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EE News Desk
Emirates Airlines organized a virtual tour and quiz contest in the form of Emirates "Be There Challenge" at DLF Cyber Hub, Gurgaon on 18- 19 March 2016. As part of this contest, Emirates brought the experience of the Americas and Europe to Gurgaon. Participants experienced being in a city that Emirates flies to, using a Galaxy Gear VR and needed to guess the city’s name. Emirates connects India to the airline’s network of 150 destinations across 80 countries in six continents therefore the challenge left most participants scratching their heads. The device offered them a chance to experience four cities and a 360 degree view of each city. Winners of the contest, which was open to all, were gifted two Economy Class tickets to London, Paris or Brussels.
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Percept Sports & Entertainment, the Strategic Business Unit of Percept One, bagged the mandate of executing the ‘World Percussion Festival, 2016’ organised by The Times of India. The two day event was held on 5th & 6th March 2016 at the Cyber Hub, Gurgaon and the Nehru Park, New Delhi. The World Percussion Festival is a 2 day music festival in which Artists and Groups from all over the world perform with various percussion instruments on a common platform. This year saw musical performances by International Percussion Bands along with Flea Markets and Interactive Fun Activities zones spanning caricature, stilt walkers, carnival dancers, tattoo and face painting artists. The euphoric beats of percussion instruments and the thunderous cheer of the crowd filled the air to kick start the 3rdedition of the World Percussion Festival, 2016. The festival saw over 7,000 attendees humming and cheering to the drumbeats of the performers present from the different parts of the globe including Indonesia, Belgium, Sri Lanka, Israel and Russia. The main highlight of the Festival were the Israeli Drummer ‘Kaafri’ who performed for the very first time in Delhi, and ‘Rhythm of Causasus’, a band of five dynamic youth from Russia. Percept Sports & Entertainment’s scope of on-ground work encompassed conceptualizing, planning and executing the entire two day event spanning hospitality, food & beverage, logistics, set production, theme and décor of the massive venue, safety and security protocols, overseeing the seamless show flow, and managing the entire technical production of the show. The carnival witnessed a riot of colors with a quirky Flea Market coupled with additional fun activities such as Stilt Walkers, Magicians, Jugglers, and Clowns that captivated the attendees. Accessories and Home Décor items attracted many visitors, even as children were seen glued to the Bioscope. Gaurav Singhania, Senior Brand Manager, The Times of India, said, “The 3rd edition of the World Percussion Festival reached greater heights this year with multiple engagement activities and adding lots of excitement around the Festival. This year it was organised at 2 venues to upscale the festival. We would like to congratulate the Percept team for putting up a great show and managing the festival seamlessly. We have been rolling out National Campaigns and NCR large scale campaigns through Percept and every time it has been a great experience.” Commenting on the grand success of the event, Mr. Jayaram Nair, National Business Head, Percept Sports and Entertainment said, “It’s an honour to manage and execute the World Percussion Festival 2016 again and we are glad to have attained the expectations of the TOI team as also attending guests. This year the Festival scaled up to span 2 venues as also present a melange of fun interactive zones and activities to keep attendees engrossed. Managing a mammoth attendance of over 7,000 people across 2 days, handling guest protocols for reputed performers from all over the globe, creating magnificent decor, and ensuring seamless security and show flow was no easy task. Kudos to every member of the Percept team on delivering a seamless and memorable show, and here’s looking forward to handling many more exciting projects of the TOI Group!”
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Fashion social network Roposo has launched a style check-in feature which allows users to update their location along with their fashion posts. This feature enables others to see what is trending at stylish places across the country and who’s wearing what at the most glitzy parties and events. As users can also tag the places from which they’ve bought a certain item of clothing, others can discover the best markets and brands to shop from. With style check-in, Roposo aspires to connect India with the love of fashion. Actress Sonakshi Sinha has already used style check-in, becoming the first celebrity to add a location to her posts. Roposo co-founder, Avinash Saxena said, “Style check-in from Roposo is set to change the way Indians shop and discover fashion. This is the first product in the country to connect style with location. There are certain cities in India where trends catch on the fastest. Those in other geographies can now stay abreast with the most fashion-forward choices that others in India are making with style check-in. Since users can also add location to snaps of things they buy at certain markets, style check-in will fuel online discovery of offline sales. The feature is sure to revolutionise how India gets its dose of style inspiration.” Style check-in is also expected to have an impact on the Indian fashion business at large. Fashion production houses till now did not know which styles to produce for which city and had to rely on local sales. This meant the industry could not forecast demand for styles. However, now that they have access to real time photos of what people are wearing by location, businesses stand to benefit as they can spot which trends are making waves where. For the style check-in feature, Roposo will use either the device GPS to add the location tag to a story or search for a pre-existing location. Users will also be able to see all the photo posts which are near their location. All levels of geography, from streets, malls, cities to countries can be used to check in and custom locations can be added wherever necessary. Check-ins can be edited and location can also be added to old posts on Roposo.
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American multinational clothing brand GAP seems to have made a strong foothold in the Indian market, ever since its first store launch at Select City Walk in South Delhi, last summer 2015. The clothing brand partnered with one of the country’s largest textile companies, Arvind Lifestyles Brand Ltd, and in addition to this, the company is planning to launch 40 stores around India. Recently GAP landed its feet in Mumbai and worked with Mumbai's iconic dabbawalas to deliver a dabba and greet a hello in true Mumbaikar style. As part of the activity executed by Toast Events, the dabbawalas made way through the streets of the city with invites to the store launch and an iconic GAP logo tee for the recipients, stirred by social buzz with celebrities like Ranveer Singh, Nishika Lulla, Anushka Manchanda, Shibani Dandekar, Karan Patel, Krystle D’Souza and Karanvir Bohra tweeting their excitement about the store’s opening. The activity resulted in almost 1000 posts on Instagram and twitter which garnered over 7.2 million impressions in a day. Here is what Harshad Chavan, Director Toast Events, had to say… Q. What was the concept of the activity? Toast Events took up the challenge to take Mumbai by storm and created a massive buzz prior to the launch. The agency devised an impactful month-long plan with a combination of digital campaign, and on-ground activations. We devised a 360 degrees approach with experiential marketing and digital marketing going hand-in-hand. The campaign began with dubsmash booths that were designed for college fests (St. Xaviers, IIT Bombay & NM College). This was followed by the dabbawala activity that was used to send across special GAP branded dabbas as invites to the influencers, celebrities and corporates across Mumbai. The same dabbawala flavor was maintained during the launch as Ranveer Singh made an entry on a cycle with GAP dabbas. The lezim dancers, drum rolls and tutari music added more to the look and feel of the store launch. Q. How many people did you engage during the activity? As per the reports, digitally we managed to reach about 10 million people. Our Dabbawala video as a part of the activity reached out to 230 influencers, bloggers, celebrities, RJs and corporates managed to get a reach of over 400K in less than 48 hours of posting it. Q. Working with a celebrity at a crowded mall in Mumbai isn’t really easily manageable, so how did you go about it? Were there any other challenges that you faced during the activity? Ranveer has a huge fan following and it was only apparent that there was going to be a massive turnout by them to catch a glimpse of their favorite star. His fans began queuing outside the mall as early as 7 ‘o’ clock in the morning. Security movement and crowd management was a big challenge at the launch. However, we were prepared for the same! Our meticulous planning prior to the launch was developed in collaboration with the mall authorities to ensure smooth flow of event. Q. What was the response of the people you connected with? Almost everyone who heard about the dabbawala activity was thrilled about receiving the dabba while many others reached out to us requesting for a dabba too. Besides, the dubsmash booths also helped the brand to connect with the youth instantly. The mid-night launch with surprise discount vouchers raised curiosity amongst the shoppers and ensured queues outside the store even at late night hours. Q. What were the key highlights of the activity? The posts about receiving the dabbawala invites by corporates like Red Chillies Entertainment, Grofers, Taj Lands End, Zomato India and Go Cheese to name a few added large amount of value to the campaign. Q. Considering, you launched GAP in India with the activity what was the brief given and how did you live up to it? The brand gave a clear brief that they wanted to create a huge buzz in Mumbai city and were prepared to opt for creative and edgy ideas to reach out to the people. They desired to adapt to the local market and speak to them in their language to send a clear message. The brand was aware that Mumbai is a challenging city as it already has so much to offer that it was imperative to do something unique in order to make a mark and leave a lasting impression. Q. What are some of the other activities you look forward to executing with the brand? Many more store launches across the country! Q. You ran a successful social media campaign with the brand as well. What were the impressions you created? As per the last report, we had over 10 million+ Impressions over the entire campaign.
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EEMA (Event & Entertainment Management Association) has today announced the dates for their annual global convention EEMAGINE as May 1- 3, 2016. EEMAGINE 2016 would be hosted at Hotel The Grand, New Delhi and will see in attendance various stakeholders from the events and experiential marketing industry. While the theme of EEMAGINE last year was India Inspired, this year the convention will be based around the theme ‘India Unimagined’. EEMA President Sabbas Joseph commented, “Easy to pontificate and share one’s thought about an India Unimagined, but each of us have different thoughts, ideas and dreams. India Unimagined has no rules, no taboos, none of the “don’t do this” and naysayers. For a moment, place yourself on a trampoline. The past is the base that we stand on. The Present is upon us and provides the momentum. The future is the extent that we allow ourselves to reach out for. As you leap repeatedly on the trampoline, jump freely with your cares thrown to the wind, smile, bounce, be the cynosure of everyone’s eyes, you will jump and fall, but with every fall you will gain a momentum that propels you to greater height. India Unimagined is all about our dreams, our vision, the Future that we need to create for ourselves. It’s time to imagine an India unimagined.” “During EEMAGINE 2016, we will engage on multiple ideas, dreams, challenges and share experiences from India and the world. Creative minds, Business influencers, marketing gurus, policy makers, digital entrepreneurs and experience creators will share with us their dashboard for tomorrow”, continues Joseph. Registrations for the event are not yet open, and a formal announcement will soon be made inviting those who wish to attend. Sabbas Joseph adds, “During the convention we will seize ourselves with big dreams, crazy ideas, unseen technology, maverick entrepreneurs and also important challenges like artiste relations, health and safety, production standards, and HR policies. We will share, debate and discuss.” This year at the convention, EEMA would also be launching the inaugural EEMA SPOTLIGHT Awards to honor partners across the creative and production spectrum.
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YouTube and Branded Ltd have announced the return of the YouTube FanFest to Mumbai, an exclusive live show and festival bringing together established and emerging YouTube stars from India and around the world with fans. Now returning to India for the third time, YouTube FanFest gives fans the unique opportunity to meet their favorite internet heroes in person. This year, YouTube FanFest is set to take center stage on Friday, March 18, 2016 at DOME@NSCI SVP Stadium in Mumbai. Over 5,000 fans will get face-to-face with some of YouTube's biggest stars, local internet sensations, and up-and-coming talent performing live on stage. This year’s show features a dynamic mix of music, comedy, dance, fashion and much more, all together on one stage and strutting the red carpet pre-show. The stellar line-up for the YouTube FanFest Mumbai encore features over 35 widely popular YouTubers from around the world, including Lilly Singh aka IISuperwomanII, Connor Franta, All India Bakchod, SANAM, Kanan Gill & Biswa Kalyan Rath, East India Comedy, Bryden-Parth Music, Abish Mathew, Kaushal, Kenneth Sebastian, Kurt Hugo Schneider, and many more. “Over the last few years, we have seen Indian YouTube creators capture the imagination of youth and win fans around the world. We’re delighted to host YouTube FanFest again in India for the third time to celebrate this new generation of YouTube stars and welcome some of our most popular global YouTube stars back to India,” said Gautam Anand, Director of Content and Operations, YouTube Asia-Pacific. “This FanFest in Mumbai is going to see the biggest line up of YouTube stars we have ever had and they are all excited to be in India. More stars, more fun and more screaming fans in one of YouTube’s largest Asian fan bases,” said Jasper Donat, CEO of Branded, co-producers of YouTube FanFest. To make this day more memorable, fans will have chance to get up close and personal with the stars at meet and greets and promotions run by the YouTubers themselves. Lilly Singh aka IISuperwomanII, Kurt Hugo Schneider and Connor Franta will join several other global and local music sensations for their performances in Mumbai. “I’m pumped that I’m coming back to Mumbai for the third YouTube FanFest—the fans are some of the best in the world and I’m excited to perform for them again!” said Kurt Hugo Schneider. “This will be my first time taking part in the YouTube FanFest in India and I am beyond excited. If the energy is the same as the other FanFests, it's going to be an amazing evening,” Connor Franta enthused. All free general admission tickets were sold out within an hour on http://www.youtubefanfest.com/in/; further tickets will be made available in the coming days via sponsors and announcements on @youtubefanfest. For those who can’t make the live show, YouTube FanFest will be livestreamed at http://www.youtube.com/fanfe
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Raj Batra, Director at Mosiac Events, a wedding specialist agency, has entered a joint venture with SOI Live Marketing, an established player in corporate events and live marketing space, to form “Golden Vibes Events Pvt Ltd”. Objectives of the JV: This joint venture involves two businesses pooling their combined experience of almost 35 years, resources and expertise to achieve greater heights. The reasons behind forming a joint venture include business expansion, development of new products or moving into new markets, particularly overseas. The main objective is leveraging the increased bandwidth for faster growth, widening the market and exploring the untapped market. Use each other's strengths and bring them together to build an exclusive brand in the market. This merger will focus on knowledge transfer and training while equipping the group for more effective service. The aim is to increase the effectiveness of experiential marketing and social events by using group expertise and knowledge. To start catering to the international diaspora. To set benchmarks in delivery through creativity, innovation, value pricing and practices and processes. GV (Golden Vibes) will be focusing on more of potential client base, whether it is a large scale or smaller scale projects. Geographical Spread of area of operations: • GV has expanded its wings to all the metros across India to cater to entire India market, not just for weddings, but also for corporate events to be executed nationally and internationally. • With greater capacity & increased technical expertise GV aims access to established markets and distribution channels. • Both Raj Batra and Himanshu Shah of SOI have been working nationally already, with individual client base across the country respectively in social & corporate domains. • With the past experience of overseas weddings and events of Raj Batra, GV seems equipped with the manpower and resources to execute overseas weddings and events for clients globally. Individual Contribution of SOI and Raj Batra in this collaboration: A vision of leveraging upon the mutual passion for event management to expand the capabilities and maximize the outreach,thereby providing clients with value-added solutions for their needs to help them achieve their desires in the most creative fashion. SOI is an established player in corporate domain and Raj Batra is an established personality in wedding planning industry. Market Potential & Growth Objectives of the JV: The wedding business is more on emotions and not the GDP or market scenarios. Any family/ individual aspires to put in his best resources or efforts for the wedding of their loved ones. This is a market that has not shown a diminishing trend. Among the odds Gujarat stands on the top of the wedding market as people here are more traveled and exposed to the trends worldwide. It is certainly a market with ample of business opportunities. From last year the market has seen a 20 - 25% rise in exploring local/destination Weddings. GV will grab the opportunity of the growing market with their existing and combined recourses to cater more than one wedding at a particular time frame.
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In the build up to the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016 and as part of the ongoing Nissan Trophy Tour, Nissan has teamed up with India’s fast-bowling cricket legend, Zaheer Khan, and the UK’s popular Fifth Gear presenter, Jonny Smith, in an exciting challenge on the streets of Mumbai. Nissan set out to prove which was fastest through the busy city roads and streets of Mumbai: car, bicycle or one of the famous Dabbawalas. The Dabbawalas have established themselves over the past 100 years as a mainstay of food delivery in Mumbai and are renowned for their speed and accuracy in one of the world’s busiest cities. The challenge: Zaheer Khan and Jonny Smith navigate the streets in a Nissan Sunny to try and deliver the ICC World Twenty20 Trophy to a local school before the Dabbawala can deliver lunch to the school’s Head Coach by bike and train. This unique and exciting journey can be followed through a series of three short films, starting at Mumbai's Churchgate Station, moving all the way across South Mumbai, culminating in a grand finale chase to the Bright Start Fellowship International School. Watch the footage to see the teams get lost, come face-to-face with the crowds and get into (and out of) some challenging situations.
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In an unconventional initiative in the fashion space, abof.com has launched its first abof Experience Zone (AEZ) in Mantri Mall, Bangalore. The fashion portal has taken a bold step to reach out to its consumers though the brick and mortar route with an objective to introduce them to the unlimited possibilities of the online fashion world where they can lay hands on fresh styles, spot trends, browse through the latest fashion content, try clothes virtually, save wish-list. Having experienced this in the zone, customers can shop online at their convenience. The experience zone is aimed at encouraging people to shop online and experience the richness of the virtual world of abof.com with largely three main objectives. Firstly, the customers can take a tour of the abof.com website which offers latest styles, personalized fashion content and style tips. AEZ brings the experience of shopping online to consumers where visitors can browse the highly curated collection through its own brand ‘abof’ and selected products from handpicked brands. Visitors can also browse through the What’s Hot section of the glam-led platform which offers latest styles, personalized fashion content and style tips. Secondly, the shoppers visiting the premium mall can visit the AEZ and review the actual collection which the multi-brand portal offers on its glam-led webstore. This is the first time ever that customers can touch and feel the actual collection available online. A personal stylist at the AEZ not only gives style tips but also helps one pick the right look along with shoes and accessories. Thirdly and most importantly, abof’s one of its kind features like 3D trial room and Visual search can be experienced life-size at the AEZ. On a large screen, women can virtually try products by inputting just three basic body measurements. The tool allows users to visualize the garment on a customized 3D avatar-type model and get the right size recommendation. In addition, the tool also allows users to layer garments providing a complete outfit view. “We take great pride in being India’s first fashion portal to launch an ‘Experience Zone.’ Our larger objective is to introduce customers to the unlimited possibilities of online shopping which we believe is far superior experience than shopping offline. We are hoping that we will be able to encourage more and more people to switch to shopping online on abof.com through this,” said Prashant Gupta, President & CEO,abof.com. “With the experience zone, consumers can review abof’s collections, browse our website, get style tips and witness the largeness of advanced technologies like our 3D trial room and Visual search which significantly upgrade the online shopping experience for our customers”, he added. abof.com plans to scale the experience 50 more such experience zones across the country by the end of this year.
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Percept Sports and Entertainment, the Strategic Business Unit of Percept One, bagged the mandate of managing and executing the 19th International Technical Footwear Congress of UITIC (International Union of Shoe Industry Technicians). The spectacular three day show took place on 3rd, 4th, and 5th February, 2016 at ITC Grand Chola, Chennai. Hosted in India, the 19th International Technical Footwear Congress of UITIC saw the participation of over 550 delegates from around the globe including France, Mexico, Germany, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Madagascar, Tanzania, Hong Kong, Spain, ‘Ethiopia, Iran, Colombia, Portugal, Srilanka, Romania, UK, Austria, Hungary, Taiwan, India. The UITIC has been a pioneer in the dissemination of technical developments and knowledge in the footwear industry by facilitating information exchanges between its members. UITIC’s main activity is to organize an International Technical Footwear Congress which addresses the latest technical issues and problems. The Percept Sports and Entertainment team handled the massive task of conceptualizing, designing, and implementing the entire event. PSE was responsible for handling the 360° scope of work encompassing planning, branding, logistics, hospitality of the delegates, executing and technical production of the entire congress. The congress showcased an exhibition area with over 20 international and national exhibitors displaying their products. The event further saw a poster wall area with 40 odd visual presentations across the globe displaying their projects. Their aim was to bring together a representative sampling of the international footwear industry with professionals and experts from nearly 30 countries, including 174 foreign attendees from outside India. It proposed 30 presentations and a total of 35 technical posters. There were over 596 participants congregated for the event which saw a huge discussion on topics about “The future footwear factory.” The weeklong affair culminated with a gala dinner which saw the delegates interacting and increasing their connectivity and networks which was followed by a cultural programme which was also handled by Percept Sports and Entertainment team. The 19th UITIC Congress was coming to India for the first time after being held in European countries for the most part previously. The Govt had mandated certain minimum number of Overseas & Domestic Delegates so we were under pressure on different aspects of organizing the Congress. Funding support was to be mobilized to organize the Congress to professional standards on a grand scale. We had a few worries at certain points of time during the lead up to the Congress but the delivery and end-product by Percept was Excellent! Ms Francoise Nicolas, General Secretary-UITIC has thanked & congratulated the “Percept Team”!! Chairman-CLE has remarked that Percept never said No although CLE came up with many new / previously not-discussed requirements.” said Sunanda Santappa, Assistant Director, CLE (Council Leather Exports) Commenting on the grand success of the event, Mr. Sameer Sethi, Associate Vice President, Percept Sports, and Entertainment said, “It’s been an honor to work on this event which has been gigantic in stature and incredible in repute. It was a great opportunity to mandate the account of this massive event, as it was the first time since 1972 that the congress was held in India. It took us almost 8 months to plan and execute this colossal event. It’s great to see that the Percept team has pulled off this event successfully and ensured superb hospitality that vowed the delegates from all over the world.”
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