Evolution is unavoidable. Technology is inevitable. Since early 1990’s, we’ve not only seen technology advancement exploding, but witnessed it becoming part of our lives. Today, technology somehow plays a part in every bit of work we do and conversations we have. The same is true for events. Every event, be it a wedding, corporate or entertainment, technology plays a key role in engaging and amusing audiences. It has become really important to understand and master the usage of technology in social events. Factors like light, video, AV, graphics and mapping technologies extensively affect the outcome of any event. Recently, an informative session was held during ACE 2014 event in Ahmedabad, at YMCA convention center on 12th September, 2014, on the usage of latest technology in events. During the session title ‘Technology: Spinal Cord of the Event’, industry experts and technology providers shared their views on how important technology is for any event. There is no denying the fact that technology impact on any event is noticeable and is only likely to increase in the future. What we have today is visually and aurally better than what it may have been a decade ago. The effects that technology provides today has the ability to evoke instant response from the audiences. However, this does not mean that technology has taken over the content. It is about striking a balance. Aural is one of the most important sensory aspect of any event, bigger the size of a venue, bigger the challenges to provide uniform audio experience. The amount of electronics and accessories used at any event is just phenomenal, a contrast to what is visible to the audiences, which are a bunch of huge speakers. However, Warren D’souza – Founder, Sound.com says “Never be intimidated by the size of a venue. Always plan ahead, plot a venue using technology and software, so every seat and every corner is covered. I call it democracy for listeners, be it the first seat or the last, everyone at an event has the right to hear quality audio equally. I plot 3D diagrams of a venue so every staff exactly knows what they need to do.” Staff members who work on a project are key to successful events. At times, automation helps achieve that success, but still, equipment handling and placements are pivotal. Talking about equipment handling, Warren says, “95% of the times when a failure occurs during an event, it is due to human error, mishandling of equipments by staff. These speakers and electronics are built to last.” Creativity is another aspect that is very important for technology providers. When faced with poor infrastructure, it is important to come up with creative solutions to achieve aural quality. Some of the factors that affect successful event in terms of technology are making use of top-notch equipment, safe rigging, good scaffolding, high-quality musical instruments and most importantly the right set of people who make it possible. Geometry of speaker placements and arrangements also play important part in getting an event right aurally. Visual effects is yet another important factor that decides the outcome of an event. Event managers have increasingly been using latest technologies such as 3D mapping to take event experience to a new level. It is not only about displaying great visual effects, but it is about telling good stories through technology on a large scale. But, technologies are only as good as a venue. Visual technology, especially 3D mapping has been a hit with the event industry. Nitin Chowdhry – Founder & Creative Head, The One Film Co., says: “95% of calls we get from clients ask for 3D mapping, it has become the must-have thing at events including weddings.” Although new technologies can amplify the experience of an event, but, it is important for event managers to spend some time with the technology understanding it, how it works and how best it can be integrated to an event’s theme first, and how they can provide better solutions to their clients. Technology only helps a product make better, not salvage it. So, knowledge of technology is key in getting maximum creativity out of it. Speaking on the use of ‘3D mapping’ technology in creating virtual 3D models of a to-be-constructed mall or a structure, Nitin says, it acts as a prelude to see and visualize what a structure may look like in the future.” He further adds, “the most important thing for any technology company is ‘tech run’, like a home run in baseball, if your tech run is good then your show is good Lighting forms the third most important sensory aspect of any event. Video mapping that was done in the London Olympics, where seats were beautifully lit up; it is the latest trending thing at large scale events, which brings the event alive. At the same time, video is taking over lighting as large scale displays have started to appear in events. At the same time we’re increasingly making use of LEDs almost everywhere and almost in all events. Viraf Pocha – Director, Landmark Productions, says: “Although we are moving to LEDs, it is not true light. It has lots of advantages like there is no heating, no danger of fire, electricity consumption is very less, but it is not true light. So, any environment that requires true colours, LED may not be the best choice.” However beautifully lighting may be done, using LEDs or near to natural light, storytelling is very important. The technology should not be the highlight of an event, but it should disappear while the content is being presented. If we take the example of a theatre, technology that enhances movie experience is a must, we don’t go through traffic, congestion and then pay an amount to just watch film, we could perhaps do that at home as well. But, it is experiencing content at a different level with the use technology that does not interfere, is what every event company should keep in mind.
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Fremantle Media, best known for producing international brands like Indian Idol and India’s Got Talent have partnered with Mobile video streaming servce ZengaTV and YouTube MCN of India OneDigital Entertainment to announce the launch of first digital talent show in the world ‘India’s Digital Superstars’. A first of its kind Digital talent hunt where the audience will be the judging who is the next Big Digital Star. The show is presented by Amazon.in, powered by Gionee in association with radio partner RedFM. This digital show will be inagurated by Atul Khatri (winner of CEO’s Got Talent – 2014), Salim Merchant, Anu Malik, Music Director Duo Vishal Shekhar, Director & Producer Anubhav Sinha, Bhoomi Trivedi and Swaroop Khan (Singer, Tharki Chokro, movie PK). This will be a 14 week journey in search of a Digital Superstar where Musicians, DJ’s, comedians, mimicry artists, dancers, contortionists, jugglers, singers, acro gymnasts and many more across all ages are welcomed to participate. Indiasdigitalsuperstar began auditions from January 19th and will culminate with a finale in May. The winner will be given a contract worth Rs. 20 Lakhs from FremantleMedia and One Digital. The auditions are open to all Indians across the world. Auditions will span across 13 weeks. The 14th week is the grand finale to be held in Mumbai. The Indiasdigitalsuperstar.com platform will encourage participants to upload multiple videos of the talent that they wish to showcase, and will be judged by the audience through the number of views and likes across Youtube, ZengaTV and Facebook. Internet is a free, democratic, unrestricted medium and fresh videos can be uploaded until a week before Finale Night. The host will come online thrice a week – Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for 10 continuous weeks starting from the 5th week of audition. Anupama Mandloi, Managing Director, FremantleMedia India says “After the super success of Indian Idol, India’s got Talent, we at Fremantle are delighted to launch a platform that will be accessible to everyone with internet access. Given that India is a priority market for FremantleMedia and a popular destination for many of our hit international brands, we want to continue driving our strategy of aggregating talent across media with India’s Digital Superstars. We have been instrumental in sourcing, discovering and unleashing talent across television and this is the obvious next step for us to take the talent hunt to the internet which is a world unto itself. ”Manish Kalra, Director Integrated Marketing, Amazon.in says “The digital medium democratises opportunities and choices and enables easy access to them for everyone like no other medium. We are very excited to be part of India’s Digital Superstar and support this effort to celebrate the immense talent that is waiting to be discovered Shabir Momin, MD & CTO, ZengaTV & OneDigital adds “The youth today is hungry for exciting and engaging content and ‘India’s Digital Superstar’ is an opportunity where every moment will count and adrenal will be on the high. This gives everyone a chance to showcase talent from anywhere in the world and be the next start in this world which has no boundaries.” Mr. Arvind.R.Vohra, India Head – Gionee Smartphones said “Digital as a a platform is connected to the youth of this country. IDS as a digital platform is the first in the country which creates the opportunity for the youth to showcase the talent and get recognized. We at Gionee are proud to be associated with IDS as this allows the youth to follow their passions and this has got a great synergy with our brand as we also want our consumers to follow the passions and we help them as an enabler for it” Mr. Gurpreet Singh, COO & Co-founder One Digital Entertainment says “With the unique format of the show specially created for the digital platform, India’s Digital Superstar will create opportunities for Indians globally to showcase their talent without having to stand in queues or reach specific locations at specific time. Moreover the show is not about highlighting only a couple of contestants but we want to showcase as many talented Indian creators, and that is why the call for entries never stops during the show. As long as the show is on, people can participate and stand a chance to win.”
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Recently at EMF’s maiden event ACE 2014, event managers and agencies convened together with a spirit of eagerness and excitement to debate on the changing phases of events and entertainment industry. A session by Mr. Tarsem Mittal, Head TM Entertainment, Ms. Reema Gupta, Director Red Entertainment and Mr. Rajesh Sharma, Founder Laughing Colors shared their thoughts and views about the challenges they face as talent managers with the artists. Artist management is not anymore the concept and practice that it used to be. It has become a more grand and extravagant show in the present days. Mr. Tarsem Mittal highlighted the issues associated with managing artists considering past, present and future. Earlier most people felt that a celebrity manager is an unnecessary broker between an artist and its organizer, whereas there has been a change seen over time. People have realized and started accepting the talent that our artists have been showcasing these days. Some of the other points that Mr. Mittal mentioned were, the talent managers have become an organized agency these days and thus they have become easily accessible to official agency representatives. He further moved on to explain what an entertainment manager does and offers to its clients and what the clients expect in return of the budgets they invest. “Today event manager is the boss, who decides which artist should be performing in which event and he has the liberty to customize and conceptualize his event according to his requirements so that he can efficiently fulfill the needs of his clients, said Mr. Mittal.” Taking the subject forward, Ms. Reema Gupta elucidated on the need and importance of featuring international artists on our national platform. She clearly said it is no more the same situation of bringing a singer or a Bollywood personality to the table and attaining satisfaction. As event managers, it is needful to accommodate and bring international artists to India considering the increasing talent seen nationally and globally. There was a time when a big vacuum was generated, to be filled with something which was unique, an experience worth remembering and that when certain agencies came into existence and went all across the world to pick talent that suited the Indian industry. This urge brought a lot of artists to India, adding to the economy, showcasing unknown talent, adding value in terms of clients and thus making it more convenient for logistics. Ms. Gupta said “People have become more quality conscious and creative. Imagination plays the key role in events of present times.” She stressed on the fact that how important it has become to fulfill all verticals of the event one is hosting. But what makes it a complete event, is when both Indian and International artists can perform on one stage. “International artists coming to India might reduce in future but what will surely increase is the usage of International concepts in this country.” Speaking specifically about comedians in this industry, Mr. Rajesh Sharma threw light on the challenges faced with comedy artists. He started off by mentioning how comedians in earlier times were considered as fillers in an event, but with the advent of comedy shows on television “these fillers have become pillars, said Mr. Sharma.” They have gradually started stealing the show to a great extent. He also spoke about the demand of the comedians in terms of budgets with the increasing acceptance and love showered by their viewers. Mr. Rajesh Verma summed up the key issues; first being a contract to be signed with the artist before the event, post event report should be capitulated and analysis should be made. Another point made was to form an artist association which addresses the issues that occur, and last but the least talent managers should generate trust in their clients when asking for a quotation.
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With the recent rise of ex Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi’s to become the Prime Minister of India has put Gujarat on the spotlight globally. Regionally, the state still remains a dry state and the Gujarati people are used to plan events in neighbouring regions like Goa, Udaipur, Rajasthan etc. However, this is changing as Gujarat’s events industry is tapping the development the region is witnessing on a large scale. In a recent maiden event by EMF called ACE 2014, a session was held to debate the current situation in Gujarat with respect to the events industry including challenges and future scope. The panel of the session included Suresh Patel – Managing Director, Surya Group, Rakesh Nair, General Manager – Corporate Affairs, K and D and Talha Sareshwala, CEO – Parsoli Motors Pvt. Ltd. The session was moderated by Anurag Batra, Chairman – exchange4media.com. Suresh Patel initiated the session with a general talk on event management. He believes that the event fraternity does well when people overall do well, the industry in that region does well, which also leads to people buying more cars including luxury ones – everything is interconnected. He said, “The role of an event manager is to turn any situation into an opportunity. As for real estate, it has been closely working with entertainment industry for around 5 years now.” Gujarat boasts a coastline that stretches up to 1,600 kms, which offers immense potential for event managers and tourism. As tourism is developing in Gujarat, the events industry is connected with it. In the proposed corridor project by Government of India, which will cover a total of 1483 kms, 38% of it will run through Gujarat, which will fuel industrial development along the corridor. It is another opportunity to be tapped by the events industry. Today, the state is a hub for gems, jewelry, textile, marine, chemical, pharmaceutical etc. The population in Gujarat is expected to grow around 8 crore, out of which 4 crore are expected to reside in cities. Even if we expect each one of them to have at least 1 or 2 events in a year, it is an opportunity for events industry. One of the signs of a population that is growing in terms of prosperity is the number of luxury cars being sold in that region. Talha Sareshwala of Parsoli Motors believes that being a dry state does not become a roadblock for development. Earlier, Surat was the main focus of development but now Ahmedabad is booming. Just six years ago, there were hardly any luxury brand in Gujarat but now, top luxury players sell about 150 cars / month in the state. The state is also witnessing an increased number of vehicle manufacturers like Honda, Tata, and Maruti who have either set up a plant already or planning to in the near future. The state has also witnessed rising of major cities like Rajkot, Baroda, Surat, Ahmedabad with standards at par with other major cities in the country. As more and more people come to these cities for work and business, they require events. What may be lacking in Gujarat as of now is infrastructure. Good spread of luxury hotels, mega convention centers like Pragati Maidan in Delhi and other venues to hold events. But, these are being addressed as the state sees rapid growth. As people get more conscious about their status and they make more money, they would definitely want event planners to make their events more special and bigger. Gujarat maybe known for their tight approach towards spending but when it comes to events like wedding, they are more lavish than any other culture in India.
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Nike Training Club is a global fitness community of girls driven by self-expression in movement and training. It embodies Nike’s commitment to inspire and enable female athletes through its services and experiences. The N+TC App is the digital heartbeat of the club, uniting its members no matter where they train. The full-body training app caters to every level of fitness. Athletes can choose four-week programs or one-off workouts in order to chase their goals of getting lean, toned or strong. The latest update for the Nike+ Training Club App packs in a bundle of new features and introduces an all-new athlete-led workout to help female athletes around the world connect with their fitness community and reach new personal bests in 2015. “The Nike+ Training Club App is connecting our community of athletes like never before,” said Kerri Hoytpack, Vp of Brand Marketing, Nike Women. “Women will now be able to communicate with each other through the Nike Sport Feed, from organizing local group workouts to sending encouragement around the world”, she added. January’s updates were driven by insights from Nike’s relationship with a digital community of more than 65 million women. One key insight was about connecting with the community — the more Nike+ friends an athlete has, the more active she is. With this in mind, the Nike+ Training Club App now features new, easier and more fun ways for her to connect with friends to encourage them and share her own successes and goals. The all-new Nike Sport Feed will help her stay engaged with her friends as well as the broader N+TC App community. For example, after a user shares her completed workout in the app’s sport feed, her friends will be able to both “cheer” and click into the workout to try it themselves. The Nike Sport Feed will also house workouts of the week and user-generated photos that can be personalized with data about the workout. The updated N+TC App will also include a profile feature and improved navigation. The profile will track a user’s NikeFuel tally, as well as update her on her friends, workout minutes and program progress. The improved home screen layout makes it easier for her to jump into her favorite workout or discover new workouts. Athletes’ insights revealed that N+TC App users who share their workouts more than once in their first month using the app do 80 percent more workouts in that same month. To encourage more motivation, the team enhanced the sharing features within the app to make it even easier and more fun to share. The updated N+TC App introduces photo sharing on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Athletes can snap a picture before, during or after their workout and choose from a variety of fun stamps and overlays to share with their community. Her photo will also populate the Nike Sport Feeds of her Nike+ friends’ N+TC Apps. Launching with the app update is the new NTC Tabata Toned Workout, featuring six of the world’s best female athletes showing how they tackle the most intense workouts for top results.
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Young and active Indian social media users are adding a whole new dimension to the social debates around political developments. Political parties are spending enormously to woo them and make them their supporters. However, how to target the right audience as per their political alignments and user profile is the biggest challenge in front of political parties. Showcasing how AAP with the help of a unique concept by IITians is truly democratizing the Indian elections like never before. For the very first time that the Indian electorate can ask the candidate’s plans for their constituency, cross examine them directly at any and every moment of time and not just hear 1 sided speeches. Frankly.me has 48 AAP members on their platform and they are actively answering the queries from general public. Apart from AAP members, Frankly.me also has Ajay Makhen and Kiran Bedi with them from the old school. Nikunj Jain, Co-founder, Frankly.me commented, “The team Frankly.me is really proud and happy with the recent advancements in the platform and it’s steadily rising popularity with the empanelment of noted public figures including politicians. With Frankly.me, these personalities intend to understand the masses and their expectations better. This facilitates them with first-hand information directly from the common people and gives them insights which are more perceptive.” The application is for Android and iOS users. Targeted at empowering common people with the ability to have one to one conversations with anyone in the limelight- be it celebrities, politicians, entrepreneurs, IAS officers or sports personalities, it is open to users all over the world. The funding will be used to focus on India for the next 15 to 18 months and towards overcoming the challenge of expanding in a market with more than 20 officially recognized languages. Taking advantage of the country’s fast-growing mobile penetration rate, the platform intends to impact the Delhi elections this year to gain more traction. Currently, it boasts of having a cluster of noted public figures including politicians like Arvind Kejriwal, the ex-chief minister of Delhi, Yogendra Yadav and Kiran Bedi. Exposure from public figures on the platform has resulted in 1,000 to 2,000 new users each day. The model tries to compete directly with formidable rivals like Twitter and Youtube. The factor that gives it an edge is that it enables two-way communication easily. The Questions submitted are up-voted by other users, so the most popular ones are seen and hopefully answered. Frankly’s interface also enables in-depth discussions to take place.
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The Vacation Deprivation Survey, which acted as the inspiration for the #VacationOnMyMind Twitter Campaign suggested that workaholic Indians are mostly deprived for holidays, placing India as the fourth most vacation deprived nation globally with 67% of Indians saying they feel very or somewhat vacation deprived. The survey also reveals that 64% of Indians who feel vacation deprived say their vacation deprivation stems from not getting enough vacation days, while 36% say their deprivation stems from not taking all of their vacation days. Indians are increasingly choosing to take multiple short vacations, than a longer one and disconnect with work. To help Indians take a break and relax, Expedia came out with its #VacationOnMyMind. The objective was to help them utilize the Christmas – New Year long weekends in December. The campaign prompted the Indians to ’Take A Break’ by winning a free hotel stay from Expedia. Multiple approaches were employed to engage with the fans including asking questions through pictures and placards than just text, challenging them for their love of travel, quizzing them on their knowledge of famous and not-so-common tourist destinations in India. To make it interesting, models were asked to hold placards with questions, where their attire served as clues in the pictures. Twitter as a platform was used to host the contest as its audience is more evolved than other social media platform. Keywords related to travel and people who had showed interest in travel were exposed to the contest tweets. Apart from that, people with a large number of followers acted as influencers in their circle were also targeted through the promoted accounts. The participants were asked to tweet their answers using #VacationOnMyMind. Maximum participation was observed through mobile-users, followed by desktop users. The popular users of the contest hashtag (besides the brand) are the participants who are also the selected winners of the contest. The campaign helped in generating a massive interest, engagement and traffic on Expedia Twitter page. We received over 834 replies, 439 re-tweets and 260 favorites. The hashtag #VacationOnMyMind received maximum reach and was tweeted 2,648 times during and after the contest. It witnessed participation from over 770 authors and generated 55,681 impressions organically in a span of 20 days reaching out to 1,496,849 Twitter profiles in the duration. The promoted account campaign got impressions of more than 2 lacs with a follower’s rate 1.21% while close to 2900 new followers were added. The parameters used to identify the target were people who were interested in travel and people who act as influencers in their network and have large following. Expedia tied up with various hospitality partners like The Lalit, Radisson etc. and gave Indians a chance to stay free of cost across various properties in cities like Goa, Kerala by participating in the contest. The idea gave 10 contest winners an opportunity to take a vacation while they saved money.
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Udaipur is often described as the ‘Venice of the East’ with its beautiful lake palaces and structures dating back to 15th century. This is the only region in Rajasthan that remained unconquered by the Mughal empire. Today, the beautiful city is surrounded by the aravalli range and is a hotbed for tourists who seek history, silence and beauty. In a recent trip to Udaipur, EE got an opportunity to be in a one-to-one conversation with the Maharaj Kumar, The Prince of Mewar – Lakshyaraj Singh about the city and its people. EE: From events perspective, how does Udaipur cater to the youth of today and what other events does the city hosts apart from weddings? LS: “Generally speaking, it is the youth in my age group who get married, so it automatically attracts youths who take their vows here. Apart from that, we do a lot of cultural and traditional ceremonies. When we talk about holi, for most people, it is just about throwing colours. This is where it starts and this is where it ends. For us, it starts almost a month before holi. We call it ‘Holika Dahan’ here. We also celebrate ‘Ashwan Poojan’, Ashwan being the horse played a key role in our survival since early days. Today, we have cars, rail services, flights and so on, but in those days, horse meant everything, from survival, travel, transportation of people, foods to even wars. All these festivals are open to public where they can come, join and celebrate with us.” “Coming to music, we celebrate Kartik Poornima each year that lasts an entire month. On its final day, we hold musical shows, unlike Bollywood, these are connected to our roots, tradition and being played for centuries. Each year, we have a different theme from folk music to sufi. The music festivals we encourage have history, legacy, soul, depth – which have been part of our past. The people who take part in these festivals are of mixed demographics from youths to adults.” “At the same time, we also have brass and Jazz bands, western and Indian orchestras, so our youth is exposed to everything. We are not into something that you find on Indian Idol, although that is important as well, but for us recognizing our roots is vital. Our foundation also holds award ceremonies to recognize heroic acts, journalism, literature, movies – all national, international and regional. For example, nobody knew Abdul Kalam before he became a president, even when his nuclear programme was successful, only a handful knew him. We recognize and acknowledge such people who have done great work and showcase them to the people of Udaipur and beyond.” EE: What kinds of businesses bring revenue to the city? LS: “Tourism is our main breadwinner and wedding is our core competency, which gives a fair share of the pie to every person in the city, so everybody gets benefited.” EE: What is contributing to the tourism of Udaipur? LS: “All of the above mentioned reasons are contributing to the tourism of Udaipur. In fact, Udaipur has been declared the No.1 city by a survey that has placed the city above other prominent places like Sydney, Paris etc. The factors like demographics, geographical location, people, weather, tourism, art and culture, monuments and construction, the time it was established – all contribute to this city’s prominence on a global stage.” EE: Since, Udaipur relies heavily on tourism, Is there a backup plan in case of natural calamities etc.? LS: “Natural calamity happens, there are many circumstances that are beyond your control, you can only prepare for them but you can’t stop them from happening. You can make certain plans and put best practices in place. For example, before monsoon, the local administration prepared a plan for evacuation and conducted a drill with the help of local administration as well as the Indian army. So, Udaipur has been conscious about such factors, however, everything is not within our control and when something happens, we can only stand up and deal with the situation in the best possible way we can.” EE: How closely do you work with the state government? LS: “We work very closely with them, we fairly share a good relationship with the state. We have pioneered a lot of projects working closely with them, it is nice to see the government come to us and share opinions on work that we execute together.” EE: How do you balance preservation versus commercialization? LS: “We earnestly preserve our rich culture and tradition, we don’t put fancy lights on our monuments and ruin it. We are living monuments, we don’t say this used to happen here or that was done here, we still live here, we still breathe the way it was done centuries ago. Our behaviours may have changed but our souls are still the same. For example, the purpose for which Jagmandir was built for, it is still being used for the same.” EE: Are you consciously keeping Bollywood and Brands from entering Udaipur? LS: “There are so many Bollywood events that takes place here but are not publicized as the people who come here are private and want to keep it that way. As for brands and commercialization, this is a city and place where you can actually hear silence, not many places can boast that. If you want all those fancy parties and discotheques, the world is your oyster. The oldest range of aravallis runs through this part of the world. When you talk about Sunburn, you immediately connect with Goa, if Bollywood then it is Mumbai, but you can’t relate anything with silence.” “Everything is not money, you can’t buy silence with money. If you fiddle with your core competency, your DNA, you tend to lose the most important thing that separates you from the rest. There are millions of places where you can go and party but here, you can come with your family, your children, your girlfriend and you will not be bored. Why would you want to ever tamper with your USP. Destroying silence and soul of this place is like someone asking you to change your character and personality.”
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Khatron Ke Khiladi, a licensed Indian version of Fear Factor started its Season six from Feb 07, 2015. With its promotion going on full-scale, the Mall promotions that recently concluded in Mumbai created enthusiasm among the on-goers with the use of Oculus Rift Technology. These promotions were held over the weekend in R City Mall Ghatkopar and Oberoi Mall in Goregaon. Riddhi Dogra a contestant/actor of Season 6 visited Oberoi Mall on Sunday. Technologies such as Oculus Rift & Kinect camera were used at the event to create a daring Slacklining challenge for the participants. The event gathered a huge crowd of approximately 2000 participants directly participating in the event. It was a daring the challenge where participants were required to wear Oculus Rift thereby creating a Virtual Experience of being on the top of a 50 storey building. This environment covered a rope tied to the ends of two 50 storey building. 5 Fear factor flags were attached at different points on the rope. Contestants were also required to hold a bar to balance their walk over rope. This wireless bar automatically sensed the position of the contestant and was used to balance the rope. When the challenge begins, the contestant feels like being on the top of a 50 storey building, they have to collect all the 5 flags attached to the rope in order to complete the challenge. Less than 50% of the participants were able to complete the challenge. They were handed over different gifts for completing this challenge. While the event was fun and creative, few participants who failed to complete the challenge and fell off the rope were scared and tumbled over the floor.
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Online real estate platform CommonFloor.com, introduces CommonFloor Retina, world’s first virtual reality innovation in real estate that is available to the masses. This technology offers ‘real’ property experience for the seekers allowing them to view/review/assess multiple properties from anywhere at any point of time. Commenting on the launch of the biggest technological innovations witnessed by the real estate world, Sumit Jain, Co-founder & CEO, CommonFloor.com, said, “As a new-age online realty player, technology and innovation are part of our core DNA. Property buying demands huge time and financial investment by the buyer and it is our constant endeavour to create tools and technology that makes property search easy for the consumer and gives them a wow experience. CommonFloor Retina is a result of one such quest that adapts technology smartly to the consumer’s advantage.” Lalit Mangal, Co-founder and CTO, CommonFloor.com said, “We believe in making strategic investments in building cutting edge technology. This product is pegged to be a game changer in the real estate industry in India and globally. We will work closely with the builder community to scale-up the number of projects listed, thereby helping property buyers to choose from as many projects that may want to visit.” JC Sharma, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Sobha Limited, “CommonFloor has been instrumental in transforming the way we view properties. Their latest introduction, CommonFloor Retina is indeed commendable. This state-of-the-art technology product will enable our customers to take a virtual tour of the property they wish to see in the comfort of their home. It allows them to experience both the interiors and exteriors of the property in an interesting manner and saves a lot of time, especially if one need to choose between several properties.” To use CommonFloor Retina, a user simply needs to Install the CommonFloor Retina application on their android phone, launch the App and insert the phone inside CF Retina headgear and sport the headgear to experience a virtual tour of the property of his/her choice. This offers buyers an unforgettable experience and insights about the property from the perspective of space and ambience among other features. The simple magnet on the headgear acts as a navigation tool. The App also saves the builders the cost and space to construct a model apartment. “It is an interesting product that can help a home buyer visualize the building and apartment under consideration in greater depth. It should be useful to customers who cannot be physically present at the property location before buying, and also to people who have already purchased a property and want to share it with their family & friends,” said Vyoma Pandit, Senior DGM, Marketing, Brigade Group.
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