As India emerges from an extended holiday this weekend, after Navratri festival, many would have had the opportunity to perform the Garba dance at thousands of dandiya events held across the country. Dandiya Raas is a traditional form of dance from the city of Gujarat that is famously performed during the 9 days of Navratri festival. With its recent prominence especially among youth in the country, many event companies have taken the opportunity to host dandiya festivals across the country to celebrate the age old tradition. This year, Delhi city and its surrounding NCR region witnessed its own dandiya festival ‘Dandiya Beats’ at Appu Ghar OYSTERS, Gurgaon. Lasting 10 days, the daily evening event included a specially made statue of goddess durga and a ‘maha aarti’ being performed before the main event. Following the event, dandiya performances would begin with much pomp and circumstance with each night featuring a celebrity gracing the event. The event was organized with four agencies – CRI, E-Factor, Touchwood and Showcraft coming together to make the event memorable. Speaking on the impact that 4 agencies together could make making ‘Dandiya Beats’ a success, the official spokesman for the event, Chief Creative Officer of Showcraft Productions, Lalitt Gattani said, “this association has made Dandiya Beats much bigger, as the strengths of all partner agencies have come together.” Adding further to the conversation, he believes Dandiya Beats is quite different when compared with other such similar events. He said, “there isn’t any other event similar to Dandiya Beats as it is a complete Navratri event for 10 days and no other event is this long. The ambience and music at Dandiya Beats is also very unique and different compared to others.” The NCR region finally witnessed an event this big dedicated to Navratri after 4 years that had mesmerising ambience, maha aarti everyday, a festival-themed ‘Khaas’ bazaar selling chaniya choli, accessories, dandiya sticks etc. Once, a festival presumed to resonate only with middle-aged people is making a comeback with more and more youngsters taking interest in culture based events like these, to which they may not hold ethnic affiliations. “Youths of today are finding Navratri festivals extremely popular as they have been thronging Dandiya Beats in large numbers”, observed Lalitt Gattani based on the turnout. When asked how brands can benefit associating with events like Dandiya Beats, Mr Gattani said, “Dandiya Beats can offer the brands a unique customer activation opportunities for a sustained period as it is a 10 day event.” Showcraft has been a key player in planning and executing the whole event along with its partners. Festivals like these may not be held across the national capital and its surrounding while these could be held in multiple locations within a city like Ahmedabad that celebrates Navratri grandly. When asked about different agencies coming together in a city and holding a mega event for any festival, Mr Gattani replied, “I don’t think that all organisers should come together as everyone has their own niche areas where they excel, which gives people different choices to experience.” However, he believes Dandiya Beats is already a mega event and the crowd will multiply with each passing years.
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Myntra has announced the company’s transition to an “app only” platform w.e.f. 15 May 2015, marking the end of desktop and browser based shopping. With mobile-based commerce emerging as the next biggest opportunity, Myntra sees this as a step towards creating a differentiated shopping experience for its consumers, which will be individualized and engaging. The rapid expansion of smartphones from 120-140 million in 2014 to 600-700 million in 2020 will provide the base for creation of an inclusive market unprecedented in the history of fashion shopping. Mobile apps are taking utilitarian role in users’ life by being the default mode of accessing and consuming internet services. According to a recent study, 90% of smartphone users in India use apps, which is close to 158 million as of today. The country ranks second only to the US in the usage of shopping apps. [caption id="attachment_1958" align="alignnone" width="300"] (c) Sachin R. Saraf[/caption] By going App Only, Myntra aims to strengthen the core value proposition of helping people “Look Good”. There has been an incredible customer response to the fashion focused content and services such as style solutions by stylists, look good tips and curated offerings backed by a wide selection of brands. The company plans to take the next step by bringing a whole new experience to its users through a rich set of features that would enable discovery and consumption of fashion products, content and services – personalized to individual’s need, taste and choice. Speaking on this occasion, Sachin Bansal, Co-Founder & CEO, Flipkart, said, “There has been a tremendous growth of smartphones in India & it will continue to multiply over the next few years. Consumers’ are shifting fast to smart phones for commerce and information consumption in a big way. Smart phones with apps are becoming utilities that consumers access constantly for their various needs on a daily basis. We are already seeing the development of mobile-based commerce, which will be the most powerful, personalized, intuitive & inclusive market. It’s a great step that Myntra has taken towards creating a differentiated experience that will generate customer pull and make it a one stop solution for all fashion needs.” According to Mukesh Bansal, CEO, Myntra & Head of Commerce, Flipkart, “We are immensely pleased to announce our transition to an app only platform and promise a very exciting & new age shopping experience to our customers. Fashion is a very personal experience. We believe that only mobile can truly deliver this experience as it captures user’s lifestyle and context in manner that no other medium does. Think of all the hardware and software features that one can leverage like camera, contact, location etc. to understand the user’s context and deliver the experience that is deeply personalized”, he added.
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Weddingplz.com, online portal dedicated to find the best wedding vendors in town,recently won the People’s Choice Award at Echelon Asia Summit’s Top100 Start-ups organized in Bangalore. “The quality of the start-ups presented here is very good. We had a very tough time going through the judging process,” shared Sanjay Swamy (Co-founder of early-stage VC fund AngelPrime) one of the members at the judging panel. “What is noteworthy is that many of the start-ups presented here are global-, mobile- and customer-centric. The traction of some of the startups is awesome,” said Ravi Gururaj (angel investor and member of Nasscom Product and Executive Council), a prominent member of the Indian start-up community and a judge at the Qualifiers. Raghunandan G, Co-founder of TaxiForSure (an online taxi booking startup recently acquired by Ola), and AshishBedekar, Head of MediaTek Labs (India), were also on the judging panel. Start-ups were selected from a pool of 500 applicants to pitch at the Country Qualifier Round at the Echelon Asia Summit 2015 (results of which will be declared shortly).They are still in the running to be part of the start-ups who will be exhibiting at the Echelon Asia Summit 2015 in Singapore in June.
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If you like attending events every now and then, you probably like creating one right in your own home. Perhaps, you must be already doing that in the form of birthday celebration or just a get together party. For people who like to go big on events, the thought of creating one’s own Intellectual Property must have crossed the mind. As no challenge may be too big to conquer, creating an IP may require some holistic thought process and direction. Let’s look at some of the factors that drive IPs. Behind every execution there is a plan, behind every plan a thought process is involved, a goal is involved. Similarly, behind every IP there may be some key focus areas that a person must think through. As the world we live in shrinks increasingly with time as a result of technology, a property needs to provide some form of experience, which people can connect with and value. Speaking on this subject, Supriya Sobti – Co-founder of Ragasthan says, “Whether it is time or distance, technology has shortened it to the point that people expect instant connect to any property, expect to see value instantly as well as instant recall value of the product. So, an IP is about creating that tangible property with the target audience in mind.” Once a person takes the first leap and organizes an event after putting every sweat and blood into it, it is important to patent it. Every property is unique that is worthy of patenting. Supriya believes that a property is an investment that requires massive resources, there are no shortcuts to it, and one puts in everything that he/she believes in it. Therefore, it is important to protect it. USP: Every person is unique so is his/her creation. A property needs to have an USP in order to not just stand out from the crowd but to provide a unique experience to people who are the real patrols for any property to become successful. Supriya says, “Ragasthan music festival is different from other festivals, which hasn’t been done before, we have to ride on the demographics and provide what they have not experienced before. It might take little bit of time to set up, but the uniqueness always help.” There is no magic formula to create an IP and there is no special personality trait that makes one owner of a successful IP. Supriya believes that it is more about self-belief in a product and in believing that the concept and idea will work. Anil Singh of Procam International said, “an IP is like your baby, you have to believe in it, feed it, raise it and grow it with time.” Another important aspect is ticketing model and pricing for any IP once the basics are in place. However, it can be a complex affair as initial period of any property may not attract sponsors in both value and size. A certain value can also be attributed around ticketing model. For example, Ragasthan carries the a standard pricing for the festival, there is no VIP pass or anything of that sort. She says, “we keep the pricing to minimal to cover the basic costs and pricing is kept same since we believe that music does not discriminate anyone.”
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Using the latest in virtual reality technology, BBC Global News Ltd recently launched a dramatic new interactive trade campaign to showcase how it delivers personal, portable and on-demand news for the digital age.Be Everywhere campaign, which premiered at Cannes Lions last week (21 – 27 June) in the BBC World News pop-up studio space (Cabana 20/21 on La Croisette), illustrated the innovative digital opportunities available to advertisers in a new and unique way. Using direct mail, Be Everywhere virtual reality viewers are on their way to all corners of the globe so targeted potential and current clients can explore a fully immersive 360 video experience.Armed with the Be Everywhere smart phone app (available via the Apple App store and Google Play store) and their viewer, people could join presenter Babita Sharma in a virtual studio. The 360 experience allowed viewers to have a peak behind the scenes as Babita demonstrated the leading news brand’s digital products and the advertiser benefits. Be Everywhere highlights the BBC’s international news services’ position as a leader in digital innovation. The campaign demonstrated what BBC World News and BBC.com/news are offering their global audiences as they completely transformed the BBC News experience, from the development of the ‘sticky player’ to ‘my news’ on the redeveloped BBC News App (28million downloads and growing), while showcasing opportunities for agencies and advertisers. About the campaign, Chris Davies, Sales & Marketing Director, BBC Global News Ltd, said: “We know more than half of the BBC’s online traffic comes via mobile and tablet devices and with BBC.com now reaching a global audience of over 80 million unique browsers per month, that’s a huge opportunity for our clients. The ethos of Be Everywhere is digital innovation in all aspects of our work and I am delighted we are bringing this campaign to life in such a unique way. Exploiting developing technologies in this manner really illustrates our digital offer, demonstrating first-hand what the BBC can do. Whether it’s content that works seamlessly across devices or precise audience targeting, the campaign shows our dynamic and innovative approach for both audiences and advertisers alike and showcases how we are staying ahead of the curve in a rapidly changing media landscape.” The Be Everywhere video can also be viewed online at http://advertising.bbcworldwide.com/beeverywhere/#video
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English movie channel, Sony Pix is all set to take entertainment to the next level with the launch of its broadcast on mobile devices. Starting 01 July 2015, the channel comes alive on Tata Sky’s Mobile App. Subscribers of Sony PIX on Tata Sky will now get to watch their favorite movies on the channel live and on the go. This service will be available on Android, iOS mobile devices including Windows on PCs. So here’s a chance to hang out with your favourite AXN characters and watch your favourite Hollywood blockbusters anywhere, everywhere on TATA SKY Mobile!” SaurabhYagnik, Executive Vice- President & Business Head, Sony PIX and AXN says, “With the fast paced life and ever changing habits of young television viewers in India, Live TV on mobiles is the next big thing. Accessibility to high quality internet services and app friendly smart phones, this evolution is taking place at a dynamic pace. To cater to this changing need of our evolved viewers, we have partnered with Tata Sky to launch Sony PIX on this platform and also further strengthen AXN’s presence in this space thus reinforcing ourselves as thought leaders in the categories that we operate in” He further adds, “With the ‘Tata Sky Mobile App’, and our presence therein we believe that we will be able to augment the viewing experience of our channels and buttress our position as the favourite destination for Hollywood blockbusters and of the best favourite shows from the US. They will never be missed…Catch them from anywhere on Tata Sky Mobile.” Emphasizing the move, Paolo Agostinelli, Chief Content & Business Develoment Officer at Tata Sky said, “With the help of the Tata Sky Mobile app we have made our subscriber’s lives easier and enjoyable, as they can now carry their favourite shows anywhere they go. The addition of Sony PIX along with AXN to the bouquet of over 80 channels on the app, makes the popular movies and tele series genre an unbeatable combination.” To activate, one needs to be an active subscriber of Tata Sky, download the free Tata Sky mobile app from the app store and register the device. Take your PIX everywhere with ‘Tata Sky Mobile’ for mega premieres and your favourite Hollywood blockbusters such as ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’, ‘Captain America’, ‘The Hulk’, ‘The Hobbit’, ‘Hunger Games: Mocking Jay’, ‘The Twilight series, ‘The Iron Man Series’, Bond series etc on Sony PIX. Catch your favourite AXN shows such as ‘Hannibal’, ‘The Orphan Black’, ‘24’, ‘Elementary’, ‘Sherlock’, ‘Dexter’, ‘Californication’ etc… EVERYWHERE on Tata Sky Mobile. Download now! - See more at: http://everythingexperiential.com/sony-pix-goes-live-on-mobile-devices-through-tata-skys-mobile-app/#sthash.TIzoHsfF.dpuf
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In times when people are becoming savvy to book their homes online, Square Yards, leading real estate advisory with its ‘RE – Commerce’ platform sold 350 flats worth USD 40mn for Antriksh Group’s project Urban Greek through augmented reality platform ‘Scapes’ and online booking engine in less than 19 hours. In one of the most innovative campaigns seen in real estate industry, christening 5th July as the No Loan Day (#NoLoanDay), Antriksh Group offered prospective home buyers a unique chance to own a home by paying just 0.9% of the property value per month. Commenting on the innovative campaign, TanujShori, CEO of Square Yards said that “We were always confident of our unique hybrid model of on ground fulfilment coupled with online convenience to serve home buyers, but today with the resounding success of our RE-COMMERCE (Real Estate Commerce) engine, our hunger to bring ’never before ways to experience under construction homes before buying them’ has been stoked even more.” In a full-blown media campaign covering outdoor, print, radio and the internet, pre-registrations for this offer by inviting prospective home buyers with a clear cut communication that the booking window will open at 00:01 hours on the 5th of July. Both, Antriksh and Square Yards received an overwhelming response from property buyers even before the launch of the #NoLoanDay campaign. About ~7000+ pre-registrations were received on the website. Square Yards and Antriksh group together organized an event on the 5th of July where all pre-registered guests were invited to experience Urban Greek in virtual 3D reality before buying the home of their choice. The concept was a huge hit with home buyers thronging the experience zone by the thousands and resulting in a total sellout of the project in a little less than 19 hours. “I have never witnessed anything like this before in my life” said a jubilant Abhishek Singh Goyat, MD of Antriksh Developers. “We knew we were backing a competent team at Square Yards when it came to develop the online booking engine for Antriksh Urban Greek, but I guess the overwhelming response that we got from all over the world with people lapping up full floors of towers online from Dubai, Muscat & Singapore etc. is a testimony to this concept. It will set to become the need of the hour in today’s real estate market” added Mr.Goyat. This event marks the entry of Square Yards as only the third company in India to sell homes online after Housing.com and Snapdeal. But with this debut, Square Yards makes a thundering entry into uber competitive domain of real estate e-commerce by clocking in astounding sales figures of 350 transactions, with market value close to USD40mn in lesser than 19 hours.
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P. N. Gadgil Jewellers Pvt. Ltd launched its e-commerce website / e-Store with an exclusive ‘Try-on Jewellery’ feature also known as ‘Jewelfie’. Bollywood Diva Raveena Tandon graced the occasion with her presence. The ceremony also marked the launch of their E-Commerce Mobile App and the launch of Try On kiosk at the Vile Parle store (To be available at Thane and Panvel soon) inaugurated by Ms.Raveena Tandon. The comprehensive website will showcase centralized Jewellery Design Catalogue with all possible ready to buy as well as made to order design options. The exclusive jewellery Try-on feature on the PNG website will enable the consumers to create their profiles, try out jewellery, click pictures, shortlist favourite designs, save & share images on social media platforms, seek PNG support & counselling and actually buy and order through secured delivery tracking system all in the virtual environment. It offers the customers to make purchases 24/7 anytime, anywhere over the internet at their convenience and make informed buying decisions. The entire consumer goods industry is evolving. Today the Consumers are driven more by aspirations leading to changes in their expectations with reference to availability, affordability, choice, convenience, cost, security and technology reflecting clearly the transformation in their buying patterns. Apart from this, the changing lifestyles, busy schedules and their outlook towards shopping is also pushing consumers to make purchases online. Consumers today are looking at finesse and exclusivity in the product and are also willing to pay the premium for the same. There is a huge demand for made to order jewellery as compared to the ready stock. The main reasons are exclusivity of the product, budget constraints, occasions & investments preferences. On the other hand the consumer expectations are largely influenced by the way products are being made available to them especially through the e-commerce platforms. The made to order facility on the Jewellery Try-On enables the consumers to design and modify the selected / shortlisted jewellery pieces and at the same allows them to try it on virtually to check how it looks on them. So with this technology P. N. Gadgil ensures customer engagement right from the process of designing the product to delivering the product at their doorsteps. The Jewellery Try-On uses a virtual, centralized Consumer Experience & Relationship Management (CERM) platform hosted on a Cloud based technology that depicts Omni presence of the jewellery retailer, exactly resembles the showcase, jewellery counters, availability of all possible jewellery designs, buying process, delivery process, counselling etc. A completely secured e-store domain with SSL certification, that provides high-end security to consumer’s profile as well as order placing & tracking and doorstep delivery. Mr.SaurabhGadgil, Chairman & Managing Director, P. N. Gadgil Jewellers Pvt. Ltd. said ‘We believe our jewellery Try-on technology is a definite game changer in the sales & marketing of the gems & jewellery industry, in terms of its uniqueness, convenience and privacy it offers. Moreover, the change in consumer behaviour is being sensed by PNG since the last decade. In order to maintain traditional loyal customer base and to cater to the new age consumer we feel it is necessary to implement hi-end technological facilities to help consumers holistically. Our comprehensive e-Store will help us to reach out to places where we do not have physical presence, domestically and internationally. We expect our ecommerce website traffic to quadruple with this new feature increasing our brand visibility and help us position our business extensively on global map.’ On speaking with Ms.Raveena Tandon, she said, ‘My association with P. N Gadgil Jewellers has been for many years now. P N Gadgil is like a family jeweller for me. The success of P N Gadgil Jewellers speaks its own language; they have a legacy for innovation for over 100 years built with trust and core values coming down from their great grandfathers. This Try on Kiosk and Mobile App by PNG Jewellers is a very unique technology making its way for the first time in India, especially in the jewellery industry.” ‘The Try on feature on the ecommerce website of P N GadgilJewellers is unique and one of its kind software with completely secured cloud based technology & SSL certification. With this technology the consumers can access their profile from anywhere in the world and it will prove to be a key differentiator for PNG Jewellers in the jewellery business. I would like to thank P N GadgilJewellers for acknowledging our expertise and we look forward to the continued association with them in the coming future’ said Mr. SurendraKarandikar, CEO, Prorigo Software.
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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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