the core functions like Ad targeting, media buying, content creation, propensity modeling, and so on. However, I feel AI is more of a strategy and not a solution. AI is a strategy that needs to have measurable goals, and accordingly, the marketing tech stack systems need to be created. However, to achieve success with AI, all organizational departments will need to work in tandem. AI cannot work in silos.
MorePredictive analytics, anomaly detection, ML for cybersecurity, and app experience are the few trends that every marketer should work towards.
ResearchNXT: How do you see the Indian market shaping up with the use of AI-led personalization, what are the emerging trends?
Ritesh: In my opinion, there are a few trends that every marketer should be aware of. They are:
- Predictive Analytics: Marketers in any segment should follow and imbibe the possibilities of using past and present data to anticipate the oncoming roadmap.
- Anomaly Detection: Very linked to predictive analytics is this possibility of anomaly detection based on the analysis of all the existing data. This will help them prepare and counter unforeseen market changes and probably create stickiness campaigns around the anomalies.
- Machine Learning for Security: This is one significant trend. ML is driving cybersecurity big time, and marketers should leverage it for the privacy aspects of their users across platforms.
- More User-Friendly AI platforms: The ability to instinctively use the platform without any prior knowledge is the way towards ensuring maximum adoption of any app.
- AI for productivity and work balance.
