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EE News Desk
Fempowerment Women Achievers Awards 2016 and Zee TV honoured Indian Women for their achievements across various fields at a star-studded ceremony at Film City, Mumbai on July 17. The Awards Show lauded women innovators, visionaries, activists & creative minds from the corporate world to showbiz in the presence of noted celebrities including Subhash Ghai, Saroj Khan, Kailash Kher ,Dolly Thakore, Chhaya Momaya, Mrunalini Deshmukh, Krishika Lulla, Bhawana Somaaya, Gurmeet Choudhry, Debina, Supriya, Sriti Jha , Sayantani Ghosh, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Karan Tacker, Ritvik Dhanjani, Asha Negi, Aditi Mittal, , Shahid Mallya, Lavina, Meghna Ghai Puri, Shaina Nath, Sathya Saran, and many more.
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Born in the digital age and raised with technology on their fingertips, India is a home to over 600 million Millennial’. As per Millennial’ Loyalty Survey conducted in urban India, 72% of Millennial’ research for the prices and features of a product on behalf of their family members, 63% of them use mobile phones for research and 41% seek for opinions through digital mediums before making a purchase. Doesn’t this ring a bell on how Millennials are shaping not only the consumer behavior but also the demand?
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Indian Tyre manufacturer MRF Tyres on Friday announced the launch of a riding community ‘Ride Along with MRF’. During the ICC Cricket World T20, MRF launched an initiative to add thrill to the lives of two-wheeler owners across India. Over three lakh riders participated. It also gave MRF an insight into the latest needs of bikers across India. So MRF decided to cater to these needs and fuel the passion of the riders.
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Located in the posh area of Lower Parel in Mumbai, Restro-Bar Please Don’t Tell, has confirmed to be the Cocktail Reception Partner for the 4th Annual MICE India & Luxury Travel Congress taking place on the 28th & 29th of July 2016. The MILT congress garners India’s leading corporations, top destination wedding planners and leading film production houses, who are the key contributors to the strength of India’s outbound travel market and provides them with opportunities to source partners for their future MICE projects.
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Sports Bureau of Macao SAR Government and Wushu General Association of Macao has organized ‘14th Wushu Competition’ in Macao this August with an aim to promote ‘Wushu’ which is a traditional Chinese martial arts that is praised and acknowledged around the world. Co-organized by Macao Government Tourist Office, Cultural Affairs Bureau and Cultural Industries Fund and supported by International Wushu Federation, Wushu Federation of Asia, Chinese Wushu Association and various Macao governmental organizations, this sport is one of the traditional cultural heritages of China with a long, well-established history and development in Macao. Conducted over a span of four days, the 14th edition of the Wushu World Championship is a large scale event which is all set to draw in Wushu champions from all over the world to participate in the competition. This exciting four-day event comprises of great variety of wushu activities, traditional Wushu performances, demonstrations and teaching, lion dance demonstration and experience, Wushu forum, Chinese and Western Wushu Masters Extravaganza and Taolu competition among others. The event’s highlights include the spectacular Lion and Dragon Dance and Championship, Chinese, Western Masters Sanda Championship, Wushu Parade featuring Wushu characters and eye-catching opening and closing ceremonies. The activities will be held in several popular spots in Macao, such as the Tap Seac Square, Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion, Senado Square, Amizade Square, Iao Hon Market Garden and more. The 14th edition of the Wushu World Championship is all set to engage the participation of local residents and tourists alike, resulting in a celebration of sports, tourism and culture this August 2016.
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Driverskart, on-demand driver service provider has partnered with QuikrServices, the services vertical of Quikr, a cross-category classifieds business to provide on-demand driver solutions. As per this exclusive tie up, any queries in the on-demand driver segment for Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai on the Quikr platform would be redirected to DriversKart. DriversKart provides mobile app based on-demand chauffeur services to help customers hire trusted professional drivers to get driven in the comfort of their own car, saving them time and effort. Commenting on the tie up, Mr. Vinit Srivastava, the co-founder and CEO of Driverskart said, “Quikr is a market leading brand; through this partnership we are excited to share our expertise with Quikr consumers in the on-demand driver services space. As an exclusive partner for on-demand driver space on QuikrServices, we are expecting 15% growth in our customer base and trips per month in Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. We have also increased our driver base in these specific zones by 10%-25% to meet the customer demand. We are also talking to other leading home service aggregators to address their pain points.” Sharing his views, P D Sundar, Head of QuikrServices said, “On-demand is the flavour of the season and it’s no surprise that the concept has been adopted in the driver services segment too. This partnership is a win-win arrangement that allows Quikr users to access a professional and trained pool of service providers and on the other hand enable Driverskart to focus on building a robust supply of service providers to gain quick in-roads in the market through our extensive consumer base.” The Driver on Demand category on QuikrServices is aimed at bridging the gap between the offline local driver services ecosystem, and online demand for the same. With this partnership, DriversKart aims to become the market leader in India’s on-demand driver marketplace. It will further strengthen its presence in Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai as it gets access to Quikr’s consumers across each of these cities. Driverskart is already servicing 10,000 rides a month and is present in Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Pune. It has been the preferred driver provider for self-drive car rental company zoomcar, justride, etc., and has a strong presence in both B2B and B2C segment.
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Presented by Times Network, in association with Nielsen, the 12th edition of the BW Businessworld Marketing Whitebook was launched on July 21, 2016 at a ceremony attended by more than 350 delegates comprising senior decision makers of the marketing industry in India. Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director, Nestlé India launched the book. Preceding the launch, in his Keynote address, Mr Narayanan's key message was of leadership that left behind a legacy to grow. Citing a genetic coding that was has primed Nestle for growth for many years he explained that much as it is advised in philosophy and taught in classrooms, adversities come with opportunities. "We undertake many initiatives, concepts, employ reflectology, consumer dataand insights mining, but there always is something called fate. When that happens, some of these concepts can pale. In times of crisis, you have to go back to values and what makes you grow. We believe in something called Fast, Focussed and Flexible Behaviour," said Mr Narayanan. A LEADERSHIP TO REMEMBER Another point that Mr Narayanan asserted on was the strength of leadership that is buoyed by team and partners and that has the ability to leave behind a legacy of growth. "Whatever a leader achieves, he does so from the shoulder of giants. This is not one hero who makes everything happen. There is a whole team, supported by partners and well wishers behind it. They got us to what was essentially a life crisisfor us. In crisis, you either want to live or go in peace. Some of us choose to live and when that happens, nothing can stop you," Mr Narayanan stated. He explained that leadership is the catalyst, the fertiliser and the ground for change but change has to be embraced by people. You have to try and do the right things for the organisation. He said, "We have 104 yearsof very respectable existence in the category. Our experiences over time, and how we have approached them, have given us some of the most well loved brands, and numerous leaders. We come from a position of strength." He reiterated the fact that it was not really the good times that put leadership to testbut the tougher times. "Leadership makes all the difference, when the chips are down. Referring to the Nestlé experience again, he said, "As an organisation, I am excited. A leader's time will come and go but what we leave behind is important. And at present, Nestlé is taking some right steps for growth." HEIGHTENED CHALLENGES Among the key areas that are becoming important from a marketer's perspective, Mr Narayanan highlighted digital and diversity in workforce. He said that the digital revolution, high on 460 million, and growing internet users, 60 per cent of which were from mobilewas both value and boon for many marketers. He also spoke about the role of women as an important growth driver for marketer. As women literacy rates grow, they are becoming more important not only as individual decision makers but also as consumer categories. Bringing a differentiated perspective here, he said, "Each gender brings value to the table but whoever said men cannot have the softer skills that we attribute to women. That is not the reason to hire. One of my learning in fact is that you needto be like a coconut -hard on the outside and compassionate on the inside. Women in workforce and leadership are increasing, and that is an important change." Reflecting on the change in digital he said, "Companies are no longer digital enabled but marketing is digital able. That is a huge transition. Three years ago, we had 2500 consumer contacts in the full year. Today we are talking about half a million. They want to know everything from what goes in a food product and how it is made to the role and authenticity of the brand," Mr Narayanan said. A FUTURE STORY Millennials have taken the challenges for marketing to a new level and it is a positive challenge. There are tools that enable them to communicate, ask and know. The only thing marketers can bring to the tableare perspectives that add value and help connect the dots. People are talking, thinking and living brands. Brands today have become experiential and part of the ecosystem. "One of the huge facets we observed in Maggi was that it was more than a noodle for Maggi consumers; it is a part of their life. Therefore, the task as marketers to ensure sanctity, privacy and integrity of the relation is that much more," Mr Narayanan said. He observed that in his role, as the companys leader, one of the most important things he could do was to enable his teams the freedom to explore newer areas of connecting with consumers. "India is an emotive country - we have our heart in hands, and thoughts in the feet. As marketers, and as a nation, that is both a challenge and strength," Mr Narayanan concluded, as he advised the audience to always listen to values and heart because these would lead to the right direction.
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Three and a half years old agency, Inextis Events, executed the 4th foundation day event for a PSU giant, Hindustan petroleum Ltd. Inextis has been designing and executing of HPCL’s Foundation day for the last 3 years. Over the years the event has had various themes, even the scale of the event going up and down. Commenting on association Dhruv Davar, CEO, Inextis Events said, “Needless to say it’s a great feeling to be executing the foundation day for the 4th consecutive year. HPCL was one of our first client and over the years we have been able to do some fantastic work with them. We feel proud at Inextis to be working with a Government of India Enterprise which is also a Global Fortune 500 company & wish do even better work in the coming years.” This year was a special one keeping the spirit of “Bringing Smiles, Touching Lives” children from NGO Cankids and Thinkfoundation were invited for a special performance which entralled the audience. The setup in addition to fabrication and technicals had good floral arrgements which enhanced the overall feel of the event. The event was attended by C&MD HPCL Shri M.K. Surana, whose address was webcasted live across India for all HPCL employees.
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eBay India has launched an intuitive twitter feature called #eBaySmartAsk. The feature is a concierge service that will allow consumers to search for products on ebay.in through their twitter accounts. The #eBaySmartAsk feature will provide consumers with snapshots of the top four results and a link to the search result page. The responses received by the consumers will be intuitive and framed in a quirky conversational manner that gives the users a personalized feel rather than a computer generated experience. The feature will bring products searched by consumers directly on their timeline without having to leave their social profiles on twitter. Commenting on the launch of this service, Shivani Dhanda, Director Marketing, eBay India said “At eBay India, we believe in reaching out to consumers in a manner that excites them to further shop online. Our research and expertise in this space has propelled us to focus on heightened engagement with consumers via Twitter. Social commerce is fast evolving and will soon be of prime importance in the marketing strategies of ecommerce companies. eBay India has been a leader to launch an intuitive shopping experience feature that is intrinsic to the twitter platform.” The #eBaySmartAsk app is designed in a way to engage with consumers who spend most of their time on social networking platforms. This feature will assist consumers by presenting them with the search option right on their personal profile, thereby seamlessly integrating shopping into a buyer’s daily social networking routine.
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On July 4th, 2016 Microsoft India conducted their company meet where senior management got together to plan for the financial year 2016 - 2017. To make the meet a success, Microsoft India appointed CS Direkt to curate an event that would engage their employees and create an environment that pushes the envelope in Digital innovation. Themed as ‘Digithon’ – which resonates with the latest Microsoft thought process and way forward for future endeavours’, Digithon was conceived by CSD. Digithon is a digital marathon, which will enhance work, play and life and make the future brighter and better and this will be their mantra and life style for this financial year. A visually ground breaking curated event matching the mood across the Microsoft Board, which entailed the client to become completely immersed in planning the mega meet. The CSD team took up the task of creating a visually interesting and content driven event involving employees at every step. The Company Meet started with a pre-event plan of digital registrations and pre-planned teasers to activate the employees to interact with stakeholders. In order to bring about awareness among employees about the Company Meet, they were given small, quirky and innovative reminders at short intervals of 4 days, bringing them the latest updates on ‘how to prepare for a Digithon’. The event commenced on July 4th, 2016 with a huge bang where all delegates arriving from various cities across the country gathered at the Leela Ambience Convention Hotel, Shahdara for the ‘Digithon’. Their journey to the hotel started with interactive activities on the luxury buses transporting them the venue. Activities such as games and various fun Q&A sessions held on the bus. With excitement bursting on board, the time came for each employee to take a pledge, which was an anthem specially written for the event, making everyone promise to digital enhance their lives and embrace change. At the convention hotel, all check-ins had been digitally completed on auto mode even while traveling to the venue. Delegates were given an energy charged welcome and with a short jog to the lobby to rev up the mood. The venue setup was visually beautiful and digitally enhanced environment which gave everyone a feeling of grandeur, technical advancement and innovation. The stage setup looked and felt like a digitally evolved engine which gave people a vision of a real and live breathing machine that interacts with the crowds. Engagement levels were high, communication was flawless, and the feeling of being empowered by a super power was bursting with high vigour and enthusiasm. Puja Myne, AGM Client Services present at the Microsoft Company Meet shares, “The challenge was to ideate a plan which impacts the Microsoft employees to truly embrace the changing face of digitization. One of the major challenges was to plan out an exciting theme which would engage everyone present. Bringing the gigantic digital stage to life was a huge task and kudos to our operations team who really worked extremely hard.”
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