What blends better with a pint of beer than rock music? Nodding to this fact, Kingfisher Premium introduced a Beer Dispenser- truly one of a kind, with a bang! This year chronicled the World’s first Beer Dispenser Machine triggered by head banging, as thousands of Bangaloreans came together for The Great Indian Octoberfest by Kingfisher Premium. With mesmerizing musical performances and lots of Kingfisher beer flowing in the background, the festival kept the spirit high and bubbling for enthusiasts. Being the country’s most awaited musical fiesta, the fest has grown leaps and bounds since its inception. With a magnifying footprint, immense research and effort is channelized year after year to provide enhanced consumer experience. Encapsulating the significance of experience, Kingfisher fused the love for beer and lust for rock music into a unique concept. Music and beer witnessed a never before sync, as participants went all out head banging to their favourite numbers; and grabbing their share of free beer. ’The Good Times Dispenser’ created an atmosphere of limitless fun and frolic, and continued adding to the legacy of Good Times. The Mechanics The patrons had to login to his or her Facebook account, strap on a helmet that captured the head’s movements and headbang in front of a beer vending machine. A mobile device attached to the helmet recorded the number of headbangs generated, and the count was displayed on an LCD screen. Through motion capture technology, the action of headbanging caused beer cans to be dispensed from the machine. Within 30 seconds, the individual had to headbang as much as he or she could. The faster an individual headbanged, the more beer he or she won. Users also had the opportunity to share their conquests on their social networking accounts. The Panorama The results were phenomenal as hordes of beer lovers lined up to experience the machine, and headbanged with gusto, with most coming back for a second round. Dizzying headbanging sessions took place, with some patrons walking away with as many as 6 cans of beer at a time!100s of beer cans were expended over a course of 3 days and nearly 1,00,000 headbangs were generated in 3 days, with almost 3,00,000 impressions online.
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The 15th IIFA Celebrations will see the best of Indian cinema show up not only in Tampa Bay, Florida, but also on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and several other platforms in a live environment. Millions of fans would have a chance to steal a first-look at the IIFA events and green carpets as they unfold at the Videocon D2H IIFA Weekend and the Tata Motors IIFA Awards powered by LAVA mobile. Powered by Lava Mobile, IIFA has lined up a host of exciting interactive social media activities, teaming up with Twitter, reinitiating the very successful Twitter Mirror experience that made its debut at the IIFAs in Macau in 2013 and introducing for the first time ever, the Twitter Vine Booth @ IIFA, Facebook and Instagram (Booth and Stop), giving online IIFAians an All-Access-Pass across the 4 days of the Weekend. The Twitter Mirror placed strategically at the green carpet, backstage and green rooms will bring fans candid celeb moments and selfies showcasing many a mood of their much-loved Bollywood stars tweeting with the handle @IIFA. Having proven to be a hit last year among celebrities and audiences alike, the Twitter Mirror makes a comeback and promises to be even more fun and exciting with the possibility of a photo-bomb or two. Another green-carpet entrant in Tampa Bay will see Twitter debut its coolest photo booth yet -The Twitter Vine capturing the Bollywood brigade in a way never seen before. IIFA will lead the pack as it did last year with the Twitter Mirror, and be the first-ever film award ceremony to witness Twitter Vine create magic, after it did the same at the American Music Awards (AMAs). The camera will circle 360 degrees around celebrities to capture a six-second video giving a full view of who wore what and spoke to who. This first-time-ever photo booth promises to arrest the best fashion moments and candid expressions straight from the carpet. The Instagram Booth is an interesting variant to keep Instagram followers engaged with the candid selfies. Instagram Booth and Stop will also be present at the green carpets, waiting to capture all the glamour, fashion, sudden, and dramatic moments that the carpet usually witnesses. The official Instagram handle is @IIFAAwards. Instagram Stop is another social media activity in the line-up, connecting admirers from all over the world to their desired celebrity, the 15 second Q & A platform will enable the fan to shoot questions at the star and receive replies to their query. IIFA’s Facebook page will soon launch a campaign that would collect and screen questions for celebs. Running parallel to the telecast of IIFA’s main Awards ceremony will be a tight second screen engagement via Twitter Amplify. This extremely thrilling social media activity will reveal the highlights of the event in 15 second capsules during the broadcast for online consumption. The second screen engagement will enable online consumers to watch exclusive backstage footage to complement their TV viewing experience.
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Protiviti Consulting Private Limited, the Indian subsidiary of Protiviti Inc., leading independent internal audit firm on Saturday, 14th December 2013, hosted the “Protiviti Polo Cup”. Protiviti has been promoting polo in India for the last three years. This year Protiviti team played against Pernod Ricard team with Protiviti Team emerging as the winning team by scoring 7 points. Gary Peterson, Executive Vice President-International Operations, Protiviti Inc. was the Chief Guest on the occasion, accompanied by other dignitaries. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Gary Anderson, Country MD, Protiviti Consulting Pvt. Ltd. Said, “We are very proud to host this prestigious cup for the third consecutive year. We appreciate this opportunity to promote niche sports in India and polo is considered as one of the most loved and representative of such sports. All businesses face risk so one has to be cautious but at the same time remain focused on the goals. As such Polo personifies many of the same qualities of the services we provide our clients effectively. We are grateful to Mr. Gary Peterson, our Executive Vice President-International Operations who specifically came to attend this event, the Jaipur Polo Club, the players and last but not least all our esteemed guests for making the tournament a grand success.” The game was followed up with a unique trick riding to enthrall the audience. The event concluded with prize distribution ceremony and drinks. Adhiraj Singh, Prithvi Raj Singh were some of the prominent players although Bhawani Singh Kalvi was announced the ‘most valuable player’, while mare Ronak was declared the ‘best polo pony’. The event was also supported by Coke, Pernod Ricard, Bringe.
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Gionee Smartphones has associated with Universal Music and announced an exciting opportunity for fans of Enrique Iglesias across the country. Following the release of Enrique’s smash hit single “I’m a Freak” ft. Pitbull, Gionee invites consumers and fans to share their “I’m a Gionee Freak” moment through videos, pictures etc. and the best entries will be picked to feature in the Indian `fan’ version of the ‘I’m a Freak’ Video with Enrique Iglesias. Gionee smartphones will amplify the contest and consumer experience across malls, pubs, dance schools, colleges, youth hangouts and Gionee retail outlets. Gionee will create Freak Out booths across these venues where consumers and fans can share their freak moments captured through pictures and videos. Commenting on the association, Sunil D’Sa, Vice President, Marketing, Universal Music, said, “Enrique Iglesias is India’s most popular International artiste with a phenomenally large fan base out here and the response to his latest album `Sex And Love’ has been beyond expectations! Thus, it’s only apt that we give his loyal fans an opportunity to feature in his video to “I’m A Freak”. And we could not have partnered with anyone else but an exciting global brand like Gionee Smartphones whose target audience is spot on with Enrique’s fan base. We are confident that Gionee will do full justice in amplifying this campaign, thus reaching out to every Enrique fan in the country! We look forward to some cool, whacky and creative entries coming in which will make for a brilliant Indian `fan’ video of “I’m A Freak”. Excited about the association with Universal Music and Enrique Iglesias, Gionee Smartphones India Head-Mr. Arvind. R. Vohra said,”Gionee being a Global brand, we see this association as a great opportunity to connect with our younger target audience. This genre is a perfect way to reach out and establish connect with the young and talented new generation. Gionee believes in creating a benchmark in innovation with every new offering and Enrique creates new benchmark in music giving enthralling experience to his fans in India and worldwide. We have created some very exciting interactive opportunities for the fans to get a chance to make their Freak Video with Enrique. We hope they will participate in huge numbers.” Consumers and fans can showcase their Freak by following this link and participating here: http://gionee.co.in/enrique/
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As the latest development in the power struggle between Percept’s Sunburn and LIVE Viacom18’s Supersonic, sources claim that the Bombay High Court has issued an order on December 9, 2013 asking VH1 Supersonic festival organisers LIVE Viacom18 to submit a fresh application for permissions to the Goa State Level Permission Committee (SLPC) within four days.This decision came after Percept filed a police complaint with the Mumbai High Court against LIVE Viacom18 regarding “Copyright Infringement over the presentation style” of the LIVE Viacom18 event and theft of “confidential trade secrets”. Percept in association with Nikhil Chinapa incepted Sunburn in 2007 and has been organizing the festival consecutively for the past seven years at Candolim, Goa. Earlier this year after Nikhil Chinapa parted ways with Percept and Joined hands with LIVE Viacom18 both parties began competing over the date, venue and template of their festivals resulting in Live Viacom18 being granted the venue at Candolim by the state. A Percept spokesperson revealed ‘Sunburn has been issued permissions for the same by the Goa government and VH1 Supersonic will have to apply for all permissions again’. Percept claims that the High Court has passed a judgement in their favour, stating that LIVE Viacom18 must “file a fresh application for holding the Supersonic event during 26th December to 30th December, 2013 at Candolim Beach, Goa without using the literary and artistic work contained in the presentation”. Meanwhile Sunburn Goa has adopted 500,000 sq. metres of land in Vagator and is charging ahead with its plans to present an event that is apparently 10 times bigger than 2012. Other new features announced for Sunburn 2013 include On-Site Camping, an Artist Village where visitors can meet and interact with DJs, Sunburn cruises on the adjoining Arabian Sea, hot air balloon rides, kite flying, ferris wheels, football matches, paracopter rides, book libraries, circus, tents and an open air movie theatre. With only 15 days to go, it goes without saying pulses must be racing high for both parties. Only time will tell who will prevail.
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Over the last couple of years in India, crimes committed against women and the rising frequency of incidents have come across as a jolt to a sleeping nation. Albeit, women have been living in fear and oppression for years, guess when push comes to shove you cannot help but take notice. The Delhi gang rape propagated protestant groups across the country, the media was frenzied, and laws were favourably rehashed to safeguard women’s rights. While on one hand we were the subject of global shame, on the other, the nation came together as an anomalous unanimous voice for female empowerment. Sadly in India just when you think things are beginning to look up, you realize you may have spoken a little too soon. The recent Tehelka case blew up in our faces exposing the harsh reality that crimes against women are not just restricted to certain societal stratas but are just as commonplace amongst the literate, the wealthy, and in this case, the apparent custodians. The voice that had nearly faded rose again. This incident gave it teeth. But is this the last straw? Or does our patience have more give to it? The voice is now a crying shriek. But is it being acknowledged or falling upon deaf ears? Well don’t know about the others but it definitely has caught Vodafone’s attention. The Vodafone Foundation has chosen women’s empowerment as a key area of focus in India. The idea is to highlight that when you educate, empower or support a woman in any ecosystem to emerge victorious, you impact her entire family, her immediate ecosystem in the community, which in turn brings in a strong multiplier effect on the overall social and economic development of the entire country. In a modest attempt to achieve this goal, The Vodafone Foundation on 4 December 2013 at ITC Maurya Hotel, New Delhi, released ‘Women of Pure Wonder’, a book that chronicles the struggle, survival and ultimate success of sixty extraordinary women. Blending an engaging mix of some well-known and some as yet unheard tales, this book narrates the extraordinary deeds of real women who have courageously braved all social, economic and familial odds to reach the pinnacle of success in their chosen field of work, thereby setting a shining example for others to follow. The event organized by Percept India was hosted by emcee Shivani Pasrich and saw in its attendance close to 150 proponents . A panel of discussion consisting of Kajol Devgan (actress), Malvika Rajkotia (Lawyer), Laxmi (acid attack victim), Suhel Seth (ad-man), Priya Dutt (Member of Parliament) and Vittorio Colao, CEO, Vodafone Group Plc moderated by Vikram Chandra of NDTV threw light on some of the issues faced by a woman in India and the way towards progression. On a different note, it was admirable to see Suhel Seth’s brazen participation at the venue. Suhel, who has been in a fierce squabble with former associate ITC for over half a decade, had been sued by ITC due to his defamatory tweets against the group ever since they terminated his contract in 2007. Speaking on the occasion of the book release, Vittorio Colao, CEO, Vodafone Group Plc. said, “At Vodafone, we firmly believe that what is good for the society is also good for business. Women empowerment is a key theme for us across all the markets we operate in and I am proud of the way the Vodafone Foundation in India has set an example for our other markets to follow. This book is unique as it takes the story of these sixty women to inspire a much larger audience. This is but a small token of our admiration and respect for the ladies who have braved all odds to exemplify what every woman is capable of.” Marten Pieters, CEO & MD, Vodafone India, believes that this is one of the many steps which Vodafone India will embark on. He specifically referred to the multiple initiatives that Vodafone India is taking,“We are working in the areas of education, empowerment and the environment as part of our ‘Vodafone Cares’ initiative. Whatever meaningful we can do to facilitate a better quality of life for India’s millions, especially women, will be a step in the right direction. We are committed to playing our role as a responsible corporate citizen and contribute to the overall development of the country.” Rohit Adya, External Affairs Director, Vodafone India added, “It is an honour for us to be associated with such outstanding, amazing women. We will share their stories on different platforms to provide inspiration to thousands of other women across the country.” Madhu Sirohi, Head, Vodafone Foundation in India said, “Proceeds from the sale of the Women of Pure Wonder book will be used to empower girl children through the Naz Foundation. It will be our continued endeavour to provide as much support as possible to the cause of women empowerment through our initiatives and programmes.” The ‘Women of Pure Wonder’ has been published by Roli Books and will be retailed through leading book stores across the country.
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In this fiercely competitive marketplace, driven by extreme consumerism, brands are forever struggling to make a recall in the minds of the consumers. And with novel avenues opening up creatively, brands are now closer than ever to their target audience. Experiential methods of marketing have made this possible. Whilst new technologies make our world more connected and personalised, it also opens up vast opportunities for brands to reach out to consumers with some engaging brand experiences. The past two years have seen unprecedented levels of technology adoption in experiential initatives. 1. Mobile Technologies The growing power and convenience of mobile devices have made them the platform of choice to communicate with consumers. Users are constantly sharing data and going online to search for information. The next step is to blend the social experience with immersion technologies to inform and inspire consumers. The mobile device is extensively seeing high penetration and it is only a matter of time that brands will optimise their strategies to concentrate a lot more on this medium. Internet content delivery network, Akamai, pointed out it its latest State of the Internet Report 2013 that mobile data growth is exponential, while voice traffic is flat. Another report released by Ericsson stated that the volume of mobile data traffic doubled from the fourth quarter of 2011 to the fourth quarter of 2012. Brands have a myriad of opportunities to connect with consumers via mobile platforms using augmented reality apps, QR codes, geo-location, and social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 2. Facial recognition Automatic face and gesture recognition is rapidly developing into a highly effective experiential campaign feature. The varying technologies are currently being used in interactive vending machines which allow brands to develop creative ways of dispensing surprise gifts and branded content. Adidas had used the technology in shopping centre screens to identify a person’s age in order to better serve ads that are most relevant to them. A 60-year old man or a 25-year old youngster were shown targeted products meant for their fitness requirements. 3. Audio Technologies A narrow beam of sound into a confined area, allowing only the select person to hear the message or sound transmitted, making it the perfect tool for communicating an intimate and targeted message to consumers. Other electronic devices such as Portable Vibrating Speakers can be attached to any objects that will project sound, acting as the amplifier for sounds pushed out by the object it is attached to.
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Dooj Ramchandani, Co-founder at Blink Solution, the Bandra-based interactive digital agency, is a very busy man. We met him while he was shuttling between completing a client delivery and strategizing on how best to urge people to vote for their #KFC25 campaign, which has been nominated for a prestigious Webby Award this year. In between the ensuing chaos, we got him to talk about the latest event fad in India – projection mapping. Excerpts from the interview follow. If you were to pitch Projection Mapping to someone in a sentence, what would it be? Projection mapping is as simple as taking any real-world object and transforming it virtually. Take this pillow (points at one lying nearby) for instance. You can map it, project different visual patterns or maybe a 3D animation and make it look like things are coming out of it. Since this is your stronghold, can you take us through a few applications of this technology? There are plenty of things you can do with projection mapping. But the reason why you should use it is because the experience is great. You can create something visually stunning that’s out of this world. In terms of functional applications, you can use a piece of real estate, like your retail outlet, to come alive. We recently created a 15×15 room with a couch, a lamp and a wall with the Royale texture for Asian Paints. Then we created 8 different sets of the entire room and we had mapped the sets to it. Using an iPad app we created, the visitor with a click of a button could change the entire look of the room. We took something like paint and made people experience it in an innovative and intuitive way. You can even take a product and make it more dynamic with mapping, rather than displaying it as a static object. Like with Puma, we took a life-size shoe and 3D mapped it in a way for interesting video content to play on different parts of the shoe. Through this we could highlight different aspects of the shoe. So this is something that isn’t possible for you to do on, say, a video billboard where all you have is a flat screen to work with. Take us through what goes behind creating a projected experience. There are various steps involved. First we identify the object that we are going to map. Then we take into account a few technical details such as dimensions, distances, etc. After this we move into content creation where we decide the content we want to be projected. Finally we come to the execution bit where there is installation work involved. Great. Now tell us this, what’s a great occasion to use visual projection mapping? I think it will fit into any place. Concerts and gigs definitely because these events are all about experience. Along with that you can also tap into retail spaces like malls and stores. What challenges do you face when trying to sell ideas featuring such technology? We operate as an interactive agency and we try and understand the challenge that the brand is facing. Then we come up with solutions that answer to those challenges rather than force-fitting technology into it. However if we think we can fit tech in an intuitive way to address the problem, we’ll use it. Now coming to the challenges. Cost is always a challenge. You have to prove that there is an ROI for whatever you’re doing. But I feel if brand managers believe in using it, then it isn’t a problem. Sometimes there is the novelty factor that motivates brands to say ‘yes’. But it may also make them apprehensive about the fact that it hasn’t been done before. But such technologies actually justify the investment behind them. I recently heard of a real estate brand that used the Occulus Rift to take potential customers through a virtual reality tour of their property. I mean when you’re selling property worth crores, you shouldn’t worry about spending money on an experience. If your customer has a good first impression, your chance of a conversion just shoots up. Are we level with the west in terms of the work being done in this space? Personally, I think in comparison to what has happened abroad, India is not right up there but I feel we’re catching up. However we shouldn’t be too harsh on ourselves because most of the tech we use is launched first in the west. So they have more time to work with it.
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Since its inception social media has been the hotbed of political discussion. And with the elections around the corner, the Internet is abuzz with conversations around the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. With 100 million potential voters on Facebook alone, political parties and candidates have decided to deeply invest and integrate Facebook into their strategies. The website, on the other hand, has decided to undertake a series of initiatives to engage and encourage the voter to make an informed choice. It kicked off its first season of Facebook Talks last month featuring election candidates talking to Madhu Trehan of Newslaundry. The Talks imitated typical townhalls, with audiences can share their views and questions at the venue or online. The second season of the Talks kicked off on 11th April and is scheduled to be held in three cities – Amritsar, Varanasi and Vadodara. Prior to each of these townhalls, citizens are asked to upload a 60s video on a Facebook group expressing what they think is important for India, what they feel needs to be the agenda and what will influence their vote. The topics discussed in the townhall will be based on the issues people raise in the videos. Citizens wishing to attend can register themselves on their respective city’s Facebook groups. ‘In Season II of Facebook Talks, we are going back to the core principles of the Founding fathers and taking the show to the people in some important constituencies. You – the Citizen of India will be the focus of the show,’ said Ankhi Das – Director, Public Policy, India & South Asia – Facebook. In order to beef up their effort for the elections, Facebook has also launched a list of nifty features on their site. The ‘I’m a Voter’ button allows voters to share with their friends that they are voting this season. ‘Know Your Neta’ allows users to access candidate information without incurring internet costs. ‘Election Lists’ are interest lists that users can follow to see what elected representatives are saying on Facebook and the ‘Election Tracker’ shows how these representatives are faring on Facebook.
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There was a time when the major focus of budgets relied mainly on distribution to score an edge. Today, in this competitive scenario, innovative marketing campaigns are stealing the thunder. It is more of a ‘pull’ strategy that the brands are looking to create so as to generate customer loyalty. The ultimate aim then becomes to retain the customer and make him loyal, such that he doesn’t settle for Product B, if Product A isn’t available. As per industry reports, more than three quarters of the money and time invested by major brands, goes towards acquiring new customers and subsequently retaining the same. From a seller’s marketplace, it has transformed today into a lively, customer-centric scenario, where a WOW factor is the buzzword. Experiential marketing effectively helps in customer retention and offers a high recall value. And if you’re lucky, this customer becomes your new brand ambassador. A dynamic step forward The convergence of experiential and digital could represent one of the most important steps forward in modern marketing. It is little secret that today’s consumers are demanding a much more personal relationship with the brands they choose, and this has been a key factor in the rise of experiential marketing. Experiential campaigns have a lot to thank the digital world for. Most digital campaigns are now seamlessly integrated on-ground. When digital and experiential campaigns are integrated, experiential gives digital the ability to master proximity, and digital gives experiential the power to extend its reach and add value for both the brand and the consumer. Says Vineet Gupta, Managing Partner, 22 Feet Digital, “There was a time when anonymity was the mantra of the digital world. Aliases were always sought after. But with the rise and rise of social media, everyone knows who you are, what you do, where you stay, what exactly you’re doing. Your opinions are being heard, broadcast and shared, and this is a make-or-break for brands. If even one consumer does not like the experience you provide him, he has all the liberty to showcase it on the social media.” The convergence of experiential and digital could represent one of the most important steps forward in modern marketing. It is little secret that today’s consumers are demanding a much more personal relationship with the brands they choose, and this has been a key factor in the rise of experiential marketing. People are now less concerned about brands violating privacy laws and bombarding them with promotional emailers, because they are engaging with brands they trust, thus the experiences are now richer and more dynamic. Competitive space, smarter consumers Every day, there are several products that are being launched. To make matters complex, there is category creation. Products are becoming congested with a lot of display information and features, making it difficult for the customer to distinguish one product from another. This environment is now forcing brand managers to find new ways to create and maintain a relationship between their product or service and the customer. This is where experiential marketing comes into place. “Customers today are more skeptical than before about mass media marketing campaigns and advertising of claims. They are more aware and have easy access to information,” adds Gupta. Integrating digital media by way of social media campaigns into experiential marketing is not as simple as throwing a link, hashtag or a QR code. The integration of digital communication needs to be seamlessly bonded to provide the brand experience. Brands are now realising the importance of creating a dialogue with the consumers to make them feel heard and validated. The integration of digital media with experiential campaigns thus helps achieve this.
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