Brand Klub hosts Virtual Brand Fest 2021

The two-day Virtual 'Brand Fest 2021' organised by Ahmedabad-based Brand Klub saw prominent names from the fields of advertising and communication sharing their insights and expertise about different aspects of advertising and branding with the participants.

In his session, brand consultant Ambi Parameswaran spoke about the evolution of ads to reflect the societal changes, changing gender roles, outlook towards old age, the way Indians are dressing, and other aspects. “It makes sense to look at social change through the advertising lens. Advertising often looks at societal change, sometimes it drives change, and sometimes it predicts change,” Ambi, the author of 10 books, including ‘Nawabs Nudes Noodles’ said.

The brand coach said brands can emerge as an economic growth engine, provided new categories emerge, and branding increases. Understanding the consumers was, is, and will remain the essential part of advertising, he stressed.

Creative director Rahul daCunha of daCunha Communications shared his experience  about the “Utterly Butterly Delicious Amul Girl Campaign”. “The Amul campaign has become the toast of the nation and created the idea of brand conversation. The Amul girl has been the nation’s cheerleader, conscience, commentator, critic, and celebrity watcher,” daCunha said, sharing the secret of the campaign’s success. DaCunha, who has headed the campaign for 28 out of 55 years, spoke about how each topical is planned, the ideation process, the need for regional/localised topicals in different places, and how the campaign avoids controversies. He also shared glimpses and stories about some of the popular topicals from over the years.

There was an interesting session by Sauvik Banerjjee, CTO at Tata Digital, who focused on the role of technology and AI in advertising technologies, consumer engagements, and the power of social media. “The advertising technologies are driven by data. You generate data every time you use your phone or visit a website. There is constant mining of data happening using various tech tools which allow to formulate the right strategy,” the cricketer-turned-tech evangelist said.

Aauvik said AI has a very strong play in ad-tech, and is being used to predict, forecast and recommend valuable insights into consumer behaviour. He also spoke about marketing technologies, and how data-driven marketing is proving to be significantly more impactful.

Earlier, the Virtual 'Brand Fest 2021' was kicked off by  writer, director and creative consultant Sonal Dabral  who spoke on “My creative journey, and the lessons I learnt” on Saturday. “There are no rules in advertising or creativity, but you cannot discount a good story. It does not matter whether the story is six seconds or two minutes, it needs to be engaging. It cannot be bereft of a good idea,” Dabral, an alumnus of National Institute of Design (NID) said.

Brand Klub is a platform of professionals from the fields of advertising, marketing, and communication curated by marketing and communication professional Sanjay Chakraborty.

On the opening day, Vanita Keswani, CEO, Madison Media Sigma, Madison World spoke about  “Latest Media Trends”. Ms. Keswani , the Madison CEO spoke about the dramatic growth in e-commerce, saying its share has gone up from 3% earlier to 7-8% in just six months, and attributed it to a clear shift in shopping habits. “The dramatic growth in e-commerce is expected to continue. We are going to see rising regionalization in TV content, movies, and the internet. We also expect rural markets to drive growth going ahead,” she said.

A session was also addressed by Sanjay Adesara, CEO of Gujarat Fortune Giants, and Head of Media & Strategy at Adani Wilmar Limited, on “Challenges and Opportunities in Creating a Sports Brand”. “The obvious challenge is to identify the sports you want to be in. Also important is identifying and communicating to the right audience, how to engage and connect with fans, which is a crucial part of the sports ecosystem,,” he said.

Adesara further said though kabaddi is a rural sport, bulk of the viewership of the annual Pro Kabaddi League, of which Gujarat Fortune Giants is a part, comes from the top metro cities. He identified Aspire (the need to create an aspirational value), Acquire (building and growing a loyal fan base), Engage (strengthening fan loyalty), and Monetize (merchandising or ticketing or sponsorship) as the key aspects of fan engagement.

The first day of the Virtual Brand Fest 2021 culminated with a musical evening with performance by playback singer, performer and composer Rahul Pandey while the festival concluded with a business and brand quiz by quizmaster Sanjay Chakraborty, who is also the founding member of Brand Klub.