Experiential industry on the crest of a wave, profess experts at EEMAX Global 2016

Chris Weil, Chairman and CEO, Momentum Worldwide, took to the stage for the inaugural keynote address and explained that it’s not what brand’s say that matter, it’s what they do that does. Through his presentation he took the audience through some brand experiences the company has created including You Vs for American express, Oscar Selfie for Samsung, and shared his nuanced perspective on how the internet, has acted as a distribution channel for scaling up.

Citing an amazing example of how experiential can carve the name of a brand in the mind of the consumer, Prasoon Joshi, Chairman, McCann Asia Pacific, in a riveting speech explained that when he had been young, he had visited a yoga teacher, less for yoga than the candies that were meted out to the students. But years down the line, it’s the yoga he remembers, not the name of the candies.

In a panel discussion with Michael Menezes, Showtime Group, Chris Weil, Prasoon Joshi, Ananth Rangaswami, Editor, CNBC, and CVL Srinivas it emerged that experiential was creating a difference and distinction for itself, with support from digital media, that could not be matched by other modes of advertising.

The voice of the Nation, who gets India glued to television at prime time each day, Arnab Goswami from Times Now, talked about his strong opinions being the source of his vibrant energy and said he believe in either right or wrong, leaving no room for grey areas. His soul-stirring speech and fireside chat with Mr. Anurag Batra, Editor-in-Chief and Chairman, Businessworld and exchange4media served him a standing ovation from the full house of event planners.

India Experiential Marketing Spends 2016, a study conducted by Everything Experiential in association with EEMA and research partners Traverse Strategy Consultants was unveiled on stage that pegged experiential spends in India at INR 6250 Cr. The report outlines the segmentation between organized and unorganized sector of the industry and highlights key findings in possibly the most expansive study of the experiential marketing industry in India ever conducted.

Karthikeya Sharma, Founder, Pro Wrestling League spoke on the inspiration and perspiration that went into the making of the Pro-wrestling league, and the 48% viewership coming from women being testimony of how the league has broken into a new market.

The role of data will be considerable in the augmentation of the events industry was the advise of Mr Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18, who also said 4G and block chain technology presented great opportunities for live events.

Viral is the new fever was the central subject of a panel moderated by Mr. Atul Nath, Founder, Candid Marketing. The panel consisted of Ashish Patel, VP, Yashraj films, Shreyansh Pandey, Creative Producer, Gursimran Khamba of AIB Fame, Rishi Jaitley, CEO Twitter. The discussion revealed that a content that is made with truth and feelings, and spiked with an element of surprise, will invariably capture the audience.

The sessions wrapped up with an insight into the making of Survival Billboard by Luke D’arcy, President, Momentum Worldwide, after which guests dispersed for drinks. An hour or so of socializing gave way to a gala awards event attended by Monali Thakur, Kailash Kher, Neeti Mohan, Benny Dayal, Shankar-Ehsaan and Loy, Md. Irrfan, Divya Kumar, Akriti Kakkar, Jonita Gandhi, Amit Mishra, Jubilee Baruah, Arjun Kanungo, Asees Kaur, Shivangi Bhayana, Shashwat Singh and Yashita Sharma among others.