GoaFest Ad Conclave: Talent and customer management essential

The mood was set and the clocks went ticking, GoaFest 2011’s yearly starter Advertising Conclave was held on the 7th of April 2011 at Zuri White Sands resort in Varca, South Goa. As deeply rooted for the format of the festival,  the Advertising Conclave was an important thing to look forward to as a fresher to the mega-event. 

The Conclave had session- based discussions on topics like- are agencies ready for the new decade?,  what can we learn from service industries?, how have some advertising companies organized themselves for the new decade?  and where is the upside in this profession ?. The discussions were a successful resemblance of the collaborative effort of the ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India) and AAAI to promote best practices in the field of advertising. 

With insightful discussions included speakers like  Rajiv Dube, Director, Group Corporate Services and Director, Aditya Birla Management Corporation Pvt Ltd; Mayank Pareek, Managing Executive Officer, Maruti Udyog; Nagesh Alai, President, AAAI; Sanjay Behl, CEO, DTH and IPTV and President - Brand & Marketing at Reliance, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group; Arun Tadanki, CEO, Yahoo! India; Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT; Sam Balsara, CMD, Madison World; Josy Paul, Chairman and Chief Creative officer of BBDO; Arvind Sharma, Chairman & CEO, Leo Burnett; and Ashish Bhasin, Chairman, Carat Media Services. 

The discussions although based on different themes more or less deliberated on three important elements- key to differentiation, talent management and customer management. It was very heartening to hear experienced professionals like Sharma, Paul and Bhasin discussion the upside in the profession and those positive things that keep the spirits high even when that one big idea does not see the light of the day.

Later in the evening the conclave ended with a ASCI launching its Ambassador Programme with its Founder Ambassadors taking the ASCI pledge at the Advertising Conclave at Goa Fest 2011.  The Founder Ambassadors who took this pledge included key icons of Advertising, Marketing, Media & Corporate India like Rajiv Dube, Chairman – ASCI & Director – Aditya Birla Management Corporation; Sam Balsara, Chairman – Madison World; Lynn de Souza, Chairman & CEO – Lintas Media Group; Benoy Roychowdhury, Director – HT Media Ltd; Dr Bhaskar Das, President – Benett Coleman & Co; I Venkat, Director – Eenadu; Subhash Kamath, Managing Partner – BBH; Arvind Sharma, Chairman – Leo Burnett; Srinivasan K Swamy, Chairman & Managing Director – RK Swamy BBDO; Bobby Pawar, National Creative Director - Mudra amongst others committing their support to promoting self-regulation of advertising in India.

To the hat(ty) start, insightful discussions, spirited conversations and a retrospective pledge, an eventful day for a first timer and surely looking forward to more of it. So if you have missed the bus, try and make it here as fast as you can. Are you asking me where? It is all happening here in Goa!- where the sun shines through the day and spirited conversations happen over bottles made of tainted glass.