MxMIndia

Category: Events

  • The second edition of the two-day Zee Melt starts in right earnest in Delhi

    Multi-track Melt takes off!

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sold Out, screamed a tweet from Rajesh Kejriwal on Thursday evening. There was reason for joy. New Delhi is where a large number of the big marketers are based, but it’s not a regular venue for most large advertising and marketing events.

    Goafest is, well, in Goa. Some of the industry conferences happen in Delhi, but the big ones are almost always in Mumbai.

    So when Rajesh Kejriwal announced that he would hold Melt in Delhi after the first edition in Mumbai last year, there were many questions. But he went on, as if in missionary zeal.

    Delhi deserves a big event like Melt, he told us.

    His key supporters – Zee and GroupM were game, so what more would one need.

    Over 1300 registrations happened, and a cross-section of the A&M fraternity are in attendance.

    The event kicked-off with CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia, speaking about agencies of the future – a topic that he was best placed to highlight and his passion and deep insights into the industry business came through to the audience very clearly. Simultaneously, Mark Van Iterson, Global Head of Design & Concept, Heineken addressed an insightful Osmosis session highlighting the journey of the brand Heineken and the positively disruptive creativity that the brand has been an advocate of since its very beginning. He showcased various innovations, right from designing the bottles and the play with colors and elements of the brand identity. The conference had discussions on innovation advertising, present-day possibilities and tomorrow’s heights by speakers such as Vanessa Clifford (Deputy Chief Executive, News Works), Andrew O’Dell (CEO & Co-Founder, Pereira & O’Dell), Parminder Singh Parry (Twitter India), CVL Srinivas (CEO, GroupM South Asia) and Dave Trott (Author & Blogger) and Raju Narisetti (News Corp).

    Said Rajesh Kejriwal, Founder CEO of Kyoorius, said, “Zee Melt was and is the first large training seminar cum conference in Delhi and I am very pleased that Delhi responded so positively. The energy is great.”

    Giving the conventional a break, the Thinking Sideways sessions got the delegates’ mind’s ticking with creative and disruptive ideas. There were speakers such as Nicole Yershon (Ogilvy & Mather Group), Tom Goodwin (Havas Media), Vanessa Clifford (News Works) and Viv Craske (Live & Breathe) who talked about surviving the digital commotion and opportunities for innovation solutions.

    Then there was was the BARC session on ‘Understanding Viewability in Today’s Digital Era’. It focused on understanding the current global standard metrics being used in digital measurement with respect to Ad effectiveness, Ad viewability and Digital ROI by speakers like Brian Murphy (VP, Product Management, Integral Ad Science), Paul Goode (SVP, Strategic Partnerships, comScore), Guy Barbier (Business Lead of India, Moat) and Partho Dasgupta (CEO, BARC India).

    “This is the second year we have partnered with Zee MELT and it has been a great association. We hosted two sessions in this edition of Zee Melt, one talking about ad viewability and the other on how big data can drive advertising effectiveness. We use this platform to start engaging stakeholders in meaningful conversations, on issues that the industry may face tomorrow. Indian media and marketing space is going through a huge evolution and Zee MELT provided us the right platform to present some key ideas in this domain to the right audience,” said BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta.

     

    Adding another layer of interactivity to the festival were a series of workshops conducted by the likes of D&AD and Maxus & IoT on immerging topics like branding for startups and mobile marketing. Happy Finish wooed delegates with an impressive display of high-end interactive technology at VR Cinema and how to make everything possible in visual storytelling.  SAP Hybris showcased superb commerce solutions for the market place and how it is blurring the lines between the online and offline world.

    Said Ashish Limaye, CEO APAC, Happy Finish:“Virtual Reality(VR) has become an innovative marketing tool in various sectors like Health, Automobiles, Real Estate and Fashion to name a few. At MELT 2016, the Happy Finish Team is honoured to show how rich content in VR develops high levels of engagement that marketers are reaching out to, for a better ROI.”

    Added Sunil Buch, Chief Business Officer, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited said, “Zee Melt began on a great note with stimulating sessions by renowned speakers from around the world. The event witnessed fantastic participation from the marketing and communications fraternity.”

     

     

     

  • The Global Citizen India was launched in the presence of Maharashtra CM and top Bollywood Celebrities, the confusion regarding the Coldplay concert tickets were also cleared

    Viacom18, Times group get together for mega-concert starring Cold Play, Rahman, others

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s going to be a lot more just than a Cold Play concert. And, no, tickets aren’t priced at Rs 25,000. November 19 will see a mega-concert starring Coldplay of course and Jay Z,  Aamir Khan, Ranveer Singh, Katrina Kaif, AR Rahman, Farhan Akhtar, Shraddha Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Arijit Singh, Dia Mirza, Shankar Ehsaan Loy and Monali Thakur. Several major artists and international guests will be announced at different stages of the campaign.

     

    The inaugural Global Citizen Festival India is presented by Colors Viacom18. The festival is being produced by Wizcraft International and enjoys a strategic partnership with the Viacom18 Group and the Times of India Group. So will the event air live on one of the Viacom18 or Times channels? Time, will tell.

     

    Meanwhile, Global Citizen, a social action platform, and The Global Education and Leadership Foundation (tGELF), launched the Global Citizen India platform on Monday, September 12. The platform will comprise a distinctive mix of events, grassroots activism, media campaigning and online activation, to catalyse India’s journey towards achieving theGlobal Goals for Sustainable Development, and to bring about the end of extreme poverty. The inaugural Global Citizen Festival India, to be held in Mumbai, will be Global Citizen India’s first initiative.

     

    Free tickets to the festival can be earned through the new online platform, www.globalcitizen.in, by signing up to become a Global Citizen and completing the festival’s Action Journey. Shiv Khemka, Chairman, The Global Education and Leadership Foundation (tGELF) believes that India and its 800 million young people must play a vital role in the mission to achieve the global goals. “Young people are starting to engage with the challenges facing our country and the planet, and are becoming increasingly committed to taking action for social change. tGELF’s mission is to nurture and support ethical, altruistic and decisive leadership amongst young people at schools and colleges. Each one of us is responsible for our actions and the power of each action taken collectively can help achieve the global goals.”

     

    Global Citizen, which has mobilised millions since its inception in New York City in 2012, has a capacity to amplify the voices of Global Citizens through social media. In the past four years of this movement, actions taken by Global Citizens has led to commitments from governments, corporates and partners are set to affect the lives of 656 million people.

     

    “The years I spent living and working in India as a teenager was a key catalyst of my passion for challenging the status quo of poverty alleviation. So bringing the Global Citizen movement to India is a moment many years in the making,” said Hugh Evans, CEO, Global Citizen

     

    The Government of Maharashtra is the host partner for the inaugural Global Citizen Festival India, and the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has extended his complete support to the initiative.

     

    Commenting on Viacom18’s strategic partnership with tGELF, Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18, said, “India is at a powerful confluence in its history. We are one of the oldest civilizations with one of the youngest populations in the world. Our support to tGELF is a natural extension of our work and purpose and I hope to amplify the messages around the causes of quality education, gender equality and clean water and sanitation with this initiative.”

     

    Viacom18 will be leveraging its brands across all platforms to promote the inaugural festival. While the network will use its popular channels and digital platform to promote the festival, Colors, MTV, Vh1, Colors Infinity and Voot will be airing the festival on their respective platforms. The Times of India Group and the Times TV Network will be leveraging the group’s print, internet and television platforms to highlight and showcase the Global Citizen India initiatives. Google is partnering the Global Citizen India initiative to address the issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

     

    UPL’s partnership is focused on showcasing its vision to be a catalyst for a more equitable and inclusive society by supporting long-term sustainable transformation and social integration.

     

    Speaking about the association, Sabbas Joseph, Founder-Director Wizcraft which is partnering the event and will help stage it, said: “Global Citizen India movement is the first such platform wherein popular culture meets public policy. We are especially pleased to showcase the coming together of India’s most powerful entertainers with the world’s most influential policy makers.”

     

    Limited Tickets would be available at BookMyShow from 12noon on September 15.

     

  • India's apex body of the events and experiential marketing industry hosting the conclave on October 17-19, 2016 in Mumbai

    Stage set for 8th edition of EEMAX Global Conclave & Awards

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) will host the eighth edition of the EEMAX Global Conclave and Awards on October 17-19, at in Mumbai. The endeavour will be to identify, celebrate and honour the best events and experiential marketing initiatives from around the world, while the EEMAX Conclave promises to be a thought leadership summit and a networking opportunity for the industry.

     

    Said Sabbas Joseph, President of EEMA: “The award ceremony this year has 88 awards across 30 categories including, brand activation, intellectual property, social, CSR, corporate education etc. We have planned for a stringent international jury that will evaluate global agencies on their work in the past financial year. We are an industry whose time has come and we would like to share our growth with the world.”

     

    Added Mandeep Singh, General Secretary, EEMA: “We can proudly say that the organised event industry in India has grown exponentially over the last two decades to more than $800,00,00 with several 1000 entities operating in this space in various segments and levels across 100+ cities. We collectively employ 150,00,00 people, provide income to more than 50 Lakh households, make a meaningful impact on prestigious private and government led projects, manage the visits of various global dignitaries and provide experiential marketing solutions to the world’s leading brands eg Coke, Samsung, Apple, Nike, Nestle, Harley Davidson, Toyota, Standard Chartered Bank etc.”

     

  • It's the new buzzword in marketing, but is it for real? We spoke to some speakers at last week's Content Marketing Summit

    Brand-building via Content Marketing

     

    Text and Videos by Santosh Jangid

     

    How critical is Content Marketing to the marketing and media fraternity. It’s growing in acceptance, was the broad verdict from a cross-section of the fraternity at the Content Marketing Summit Asia 2016 held in Mumbai last week. The third edition of the Summit saw over 300 delegates listen in to to a diverse set of speakers. Amarjit Batra, CEO of OLX and the  first keynote speaker, stressed upon the fact how content has become the most important element in marketing today. Sandeep Bhushan of also emphasised that the timing is perfect right now to explore content marketing. Flipkart’s Senjam Rajsekhar spoke on the Flipkart way of storytelling. Using Salman Khan’s dialogues from blockbusters, Ashish Patil of Yashraj Films conveyed how to be a “Sultan” of content marketing. And Rohtash Mal of EM3 Agri Services, the second keynote speaker, encouraged marketing professionals to find a strong purpose of their marketing activities.

     

    The conference hall started Summit Chairperson RP Singh’s opening address “I am personally satisfied with the response as we continue to raise the bar every year. Unlike other events, we focus only on great content with almost Zero sponsored sessions so that CMS Asia becomes a platform to learn for every one rather than a platform to sell services,” he said while announcing that next edition will be held at Delhi NCR.

     

    The CMS Asia awards in five categories were also announced on the same day. Y-Films from YRF walked away with Content Marketing Agency of the Year & Content Marketing Innovator of the Year awards. Brooke Bond’s Six Pack Band was declared Content Marketing Campaign of the Year, which was also created by Y-Films. Content Marketing Brand of the Year was awarded to Nescafe and comedian Kapil Sharma was declared Content Marketing Personality of the Year.

     

    Senjam Raj Sekhar, Head of Corporate Communications, Flipkart

    How does Flipkart use content to reach various stakeholders?

    The way we look at it is that every organisation has interesting stories within itself. stories of customers, stories of employees and stories of the organisation itself or stories on how the organisation is funded. We have a team of writers and storytellers who actually go and hunt for the stories and  who look at what are the stories that will be of interest to readers. We report on ground and we found a lot of customers from Jhumaritalaiya actually shopping on our website. So we send them to Jhumaritalaiya, spent a week there to find out why Jhumaritalaiya is shopping online and from the mobile phone and we found some very interesting insights there. So, essentially if there are stories inside the organisation, then it is our attempt to tell those stories.

     

    You have said that Flipkart generates a lot of clicks on LinkedIn and Twitter but not on Facebook despite your various attempts to promote your content there. Why is that?

    The kind of content that we have are more long form content. Short videos of say 20-30 seconds work very well on Facebook, short posts work very well but if you look at long form pieces of around 2000 – 3000 words, we find a more engaging relationship on LinkedIn and on Twitter. The clickthrough rates of LinkedIn and Twitter are much more higher, in fact 4-5 times higher than Facebook. So medium to medium it depends on whether you have short form content or long form content. If you have a lot of visual content, then you use Instagram.

     

    Manish Kalra, Chief Business Officer, Craftsvilla

    Would you say that content marketing has short-term or long-term gains?

    Content marketing is completely a long-term phenomenon and you may not get short-term gains. What you can get is how many repeat visits are you driving to your website, what is the stickiness of the users that you are getting in, how much content consumption in terms of pages view per visit is happening, is it increasing your time spend on the site. So that’s where content marketing becomes very important for e-commerce websites but if you are looking for short term results it’s not at all effective.

     

    How does one check if content marketing is working or not for the audiences. What are the parameters for measurement of efficacy?

    Some of the parameters are that it will not be direct e-commerce attribution but it will be more around stickiness, repeat visits and pages view.

     

    Do you think content marketing helps in brand-building or is it just one of the many things one needs to be doing in a marketing activity?

    It is a part of building and connecting with the user in the long-term. It is not a short-term phenomenon. It is something which every brand should do if they want to connect with the user on a subliminal way, in a non intrusive way, in a way that they would like to consume you than the way you would like to get consumed. It’s an important part of the overall marketing mix.

     

    What are the challenges in content marketing for Crafsvilla?

    In case of content marketing, because we are so niche we need to ensure that the right content gets curated. So, if some handicraft from Kutch, say it’s a dhokra art and then people don’t know what it is, I need to have an expert who can go in and curate, source and shoot that content. So that’s the challenge that we don’t find the right talent which is able to curate the right kind of content for us whether its video or written content but we are evolving and creating internal teams which can help us.

     

    Bianca Ghose, Chief Content Officer and Head – Content Marketing, HCL Technologies Limited

    What are the challenges of content marketing?

    For a content marketer, creating quality content is something that I think is a major problem area because what you need is partners who understands your business, understands your business goals and the marketing outcomes and understands your audience. Unless you’re able to map all these three together you are not going be able to generate content that cuts through and grabs attention. The second challenge that content marketers today in India and all across the world are facing is also how is it that they are optimising the content to make sure that it’s performing because at the end of the day those form of tools and methodologies to measure the performance of content don’t really exist. But to be able to say that, this is my white paper and this is the kind of engagement that it has generated is difficult because a white paper is not just a white paper. It could be in the form of a blog or it could be translated in the form of a brochure that goes up on the website. How do you measure all those interactions with your piece of content to ensure that you are really taking back to your CxOs the amount of engagement or sales cut through that it has generated? These two are the areas that we still need to figure out as content marketers.

     

    Does content marketing have any short-term gains or is it a long-term play?

    Content marketing has no short-term gains and I don’t think this a play that can happen in a couple of months. You need to be able to do content marketing seriously, consistently for months on end to be able to generate some kind of impact. Content marketing will be able to take you to places where your sales folks won’t be able to go to. You’re sales folks will be able to leave behind a content asset in a closed door meeting or if you’re able to put in your content into the social browsing habits of your customer or prospect. So content is definitely something that will generate returns to your business but it is something that you have to do well and consistently for it to start showing results.

     

    Do you think content marketing helps in brand-building or is it just one of the many things one needs to be doing in a marketing activity?

    Content is the heart of a campaign so if you’re talking about a brand strategy or a brand narrative without having your content or your message at the heart of it, you really have a piece of a hollow shell. A lot of content marketers and brand marketers start thinking about the platform before they start thinking about the content strategy which means that you’ve thought through the outer circle without really thinking about what is the message that I’m trying to push out, what is that conversation that I am trying to generate for my audiences. So, unless you’ve really thought through the content, the message, the articulation of that and then the platform you’ve really done it the other way round. So being asked the question or saying that is content important is redundant. The question is how do I do it right to be able to generate the kind of outcomes that I am expecting for my business.

     

  • Mindshare India leads with 23 nominations in total, while Mindshare Indonesia and PHD India follow closely behind with 7 and 5 nominations on the list respectively

    Shortlists announced for APAC edition of MMA Smarties Awards

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has announced the final awards shortlist for the 2016 APAC edition of the MMA Smarties Awards, the mobile awards that honours innovation, creativity and success in the field of mobile marketing both regionally and globally. Mindshare India leads with 23 nominations in total, while Mindshare Indonesia and PHD India follow closely behind with 7 and 5 nominations on the list respectively.

     

    The awards feature new categories: Social Impact/Not for Profit; Cross Screen Advertising; Programmatic; Mobile Native; Tablet Campaign; Mobile Social; Mobile Video; Mobile Audio. Aimed at honoring excellent work on mobile by both brands and agencies, the categories are born out of a recognition of the ever-increasing prominence of mobile in the region, and the new, creative operational technologies powering the medium. The 2016 Awards are presented in partnership with Kantar Millward Brown.

     

    Commenting on the shortlist, Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director of Mobile Marketing Association in Asia Pacific said, “There was a fantastic range of entries this year that demonstrate creative thinking and strategic execution, and as always, the decision-making process was challenging. The jury panel, including myself, was impressed by the way each of the shortlisted campaigns leveraged mobile’s interactive capabilities to deliver real business results. We hope this year’s winning campaigns continue to serve as an inspiration, and push the industry beyond the predictable in mobile.”

     

    From among brands, Unilever stood out by landing 32 nominations across Indonesia, India, China and Thailand. PepsiCo is the next in line, with 11 nominations for its work in Vietnam, Malaysia and India. Winners will be celebrated at an awards dinner at the 2016 MMA Forum Singapore on Friday, 28 October 2016.

     

  • The initiative was tabled during the Annual General Meeting, in the presence of the platinum members, heads of leading event and experiential agencies of the country

    Event industry captains launch initiative towards women’s empowerment

    By A Correspondent

     

    Event industry captains have pledged support to an initiative towards gender equality. At the recently concluded EEMAX annual convention of the Event And Entertainment Management Association, the association launched the ‘We Care’ initiative that would work towards gender equality at the workplace.

     

    The initiative, notes a communiqué, is being driven primarily with the objective to work towards changing the industry’s workplace culture, to make it more conducive for the women who comprise more than 40 per cent of the workforce.

     

    Said Sabbas Joseph, President-EEMA: “The event industry is evolving. It is now a serious career option for new recruits. We need to encourage girls and women to join this industry by giving them a great workplace culture to thrive and grow without worries of their safety. And we need to sensitise agency owners and co employees to take care of them like their own.  With women today becoming an integral pat of the work force andholding key leadership positions across the industry, it becomes imperative that we ensure a safe environment for them to work in. However, in a predominantly male environment, the female employee is often overshadowed by the industry’s alpha characteristics”.

     

    Under the ‘We Care’ drive, three key issues would be addressed and tackled.  These issues include SAFE or Security Arrangements for the Female Employees; SHH or Sexual Harassment Helpline and MOM or Mandatory Off For Moms.

     

  • Direct selling can play a big role in empowering women and promoting manufacturing in India, notes a FICCI-KPMG report

    Big role for direct selling: FICCI-KPMG

     

    The direct selling industry has recorded a high double digit growth of about 16 per cent over the past four to five years, notes a FICCI-KPMG report released on Wednesday. The market has grown to become a key channel for distribution of goods and services in the country, especially for health and wellness products, cosmetics, consumer durables, water purifiers and vacuum cleaners.

     

    Releasing the report titled ‘’The contribution of Direct Selling to Building India’’, Madhulika P Sukul, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Consumer Affairs said was delighted to see the contribution of the sector towards women empowerment and the figures of more than 60% women workforce associated with the sector has been astounding. Sukul urged the industry to join hands with MoCA and work towards the effective implementation of the guidelines for the sector that the ministry has come up with. The Additional Secretary promised that MoCA would continue to work towards the welfare of the consumers with active industry support and encouragement.

     

    Meanwhile, Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer, Niti Aayog who was chief guest at the event said that direct selling will have to be given a great thrust as it empowers women, MSMEs and promotes manufacturing in India.  Kant applauded the efforts of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs to come up with the guidelines to govern the direct selling industry and is hopeful for its implementation by various states. He added that an effective and time bound implementation of the guidelines would act as a growth stimulator for the budding DS industry.

     

    He also urged the industry to embrace technology as the industry can deliver better and even faster once technology becomes its strength. He congratulated the direct selling industry for the efforts that they are putting in towards building the national economy and said that the sector is a major contributor towards the Indian growth story and promised to support the industry in addressing the hindrances and bottlenecks in due course of time. Also, he added that there is a huge opportunity that the industry raises in terms of pushing India towards the digital age.

     

    Later, Anshu Budhraja, GM, Amway India Enterprises presented the industry perspective and said the sector has immense potential in terms of the workforce that it trains and the job opportunities it generates. Budhraja said that the industry needs to work as per the gold standards, of which self-governance is a core concept. He congratulated MoCA for coming out with the much awaited guidelines for the sector and said that the guidelines would help in adding further value to the growth path of the industry. Anshu Budhraja added that “by 2025 the industry is expected to grow to ₹ 72000 crore from ₹ 7200 crore in 2016 providing 1.8 million self-employment opportunity.”

     

    Praveen Khandelwal, General Secretary, CAIT, emphasised on the need of having a retail policy that will encompass the cross sectorial approach and would help in adding avenues of growth for the sector. He said that there is a need to convert the guidelines proposed for the DS sector into laws towards which the Government is working relentlessly. Also, Khandelwal quoted that the passing of Consumer Protection Bill in the parliament would add more flavours to the development of the sector by reducing the mischief and [onzi operators. He also said that a board of internal trade that would look upon the matters associated with the internal trade and retail sector should be formulated with adequate representation from all the concerned stakeholders from the industry as well as the Government. Khandelwal said that retail, direct selling, e-commerce and SME’s are the four core pillars for the development of the national economy.

     

    FICCI Secretary General Dr A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI said “Indian Direct Selling Industry is an important component of the Indian economy and acknowledging this, we at FICCI through our focused task force on direct selling is working dedicatedly towards the growth of this industry and seeking regulatory clarity for this new industry. FICCI is working closely with the Central and State Governments on the same and today’s conference is a step in that direction. I would like to congratulate MoCA for implementing the much awaited guidelines to govern the sector. I am certain that the effective enactment of the same would facilitate the further growth of the sector and act as a growth catalyst.

     

    Dr Singh said that Industry 4.0, or Industrie 4.0, is the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things and cloud computing. Industry 4.0 creates what has been called a “smart factory” and urged the industry leaders to adhere to same. Dr. Singh also added that the bussing direct selling industry is exceptionally gender friendly and has been a crucial part of women empowerment.

     

    Direct selling, one of the oldest and traditional forms of selling, is a successful industry operating in over 100 countries, with a market size of USD180 billion. In India, the market was estimated at INR75 billion (2013‐14), and forms around 0.4 percent of the total retail sales in the country. To showcase the potential and highlight the opportunities and challenges faced by the DS industry, FICCI organizes its annual event on Direct Selling ‘DIRECT’ every year.

     

    The event witnessed intense panel discussions on the topics ‘’Way Forward Post Direct Selling Guidelines’’ and ‘’Direct Selling Contribution in Skilling, Women Entrepreneurship & As Food Distributors’’ which comprised of representation from wide array of concerned stakeholders including the Government and the industry.

     

    The panels suggested an effective implementation of the guidelines by the states in a time bound manner would yield wonders for the sector and would be an asset to it’s growth trajectory. Also, the sessions highlighted how the direct selling has evolved as a core pillar of the Skill India campaign and trains significant amount of workforce and makes them job ready. Also, the contribution of the DS sector towards the empowerment of women has been significant and the phenomenal number of 62% women workforce involved in the sector is remarkable.

     

    This year’s KPMG report takes a look at how the Direct Selling industry has positively contributed to several flagship schemes launched by the Government of India in the past 2 years, namely:

    :: Skill India: The Skill India scheme seeks to provide the institutional capacity to train a minimum of 400 million people by 2022. The Direct Selling industry annually trains over 5 million people in marketing and communication skills, personality development and leadership skills.

    :: Make in India: Many Direct Selling companies now make in India. Some rely on MSMEs for manufacturing their products, investing in & providing the right equipment and machines to the MSMEs for production. Driven by these initiatives, several MSMEs have now developed capabilities to cater to the needs of other MNCs and have commenced supplying to them, in the process promoting the Make in India initiative

    :: Women Empowerment: Due to the dominance of women centric products offered under Direct Selling, the industry provides self-employment opportunities to a large number of women. In 2015 alone it has provided self-employment to over 3 million female distributors. By providing income generation opportunities and trainings, Direct Selling promotes holistic development of women.

    :: Digital India: The Direct Selling industry is adopting measures in the digital sphere that not only benefit the Direct Selling entities, but also ensure ease of doing business for its distributors and improved experiences for its end consumers.  Mobile applications and websites have been launched by Direct Selling companies for its distributors to order products, monitor payments and access training modules.

    :: Startup India: Direct Selling entities, are now catering to global FMCG clients. Direct Selling has also promoted startups in avenues such as transportation and logistics, trainings, app development, etc.

     

     

  • Span Communications is also handling the digital/ social media campaign of Financial Inclusion, Ministry of Finance, supported by IBA for a period of 12 months

    Span Communications wins media and creative mandate of IBA’s cybersecurity campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    In a multi-agency pitch, Span Communications won the media and creative mandate of Indian Bank Association’s campaign on Cyber Security Awareness. The media campaign ran during the International Cyber Security Week, starting November 30, 2016.

     

    Commenting on the win, Founder and CEO Naresh Khetrapal said, “Cybercrime is growing at an alarming rate in the country and a sizable number of citizens are falling prey to cyber frauds. To build a cyber security culture, it is imperative to educate and aware the public. We, at Span, are proud to be associated with an initiative like this”.

     

    Span Communications is also handling the digital/ social media campaign of Financial Inclusion, Ministry of Finance, supported by IBA for a period of 12 months.

     

     

  • The annual seminar saw over 700 managers assemble under one roof to foster collaboration and partnership

    Dentsu conducts overseas training conference for employees in Dubai

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN hosted its annual One-DAN conference in Dubai last week. The annual seminar saw over 700 managers assemble under one roof to foster collaboration and partnership amongst the network’s group agencies.

     

    The annual conference was woven around the clear objective of positioning Dentsu Aegis Network as the No. 2 marketing communications group in India by the end of 2017. It was also hosted to celebrate Dentsu Aegis Network’s strengthened and expanded foothold in creative that was demonstrated at the Goafest’s 2016 edition.

     

    The three-day conference saw the exchange and cross-pollination of leading-edge ideas across the different units of Dentsu Aegis Network India including that of its latest acquisitions – Happy Creative Services and Perfect Relations Group. The platform introduced all teams of the newly acquired agencies to the one P&L model of the group and also help them imbibe the values that the network stands for. Integration and data continued to be the buzz words at the conference. DAN’s leadership status in areas like OOH, Creative, Digital and Media was also highlighted.

     

    The annual conference, correspondingly, also recognised the network’s long-serving employees and talents across different group units who have worked relentlessly all through the year to bring Dentsu Aegis Network India to the position that it holds today. Rajni Menon, President Carat, won the Chairman’s Award for 2016.

     

    Speaking about this recent conference, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia, said, “Our goal of making Dentsu Aegis Network India the #2 communications group in India by end-2017 will only be made possible when every one of our 3000 people across DAN India make it their mission to collaborate and relentlessly help their clients win in the market. That is what One-DAN is all about, and that is the DAN India ‘One Team One Dream’ emphasised.”

     

  • The award was presented by Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday, December 17

    Punit Goenka awarded ‘Best CEO’ by Business Today

     

     

    Punit Goenka, Managing Director and CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) received the coveted Business Today ‘Best CEO Award’ in the Media and Entertainment category for 2016. The award was presented by Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday, December 17.

     

    Acknowledging the award,  Goenka said, “My immense gratitude goes out to the eminent jury and to Prosenjit Datta and his team at Business Today for bestowing me with the prestigious BT Best CEO Award in the Media & Entertainment category. My heartiest congratulations to all the other deserving winners whose passion, focus and drive have steered their respective companies to success.”

     

    “I accept this award with pride on behalf of our visionary Chairman, Dr. Subhash Chandra, and my team at ZEE whose dedication, hard work and support have enabled the organisation to reach newer and greater heights. We have consistently grown ahead of market, expanded our network viewership share and experienced growth of our product bouquet, both in India and internationally. As we approach our Silver Jubilee, I am confident that driven by innovation and creativity, we will move one step closer towards achieving our ambition of becoming the world’s leading media company from the emerging markets,” Goenka  added.

     

    The methodology of Business Today’s Best CEO Awards focused on the operational performance of companies and their shareholders returns which was conducted by BT’s Knowledge support partner for the process PwC India.

     

    Other recipients of the BT Best CEO Awards 2016 include Sunil Bharti Mittal, C P Gurnani (Tech Mahindra) and Sunil Duggal (Dabur India).

     

     

  • The awards will be compered by the host of The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon

    Viacom18 to showcase Golden Globe Awards across its channels

     

     

    The best from the American TV and Film industry will compete for the most coveted awards in the business at the Golden Globe Awards this weekend.The awards will be compered by the host of The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon.

     

    Commenting on the simulcast of Golden Globe Awards, Hashim D’Souza, Programming Head – English Entertainment, Viacom18 said: “We are thrilled to kickstart this year with one of the most prestigious awards, airing simultaneously across all our English Entertainment channels. This ecstatic mix of lauded TV shows, movies and music, makes the Golden Globe Awards so exciting that we take immense pleasure in bringing this to our viewers, year on year.”

     

    While the Golden Globe Awards have previously aired five times on Vh1, this is the second consecutive year of its simulcast on Colors Infinity and Comedy Central.

     

  • The two-day conclave, scheduledon January 9 and 10, 2017 will be held at ITC Grand Chola

    First edition of India Today Conclave – South 2017 to be held in Chennai

    By A Correspondent

     

    The first edition of India Today Conclave, South will see Chief Ministers and top ministers from the south, legends of cinema and southern heartthrobs, all on one platform. The two-day conclave, scheduled on January 9 and 10, 2017 will be held at ITC Grand Chola. Ready to set a new gold standard in summits, it is going to explore areas of politics, business, art, culture and sports.

     

    The Conclave will be inaugurated by VK Sasikala, General Secretary, AIADMK, by lighting a lamp. She will also launch a photographic tribute to the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. The impressive line-up of the distinguished stalwarts coming together will include Chief Ministers of the Southern States, O Paneerselvam, Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu; PinarayiVijayan, Chief Minister, Kerala; Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister, Karnataka; N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh and V Narayanasamy, Chief Minister, Puducherry. Other political leaders include, M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Information and Broadcasting; K Pandiarajan, Minister for School and Sports and Youth Welfare, Tamil Nadu; Dr PalanivelThiagarajan, DMK MLA, Madurai Central (DMK); Jairam Ramesh, RajyaSabha MP, former Union minister, economist; OommenChandy, former Chief Minister of Kerala; DrAmbumaniRamadoss, LokSabha MP, former Union Minister; MK Stalin, former Deputy Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu; RV Deshpande, Minister for Large and Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development, Karnataka; Thiru MC Sampath, Minister for Industries, Tamil Nadu; MM PallamRaju, Former Union Minister; Priyank M Kharge, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Information Technology and Tourism, Karnataka; KadakampillySurendran, Minister for Cooperation, Tourism and Devaswoms, Kerala.

     

    The stars speaking at the event include the legend of cinema, Kamal Haasan and southern stars Tamannaah Bhatia, AmyraDastur, Shriya Saran, and ManjuWarrier. Other celebrity speakers include singer, Benny Dayal; playback singer, ChinmayiSripada; retired Indian Police Service officer, social activist, and current Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, KiranBedi; and actor and activist KhushbooSundar.