Events and experiential industry is going through an impasse due to lack of new ideas: Sanjoy Roy

At the 3rd edition of BW Applause and everything experiential Marketing Summit and Awards, Sanjoy Roy, MD, Teamwork Arts spoke about the ‘Growing Clout of  Events & Experiential Economy” in his keynote on the inaugural day of the Summit.

Roy spoke about the growing role of technology in events and cited the example of the virtual reality story-telling that was showcased at the recently concluded edition of The Jaipur Literature Festival and how it enabled to curate new expereinces.

Roy also spoke about the immense clout of the wedding industry and how it continues to wield considerable influence in the events domain. “Today the wedding industry is galloping away at about 110% growth a year and the kind of market-possibilities it is presenting to the world is huge. Indians, driving this industry are still unaware of the wealth and leverage that rests here”, he said.

Urging events and experiential professionals to look beyond just ROI numbers, Roy emphasised on creating lasting value for clients.”In the events and experiential industry, it is important for  agencies to create value more than  just ROI for their clients.”

He also spoke about the importance of sustainability and how the events and experiential industry needs to play its role in its adoption “ The future of our events depends on how rerpsonsible we are and sustainability measures like reduction of plastic and reducing carbon footprints need to be part of the conversation in our industry.”

Speaking about the need to think out-of-the-box and be open to innovation, Roy said,”The events and experiential industry is at an impasse and they are doing the ‘me too’ kind of thing by repeating the same formula, it’s time to move beyond this approach to stay relevant. You can only be as successful as the new idea that you have. If you are going to spin out the same presentation to the government and any other private client, you are not getting the business.”

Roy also urged the events and experiential community to empower the young workforce and build a culture where failure is celebrated. “The next era belongs to the youth. Empower young people in your company and let them come up with big ideas. Invest in failure. Failures are super-important as one can learn from them. This learning is incredible, huge and absolutely priceless”, he added.