EEMAGINE, the annual convention of the event and experiential marketing industry took off yesterday at Hotel The Grand in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Organized by the Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) the event is a melting pot of talent and creativity, pulling in industry stakeholders from the length and breadth of the country for an audience, and experts from multiple domains as speakers. This year the three-day event boasts of close to 30 impressive speakers, including the likes of Amitabh Kant, Sanjay Dutt, Mukesh Bhatt, Valsa Nair Singh and several achievers from the brand and agency side.
Themed ‘India Unimagined’, Delhi’s young tourism minister Mr Kapil Mishra christened EEMAGINE 2016 with a keynote address. Having worked closely with the association over the past year over matters of event licensing and pre-approved venues Mr Kapil Mishra has been a loud voice for the event industry and a strong support towards its swift recent growth. He assured continued support from the Delhi government and encouraged the full house of event planners to create more events in the capital city. Voicing his concern regarding corruption in the country he said, “My endeavor as a government representative is to eliminate the rampant corruption in the city. We are trying to ensure a seamless process so that official state formalities do not become a deterrent in your efforts. We’ve already taken some steps in the right direction. For instance Vijay Nair of OML admitted to not having to pay a single rupee as bribe for the first time in his career when he recently organized A R Rahman’s concert. We are also trying to promote street performers so that their talent is recognized and they are given respect in the society. Cultivating talent from the ground up is extremely important for longevity of the industry”.
A special address was delivered by Mr Anurag Batra, Chairman and Managing Director, Businessworld Group, on the relevance of ‘Media, Entertainment and Sports’ in the country. He expounded that albeit digital media has picked up wind in the last few years, India still consumes maximum content through television. He said print media is on the decline and smart technology will continue to become more relevant for the millennial. He added that India is the second largest Internet consumer in the world and that is changing the face of media communication rapidly. On the subject of sports he said there’s been a fall of 11% in cricket sponsorships indicating that new opportunities are now opening up in the form of various sporting leagues, implying more possibilities for the events sector too.
A panel discussion followed on ‘The business of sports’, with Harish Krishnamachar, Sports Guru and Founder, Sportsoid; Dhiraj Malhotra, Tournament Director - ICC World Cup, Mentor to HIL, ISL, Pro-kabaddi League and IPTL; Gautam Bhimani, Sports Anchor and Saba Karim, Former Cricketer and Indian Selector, as panelists. The discussion was moderated by Syed Sultan Ahmed, Managing Director, Edumedia.
A staggering revelation by Harish Krishnamachar indicated that the total TV viewership of sports across categories currently stands at 2.6% in India as opposed to 30% of Hindi GECs. But that said he also added that sports continues to interest a large population of people who are increasingly taking up careers in the field. “Although several sports are attracting attention at the moment they cannot be compared to the popularity of cricket” said Dhiraj Malhotra. “Like Rome, cricket was not built in a day, so it’s unfair to have cricket like expectations from other sports”, he added. The panelists agreed that we’re in the middle of the best time for professional leagues in India. With governance and professionalism tightened, things will surely look up.Gautam Bhimani in a rather bold comparison said that ‘sport’ is similar to sex. Cricket has taken the lead because it has been sexed up right from the beginning, and this strategy is being adopted by other sports too today. Giving pointers to enhance the acceptance of sports in India Saba Karim said three things are imperative- ‘Patience’ because creating mindspace with the consumer takes time, ‘Faith’ in the substance of the sport and, making it “Spicy” because people demand entertainment and excitement.
The day ended with a performance by Mame Khan and other entertainment. EEMAGINE 2016 is being held between 1 May and 3 May at hotel The Grand, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Gitikka Ganju Dhar is the emcee at the event.
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