A Q&A with Rohit Dosi, General Manager, Microsoft Advertising business at InMobi
InMobi, a leading provider of content, marketing, and monetization technologies that help businesses fuel growth, has expanded its partnership with Microsoft Advertising to support enterprise and strategic advertisers in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Here is a conversation with Rohit Dosi, General Manager, Microsoft Advertising business at InMobi to understand this unique partnership in detail.
Q: How has this partnership panned out between InMobi and Microsoft Advertising?
A: InMobi and Microsoft have been in a strategic partnership since July 2018 to help enterprises accelerate their digital transformation by providing them with insights, audience, and engagement platforms for a connected world. The partnership was expanded in 2019 as InMobi added the Microsoft Advertising products and solutions to its offerings in India.
Q: To which countries have this partnership been expanded?
A: InMobi’s successful track record in India with 1.8X growth in India business since 2019, has led Microsoft Advertising to extend its coverage to 73 countries, apart from India, across Southeast Asia (SEA), The Middle East, and Africa (MEA). As a tech powerhouse, we bring in rich expertise in both brand and performance advertising to uniquely position brands, create seamless ad experiences for customers, build engaging propositions, etc. InMobi will be building close relationships with advertisers and agencies to grow the business in newly added countries. The company will be responsible for the sales, account management, marketing, finance, collection, and billing for Microsoft Advertising customers from now onwards. We are now the face of Microsoft Advertising in these regions.
Q: What are the key products or solutions for advertisers that are unique to InMobi and
Microsoft Advertising?
A: Brands and advertisers partnering with InMobi and Microsoft Advertising get access to some unique products and services like:
1. Microsoft Audience Network (MSAN)
The MSAN uses Microsoft’s deep understanding of customers and proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) to place ads on Microsoft properties and other premium platforms like MSN, Outlook.com, Microsoft Edge, and many more.
2. Search for Branding
While search ads remain to grow as one of the top and consistent media channels to reach audiences, there is a common misconception that search ads are only for performance marketing. With Microsoft’s Search for Branding initiative, brands can leverage the true potential of intent-based marketing and search advertising. This allows brands to meet their consumers right when their customer journey begins and gain mindshare like Wakefit.
3. Shopping for All
This solution enables brands and advertisers to use Shopping Ads for expanding their reach on search engine result page (SERP). Shopping Ads are multimedia image ads that increase purchase intent and enable single-click action. The combination of search and Shopping Ads activation has been traditionally limited to the retail but brands like Vyapar, a fintech application for small businesses, are leveraging Shopping for All to increase conversions and lead acquisition.
Q: What additional benefits do advertisers partnering with InMobi get with this expansion?
A: InMobi is uniquely positioned to bring Microsoft Advertising to marketers in SEA and MEA through our deep appreciation of marketers’ needs, a keen understanding of the markets, and a customer-obsessed team. The extended partnership between Microsoft Advertising and InMobi will enable marketers to deliver a unified brand experience to customers by bringing together the best of search and native display platforms across both organizations. The direct billing with InMobi is intended to enable a seamless and hassle-free experience for advertisers, from InMobi, as they leverage its services. With this partnership, advertisers within the new regions spending on MSA for outbound marketing will get support from InMobi India, SEA, and MEA going forward.
Q: How is InMobi investing to drive this growth?
A: We are bringing the full power of our tech expertise and understanding of the advertising markets to drive growth for Microsoft Advertising in these regions. We are in the process of building the billing infrastructure in these regions. It will include an automated platform that will do billing collection, invoice order preparation, invoicing, etc. We will also manage all the strategic and enterprise partnerships and agreements for Microsoft Advertising across these regions. Over the next few months, we will focus on building a strong leadership team and presence in the new regions by investing in the right talent and industry partnerships.
