Author
Shantanu writes for Everything Experiential
Celebrations in India are a larger than life affair and have been instrumental in establishing a distinguished identity for the country as a whole on the global map. But how can events and these festivities be used to foster India’s growth? Well, the answer was given by Shri Maheish Girri, Member of Parliament, East Delhi in his keynote address at the launch of BW APPLAUSE on 5th September at Shangrila Eros. Shri Girri began his address by sharing that though he had recently joined politics and had no background in it he is a spiritual person and has looked and observed India very closely. He said, “I fervently believe that India is a country is a land of festivals and despite of being a land of festivals India has not been able to capitalize on its festivities to attract tourists.Be it Mathura or Varanasi, Karnataka or Kanyakuvari we have a lot of tourists attractions in India but we have never laid emphasis on keeping them clean.” Highlighting the recent developments made in this area Shri Girri said, “I salute the efforts of Hon. Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi who on 15th of August for the first time advocated taking care of very small things in the country. These things might be small but if the entire country takes care of such small things the face of the entire country will change. As an example, “The Swaccha Bharat Campaign” is one such initiative which has been appreciated and applauded by anyone. Even all the religious places associated with Lord Rama are being connected by various transportation mediums. Such is the vision of our respected Prime Minister.” Suggesting how can events and India’s culture can be used for its growth Shri. Girri voiced his opinion by saying, “I feel that we has Indians have not promoted our culture the way it should have been promoted. When a pizza from Italy can come to India then why can’t an Indian Paratha go to Italy. We have so many cultural and religious heritages which have not been promoted at all but thanks to our prime minister such things are being taken care of now. I congratulate BW Businessworld and BW APPLAUSE for the launch and feel they will be instrumental in taking the vision of our Prime Minister ahead by showcasing the importance of India, its heritage and its events.”
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Gone are the days when brands used to sell their products through nonsensical, preachy and one directional marketing techniques. Nowadays if a brand is smart, then its target consumers are smarter and do not end up as a prey to its overhyped ATL advertising. Consumers today are not moved by what they see and hear alone, they are moved by a storytelling narrative that they can connect to. But how are brands weaving their brand communication in a narrative is a question often asked. To answer this, "Story telling through experiential marketing- How to build a narrative that speaks to your TG" was the theme of a panel discussion at the launch of BW APPLAUSE magazine. The panelists on stage were Kanika Mittal, Marketing Head, Reebok, Pallavi Singh, Marketing Director, Harley Davidson, Amit Tiwari, Country Head Media & Digital, Philips and the session was moderated by Suchetana Ray, National News Editor BW Businessworld. When asked how are brands trying to weave their narrative around story telling? Kanika Mittal shares her personal experience from Reebok by saying, “Storytelling has become an integral part of marketing today across the world and India is embracing it at a very fast pace. At Reebok, the traditional tools of ATL/BTL cost you around 50-60% of the marketing strategy but what matters is how you position yourself in the minds of consumers. There is a big difference between telling a consumer about the technological attributes of a product and telling them about how that particular product is going to impact their lives. Earlier in the year we launched a campaign called MSD for India, wherein Mahendra Singh Dhoni asked the people of the country for something and the people of the country had to answer what the captain was asking from them? We answered the question after a month that the captain asks you for one hour from your day that you should invest in some sort of a sporting activity that will positively impact the other 23 hours in a person’s lifestyle. The campaign was a huge success and we could have taken the campaign the traditional route and positioned in something around fitness but instead we went through a more engaging and innovative way to deliver the same message and this is way brands are marketing themselves today.” Voicing his opinion Amit Tiwari said, “Storytelling is not just a part of a marketing campaign for brands today instead it has become the heart of all campaigns run by a brand irrespective of them being ATL or BTL. Without storytelling your brand messages can very well end up being noticed and get lost in the already existing advertising clutter.” Pallavi Singh replies to the same question by highlighting an integral fact about storytelling. She said, “It is not just that storytelling has to be a part of your marketing plan but it has be ensured that the narrative is connected with your brand and is an important part of it. The overall communication that one is trying to send out from a brands point of view should make sense to customers and connect elements of brand, its attribute and the customers.” But since there is no process in place to determine the ROI on experiential marketing spends is that an issue why investments on experiential by brands are so low? To this Kanika Mittal responds by saying, “Unlike a Digital Campaign spend where you can track the level of engagement and number of impressions yes experiential industry is comparatively new and you actually cannot calculate the ROI on it. The reason behind why one cannot calculate the experiential marketing ROI is because one starts with experiential marketing at a very small scale. You cannot expect to engage masses through experiential marketing, it is a movement that starts at small and takes a little time to generate ROI. What marketers need to do today is maintain a balance between traditional marketing activities that help in increasing the awareness about your brand, increasing footfall in your stores etc. and some experiential activities that help elevate the cool quotient of your brand. For me the balance will be keeping the experiential initiatives at around 30% of the overall marketing plan 60% through traditional message delivery.” Pallavi Singh answers the same question by saying, “Through experiential marketing, what we have seen is that passion drives people. Of course there have to be metrics to everything however in today’s day and age a customer is much smarter than brands themselves and through experiential marketing we create events that instill such passion in people. For experiential marketing to work it is important to know what a consumer wants and then engaging them accordingly to give them that experience.” Sharing his brands philosophy on experiential Amit Tiwari says, “For us experiential industry starts from a need. A particular category may require an event where as a particular product category under the same brand name might not need any such marketing. Our marketing strategies vary from the product that we have at hand and the kind of connect we want to create with it.”
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Apsar, runs a small retail shop at his village in Faizabad district. Initially, he used to buy kerosene oil in from the grey market to meet the lighting needs in the evening hours to run his shop and tend to the customers. By way of ‘Suryodaya’ campaign, Apsar came to know about solar lighting solutions and now is a happy user of a solar Lantern. In his words, he is saving a lot of money since now he doesn’t need to buy kerosene oil form the grey market anymore. Moreover, Apsar is also now aware about the harmful effects of carbon emission and indoor air pollution caused by lighting up Kerosene lamps. Traveling through the villages of U.P. and Bihar, one will come across many Apsar’s who will have similar stories to tell, which can all be attributed to the suryodaya campaign. ‘Suryodaya’ campaign is the brainchild of International Finance Corporation (IFC), an apex financial organization funding projects addressing development challenges across developing countries globally. Dharma Life, a social enterprise founded in 2009, is a partner to IFC for the campaign and is actively involved in helping IFC create awareness about alternative and clean sources of lighting in the rural areas. The team has been aggressively promoting the adoption of cleaner source of energy such as portable solar solutions for many years now. These solutions have made a substantial impact in terms of economic well-being, improved health and cleaner environment. However, affordability, low penetration and awareness still remain as the major challenges hindering the adoption of clean energy solutions. The task at hand was to create awareness around clean energy options in terms of availability, usage and affordability. The recorded insight was that in a large part of rural India all life comes to an end post the sunset leaving no room for any social or financial interaction. The aim of the campaign was to herald a new sunrise in villages post the sunset using solar lights and hence the name of the campaign was rightly coined as “Suryodaya”. A multi-level engagement platform was created with IFC to inform, engage and showcase the world of opportunities post sunset.The theme of the campaign highlighted the benefits of extended day light so that a person could spend more hours in his shop adding to his livelihood, a child could study well during the night hours, a housewife could cook easily during the evening hours and a person could also manage outdoor work during evening hours easily. The theme was translated on ground via an audio video enabled van which communicated the benefits of quality solar lights and also displayed all the products along with live demo of the same. Schools and community gatherings were conducted to reach out to the children and women. The village level entrepreneur (DLE) network was harnessed to convert the awareness and interest generated into post campaign sales. After sales service was offered to address any repair/maintenance concerns from the consumers. The impact was impressive. 450 hub villages from two states (Uttar Pradesh & Bihar) were covered in two phases. 1,350 satellite villages were covered in this period, 90,000 plus individuals were contacted via van interventions and over 5,000children and women were reached through school and community gatherings. Moreover, substantial amount of carbon emissions were offset through the sales of solar lights during the campaign. "The Suryodaya Campaign aims to demonstrate the value of high-quality modern lighting to consumers. It was launched in November 2014 and is expected to reach 8,000 villages by December 2015 and create demand for quality solar lighting products. This will accelerate access to better lighting for low-income households." says Anjali Garg, Program Manager Lighting Asia/India program, IFC. “Behaviour change is a slow burn process and thus requires multi-level continuous intervention. We recruit people with basic education, don’t have a full-time job and then impart training to make them a Dharma Life Entrepreneur”, chime inGaurav Mehta and Abhishek Bhatia of Dharma Life. About Dhrama Life- Dharma Life was founded in 2009 by a group of graduates from the London Business School. They identified the need for alternative lighting solutions in rural India, and have set out to engage the local community to address this issue. Thus far, their distribution model has helped create sustainable livelihoods for more than 3,300 village level entrepreneurs and hasimpacted the lives of more than 90,000 families. Twitter Handle- @Dharmalifeindia
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Audience relocation from manual ticketing to online ticketing platforms is strongly being felt as sports and entertainment centric events steadily burgeon nationwide. Offering consumers easy access to all forms of ticketed entertainment with multiple payment options across retail, mobile, social and box-office distribution channels, online ticketing platformsoutgun manual ticketing simply by enhancing the purchase experience while democratizing access for consumers to world-class events. In India, Kyazoonga is one such online ticketing company that has managed to brave its way to the major league through a sea of similar platforms. Besides qualifying as a finalist for an Olympics ticketing bid, it is also the only ticketing company in the subcontinent to have ticketed a major international event – the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Neetu Bhatia, CEO, Kyazoongais of the opinion that “online ticketing is soon going to wipe clean every other existing alternative”. Observing the transformation in the event ticketing industry,she talks about traditional mindsets and futuristic solutions. Q-What are some of the challenges when providing online ticketing solutions for a large-scale sporting event? A- Sports and leagues that are seeing success with live audiences will contribute to the online ticketing pie. Demand often exceeds supply and hence people flock online to ensure they have booked their spot in their favorite match. For example, last year most of Pro Kabaddi tickets were sold online. If the event is hot, tickets will get sold out online in no time. In such cases, geography or demographics of a particular region does not matter. Of course convenience and paucity of time are other major drivers. However, there remains a final frontier to be captured– and that is smooth and seamless access using Print-at-Home technology or using the barcode on your phoneto gain access to events. This is generally constrained by the regulatory environment that insists on paper tickets and the lack of robust access control infrastructure at the venues. While we have successfully developed and implemented our systems to work effectively with these challenges, fundamental changes in some of these areas will help in realizing the true potential of the market. Q-How do you market Kyazoonga for a wider reach? A-Our major brand asset is our name and what is represents. The founding team figured that having a ‘different’ sounding name would stick with customers and result in greater brand recall. Over time, the Kyazoonga brand has associated with high profile events like the Cricket World Cup, the Sachin Tendulkar 200th Test match, the CPL, the IPL or the Jaipur Lit Fest, the Bryan Adams concert, the Guns ’N Roses concert, and also smaller events such as the local Cathedral School reunion or the MIT alumni club get-togethers. The name gives us the flexibility to operate the business and build to scale while customizing individual experiences rather than a “one size fits all” approach that a pedestrian name may signify. We continue to push the envelope on ATL and BTL alike. We are also constantly analyzing our database, north of 5 million users, with the use of big data analytics tools as we are on the constant lookout for trends in customer behavior and buying patterns. Q- But why should an event organizer sign a ticketing deal with one platform while it can have itself featured on numerous platforms through ticket selling? A- I fervently believe that if a ticketing platform is centralized end-to-end and enables all the complex requirements of event ticketing, it obviates the need for another platform to be used simultaneously. In fact, doing so will make the ticketing less seamless as the inventory would then not reside in one place centrally and in fact would necessitate offline inventory management which is not desirable if one wants to optimize supply and demand. Furthermore, ticketing isthe first customer touch point for an event and is a key revenue source for an organizer. Hence it is in the best interest of the organizer that they pick the one platform that caters to all the ticketing requirements for the event. With one able platform the effort is focused and the message to the end customer is unambiguous and it also allows the event organizer undivided focus on the content and quality of the event. Q- How has the method and procedure of ticketing in sports and entertainment events grown over the last decade? A-Ticketing continues to grow ever more complex at the back-end in an effort to keep it simple for the end customer. The introduction of real-time social media interactions and feedback has necessitated that ticketing systems be fully real-time and accurately predict the status of demand and supply. As events grow in size, so do their complexity levels. Traffic conditions for large events as we saw during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and the Sachin Tendulkar farewell 200th Test Match reach peaks that demand scalability of server and cloud infrastructure, accelerated content delivery networks, and the ability to sustain peak demand for limited inventory residing on the database. Q-Are there any significant changes in the ticket system technology being used in India and abroad? A-Speaking only forKyazoonga in this matter, since inception, it has been our endeavor to offer world-class services and products to our customers and clients. To that end, our products compare with the best in the business globally. Our making it to the very shortlist and being a finalist at the Rio Olympics ticketing program is testament to the fact that we are leading the pack in terms of technical, system and operational capability and have been validated at the highest levels by a global body that runs the most complex ticketing exercise on the planet. This is also testament to the fact that we’ve leapfrogged some of the legacy systems of companies operating in more mature markets of the West while others in emerging markets have yet to catch up. Q-What changes do you foresee in the online ticketing space in the next 5 years? A-Online ticketing is still only about15-20% of the overall pie, which means that we are only scratching the surface. A recent Bain report mentioned that every month India is adding 5-6 million Internet users and about 650 million users are estimated to be online by 2020 – of which 250 million will shop online – spending over $50 billion. The report also suggests that mobile phones will dominate 70 per cent of the total number of Internet users. We believe that these are extremely positive trends and that online ticketing will become the norm in 5 years. We are well positioned to capitalize on this trend both domestically as well internationally.
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SagarBoke, the Head of Marketing for Bunge India, is a happy man today. The marketer takes great pride in expressing how the brands primary product,Dalda edible oils,made an impact at the JagannathRathYatra in Puri this year through the innovative concept of 'Bhajan se BhojanTak'. Often known as one of the biggest congregations of pilgrims across the world, the RathYatra this year was attended by over 15 lakh devotees who came from all nook and corners of the country to witness Lord Jagannath’s majestic journey from JagannathPuri temple to Gundecha temple. Carrying out a BTL engagement at such a massive scale can be challenging for any marketer or execution agency, but through the campaign ‘Bhajan se BhojanTak’, Dalda managed to not only create awareness about its edible oils but also successfully become a true companion for the pilgrims in their holy journey. Interestingly, this is not the first time that Dalda managed to emotionally captivate its target consumers through its experiential efforts. In the past too, be it the activations at NauchandiMela in UP or ‘Meri Mom Sabki Mom’ campaign in the metros, the brand has regularly invented innovative concepts to engageits target segment. Boke is vociferous about how important experiential marketing is for Dalda as a brand.He states, “We compete in the commodities category. While the awareness for any product is created by the mass media, the emotional connect for a brand will only happen through activations and creating experiences. Dalda has always been associated with Vanaspati oil and now since the brand has also extended in terms of edible oils it is important for people to be aware about it, which can only happen through these diverse experiential campaigns and activations.” Openly and unabashedly excited about the future of marketing, Sagar feels it is integral for a brand today to look beyond the embedded features in its products and try to forge emotional relationships with its customers. He says, “I strongly believe that in the current times one cannot sell a brand only on the functionality of its product or the product attributes, beyond a point all such practices are bound to fail and it is only the experiences that customers have with your brand will help you sustain.” This year Dalda edible oils activation at JagannathRathYatra in Puri featured Dalda creating their own rath at Puri from where they distributed a mixture of uncooked rice and dal sourced from the temple raw materials. The mixture was packaged in Dalda branded bottles and were distributed to over 1.5 million devotees. A highlighting feature of this activation was the fact that the plastic Dalda bottles with uncooked dal and rice in them, created a musical sound and hence were used by devotees as a percussion instrument that facilitated ‘Bhajans’. Apart from this core activity the brand had also created various installations and collaborated with noted Indian sand artist, SudarsanPattnaik to create a life size sand art illustration of the deity Lord Jagannath at Puri Beach. Revealing the real statistics of the brand impact, SagarBoke explains, “Our activations at RathYatra in Puri is going to be our annual property which is going to have a new theme every year. Official number of people that have been touched through this activation this year stands at 1.5 million however the unofficial figures estimate that a further 1 million people were touched through it.” The Brand Brewery won the mandate to execute this campaign for Dalda. While most brands are still hesitant to experiment with experiential campaigns Sagaropenly admits that 20% of the marketing budget for Dalda is allocated exclusively for BTL activations and activities. He also agrees that the brand aims to come up with more IPs in the future to further engage consumers through experiential. More experiential by marketers directly rings money bells for event agencies as well. So what are the qualities that Dalda looks for in event agency before shouldering them the mandate for a campaign execution? Sagar responds to the question by stating, “The most important characteristic that we look for in an event agency is the ability to whip up a path breaking idea. Currently a lot of brands are experimenting with experiential and unless and until you have something clutter breaking you cannot expect to be noticed.” As he predicts the future of marketing in India, Sagar says, “I think marketing has a lot to do with the kinds of media platforms a consumer is exposed to. Earlier most consumers had access to only TV and radios and hence the marketing strategies so far for most brands have been focused around the two. With that being said, today and even in the future the most used media device by consumers is going to be the smartphones so that is going to be center of marketing attention in the future I believe. Also we cannot overlook the fact that a lot of purchasing for consumer products is going to happen through e-commerce so that is bound to impact the overall marketing strategy for a brand.”
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When it comes to influencing your customers, there is nothing better than making them experience your brand! It’s the best way to have real engagements with your audience. While traditional advertising lets you communicate your message, experiential marketing allows you to interact with the consumers on a one-on-one basis. Marketers are now bolstering the effect of their experiential campaign by enhancing it with digital marketing as it provides them the perfect platform to add to the overall engagement. This convergence of digital and experiential marketing is also allowing marketers drive conversations offline and online, simultaneously. Here’s a campaign, FoxyMoron conceptualised and executed that showcases how a brand can marry social media with experiential marketing. Maybelline Colossal Kajal was launched in 2011 and 2012, at a time when the Kajal market in India was cluttered. The brand ushered in a revolution with the Colossal Kajal. But while there was high awareness for the product, the trials were relatively low. Staying true to the young, cosmopolitan and contemporary brand that Maybelline New York India is, it only seemed fitting to develop an innovative mode of engaging its fans offline as well as online. Maybelline New York India realised that during the monsoon season in India, girls are apprehensive about their make-up getting smudged. Hence, the brand decided to help them keep their make-up smudge proof by integrating online and offline marketing and at the same time enhancing brand experience with the Maybelline Colossal Cab! The campaign presented a solution to save the everyday Maybelline girl during the rains. This also happened to be the season of College Festivals and the girls wanted to look their best inspite of the rains. So the Maybelline Colossal Cab provided them with an opportunity to travel from their college to the nearest station hassle free. To add to this, the enthralled passengers were even given a chance to experience the brand and the products, getting a free makeover while reaching their destination. Extended over various contests, Maybelline girls were encouraged to share their selfies, get product discounts and not to mention a free ride. During this ride, the girls were also introduced to the new Colossal cluster which included the improved Colossal Kajal, the Colossal Kohl Turquoise and the Colossal Mascara. Maybelline New York India, being the strongest women centric digital community in India, added a digital twist to the Colossal Cab. The fans online were given a chance to select a location for the Colossal Cab via an interesting contest- With the War Of The Colleges. The college with more tweets and comments would emerge 'Colossal', giving girls a free ride. Social Currency became a medium for girls to call the Colossal Cab to their colleges. Girls online got a chance to select the Colossal Cab Playlist, as well as use exclusive online code words to claim free Kajals at top Malls. It didn't just end there! Bloggers all over got a chance to hail the ride with their top readers as well. Moving from Mumbai, digital fans were given a chance to get the Colossal Cab to their city as well with another similar contest - War Of The Cities. Visiting a total of 58 Colleges, 5 popular malls and 2 Metro Cities, the cab was all over, creating super strong visibility and brand awareness as well as generating product trials. Overall, the impressions at the colleges and malls were 3 Million, while digitally; we garnered a whopping 10 Million. Becoming a one of its kind mobile branding vehicle, the eyeballs that the Cab garnered were countless. Over 8,000 girls shared their selfies with us and we got over 21,000 Twitter Mentions. Thus, you can see how amalgamating experiential with digital marketing creates exciting engagements and enriches consumer experience. The more personal you get with your fans, the more brand advocacy you are likely to attract!
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Today T.I.C. has successfully completed 23 years in the industry and I owe it all to my experimentation with new concepts, learnings from experiences and of course the dedicated and hard working team members I have had till date. Although T.I.C. is 23 years old, my relationship with the industry dates back to my school days. It was in my school days itself when I was able to bring to life the concept of getting sponsors for events, which no one else was doing at that time, as this was the time event ‘industry’ was in its inception period. My interest in organizing school events moved to college and its then when I realized my strong passion for creating events and therefore decided not to enter into my family business. I took the risk of venturing into an industry which was not even recognized. However I also knew the fact that if you are convinced with your thoughts and have the ability to make people see that your dreams hold possibilities, there is no way that you will not succeed. I always remembered this thought especially during my initial days as an event manager where I faced tremendous difficulties in setting up the business. However I held on to this philosophy and successfully laid the first foundation of T.I.C. I pledged that whether I earn a lot of money or not, whether I become a corporate honcho or not, I will always stick to doing what I enjoyed most, which was events. That’s how T.I.C. was born and its tagline ‘Fun @ Work’ came in existence. In its foundation year itself, I introduced ‘Cornucopia’, India’s first talent hunt show. The idea came from my experience in schools where music was a rage but the budding singers did not have a platform to showcase their talent. The idea for the event was also originated from the fact that brands were also looking for innovative options to promote their company and products to the school audience. Thus, I decided to capitalize on the situation and made these brands my sponsors. In the year 1998, we introduced Dell Direct and Michael Dell, its owner, to India. The event was organized at a large scale and for the first time in India, we used surface projections on a curved dome structure to introduce Michael Dell. Year after year since then, we delivered innovative concepts that elevated the standards of events in the country, be it India’s first ever fund raiser event or introducing a brand in form of a 3D live e-puppet, be it India’s first musical Broadway to introduce a range of heavy commercial vehicles or India’s first promotional remix music troupe/group in place of celebrities for an Integrated launch campaign. Be it South-east Asia’s biggest MICE movement or India’s first ever Truck Racing championship, T.I.C. has always taken pride in walking the road less travelled. And as today as I write this memoir on what brought me success, the only reason for that I can think of is T.I.C bringing innovation in everything we organized. Every event was a new learning for us and from every mistake we only improvised. The trait, which we rigorously follow at T.I.C, is to accept mistakes. Not just rectify them but also see how we can overcome the challenges the next time. When I started T.I.C. all I wanted to do was to bring to life innovative concepts and thoughts. Make people see and feel things beyond their imaginations and that is something which still remains my success mantra till date. I fervently believe that if you as an event manager can bring to life imagination coupled with surprises, you can win anything be it a client brief or an audience’s trust. I believe that you should not follow success, instead do the kind of work that makes success follow you. At T.I.C. we never bother about the scale of the event. Instead what energizes us the most are the exciting things we can do with the event.
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Philips India recently unveiled a new product category for men within the Philips body grooming range at a high-profile launch event in Delhi. Everything Experiential’s Shantanu Jain discusses with Anurita Chopra, Director Marketing, Philips Personal Care, the importance of experiential for Philips and the need to keep its TG engaged. Q- Tell us about the new product category? A- So this particular product is something that we came as a solution to men for their body hair problems below the neck. In our research we clearly discovered that there were enough men who were using razors, scissors and creams which were painful and temporary solutions to their body hair problems. Getting rid of body hair gets messy, dirty, is unhygienic and leads to body odor and we found out the majority of men were struggling with it. And here we smelt a strong sense of opportunity and hence the genesis of body grooming came up. We thought of keeping it very simple by launching one product for the sensitive body area and making the life of men simpler. Q- How important is experiential for Philips? A- Experiential is integral actually because the entire personal care category is such a new space and we have been actively working on it. One can obviously do traditional marketing and send out a one-way message but these practices do not really give the consumers a flavor of what our product is all about. Q- What are the key elements common to all your experiential endeavors? A- Innovation is imperative to any experiential campaign we design. We always seek out fun and engaging ways to connect with the consumers. Our main focus is that consumers should have as much fun with our products as we have coming up with it. Q- Is experiential part of the marketing mix in the launch of this product? A- Men who face the issue of body hair are often hesitant to openly ask for a solution to their problems so the idea is to reach out to them digitally with a solution. Instead of going through traditional channels to promote we plan to make them experience the product. We have planned a Google hangout with Arjun Kapoor where he is going to be talking about the use of product in a really fun way and then there is also a radio activation that we are doing at a mall where he will engage with the youth. Q- Is there anything particular that you look for in an event agency before you partner on a campaign? A- Ideation is the core of any campaign that we want to execute at Philips any event agency that comes to us needs to have a stunning idea in place. The power of execution comes next because an idea can only be powerful if executed a certain way. You can have a great idea on Powerpoint but really struggle in terms of execution. Overall I think it is also the attitude of the agency and the partnership spirit in them that makes us give us a final go ahead. Q- Any experiential campaigns by any other brand that you’ve loved? A- I think Lakme has emerged with some really interesting campaigns in the past. As a brand we at Philips continue to take inspiration from interesting campaigns by different brands all the time.
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Consumers today are bombarded by advertising noise. It is in their everyday lives, their social lives and their virtual lives. This noise is everywhere. It is inescapable and it is unavoidable but yet, it has become invisible. Evolutionary animals as we are, consumers inundated by pushing, nudging, look-at-me messages are adapting. We have learned to screen these messages out and concentrate on what we really want to know about and who we really want to engage with. This new generation of street-wise, tech-savvy consumers has created a real problem for the marketing industry. How do we penetrate the protective carapace in which consumers have shrouded themselves? How do we create exciting promotional campaigns that will grab attention and capture imagination? How can we be heard above the noise? The answer is experiential marketing. Over the last few decades – in which TV and print have dominated the media landscape – the value of experiential marketing has all too often been disregarded. Brands hoping to launch effective advertising campaigns were assured that traditional broadcast media was the future, and a lot of money was spent in order to perpetuate this myth. The ‘AD men’ would justify their billings by quoting TV viewing figures, and explaining how these figures would translate into an impressive ROI. At its heart, experiential marketing is about value driven interaction. Traditional marketing channels push the consumer; this is our message – listen to us. Experiential marketing pulls the consumer; see what we’re doing – what do you think? A good experiential campaign will pique interest, drawing consumers to ask ‘what’s going on here?’, and consequently encouraging them to engage with a product or an idea. The aim of an experiential marketing campaign is to create emotive experiences, drive quality engagement between brand and consumer and – as a result – harness the immense power of word-of-mouth. Those who enjoy a positive experience are highly likely to share it with others, directly or indirectly endorsing the associated product and thus increasing brand advocacy. We call this advocate a brand champion: an individual who has the ability to influence perceptions and shift purchase behaviour across peer and tribe groups – but how can you ensure that your carefully planned experience will resonate with your target audience? Experiential marketing is sensory driven. We as humans need to feel something before we act, and to draw consideration we need to create experiences that involve consumers in honest, authentic and imaginative ways. Other marketing disciplines often focus too heavily on words and 2D images, forgetting about the other – equally important - 4 senses; touch, taste, sound and smell. Brands that are able to stimulate more than one of these senses are more likely to be recalled at a later date and evoke an emotional connection with the consumer. This connection is what will eventually drive purchase decisions or influence perceptions. According to a study done by the Sense of Smell Institute, people can remember around 50% of visual stimuli after 3 months, compared with remembering 65% of what they smell. For example, you only need to be within 50 feet of an Abercrombie and Fitch store to smell that it is there. Today, people are constantly sharing their life stories and the growth of social networks such as Instagram and Twitter means that brand experiences have the chance to become part of this real world story telling - if they are carried out effectively. People share positive experiences in seconds and thousands can engage with the post, however consumers can share a negative experience just as quickly, instantly tarnishing the brand you have worked so hard to build. As much as you can create a tidal wave of new brand fans off the back of an exciting experiential campaign, if executed poorly you will quickly spread the wrong word. With experiential marketing so closely linked to social media and online interactions, it’s no wonder that the number of brands utilizing experiential in India is on the rise. The marketing landscape is packed full of articles and opinions on engaging with Millennials and more recently, with Generation Z – those born from the late 90’s to the mid 2000’s – and 50% of India’s population falls into one of these categories. India is quickly catching up with the likes of the USA in terms of connectivity, so it makes sense that they are also catching up in the way that companies communicate with their customers. Whilst traditional, predictable and measurable advertising such as TV broadcasting still accounts for a significant portion of India’s marketing spend, there is a growing consumer demand for advertising to become a 2-way conversation – something which can only happen when a brand has something interesting and engaging to offer. It’s no secret that a huge number of people literally live their lives through their phones and that social media has a massive influence on the way we conduct ourselves and the decisions that we make. For these reasons, bridging the gap between physical experience and the online social space is imperative for success. Virtual and augmented reality are two up and coming technologies increasingly enabling this bridging, however the power of photography is not one to be underestimated. With images accounting for around 90% of all interaction on Facebook, technology which can produce sharable branded photographs of customers enjoying their experience is invaluable for producing genuine user-generated content. When it comes to structuring marketing spend, businesses need to shuffle the deck. Broadcast media has become so deeply embedded, that breaking free from the typical advertising model can be difficult, but we believe it is necessary to do so in order to challenge the status quo and create truly memorable campaigns. Instead of beginning with broadcast media, and working down, it’s time to start designing campaigns from the ground up. Experiential marketing allows a business to look their customers squarely in the eye, and generate a mutual rapport. The campaign messages disseminated by experiential marketing can then be repeated and reinforced through traditional media outlets, such as TV and radio. Experiences inspire us to create, or to change, to question our beliefs, to embrace new ideas and find new passions. Experiences are the basis of human existence and, as such, they are an incredibly powerful marketing tool. About Mark Mark Evans is the Managing Director at UK based experiential marketing agency 'Kommando'. With close to 20 years of experience in guerilla marketing he boasts of a sizeable list of international clientele and campaigns that stretch across 17 countries. Twitter Handle- @kommandogroup (The article has been extracted from BW APPLAUSE)
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Right when the country was busy preparing to celebrate Teacher’s day on September 4th, a landmark initiative was taken by the Delhi government as it implemented Online Licensing process, making it the first state in India that has set in stone such a path-breaking initiative. The news of licensing process for attaining NOC’s for organizing events being shifted online comes as good news for the event industry stakeholders as now planners can obtain multiple NOC’s required to host events in Delhi through a single window and without a human interface. While the online clearance has been put in place for non-ticketed events in Delhi for now, it will take around another month for the online process to be implemented for ticketed events; that would be another major achievement. A report prepared by the excise commissioner Sanjay Kumar on “ease on event regulations” is currently in Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s office for consideration. The report takes into accounts the views of industry insiders like Rajeev Jain, Treasurer, Event and Entertainment Management Association and Karan Arora, Book My Show and advocates about granting licenses on annual basis to certain venues on payment of certain fees after which permission for every event will not be needed. Commenting on the momentous achievement for the industry, Sabbas Joseph, President EEMA, says, “The decision by Delhi government is much appreciated and now we wait for states like Maharastra and others to follow Delhi’s example.
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