As the IPL just got over and the ISL is days away, EE got in touch with an agency that has worked with all IPL teams on various campaigns for different brands from automobiles to FMCG brands. Founder and Managing Director of Creatigies, Navroze D. Dhondy shared his experience and thoughts on brand associations, experiential marketing and current trends. EE: What got you interested in choosing a career in the agency field? Navroze: “I am originally from Allahabad and while doing my MBA, a friend of mine decided to write a book on Rubik’s cube, as he could solve it in less than a minute. So, we sat down together and wrote every aspect of the move on how to go about solving it and created a book. We put our money behind it, got it printed and launched the book.” He continued, “Once the book was printed and people got a hold of it; inspired by the design and look of the cover, a lot of them walked up to me and asked if I could design books, wedding cards, brochures etc. for them and soon, I was running my small agency from college, making good money. Graduation eventually led me to Delhi with no intention to join any agency. But, as the fate would have it, I ended up choosing an agency called Lintas as my first job even after it paid the lowest of all the offers I had, still I chose the lowest paying job as my heart was there.” EE: In your 3 decades in this industry, do you see a shift in how brands approach towards advertising? Navroze: “I see a huge shift in the whole approach towards advertising. Some companies have understood the importance of advertising against the traditional view of it being just a necessary evil that discourages brands from investing. It has changed dramatically; startups are the biggest investors in advertising. They are jumping into the deep well of the pool.” There has been a shift in the types of media that was available then and what is available today. “Today opportunity list has gone haywire. We have focused media channels for each vertical and communication has changed from being unidirectional, where a brand would dictate what it wants you to see, feel and think, to an engagement model where you will still see TVCs but with a link, number or hashtag. Managing feedback is more challenging than giving information today and the timeline to such interactions is going to collapse further.” EE: Do you think there are brands that resist investing in digital and social media? Navroze: “Yes, there are some brands that are old school in their approach and will take time to adapt. However, we need to understand that some brands may use digital marketing but use social media more selectively. In categories like B2B, they may do digital media in terms of SEO, but prefer not engage with consumers whereas brands like Pepsi and HTC, they engage to millions of people – the engagement is very high.” EE: Are brands increasingly investing in experiential marketing? Navroze: “Clients are now genuinely looking ways to connect and touch with consumers, experience factor has become more and more important. The experiential element has become important for a lot of brands, from whisky, ice cream to a car brand – across the spectrum. There is nothing in the world that matches up to experience. However, one must understand that when you have a powerful impact on a person with experience, it is a double-edged sword; it could be both positive and negative.”
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Electronics.Production.Augmented.—that is the motto of a special show that is part of productronica in November 2015. The world’s trade fair for electronics development and production will focus on the hot topic of Industry 4.0 from a new perspective: visitors will experience the hidden processes machines and work pieces negotiate in production and how workers profit from Industry 4.0—with the help of augmented and virtual reality on five selected electronics production machines. Industry 4.0 poses great challenges to electronics production, but it also has its advantages. The different use cases of the adaptive automation technology as well as the exact procedures on hardware and software side are often seen as too abstract by workers on the line. That is why productronica and VDMA Productronic have come up with a new special show for the 2015 fair. Augmented and virtual reality will be used to visualize various application scenarios on five different electronics manufacturing machines. “We want to show how Industry 4.0 can simplify the lives of the people who work with these machines on a daily basis,” says Christian Rocke, Exhibition Director of productronica. “This is not only interesting to our visitors, it also means exciting added value for the exhibitors participating in the special show.” The concept of the special show follows productronica’s new cluster structure: All the exhibitors in the fair’s five clusters—i.e. PCB & EMS, SMT, Cables, Coils & Hybrids, Semiconductors and Future Markets—can respond to the Call for Participation by submitting their innovations. An independent committee will select the five products that will be shown in the special show about augmented and virtual reality at the fair in Munich from November 10–13. What does the inside of a machine look like? What exactly happens in a machine’s inaccessible areas? What instructions does the machine give the work piece? These are interesting questions whose answers can be visualized with the help of augmented and virtual reality. The ongoing development of the human -machine interface has always been a key to success in the machinery industry. Workers don’t just want machines that are easy to operate: they should also be easy to understand,” says Dr. Eric Maiser, Managing Director of VDMA Productronics. The applications for Industry 4.0 that can upgrade, simplify and improve electronics manufacturing machines are very diverse: “Right now we are experiencing the evolution from the built-in touch-panel display to operation using a tablet. Remote maintenance is being simplified considerably,” explains Maiser. If you hold a tablet camera up to parts of a machine, it recognizes them and an overlay image appears on screen showing the appropriate maintenance guide or work instruction—the user manual can stay on the shelf. Virtual and augmented reality are already being used in a number of sectors. Examples include the gaming industry, virtual planning tools for designing automobiles and for architects or the “star atlas” app for smartphones,” explains Maiser. “This field has a great deal of potential for electronics production, and the purpose of the special show is to demonstrate some of those possibilities.”
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As humans, we all look for categorizations. They make our lives easier and more manageable.Therefore, it’s only natural that we at EE, after careful scrutiny, bring to you the list of Top 10 Experiential agencies in India today. For marketers and newbies in the experiential world, this list provides the top 10 agencies in India that have made their mark and given an excellent show as far as experiential is concerned. Keeping in mind the scalability factor, the brilliance in innovation, and the management of the audience, we have compiled a list of top 10 agencies. And the winners are – 1. Wizcraft Established in 1988, this agency is responsible for all the magic behind the IIFA Weekend and Awards, Green Globe Foundation Awards, Global Indian Music Academy Awards and the Film & TV Producers. Some of the prestigious projects led by Wizcraft most recently include the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, the ICC World Cup’s Opening ceremony in Dhaka, the Oman Tattoo and the celebration of 150 years of India-South Africa friendship. 2. Percept Founded in 1984, Percept Limited, they are responsible for some of the biggest shows such as Sunburn (with over 1,00,000 attendees), Bollyboom, Filmfare, Ad Films, Feature films, Fight Night, GOD, Champions of the world, Windsong, and the list goes on. Celebrating 30 years of excellence, they provide creative services,media services, digital and mobile services and and also have a vertical that handles sports and entertainment for their clients. 3. LIVE Viacom 18 LIVE Viacom18 is a subdivision under Integrated Network Solutions (INS) whose mandate is to create LIVE IP’s in the Music & Entertainment space. They are the ones responsible for creating MTV Xtreme, the Comedy Central Chuckle festival, Supersonic, MTV Bollyland, Nickelodeon KCA India, etc. 4. Only Much Louder The guys behind the multi-city, multi-day Bacardi NH7, A Summer’s Day, The Scene, NH7 Smash Up, and NH7 Shake Down, MTV Bring On The Night, and producing the Cannes Lion-winning show – The Dewarists, OML has made their mark in the events industry. 5. Fountainhead Having commenced operations in 1995, Fountainhead has worked with top global brands like MTV, Philips, Hutchison Max Telecom, Procter & Gamble, Pepsi and solid domestic brands like Tata, Blue Star, Aditya Birla Group and Bennett Coleman.They have also handled international acts such as Akon, 50 Cent, INXS, Spyrogyra, Buddy Guy and have created very successful music festivals like The One Tree Music Festival and The Mahindra Blues Festival. 6. DNA Networks A name synonymous with Entertainment in Sports, DNA Networks are the big guys behind events such as IPL, ICC Cricket World Cup Tour, ICC World Twenty20, Champions League, Athens Olympic Torch Relay. Besides sports they have also a number of music festivals such as Sound Awake, Rock’N India (an international annual music festival) and it prides itself on being the only events company in India to have produced live concerts with Music Greats such as Sting, Roger Waters, Lionel Richie, Iron Maiden, Katy Perry, Bryan Adams, Shakira, Aerosmith, etc. 7. 70 EMG Established over a decade ago, 70EMG, they are the curators behind festivals like the India Bike Week – a first of its kind biking festival in India, and the The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Mumbai since 2002 with over 6,50,000 visitors each year, the AAAI Goa Festival, South Asia’s answer to the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival – since 2007, the Nokia IndiaFest with over 12,000 visitors and the GJEPC India International Jewelry Week (over 800 exhibitors & 50,000 business visitors) amongst many others. 8. Encompass Events Having been in the industry for over 15 years and having more than 10000 projects in their pockets, Encompass events are the brains behind the award winning campaigns such as the P&G Thank You Mom mall activation, Gillette Shave For The Soldier campaign and the world launch of Toyota, Etios, People’s Gateway Movement, Mercedes Benz-Star Drive, etc. 9. DDB Mudra Max Founded in 1980, DDB Mudra Max has dabbled in experiential in a way that it successfully executed the 46 day long Grand Kerala Shopping Festival with the Government of Kerala, grabbed the South African Tourism OOH duties, IAA Olive Crown, and many more such properties along with handling experiential campaigns for a number of corporates such as Volkswagen. 10. Showtime Group Having been in the industry for over 30 years now, the Showtime Group has successfully executed events such as the BMW 3 Series launch, BMW Xperience, BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe Launch, DLF Mall of India launch, Swiss Unlimited launch, the Finacle Conclave, Hero Insolito, Jodhpur One World Retreat, MINI Countryman launch, Starbucks launch, etc.
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According to a study conducted in 2013, it has been stated that the BTL industry has grown at over 20 per cent during the last two years. The massive shift in spends towards both ATL and BTL initiatives haveled to the result of changing consumer attitudes. At the same time, technologyplays a great role in differentiating both forms of marketing. BTL allows marketers to better target consumers, and to better track results and measure ROI,as per industry experts. Food brands, and other FMCG products, which fall under the impulse purchase category are dedicating more than 60 per cent of their marketing spend to BTL activations. Elucidating further on the changes seen in BTL activities over the last few years, EE consults industry experts- EE:What kind of brands seek to benefit from BTL- now and then? Valay Lakdavala, Director, Neoniche Integrated believes, “The last five years has led to immense change. An increasing number of brands have shifted their focus towards BTL initiatives to engage audience, Auto sector was one of the early adopters of this channel for car launches and promotions, FMCG and luxury brands which highly rely on word of mouth and direct selling, Consumer electronics brands like LG, Samsung and Sony are constantly seeking opportunities to directly engage with their audience.” Siddhartha Chaturvedi, CEO, Eventcrafter, develops further, “The idea of gaining one to one connect with the target audience and estimating instant response to the promotional exercise provides great opportunity to every client whether it be a telecom service provider, major food chain brand or even a cement or adhesive brand, the idea of capturing real time feedback that’s totally transparent can be derived out of an experiential promotion only.” EE:Why is BTL a better return on marketing investment? AnkurKalra, CEO, Vibgyor Brand Services Pvt. Ltd. feels, “BTL has the ability to measure the returns accurately – one can quantify the objectives and effectively track the returns generated within a stipulated time frame. The assumptions and generalizations are much lesser compared to traditional ATL campaigns and returns are specific, measurable, result oriented and time bound.” EE:In what ways are BTL initiatives different from ATL? BTL directly reaches out to consumers and gives them a ‘live experience’ of the brand. They engage, educate and entertain audiences of brands and touch consumers in a way most ATL campaigns cannot reach out to them. BTL campaigns have the capability of changing consumption patterns, building brand loyalty, creating lasting impressions and inducing instant trials, said Ankur. EE:How are the BTL ideas in India different from those in the west? In the west, campaigns are not constrained by budgets and permissions. Innovations in technology are more easily available and can be used to deliver superior experiences. The use of technology for reporting, monitoring and connecting with consumers is also quite advanced in the west. While there are various technology based activations here as well, case in point being Bullet Time Photo Stations powered by smartphones, a campaign created by Vibgyor, Ankur said. EE:How would you explain the reach and expansion of BTL initiatives in terms of urban and rural marketing? Siddhartha explains that the reason of this growth could not have been anything else but the mandatory need of communication at the BTL level in both urban as well as rural markets. The rural markets have specifically been exposed to brands, services and facilities due to this amplification of reach. Considering facts, Ankur stated, “In my personal opinion if one were to quantify the reach I feel that BTL activations are still being planned primarily in the top 17 cities of India since they contribute to around 60% of the total consumption as per a study of a leading audit firm. While rural holds a lot of potential for experiential, much of it is yet to be explored.” EE:How does BTL support the idea of emotionally connecting with its customers in today’s times? Both Valay and Ankur feel that BTL campaigns have the ability to touch, feel & inspire audiences and create bonds which are difficult to create through any other form of communication. Most BTL campaigns are very well amplified on social media and create emotionally compelling content. Thus brands that interact with consumers at various touch points and create connections in their personal world are capable to change a target group consumer to an influencer. AnkurKalra concludes by saying “The situation of BTL initiatives has changed drastically lot over the past 5 – 6 years with its market understanding increasing excessively. Some of the bigger BTL agencies which were earlier viewed purely as executers are now being considered as creative and marketing partners. We have seen various examples of activations being the focal point of campaigns and BTL agencies being involved at the ideation stage of brand planning rather than just the execution stage – I feel that BTL agencies that provide value have actually moved up in the food chain of brand planning over the last few years.”
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E-commerce, a sector that created significant buzz in the late 90s, has bounced back. Top e-retailers are showing immense interest in experiential marketing and outdoor advertising. India has emerged as the fastest growing and largest Internet market in terms of number of users in the present time. It is interesting to note that the purchasing pattern of Indian consumers has become non-virtual. E-shops are now looking at connecting with potential costumers extensively on offline platforms. Another important feature to note is that even the established brands have really small distribution scale, particularly in Tier I and Tier II cities. Thus Online gives these brands a great platform to reach consumers across the country. Online brands thereby use offline communication mediums like on ground activities for not only brand awareness but also for engagement. Looking at the intensity and galloping growth of the e-commerce industry in India several brands mainly fashion e-retailers took a step forward from online to on ground expansion in the year 2014.Currently marketing spends for e-commerce firms account for 25-40% of their overall spending. Here we look at the broader picture. To name a few celebrated affairs of this year, Jabong launched ‘The Jabong Online Fashion Week’ in the month of July. Jabong being an online fashion store stepped out of its virtual boundaries to embrace experiential in unique and innovative ways. Jabong with Talenthouse India launched the ‘India Online Fashion Week’, a great example to start with. At this five day festival, Jabong engaged fashion designers and stylists from across the country, hosting several competitions. At this event Jabong had enough engagement for both its participants and viewers. It allowed its guests to pick and shop from the fashion show itself. Thus this experiential activity gave Jabong a leg-up on its competition. Well not only this it has also become the official jersey partners of Mumbai FC in the Hero Super League. Another online retailer eBay did an unusual thing which was a gym work out session with ace cricketer Virat Kohli. eBay, in partnership with NGOs Save the Children India and the Virat Kohli Foundation held a charity auction online. The item that was auctioned was a work-out session with the cricketer. The charity auction received immense response with the highest bidding at Rs 1.57 lakh. The money generated at the auction was given to Special Care Center School to provide aid for 245 mentally challenged and hearing impaired children. Also, the highest bidder at the auction got a chance to have a one-hour gym session with Kohli. It is said that for eye optical brands that the only way they can let the customer understand the product is through experiential means. Thus this brand- LensKart engaged its potential buyers through on-ground activities such as eye checkup camps in corporate areas across major cities at free of cost. This gave people a chance to check their eye power. By doing this the company gave its buyers a chance to see the LensKart collection and place orders with on the spot. LensKart.com also provides its customers a home eye checkup program where they can have their eyes checked by a specialist with a minimal fee of INR 100. Lenskart also offers a ‘Try At Home’ facility where they allow consumers to place requests for a set of any 5 glasses which are then sent to their doorstep. After trying them on, if they like it they can finalize purchase and if not, they can return all of them and then call for another set being free of cost. Another renowned fashion e-tailer recently launched its very own fashion weekend- Myntra Fashion Weekend, in Mumbai. Yes it was none other than Myntra. From Rina Dhaka to Masaba Gupta to showcasing Vero Moda’s collection by Karan Johar, Myntra fashion weekend proved to be a treat to fashionistas. This grand event witnessed the presence of Hritik Roshan, Kalki Koechlin, and a few other celebrities. “Fashion is what gets created, Style is what we put together” and hence by associating with such events we get a close peep in understanding fashion that helps us in styling our range of products,”said Gautam Kotamraju, Chief Creative Officer, Myntra. Moving further, KOOVS, an online fashion destination collaborated with Nikhil Chinapa for its experiential venture. To celebrate this unconventional, outlandish range and the association of Koovs with Nikhil, an underground gig dedicated to the culture of EDM was organised in Mumbai. Initiating an experiential activity like “Go Underground with NikhilxKoovs”, Koovs has created a lot of anticipation witnessing consumer exhilaration. Providing a spectacular platform to budding artists around the nation, Koovs has built a brand connect with its consumers. “It’s not about brand value; it’s about doing something that our customers find interesting. Putting customers first is always the best way to build any brand and Koovs is always looking at new and interesting relationships within the fashion world and outside – we also have some great collaborations lined up over the next 12 months – but you’ll have to wait and see!” said Mr. Robert Bready, Creative & Retail Director, Koovs.com.
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There are several home-grown challenges that entrepreneurs face when launching in the Indian market. From navigating bureaucracy to raising capital, the list is endless. Here at EE we speak to Madhur Ramani, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Stratum Consulting who aims to enable FMBs, SMEs, Startups and other businesses achieve goals through a strategic implementation of HR and treat it as a business discipline that focuses on employee motivations and financial profitability. Madhur throws light on some of the challenges plaguing the Indian start-up industry and suggests ways to resolve them. EE:What are the challenges faced by start-ups in India? Start-ups face challenges in a number of areas such as funding, mentorship/ecosystem and talent management amongst others. Although these hurdles are faced broadly by every start up, yet the nature of the challenge varies from sector to sector. For instance a software based start-up requires lesser capital than a manufacturing unit whose requirement is to raise a higher capital. A common challenge faced by start-ups irrespective of sectors is of talent management. While talent management consists of many aspects, three interesting problems that stand out are: Most of the times,mid & junior level people (employees) do not fully comprehend the business objectives and goals of the Start-up. This is due to poorly or miscommunicated information from the founder’s end. I feel there is lack of an objective performance evaluation mechanism in most Start-ups. Those Start-ups that do have performanceevaluation end up make it very rating-driven where the end goal is the annual appraisal. Here the rating-driven performance evaluation mechanism in-turn creates a negative environment for people. This is a primary reason as to why many organizations are altogether scrapping the performance evaluation mechanism. I would say that the culture in an organisation gets built in two possible ways – intentionally or accidentally. Usually organisational culture ends up being accidental, however, founders must understand that if a start-up’s culture is intentionally built it avoids a lot of issues in the future. EE: What according to you are the solutions to overcome these challenges? I would begin by saying that ‘business objectives, vision and mission’ must be defined clearly in writing at the start (and as they evolve). Once they are defined in writing, they need to be constantly communicated to people from the beginning and reiterated time and again. Infact, when candidates are evaluated during the hiring process, the fitment must be judged from the perspective of alignment with the vision, mission & objectives as well in additon to hardskills and softskills required for the role. Once business objectives are clearly defined and communicated to people, their individual goals must be cascaded all the way downards and linked to the organisational objectives in a quantifiable manner. This is the only way to ensure a fair evaluation to some extent.Also, the performance evaluation mechanism should be oriented to actual performance improvement and creating an environment of learning & growth, rather thanjust ratings for the purpose of appraisals. Most founders forget that many a times the issue isn’t with the performance evaluation system itself, but with the people implementing it. Most founders do not understand the importance of ‘intentionally’ building a certain kind of organization culture from the start. As organizations grow, there are chances that the internal culture can also go haywire. In addition, fitment from the perspective of this defined culture needs to be checked during the hiring process as well. EE: How start-ups in India are different from those in other countries and what can we learn from them? A stark difference between start-ups in India and abroad is that most start-ups abroad receive the right kind of guidance / mentorship and undoubtedly a fantastic ecosystem. Besides that, barring the new age tech start-ups in India, a lot of them in India are not looking for an exit, whereas, most start-ups abroad look for an exit after a few years. This ensures that their entire focus is on creating max value in a short amount of time. EE:What financial issues do start -ups face in India and how can they be solved? While there are multiple, process related financial issues in start-ups, a very interesting one is where founders usually have a misguided impression of profitability in the first few years because of not fully accounting for their own cost to company. Many founders forget about the opportunity cost they are losing by not being fully employed elsewhere.As an example, if someone who earned 20 lacs per annum before starting his business draws 5 lacs per annum as salary now in the first year of business,he / she is ignoring the lost opportunity cost of 15 lacs per annum. Ideally, this needs to be factored into the expenses of his / her business before calculating profitability (which would lead to reducing the Start-up’s profibaility by 15 Lacs).
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Dr.-V.-C.-Vivekanandan-seen-addressing-the-gathering-and-also-seen-in-the-pic-are-Ashok-Ram-Kumar-T.-Prashanth-Reddy-and-Rakhi-Kankaria#sthash.lrIK89gk.dpuf T. Prashanth Reddy, LL.M (Stanford Law School), Practicing Lawyer in IP at New Delhi Seen addressing the gathering - See more at: http://everythingexperiential.com/indian-copyright-societies-and-the-challenges-of-intellectual-property/#sthash.lrIK89gk.dpuf _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Telangana Chamber of Events Industry (TCEI), a not-for-profit organization formed by the representatives of various stakeholders in the Event and Entertainment industry recently organized a seminar on Challenges of Intellectual Property- Laws in Events and Entertainment Industry. Dr. V. C. Vivekanandan, MHRD IP-Chair Professor, NALSAR University of Law was the Chief Guest. T. Prashanth Reddy, practicing Lawyer in Intellectual Property in New Delhi delivered the Key Note Address. Ashok Ramkumar, a practicing Advocate and Prof Dr. Padma, faculty of AP Police Academy participated in the Seminar. Speaking about negotiating with Indian Copyright Societies T. Prashanth Reddy said Singers, Lyricists, Composers are protected under IP. The four rights that exist on a single music track are Composer Rights, Lyricists Rights, Music Label Rights and Singer/Performers Rights, he informed. Speaking on the occasion T. Prashanth Reddy said PPL (Phonographic Peformance Ltd) and Indian Performing Rights Society Ltd (IPRS) are no more existing as Copyright Societies. PPL according to their returns to the registrar of companies stated that its application stands withdrawn. So legally they can not collect royalties. Prashanth Reddy explained what Intellectual Property (IP) means. “Intellectual Property includes music, literature, and other artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Under intellectual property laws, owners of intellectual property are granted certain exclusive rights. Some common types of intellectual property rights (IPR) are copyright, patents, and industrial design rights; and the rights that protect trademarks and, in some jurisdiction, trade secrets. Intellectual property rights are themselves a form of property, called intangible property. Modern usage of the term intellectual property goes back at least as far as 1867 he said. Intellectual Property is a necessity and is protected by law, he said. Copyright Societies are like Stock Exchanges. Copyright collectives are associations that administer the rights of copyright owners. Owners authorise societies to issue licenses for the use of their works and collect royalties on their behalf. Copyright owners register their works with a collective, which then collects a fee each time a registered work is licensed and pays a royalty back to the copyright owner. Some of the Copyrght Societies that exist in India are IPRS—Indian Performing Rights Society which is comprised of Composers and Lyricist, and PPL-Phonographic Performance License which comprises of Music Labels and Administer Rights. The 3rd New Society formed last year is ISRA—Indian Singers Rights Association comprised of Singers like Sonu Nigam and Lata Mangeshkar. Each of these Organisations separately look after the interests of its own Members All want royalties, he said. In the next few years Event Managers will have to pay royalties to all these stakeholders. There is a need to regulate and check these societies and this can happen only by collective action. PPL revenues over the last ten years from Public Performance Royalties has been starting from 4.25 crore in the year 2004 and 2005 rose to Rs 66.80 crore in 2013 and 2014. Similarly IPRS’s Revenue from the Public Performance Royalties in the last ten years has risen from Rs 3.87 crore to Rs 40.48 crore in 2013 and 2014. Radio stations succeed before the Copyright Board – royalties fixed at 2% of revenue against 20% demanded by PPL. The law is amended in 2012 due to pressure from Javed Akhtar & radio stations he said. Organisations like TCEI and its members must be aware of IP Laws in Events and Entertainment Industry. You must stand united and must protect your rights, said Reddy . Dr. V. C. Vivekanandan, MHRD IP-Chair Professor, NALSAR University of Law was the Chief Guest while speaking he said Intellectual Property Rights are created for public’s well being. He also hailed the efforts of TCEI in organising such a technical seminar with the objective of legal awareness. The objective of this Seminar was to bring about the right kind of awareness among the event fraternity said Surat Singh Malhotra, President of TCEI and Founder Head of Namdhari Group. The seminar enlightened the event fraternity about the future implications and challenges in the implementation of IPR Laws said Ms. Rakhi Kankaria, Vice President of TCI and Director of Rachnoutsav Events Pvt. Ltd. The entry to the Seminar was free. Over 100 professionals participated in the Seminar. The Seminar was an endeavour to put forth a Socio-legal point of view on the subject and device strategies towards a win-win situation for both the stake holders said Neeraj K.S. Thakur, General Secretary TCEI The last few years of the growth of Intellectual property Rights in India has given rise to the formation of Copyright societies. Companies like Phonographic Performance Lt(PP) and Indian Performing Rights Society Ltd(IPRS) have been spearheading the cause of royalty collection for the artists, lyricists, performers and music companies, said DJ Piyush Baja, President of Telangana Entertainers’ Association. During the Seminar industry papers were presented by DJ Manish and their challenges. The un-checked and un-challenged manifestation of legal protection of these Societies has today resulted in a grim situation wherein these “societies” have come to become monopolized business houses. The Event and Entertainment Industry, particularly the Event Managers, DJs, Hotels and Property Managers and corporate holding event and entertainments are day-in-day-out are challenges, threatened, harassed and most of the times branded as pirates and criminals. The lack of awareness about these societies and the confusing nature of their claims at times make the event organizer a victim of unethical practices. It is precisely to fill up these gaps of theory and practices of Intellectual Property Rights, TCEI has called for a study of the subject, with particular emphasis on the legal framework and broader implications. TCEI It is an umbrella organization of Event Management, Wedding Planners, Entertainers, Exhibitions, Sound /Light/Video, Production, Caterers and other facilitators.
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Popularly known as the father of rural marketing in India, PradeepKashyap has been a catalyst in single handedly paving the way for marketers into uncharted and remote Indian geographies. He has previously chaired the position of President at Rural Marketing Association of India (RMAI)and is the founder and head at ‘Mart’, which was based on ethical and spiritual principles and has since emerged as India’s leading rural consultancy organization. Addressing a congregation of event professionals,Kashyap reveals some hard-hitting facts about our rural hinterland and outlines the imminent at EEMAGINE 2015- the national convention of the event and experiential industry held annually which brings together thought leaders and experts to speak about industry trends and the way forward. He claims, “Today 22% of the rural population is salaried. Since people have moved from wage employment to regular salaries, the purchasing power has sky rocketed. Rural wages have gone up 50% between 2008 and 2013 and hence the bottom of the pyramid is fast taking the shape of a diamond. The penetration and consumption is much higher in Rural India. Eg 75% of the urban population uses toothpaste whereas in rural India it is 45%. So if the usage in rural areas was to go up to 75%, Colgate would have to set up another factory because the population in rural India is three times that of urban, making it a magic multiplier.” He continues, “Where the earlier trend in rural India was to purchase regional brands, people are increasingly buying national brands like P&G and Unilever. Instead of purchasing small packs such as shampoo sachets they are now inclined towards purchasing mega and value packs simply because they have more monies in their pockets and are looking out for better bargains, just like urban folks. They are increasingly buying packaged goods in contrast to the trend of buying loose, as they suspect loose goods could be stale whereas the date of manufacturing on branded products puts this doubt to rest.” He exclaims, “it has become difficult to identify a tailor in a village today as people are increasingly buying readymade garments made by regional brands.” The growth of urban India has been fast but year 2009 onwards, rural India has started growing faster.“Rural is the flavor of the coming decade”, says Kashyap. He explains, “It has grown at the rate of 17% whereas urban growth has been reported at 12%. The per capita income of rural India used to be 50% of the per capita income of urban India, but this has changed dramatically over the last few years. If you look at the spending patterns, the rural consumer in many ways is becoming similar to the urban consumer. Earlier the rural consumer was spending maximum on food, but now he is spending 7% of his income on health.” These changes have proven to be very beneficial for marketers because now they can see the country from largely the same lens. The youth is increasingly more ambitious in rural India with many contesting that “they will only pick up a job that will draw them a salary more than their father’s last drawn salary”. People are becoming more vanity conscious where “women are known to be using Lux on their bodies and Dove on their faces. Because of the Swach Bharat campaign and awareness about sanitation, brands such as Harpic are widely being used”, opines Kashyap. “Aspirations are high, so much so, that even the poorest families in rural India are spending Rs 200 to 300 per month towards English tuitions for their children in the hope that it will fetch them a job in the city”, says Kashyap. He adds, “Today, roads connecting villages to towns are world class and within half hour a person can get to the closest town and be employed. There are 100 million Internet users in rural India and Flipkart has reported more sales from rural India than from the cities.“ Opportunities are massive in rural India and the landscape is changing very dramatically, but it is not the same as working 50 cities in urban India, the deepest penetration of rural India would mean we are talking 600 thousand villages. “The challenge is that of reach, scale and spread. Sadly, there are not enough people who understand this market, not enough agencies and not enough people willing to work this field”, concludes Kashyap
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“Integrated marketing is easy to preach but difficult to do. I have found the work of the centre to be full of useful tips, case insights and best practice distillations – yet with a surprisingly low sermon quotient!” John Grant. The above quote highlights an important aspect of Integrated Marketing, which is that the process is much easier to talk about but rather challenging to implement. An Event organizer frequently comes across the term while managing an event but rarely knows whom to speak to. EEMA however took the initiative of simplifying the concept to event organizers at EEMGAINE 2015 by hosting an insightful panel discussion spilling the beans on Integrated Marketing. With Ravi Kiran, Co-founder and Managing Partner- Friends of Ambition, as the key speaker,SanjeevPasricha, Chairman- EEMA Taskforce on Standards, moderated the discussion. Ravi Kiran began his address by explaining the development of the term “Integrated Marketing Communication” since its inception. He shared American Marketing Association coined the most powerful term ever created in the field of marketing as Integrated Marketing and the term today has different meanings for different people around the industry. “Integrated Marketing Communication means panning 360*, something holistic that completes all corners and a recent term ‘Through the Line’ has also emerged to explain the same”-said Kiran. Speaking on why marketers resort to IMC Ravi Kiran said, “Customers today have changed with time and marketing has also evolved similarly. IMC as a process is customer centric, consistent, comprehensive and compensatory. It should not be confused with a discipline rather it is an approach and a marketing technique to cater to the increasing demands of a brand marketer.” So what can be the correct definition of Integrated Marketing Communication? To this Kiran responded by saying, “IMC can be correctly defined as the transferring of one’s thoughts through many executions and a few metrics to measure.” Citing an example for the real world he said. “IMC is best symbolized through an Indian Thali, with a variety of dishes served on the same plate, the platter represents the overall marketing of the brand and every single element of the plate represents a different media tool. All the elements of the plate complement each other and serve the purpose of providing satisfaction to the eater and similarly all media tools when complement each other while displaying the entire process is termed as Integrated Marketing Communication.“
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Every once in a while a brand with an innovative appeal and a creative strategy strikes a perfect balance between community and marketing philosophies and emerges with a successful campaign; Goodknight’s Fast Card is one such example. The brand successfully marketed itself in Pandharpur, a pilgrimage destination in Maharastra through a successful promotion executed by Vritti imedia. What was the promotional campaign and how was the product marketed was the topic of a key presentation given by Rajesh Radhakrishnan, Director Sales and Marketing-Vritti Solutions at the RMAI Rural Conclave 2015. “We know how ATL has a limited reach among the people and also we were aware of the fact that for BTL to make a successful impact a greater level of consistency was required. Outdoor advertising was an option but wall paintings cannot be controlled in rural and hence we decided to come up with the Audiowalla Bus Stand Promotional campaign”-said- Rajesh Radhakrishnan as he began to explain the campaign. The Audiowalla Bus Stand promotion was executed in rural areas of Rajasthan, Goa, Punjab and Karnataka and featured the appeal of felicitating a smoother day in the lives of people in the rural areas. Showcasing an example of the promotional activity in Pandharpur, Rajesh Radhakrishnan embarked upon the fact that since Pandharpur in Maharastra is one of the most visited pilgrimage venues in the country the product GoodKnight Fast Card was promoted through making available hygienic water to the devotees, Radio Programs on tourists’ buses, signboards and hoardings on strategic locations. Speaking on the main aim of the activity Rajesh Radhakrishnan said, “We wanted to develop a connection with the people and hence as part of the promotional activity we also distributed samples of the product to showcase its features.” Other experiential connects of the campaign were Bhajan Pandals for devotees with banners, Live LED displays and pamphlets about mosquito related diseases in the area. Another interesting highlight of the activity was the use of the product to enable a mosquito free sleep for tourists and devotees at public houses. With memorable experiences as well as the product features well embedded in the minds of people, Vritti Solutions truly managed to make optimum utilization of the marketing capabilities in the area and best market Goodknight Fast Cards as a product.
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