WPP CX Series in India: Global insights on present & future of experience

The year 2020 has presented the toughest of challenges to businesses around the world and the impact of the pandemic on customer behaviour has been sweeping and immediate. Spending across most industries is down, purchases have shifted from in-person to digital channels, and safety has become a top priority for companies and consumers alike.

The intersection between brand and customer experience has been a long time coming. In these unprecedented times, many brands across categories have accelerated their pivot. However, with shifts in customer behaviours and the opening up of ecosystems, brands do not always get to choose where they engage with customers. Instead, executives who have carefully crafted marketing frameworks and playbooks have had to reframe their perspectives and improvise to keep pace with change.

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In this environment, the importance of CX has grown tremendously. Delivering memorable customer experience helps business drive conversions, engagement, and customer loyalty throughout the customer journey. The next decade will present India businesses with accelerated disruption, including in typically slow-changing categories like food, agriculture, construction and manufacturing.

CVL Srinivas, Country Manager, India for WPP, said, “The customer journey has become more complex than ever. Traditional avenues of reaching consumers are now being replaced by virtual touchpoints. Technology has created opportunities for brands to create unique, compelling and even personal customer experiences. With the right mix and strong design approach, brands can differentiate themselves from the competition and continue to interact and stay connected with their consumers.”

The second session of WPP’s CX Series is held in partnership with Adobe. Using a Human-Centred Design approach and Design Thinking methodologies, it will feature design, experience and technology experts sharing their thoughts on how to reframe CX strategies in an agile landscape. A previous session featuring Kantar had focussed on Indian brands which had the experience advantage, including those within media, telecom, digital devices and digital services categories.

Key speakers for this session include:

Jason Gaikowski, Executive Director of CX & Global Lead for Human Centered Design at VMLY&R

Tripti Lochan, Co-CEO Asia at VMLY&R

Vyshak Venugopalan, Head of Solutions Consulting at Adobe India

Meghna Apparao, Chief Business officer at Licious.

Jason Gaikowski, Executive Director of CX & Global Lead for Human Centered Design, VMLY&R, said, “COVID-19 has essentially pulled technology adoption forward by a decade. While this has had an obvious impact to more mature technologies involving data, commerce, and contactless services, it’s had an even stronger impact to emerging tech; particular in the AR/VR and game-world space. With these technologies, brand have the opportunity to replace and enhance the experiences that otherwise relied on place and space. With so much of society; work, school, medicine; moving online, it’s an amazing opportunity to redesign what we experience in these digital places and spaces.”

Tripti Lochan, Co-CEO Asia, VMLY&R, noted, “India has incredible opportunities for CX thinking and innovation. It’s a space in which most leading brands are now looking to invest, and those who aren’t need to get there quickly. Great CX is about connecting a brand to its consumers on an emotional level, across devices, platforms and mediums. Consumers today live in a connected world, and brands need to keep up.”

“The CX race is to earn your customers trust and loyalty. This means you must understand them better than anyone else, and deliver exactly what they want when they need it. It’s easier said than done. Businesses need to re-architect their systems around the customer, which changes the way they operate. Failing to realise this, there goes your competitive advantage,” added Vyshak Venungopalan, Head of Solutions Consulting, Adobe India.