It was my second event by Economic Times that I was attending. However, it was important as I was travelling to Mumbai only to attend the event. After registering for the event as I waited a lot of speakers and delegates arrived at Hotel Sahara Star in Mumbai.
The welcome note by Satrajit Sen, Head, Product & Community, ETBrandEquity.com was followed by a super presentation by Mr. Sharad Agarwal of Lamborghini. He had his team of four other women seated below the dais. I was taken aback by his figures and data on this luxury car which had sales across Tier-1, Tier-II and Tier-III cities in India. He mentioned how Urus was launched completely for Indian roads and first in India. He talked about car anniversaries, sustainable space and electric cars in the offing. He also stated how wealth creators in India are not viewed in a 'very positive light', that's why the 'luxury car segment' is not a very popular one.
My question was: which city has the highest sales of this luxury car?
This was followed by the presentation by Mr. Abhay Singhal, InMobi Ads. His display of the mobile phone screen was amazing which explained the different features and attributes of this app inbuilt on most smart phones. This was a good session on content creation and gaming.
The panel discussion ahead of tea was on 'building phygital brands'. The panelists were Mr. Naveen Murali of Pepperfry, Mr. Vineet Sharma of AB InBev, Mr. Aashish Chandra of The Body Shop (India), Ms. Smita Murarka of Duroflex and was chaired by Mr. Devesh Gupta of ETBrandEquity.com. The discussion focussed on their strategies for catering to a physical consumer and an online customer. While the focus was on content and reaching out to customer through social media, there was little talk of CRM.
My question was: what about brand loyalty in this era of 'online marketing' that is leading to increased brand awareness?
The next presentation was by an entrepreneur where we were even gifted a book written by this innovator, Mr. Harsh Mariwala, Marico. This was followed by a book-signing session and a discussion around 'traditional advertising: the road ahead' chaired by Mr. Josy Paul of BBDO. Other speakers were Mr. Ajay Kakar of Aditya Birla Capital, Shubhranshu Singh of Tata Motors and Mr. Rahul Pansare of Jeep Stellantis (India). They talked about how there was a thin blurring line between 'traditional' and 'online' or digital. Mr. Paul emphasized on the importance of radio as a potent medium that has been the oldest medium, yet every time reinventing itself. Citizen journalism, too, revolutionized media and challenged the definitions of 'traditional' media.
My question was: if digital is 'traditional', then how to accommodate the new-age customer who has different demands and needs, not just as a 'content creator' but as a consumer, too?
A short half-an-hour lunch was followed by another discussion around 'hyperlocal focus in media planning'. The session was chaired by Mr. Mandeep Malhotra, a business marketing consultant. Other speakers were Mr. Rajiv Dubey of Dabur, Mr. Krishnarao Buddha of Parle, Mr. Mukesh Mishra of Adani Wilmar, Mr. Ravi Saxena of WonderChef, Ms. Esha Nagar of Nepa India. They had a brainstorming session on planning being all about setting a context, content and medium. Mr. Navin emphasized upon the marketing tactics being more customized, which is a bigger challenge for established brands as they have to compete with ever-new brands coming up in the local market. There has also been more use of technology to meet consumer demands. Mr. Ravi talked about O2O- Online to Offline and vice versa. The main focal point discussed was the entry of big companies entering the hyperlocal market.
Speakers also talked about partnerships coming into the fray. Winning has become important in markets. In advertising, companies were always looking for opportunities that worked for them.
My question: if hyperlocal focus has to maintain its brand, then one of the key elements is 'maximizing relationship marketing'. How do hyperlocal brands work on their CRM?
Subsequent sessions were on the power of conversation by Kanika Mittal of Twitter, Puneet Das of Jaagore (CSR initiative of Tata Tea); followed by panel discussions on 'using sports to build brands', 'blurring boundaries between sales and marketing', 'era of conversational commerce'.
Shark Awards followed suit with various winners being declared under different categories. Some of the winners were O & M, India and Bisleri among a lot others. Marketeer of the Year was Ms. Anjana Ghosh of Bisleri; Campaign of the Year Award also going to Bisleri (Samajhdar Bisleri Peete Hain); Media & Entertainment Gold going to Amazon Prime Video & SoCheers; Health & Wellness Gold going to Redcliffe Labs & Spankh Creative Adda; Consumer Durables & Electronics Gold going to Jaguar Bath & Lighting & Enormous; BFSI (Banking, Financial Services & Insurance Sector) Gold going to Motilal Oswal Financial Services; Use of Mobile Gold being bagged by The Woman's Company & PLAY.
What followed were a few exchange of cards- I managed to save three business cards of executives working in the field of marketing and branding. As the bar opened I walked over to the dinner table to fill my tummy with scrumptious Chinese noodles and vegetable manchurian.
The food at this hotel was good- light and wholesome:-))
#MumbaiRains #ETBWS #Conference #SaharaStar #Advertising #Marketing #Branding #Awards #SHARK_Awards #LifetimeExperience
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