Connection between brands and consumers is the key to thrive: Vishwajeet Parashar, CMO, Bajaj Capital

BW Applause Experiential Marketing Summit and Awards 2020 conducted a session with events industry experts who discussed how can sponsors leverage events for greater ROI.

Abhinav Trivedi, Co-founder and CEO, Street Journos Media moderated the session and the other industry experts in the panel were Vishwajeet Parashar, CMO, Bajaj Capital, Siddhartha Chaturvedi, CEO, Event Crafter and Janardan Pandey, Founder & MD, Nett Value India.

Vishwajeet Parashar emphasised that nowadays channels of traditional marketing have taken a back-seat and marketers are focussing more and more on experiential marketing. He said, “This is when the consumer wants to connect with the brand and as a brand we want to connect with the consumer, understand them and make them loyal towards the brand. 

If you look at global examples such as Coke or Pepsi. These brands have been sponsoring major events for a very long time. As a brand are you getting ROI or not? That is important. So it is not only about just wearing a logo. It is about being a partner of the sponsor. 

"There has to be an engagement and loyalty with the consumer as what as a brand you stand for should be in the minds of the consumer so that you get a better ROI. You will see that if a consumer has engaged with you in an event, there are 74% chance they will buy your products and you are not just putting a logo but trying to emotionally connect with the consumer,” Vishwajeet stated.

Siddhartha Chaturvedi, CEO, Event Crafter mentioned, “The mindset of most brands is still the same. They think about the sponsorships, how much ROI will they get and what will they get in return. It has to start like an investment and this investment has a cost. Unfortunately, the organiser cannot give you an ROI in the first year. So there is still a vicious circle. Lot of new brands are trying to invest in the same manner."

Janardan Pandey, Founder & MD , Nett Value India, points out that basically when you look into traditional advertising versus experiential events there needs to be a whole new perspective.

According to him, “Experiential marketing is a completely different ball game. It has a lot of potential. You need to touch the consumer’s lives, their mindset and a host of other things emotionally and build a relationship. It is not a one day communication.