Embedding viral content in brand activity now a must: Sudarshan Banerjee

Hectic activities are underway as the last date for submission of entries for DIGIXX Awards 2017 fast approaches. With roughly a week remaining for the closing date – January 31, 2017 – don’t miss out on the opportunity to get your digital strategies and campaigns recognised and celebrated by the entire industry. 

Initiated by Adgully in association with ad:tech DIGIXX Awards will be held during the ad:tech conference in Delhi on March 9 and 10, 2017. The Awards will be judged by an independent panel of highly acclaimed leaders from the advertising and marketing ecosystem. 

Part of the Jury for the inaugural edition of DIGIXX Awards is Sudarshan Banerjee, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Utopeia Communicationz. Banerjee has extensive experience in Media, Strategy, and Account Management. He became the Branch Head at the biggest branch of iContract Mumbai at the age of 29. 

Banerjee led the New Business Development efforts at Mudra West in 2009, followed by heading Ignite Mudra from April 2011 to October 2012. After the DDB merger, he also led the New Business Development function across the country for the Group while continuing with the Ahmedabad role. 

While in Ahmedabad, Banerjee was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and co-founded Utopeia Communicationz, a self-confessed retro agency that believes there is a need to #BringBackTheLove - for brands, clients and people. 

In 2017, Banerjee sees digital being integrated more and more into the actual campaigns, which is the creative side of the campaign. He added, “Also, I see digital getting embedded into regular stuff. For instance, there is a game inside a Facebook page, and then in that game you are encountering things which are brand nature. If you have played Candy Crush, if I was Cadbury, I would include some of my brands as Candy Crush jellies inside the game. As a customer, you are interacting with that product inside the game that you want to play. So, more brand mentions within digital activations or digital campaigns is what I see rather than regular banners, regular broadcast digital advertising, etc.” 

He further sees social media continuing to capture the attention of a lot of newer brands. Citing an example, Banerjee said that while Tata Housing does a lot of initiatives on Google and Facebook, most real estate brands do not. “Going forward, more and more brands will want to get into things that other brands are doing successfully, because people are going to be watching brands that are successful. That’s a checkbox that a lot of people have not yet managed to tick. Similarly, I see a lot of brands doing a lot of stuff in the brand space, which will be talked about socially. Nestle recently undertook an initiative for the girl child where they made some changes in their packaging itself. Is it going do something different for them at the shop store? No. But in social media, it is going to be talked about and made larger than what it is by their fans/ consumers. So, in 2017 brands will do a lot of stuff which gets talked about in social media. Basically, embedding viral content in the brand activity. Brands need to give their fans reasons to share their content,” Banerjee noted. 

The DIGIXX Awards 2017 screening committee – comprising senior marketing and media professionals – will evaluate and score each submission. Every entry is evaluated by multiple committee members to ensure an accurate, thorough review. The top five entries with the highest scores will be selected Finalists for each category. 

The DIGIXX Awards will be taking place during the ad:tech conference in New Delhi on March 9 and10, 2017. It is being widely welcomed by industry leaders. Last date to submit the entries is January 31, 2017. 

For further details and to enter your nominations, please visit https://www.adgully.com/digixx-awards-2017.