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Shailesh Rao, Chairman, IAMAI and MD, Media Platforms – APAC, Google gave the welcome address where he introduced the theme for the day. He elaborated on the evolution of digital marketing till date and stressed on engagement as a vital aspect of building a brand.
Dulles Krishnan, Director, IBM Commerce Solutions said in his key note session, “Businesses are challenged by rapidly changing environments and all marketers should see how they can bring in science into the art of marketing.”

The first panel discussion based on the theme- “Bringing science to the art of marketing” included speakers like Hitesh Oberoi, Chief Executive Officer, Info Edge; Vivek Bhargava, Managing Director, Communicate 2; C R Vinay, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Customer Centria and Hari Krishnan, Country Manager, Linkedin India. The discussion was moderated by Nagesh Alai, President, AAAI and CFO Draftfcb Ulka. The panel discussed how the right kind pf processes, technology and minds have to be utilised to improve the effectiveness of digital marketing. Vinay pointed out that, “Customers still relate more to brand messages that have an emotional connect, so marketers have to be keep this in mind irrespective of the platform utlisied.” On the other hand Krishnan said that more and more people are choosing digital to spend time and that marketers hence should be ably participating in conversation with consumers online even if the consumer has something negative to say.

The next session was based on the theme “Mobile Marketing: Consumer Engagement”, the panel included Giriraj Bagri, Vice President- Marketing, Castrol India; Rameet Arora, Senior Director Marketing, Mcdonalds India; K Ramakrishnan, President Marketing, Café Coffee Day; Sanjay Diwan, Vice President Marketing, IMI Mobile; Sumit Chowdhury, Vice President & Partner, IBM Global Business Services and Badri Sanjeevi, Chief Executive Officer, Mauj. The session was moderated by Milind Phatak, Vice President, Comviva. The panel discussed on effectively the medium of mobile can be used reach out to value customers than just blindly send intrusive bulk messages. Chowdhury pointed out that, “By ways of remarketing a marketer can send across customised offers and messages to a customer. As long as the right consumer is addressed to there is no privacy issue.”

Third session included speakers like Pradeep Shrivastava, Director Operations, Videocon Telecommunications; Sanjay Tripathy, Executive Vice President- Marketing and Direct Channels, HDFC Life; Abdul Khan, Head- Marketing, Tata Teleservices Maharashtra; Virginia Sharma, Director Marketing & Communications, IBM and Sandeep Amar, Head Marketing & Audience, Times Internet Ltd. Based on the theme- “Social Media- Advocacy in Advertising”, the session was moderated by Ambareesh Murty, Country Manager, eBay India. While the panel elaborated on how social media was all about conversation and how brands should consistently keep the conversation going with their customers. The panel spoke on the importance of real time feedback and said the key for social media transactions is that – “you are selling with the consumers and to the consumers.”

The fourth panel discussion themed as ‘Interactive Television – The Upcoming Opportunity for Marketers’ was moderator by Vikram Sakhuja, Chief Operating Officer- South Asia, Group M. The panel members comprised of Srikanth Srinivasamadhavan, General Manager Media Services –Unilever- South Asia, HUL; Ronita Mitra, Head- Corporate Brand Group, ICICI Bank; Salil Kapoor, Chief Operating Officer, Dish TV; Baskar Subramanian, Co-Founder, Amagi Media Labs Networks; Paritosh Joshi, Chief Executive Officer, Star CJ Networks and Debadutta Upadhyaya, Vice President- India, Vdopia.

The panel discussed the changing relation between advertisers and broadcasters among other things. One of the key points that emerged from this discussion was that brands need to give evidence of their success stories to consumers. Joshi said, “Geo-targeting, engagement and transaction are important verticals for a brand in today’s environment. Also brands should be more risk taking and be as innovative as possible.”

The final panel discussion for the day was on the topic, ‘Creativity and Marketing – through Emerging Technologies’. The panel consisted of members like Neville Taraporewalla, Director, Microsoft Advertising Consumer & Online Business, Microsoft India; Bobby Pawar, Chief Creative Officer, Mudra Group; Aditya Save, Head Media, Marico and K S Chakravarthy, National Creative Director, Draft FCB Ulka. The discussion was moderated by Manish Vij, Founder, Vun Network. The panel extensively discussed about how creativity can blend with technologies to get a better impact and reach. | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com] & Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]