“Brands today should talk less and listen more”

Netcore Solutions, India’s leading marketing technology company, and CNBC-TV18 hosted ‘The Martech Marathon 12 x 25’ which brought together leading Martech evangelists in a unique format designed for modern marketers. At the event, ‘The Inspiration Code’, India’s first coffee table book capturing inspirational journeys of the top 25 marketers, was launched by Kalpit Jain, Group CEO, Netcore Solution.

Speakers from diverse sectors from retail, telecom and IT services to digital and advertising agencies shared various ideas and experiences of how Martech has proved to be a game-changer for their marketing campaigns. During the panel discussions interspersed between speaker sessions, Anant Rangaswami from CNBC TV engaged with speakers to explore answers to key challenges faced by marketers.

Some of the prominent speakers that participated at the Martech Marathon 12x25 were Shiv Shivakumar- Group Executive President, Aditya Birla Group, Siddharth Banerjee- EVP Marketing, Vodafone; B Sridhar- Chief Digital Marketing Officer & New Media, Diageo; Gautam Mehra, Chief Data Officer, Dentsu Aegis Network; Siddharth Shakdher- CMO, Hotstar; Jaimit Doshi- Executive Vice-President, Kotak Securities; and Rubeena Singh- CEO, iProspect India.

Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Veerchand Bothra, Chief Entrepreneur & Evangelist, Netcore Solutions, said, “We, at Netcore Solutions were honoured to host some of the most exemplary leaders from the marketing ecosystem at our first ever Martech Marathon. The modern marketer is cognizant of the fact that digital is disrupting the marketplace and he must embrace the change quickly or will be left behind. From the importance of turning a brand’s purpose into action, the different ways of ‘listening’ to consumers and subsequently deriving value from data, the audience was enriched with several Martech insights from the speakers/initiative.”

Speaking about the occasion, Mr. Joy Chakraborthy, CEO Forbes India & President Revenue, Network 18 said, “Our objective with The Martech Marathon 12x25 was to focus on the space and offer an open platform for marketers to highlight key innovations. Additionally, shedding light on revolutionary ideas that are making an effective use of technology to enhance a brand’s reach and presence in their respective markets. This platform intends to serve as a hub for networking while also share more insights and knowledge on the industry.”

Some of the key pointers made by speakers at the event are:

• Shiv Shivakumar, Group Executive President, Aditya Birla Group- In this age of digital disruption, one can either embrace the change or stay behind.
• Siddharth Shakdher, CMO, Hotstar- Impact & efficiency are goals which often contradict each other in digital marketing
• Himani Agarwal, Director Integrated Marketing, Microsoft- When we use artificial intelligence in Marketing, two things to optimize: get good training/ testing data, retrain to improve accuracy
• Rubeena Sing, CEO, iProspect India- It’s a shared responsibility. Barriers are being broken even among competitors
• Angad Daryani, Inventor and Entrepreneur- Technology aren’t the goal, but merely a tool; what we use this tool for, is what matters. The Future generations want an education, not a degree.

Be future-ready with social purpose; hire educated talent and not just branded talent. Take up challenges and not just tasks

• Subrat Mohanty, Co-founder and CEO, Hurix Digital- There is a dearth of quality resources that can help understand the Martech tools that are available for us. Thumb rule for organizations in the midst of Digital Transformation: ACT – audit, capability building and transformation