To mark the beginning of a historic day for eBay globally, eBay India today launched an unique campaign titled #SheMeansBusiness. The campaign in partnership with Yourstory.com invites all online women entrepreneurs to share their success stories, so that other women entrepreneurs are inspired to take advantage of the growth in ecommerce. Online women entrepreneurs across platforms can send their stories in the form of a write-up, a video or an audio which will be judged by an esteemed jury. Six shortlisted women entrepreneurs not only stand a chance to share their stories with the world through www.yourstory.com but also stand to benefit from free listings on www.ebay.in during the festival season from September-December 2015. The campaign will be open to all online women entrepreneurs irrespective of the platform they currently trade on. Women entrepreneurs can share their stories starting July 20th till August 15th, 2015. For more information on the contest, log on to www.her.yourstory.com “eBay India has been encouraging and supporting women entrepreneurs for over a decade now.We have over 5000 women sellers listed on ebay.in and through this campaign, we want to further encourage and support women entrepreneursfrom across India to realize and fulfill their dreams and take their businessesto a global customer base,” said Shivani Suri, Head of Marketing, eBay India. www.yourstory.comis one of India’s most well-known media platforms for entrepreneurs, dedicated to passionately championing and promoting the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. Women sellers constitute about 20% of the 1 million sellers on online platforms that form the $12 billion online retail industry in the country. eBayIndia has been organizing training sessions with women groups and entrepreneurs in order to train and equip them with the necessary skills for smooth functioning of theironline businesses.Over 5000 women entrepreneurs are currently sellingtheir products across categories such as home furnishing, jewellery, handicrafts, and fashion apparel to a global base of buyers who have a penchant for Indian products.
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Percept ICE, the Incentives, Conventions, Exhibitions and Events Company of Percept Limited, successfully conceptualized and executed the Havells Convention from 2nd to 7th July, 2015 at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, Switzerland. The conference was held with the objective of building stronger bonds and rewarding the Havells Dealers for the dedication and hard work they have put into making Havells a success story across India. The Convention saw the top 250 Dealers along with their spouses attend the 5 day event in the beautiful location of Zurich. In addition to recognizing and rewarding the Havells Dealers for their sincerity and hard work over the past year, the convention also aimed at encouraging and motivating them to take the brand to the next level. Percept ICE’s scope of work encompassed conceptualizing the entire theme and logistics for all the days of the convention. This included ideation on the various themes across all the days of the convention, managing and executing a successful conference. While the overarching theme of this expedition was “HavellsYounited…A Swiss Odyssey”, the main day conference theme held on 5th July 2015 was “WahiSochNaya Josh”. Said Mr. Mukesh Jain, General Manager-Marketing & Communication from Havells, “Our late founder Shri. QimatRai Gupta always focused on having bigger dreams and striving to achieve them. We are also imbibing the same thought into ourselves and our Dealers. Hence the theme of this year “WahiSochNaya Josh” was followed keeping in mind his ideologies and principles. With the same passion and zeal, we plan to take Havells to the next level with renewed enthusiasm.” The tour officially started on 2nd July where all the guests were given Gift Hampers at the time of their arrival in Switzerland. A special candle light dinner was arranged at “Willisau”, an hour away from Zurich where guests were welcomed by Alpine horn players and Yodelers dressed in local costumes. The pre-function area was bedecked with several photo opportunity corners. Guests wore local costumes and clicked pictures at the various photo-op zones. The main dinner hall was spectacularly lit up with candles to set a rustic mood even as a local folklore group entertained the guests with a traditional Swiss dance number. Day 2 and 3 were spent sightseeing at the famed Jungfraujoch&Mt.Titlismountains. The Dealers were in for a surprise as they saw the snow covered peaks dotted with many Havells flags welcoming them. Day 4 kicked off the conference with the theme “WahiSochNaya Josh” at the elite Kongresshaus venue. After the traditional lamp lighting ceremony, famous Bollywood personality BomanIrani took over as the moderator. The conference was divided into 3 segments with the first segment being “Coffee with ARG” (Anil Rai Gupta, Chairman, Havells); the second being an engagement with the dealers; and the grand finale segment witnessing a motivational speech from BomanIrani. Internationally acclaimed speed painter “Quim Moya” amazed all the guests with his brilliant art presentation. The gala evening was dedicated to the “Havells Power Awards” and sported a Royal theme befitting the special occasion. A Royal blue carpet was laid out at the entrance where the ever charming MandiraBeditook bytes from the Dealers and their spouses. A royal throne and a croma photo opportunity area were created for the guests to take back some everlasting framed memories. The evening was opened by Thomas Webber, an Ipad Magician who charmed everyone with his spectacular magical tricks. Hosted by MandiraBedi, the awards saw 97 dealers win across several categories. Introduction AVs were created for each and every awardee. The evening also witnessed stunning performances by several international artists. The gala evening came to an end with DJ Muskan – a Swiss DJ, dishing out some fun Bollywood music for all the guests till the wee hours. The evening of 6th July was uniquely themed as ‘Havells Idol’ and saw a contest designed especially for the Dealers who wanted to showcase their singing talent. The evening witnessed 20 individual performances and 2 group performances. Indian Idol fame Meiyang Chang hosted the show while VinodRathore and Kavita Krishnamurthy judged the contest and graced the evening with some melodious songs. Special Certificates and Trophies were handed out to the delighted winners. The entire event was customized to include everyone’s tastes and preferences as also symbolize Havells commitment to their partners. A survey conducted with the Dealers prior to the event saw Percept ICE attain and collate vital information pertaining to their favorite cuisine, colors, songs, dances, art and other elements which helped them to customize and implement a very successful and memorable trip for the guests. Another highlight of the convention was a special Radio Show created for the guests which included their favorite songs. The guests loved the overall experience, especially the involvement, interactivity and warmth of the Chairman with all of them. Commenting on the work executed by the Percept ICE team NazneenKarimi – Chief Executive Officer, Percept ICE said, “”It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with Havells and their whole team. We are extremely happy to have successfully pulled this convention as it was a very special event for them. It was overwhelming to get live feedback from the client and guests present who enjoyed every theme, activity and performance to the fullest. We look forward to sharing a long and successful relationship with Havells for many years to come.”
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Madison IES, the activation and experential unit of Madison OOH and Madison World just completed a mega event across 21 town in India to launch Prism Cement’s Duratech Cement. The Agency won the assignment in a multi-agency pitch. Madison IES demonstrated its execution capabilities and provess by executing this event over a span of just 17 days across 21 towns in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where a total of 39,000 dealers of Prism Cement attended the launch. Each event started with performance of Ganesh Vandana, followed by the product launch and product presentation by the Prism Zonal Head. Says Saumen Roy, General Manager, Madison IES, says “We have been working with Prism Cement for a few years and are delighted to be a part of this important launch of Duratech. It was a huge operational challenge to execute this event across 21 cities in 17 days, but am glad that the event was a huge success.” Madison OOH has won several awards recently including 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 5 Bronze at the OAC awards last week, a Gold at Goafest Abby 2015, 16 awards at E4M Neon Awards 2015 and 12 awards at Asian Consumer Engagement Forum 2015. Madison OOH is a part of Madison World and operates several brands including MOMS, Platinum Outdoor, Activation specialist – Madison IES, Rural specialist - Anugrah Madison, Out-Sel and Entrust. Madison OOH group handles marquee clients like Mondelez, Samsung, Asian Paints, Kotak, Omkar, Marico, Raymond, Toyota, ITC Foods, Aircel, Idea, amongst many others.
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Madison IES, the activation and experential unit of Madison OOH and Madison World has just completed another event – the launch of Eros Now, the online entertainment platform of Eros, where Bipasha Basu was the Chief Guest. The brief given to Madison IES was to position Eros Now as a new age digital paltiform and to achieve this, the logo was unveilled on a curved led screen of approx 28 feet width x 12 feet height and 2.8mm pitch. A mammoth logo entrance arch and a pink carpet presence went hand in hand with the theme of the event. Customized product stations were created to give enhanced experience to media & guests. Says Akshay Sharma, Marketing Head, Eros Now, “Madison really stepped up to the occasion to deliver what was expected from an event of this calibre. Their understanding of the brief to position Eros Now as a new age digital platform for today’s users reflected in every detail and at every stage of the event. The result was a blend of world class technology with flawless execution.” Saumen Roy, General Manager & Head, Madison IES, says, “Eros is an iconic brand and it is a matter of pride for us, having won the mandate from the pioneering global entertainment leader. We used a curved led and managed to setup this mammoth task in less than 10 hours. We look forward to working on many such assignments with Eros in the near future.”
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Golfingindian.com, a website dedicated to golf and golfer interest, hosted the Take Solutions India Golf Awards last evening at the Oberoi Gurgaon. The event, in its first edition this year, had in its attendance several veterans and notable names from the Indian golfing community. Unfortunately, most of the prominent female golfers, engaged at a tournament in Thailand, were absent from the awards ceremony. A protagonist for development of sports in India, Chief Minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda, arrived as the Chief Guest and inaugurated the event amidst cheer by successfully scoring at the makeshift putting green. Montek Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission for India and an ardent golf player was the Guest of Honour while legendary Gary Player extended his support to golfingindia.com and the players through a motivating audio-visual played during the event. Golf enthusiast and acclaimed stand-up comic, Papa CJ, bagged the award for Best Newcomer and in return entertained the crowd with a side-splitting act. Some of the prize winners under various categories were Rashid Khan and Vani Kapoor for Best Players Under 24 category, Anirban Lahiri and Sharmila Nicolette for the People’s Choice category, Jesse Grewal and Nonita Lal Quereshi for Best Teaching Pro, Neha Tripathi and Gaganjeet Bhullar for Best Pro Player, Shiv Kapoor and Arjun Atwal for the Global Recognition category, Delhi Golf and Country Club received the award for Best Golf Academy, DLF was awarded the Best Golf Real Estate Project, Delhi Golf Club won in the Best Golf Course category, Akash Ohri of DLF Golf Resorts received the award for Excellence of Golf Course Management and Sita Rawley won the Lifetime Achievement Award. In a community where cricket continues to hold a strong monopoly, golf has been largely elitist and undervalued as a sport. In bleak times, the India Golf awards claims to be an advocate for a more supportive and cohesive golfing fraternity that aims to recognize talent and promote better penetration within the country. Take Solutions was the title sponsor at the event, also powered by Audi, Lufthansa, Nitesh Estates and Indian Terrain.
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Incentive travel has long been recognized as a powerful business tool for helping organizations achieve key business objectives and drive bottom line results. Smart business leaders in India know that the skills and attitudes of their employees can be the very thing that sets them apart from their competition. “Incentive travel is one of the fastest growing segments within India’s outbound MICE movement. Many Indian companies organise annual incentive travel as a business tool to reward and motivate top-performing employees as well as external channel partners to drive topline sales. As Indian incentive groups become more mature and discerning, Singapore aims to provide a selection of customised, value-added experiences that cater to the tastes of this important market through its INSPIRE incentive programme. ”says Chang CheePey, Executive Director, South Asia, Middle East & Africa, Singapore Tourism Board. Indian Corporates from Pharmaceutical, Cement, FMCG, Retail, BFSI and other industries are seeking new destinations for MICE trips beyond traditional destinations and themes, thereby providing their employees and distributors unique experiences and are actively holding regular MICE programs abroad with departments dedicated to take care of business travel & incentive groups of sizeable proportions. India’s new “elite middle class” who are spending exorbitantly for their holidays abroad as well as Indian HNWIs & “Closet Customers” are also a segment that are too important to be ignored. According to Mischa Mannix-Opie, Regional Manager – South & South East Asia at Tourism New Zealand, “New Zealand currently hosts many Indian incentive groups annually with group sizes usually ranging from 50-150 passengers. However it is not uncommon for larger groups of up to around 400 passengers to travel to New Zealand from India. The eagerness of Indian travellers to explore and experience new places, coupled with the increase in their spending power, makes India an important market for luxury travel as well.” Mr. Byungsun Lee – Director, Korea Tourism Organisation, India Office adds: “India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world with rising travel potential. With stronger business prospects and the rupee getting stronger, business travel and MICE from India all set to grow. Korea offers unique travel experience with state of the art facilities and outstanding services that is fairly unexplored in the Indian market.” In the current business scenario, it is vital that suppliers have direct access to senior executives, with final decision on vendor selection, and the ultimate sign off on all budgets. Reaching the decision maker, however, is costly, time-consuming and hard to achieve. This is where the 2nd Annual MICE India & Luxury Travel Congress organised by QnA International comes in, a curated gathering of India’s biggest spenders for MICE & Luxury Travel from the largest enterprises & agencies from all across the Indian sub-continent. “As a part of our marketing plan in India we are targeting corporate houses, MICE planners, event management companies and travel agents to market MICE destinations in Korea. MILT congress was appealed to me as an event bringing genuine buyers from all our target industries under one roof which makes it a must visit congress for us.” – says Mr. Byungsun Lee – Director, Korea Tourism Organisation, India Office. Estimates show that the number of Indians travelling abroad by 2020 will increase making India one of the fastest growing tourism markets. Teresa Santos from AIM group Portugal estimates “We strongly believe that Indian market has the same potential than Chinese market probably more for some segments and less for other. Chinese market started to operate to Europe before but it is turned especially to a leisure target while Indian will position itself much more on a Mice target.” “There is a growing interest in European destinations that are a new alternative to the traditional main destinations. Portugal has been one of the leading MICE destinations for European and North and South American continent and it is now becoming relevant for the Indian tourism. “ Her colleague Raffaela Polla from AIM Group further adds: “Italy is also recognized as one of the most important tourist destinations in Europe and in the world, able to offer a complete experience Made in Italy from culture, art, food to fashion and nature. Indian tourists love the city of art, but also our Islands and the South of the country. Bollywood films attest they are also interested in the countryside landscaper. Italy is a popular destination for Indian tourists and it is becoming more and more a mono destination.” With a number of suppliers rebooking for the 2014 edition of MILT Congress, the expectations with the upcoming event in July are soaring high. Ramzi Assily, Cluster General Manager, Avari Dubai Hotels & Apartments says: “This is our second year at the MILT congress. Due to the extensive contacts we have made in 2013, we are looking forward to do the same in 2014. Our data has showed an increase of Indian nationals using our properties over the last year. It has also given us the opportunity to get in touch directly with major corporate entities, enabling us to make direct deals with them, on the corporate level. Switzerland Convention & Incentives Bureau who are continuing their support to this year as well also believe that MILT Congress is an important event in their calendar. “We did participate last year and it was a good experience. The pre scheduled 1:1 appointments with top buyers were very good, had an opportunity to meet more buyers then scheduled. The panel discussions were helpful too. For this year edition, we are expecting the same high quality. The strong & positive image of Switzerland in India along with the high awareness levels, the comfortable flight connections from various Indian cities to Zurich/Switzerland, the economic growth in India make it an ideal offer for Zürich/Switzerland as a MICE and luxury travel destination” says Aishvarya Guhagarkar From Switzerland Convention & Incentive Bureau. Organised by Dubai based QnA International, the MICE India and Luxury Travel Congress took place in Mumbai on 24 and 25 July as a by invitation only business driven congress with a deal driven format of pre arranged meetings.
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Change Talk – Friday Funda was held at the Godrej India Culture Lab in Vikhroli on Friday August 1. Archana Prasad, Navroze Godrej and Rajeev Thakkar, the creators of three very interesting collaborative urban space projects shared their experience in creating these spaces and discussed with each other and the audience, the pleasure and complications of designing for community building in Indian cities. Archana Prasad is the Founder-Director of Jaaga Bangalore, a community based urban art, tech and activism project, shared her dream for the future of Jaaga, including expanding classes that are being held in a banana plantation near Bangalore! Navroze Godrej who works on the Godrej Group’s disruptive innovation initiatives through the Godrej Innovation Centre, that has incubated several businesses such as ChotuKool, a cooler for rural markets, spoke about his creation, The Hubble, Godrej’s new collaborative workspace in Vikhroli, that is re-imagining the traditional employer-employee relationship and visualising the corporation as a platform for people to do their best work. Rajeev Thakkar is a practicing architect and the director of Columbia University’s GSAAP Studio X project in Mumbai. He spoke about how Studio X is creating a collaborative platform for architects, artists, planners, developers and activists, to engage in research, exhibition and debates regarding future of cities. Along with interesting discussions, the evening saw several eminent personalities including Mr. Nadir Godrej and his wife Mrs. Rati Godrej, Ms. Nisaba Godrej, Mr.Vijay Crishna, and Ms. Meera Sanyal. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Parmesh Shahani, Head, Godrej India Culture Lab said, “The lab is all about cross pollination, meeting new people and exchanging ideas, which is why we host events, talks and discussions which range from fashion to art and culture and today this very interesting Change Talk on collaborative urban space projects. We saw a brilliant turnout today and hope to witness the same enthusiasm of people in the future as well.”
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Titan Company’s ‘Paradox Panel’ think tank has released its third Millennial Paradox Quarterly based on ‘Collective Individualism and what it means for the Lives and Leisure of India’s Generation Y.’ Following the release of the white paper a round table discussion was organized on 8th July 2014 with a panel comprising of Mr. Aditya Swamy – Executive Vice President, MTV India, Dr. Bino Paul – Professor and Chairperson, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mr. Kaustav Sengupta – Associate Professor at National Institute of Fashion Technology and Mr. Sam Ahmed, Film Director. According to the research, Collective Individualism – the contradiction that typifies India’s millennial population (those aged between 21 and 35 years) – is clear and present across all aspects of their lives, from travel and tourism to their particular attitudes on work-life balance. Collective Individualist behaviour is the contradiction that characterizes today’s ‘Generation Y’ demographic; while they are intensely and determinedly individual in the way they obtain and use information, make choices and reach opinions. They are, simultaneously, the most Collective generation on earth, sharing everything from activities to opinions and constantly seek endorsement for the same. This is the essence of Titan Company’s Millennial Paradox; and a series of studies, research and insights commissioned by the company around this demographic phenomenon. The Collective Individual; from traveller to protagonist When travelling, millennials value individual and, where possible, deeply personal experiences that go way beyond the superficial; 78% of millennials would prefer to learn something new when traveling, while 70% indicated they expect special places to offer immersive experiences that are interactive and hands-on. Over 90% strongly agree, “Being well travelled was a competitive advantage in the workplace” with the same survey respondents claiming that student travel ‘fosters an appreciation for diversity, an appreciation and acceptance of cultural differences which helps to build confidence’. According to Mr. S. Ravi Kant – Chief Executive Officer – Eyewear & EVP Corporate Communications, Titan Company, today’s ‘Collective Individual’ traveller aspires to be, not merely a visitor, but a genuine protagonist in the places they visit. “Millennials’ approach to travel perfectly reflects the Millennial Paradox; they religiously ‘crowd source’ insights and opinions before deciding on a journey or destination, but what they are ultimately seeking is an experience that’s completely individual and unique,” says Mr. Kant. “Generation Y travellers demand to be integrated in local culture with an actual authentic, local experience. This perfectly reflects the shift from travelling to witness or experience to travelling to participate. Millennial travellers look beyond just a completely personalized experience; they go a step further to participate and be much more than just a visitor.” Work-life balance – a false distinction for the Collective Individual Other findings highlight Indian millennials’ attitude towards work-life balance. For millennials work is simply another medium of individual, personal self-expression with 83% believing that a job should help them to ’pursue their passion’. Such consideration should not, however, suggest any compromise when it comes to their careers; on the contrary, 37% Indian millennials ‘expect to be in a management position within one year of graduating’ and 25% expect to be in ‘senior management positions or running their own business’ within two years. For today’s millennials, work is an intensely individual and personal activity; and much more than simply the extraction of ‘surplus labour’. Over 80% millennials believe business can exert a positive impact on issues such as climate change, 56% believe business can contribute more to issues such as resource scarcity; 55% climate change; 49% income inequality. And they expect to be treated as individuals throughout the process; around 70% of them see themselves working independently as entrepreneurs ‘at some point’ in their lives. “The Millennial Paradox is palpable in the way that India’s Generation Y considers work, its meaning and their role within. They expect a direct, personal and individual relationship with their employer; however, they are deeply conscious of the wider role employers can play beyond the workplace with respect to the wider collective. 69% actively seek employers whose corporate responsibility efforts reflect their personal values; India’s millennials are applying the same values and logic to work as to their lives outside the office,” added Mr Kant. Titan Company’s Paradox Panel has already explored the implications of the Millennial Paradox on India’s youth in terms of their consumer behaviour; following papers will cover love & relationships and professional lives. These insights will be published in subsequent Titan Company’s Millennial Paradox Quarterlies during the course of the year.
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