'Date with Data’ summit highlights the impact and influence of data

The first-ever WPP India’s Date with Data Summit witnessed industry experts, clients, agencies and partners exchange ideas and insights on data-driven marketing and the use of technology across marketing solutions. Key-note speakers and masterclass presenters emphasised the evolving role of data and its profound influence on the industry across all sectors.

Speaking on the relevance of Audience Planning: A Journey or a Destination, Gauravjeet Singh, Head of Media South Asia, Hindustan Unilever, said, “It is a great experience to attend industry forums like this which really discuss the cutting-edge work that is happening around data. It is important to validate what one believes which helps during discussions with panellists and eventually leads to the right direction.”

As part of the panel discussing Connected Commerce: Decoding The Last Mile, Kashyap Vadapalli, Chief Marketing Officer, Pepperfry.com, said, “Data is an extremely important aspect of what we do day-to-day. We're dealing with customer data and product data and the session really provided an understanding as to how other practitioners, agencies and business are looking at it. It sparked new ideas, so it was very useful. Data is such an emerging field with a lot of public interest and the audience at “Date with Data” were very well informed.”

Addressing the growing need for marketeers and thought leaders in the industry to efficiently utilize the power of data, Country Manager WPP India, Mr CVL Srinivas said, “WPP strongly believes in driving collaboration amongst various stakeholders of the industry and this event is our attempt to create a platform for sharing different perspectives on how data is helping reshape marketing and businesses. As responsible users of data, we strive to enable thought-provoking discussions around important themes. We witnessed great participation from our clients, partners and colleagues.”

The day-long summit opened with masterclasses on Data Visualisation-To Drive Data Adoption and Data Driven Thinking; Building A Data Driven Organisation; Unlocking the True Potential of Mobile Data; Data Privacy and Responsibility and Connecting Data (Data Integration) and Generating Targeted Insights (Data Analysis). These sessions were conducted by experts from Google Cloud, InMobi, Kantar and Data Alliance.

The afternoon saw lively panel discussions on topics such as Decoding The Consumer: Fundamentals to Future, that addressed advancements in insights, research and analytics; Connected Commerce: Decoding The Last Mile, which highlighted how data and analytics are being leveraged to bridge the gaps in commerce. Audience Planning: A Journey Or A Destination touched upon innovative approaches of using data whilst Data As A Source of Creative Inspiration explored how data can be used to inspire creative content and communication planning.

Speakers and participants from companies such as Vodafone, ITC, Pepperfry, Hindustan Unilever, Ford India, Google, InMobi and Nykaa were amongst those that delivered key presentations and business insights.

With an overwhelming response from the over 250 participants attending the summit, WPP India will continue to engage stakeholders on furthering data solutions and relevance, in order to deliver business performance and efficiency.