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Tag: Ashish Bhasin

  • Jointly launched white paper – titled “Connectivity and QoL: How digital consumer habits and ubiquitous technology are driving smart city development in Asia Pacific

    Dentsu Aegis Network and MIT shed light on APAC’s Smart City Imperative

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network has launched a new white paper examining the progress of Asia Pacific’s smart cities, including local deep-dives into eight key markets in the region. In its third year, this series on Asia Pacific’s digital disruption aims to deliver thought leadership to arm Dentsu Aegis Network and its agency brands’ clients and partners with the insight they need to succeed in the digital economy.

     

    This year, in collaboration with MIT Technology Review, the report argues that increasingly, smart city initiatives in Asia Pacific are being developed and driven to improve quality of life for the region’s citizens and consumers, to manage cities’ growth sustainably, and to maintain their global competitiveness.

     

    The paper – titled “Connectivity and QoL : How digital consumer habits and ubiquitous technology are driving smart city development in Asia Pacific” – consolidates extensive in-market research and nearly two-dozen in-depth interviews with key industry players from India, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and Australia.

     

    Said Nick Waters, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific: “Asia Pacific has enjoyed robust economic expansion in recent years, with cities at the heart of this growth. With development comes challenges, but cities in the region are transforming these challenges into opportunities with the help of technology and innovation. Smart cities in Asia Pacific are quickly becoming pilot markets for the digital economy.

     

    Added Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO South Asia – Dentsu Aegis Network: “India is currently moving towards massive urbanisation. Consequently, its need for building smart cities is far more immediate when compared to many other countries. Home to one of the most populated and diverse demography in the world, India witnesses the migration of 20-30 people every minute from rural regions to urban cities. Yes, India is a complex country and therefore, its infrastructural challenges are huge but so are the opportunities. We have a large consumer base, we are well-connected and mobile-enabled. And these elements will act as huge enablers to create our smart cities and introduce economic transformation.”

     

     

  • Kartik Iyer to head media biz. Rajni Menon to helm Carat, Joydeep Raha is CEO Carat Context & Himanka Das as CEO, Vizeum as Shripad Kulkarni moves on

    Dentsu Aegis Network rejigs top deck

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network has restructured its top deck in media agencies group across Carat and Vizeum. Kartik Iyer has been elevated to President, Media Brands and Amplifi.

     

    Rajni Menon will be CEO of Carat and Joydeep Raha will be CEO of Carat Context as Himanka Das will take over as CEO, Vizeum. Shripad Kulkarni has announced his decision to move on from the group by end-December to pursue his own interest. The move does not impact Dentsu X headed by Divya Karani so far.

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO South Asia – Dentsu Aegis Network: “To enable a more future ready product for our clients, our media agencies have been reorganised for the rapidly changing market environment under the unified leadership of Kartik Iyer who has been leading our fastest growing media agency, Carat, for over eight years now. He will be responsible for enabling the continued fast track growth of the brands and will provide senior executive council level oversight to the media brands, in addition to his Amplifi responsibilities.”

     

    Speaking on his appointment and on the next steps for the Media Brands, Iyer said: “I am delighted to have been given this opportunity and look forward to working with the agencies in their growth path over the years. Carat is future proofing to take on the new opportunities that the market dynamics have provided in order to be able to provide world class service to our clients… Rajni is a true blue One DAN exponent. In the past 8 years that Rajni has been with Carat, she has led some of the agency’s most significant developments in capabilities, especially in the area of ICP, CCS, CCS Planner, Multiscreen planning (TV Stack) and Digitizing of Carat, which has enabled the entire group to deliver more consumer focused and business oriented solutions and is best placed to drive it to the next level. Joydeep has been a pillar in the growth path that Carat has seen over the years, particularly in the South markets. With his focus on business growth backed by delivering integrated solutions, he has constantly been adding business for the group. Further, Himanka Das will be taking over as CEO of Vizeum. Himanka has been a part of Dentsu Aegis Network Media leadership for the last 5 years and has a proven ability in managing and growing client relationships both Multinational and Indian,” Iyer added.

     

    Shripad Kulkarni

    Speaking on Kulkarni’s exit, Bhasin said: “Shripad has contributed significantly to the growth of Vizeum in India.  His focus on business and managing client relationships has enabled Vizeum to grow from strength to strength in the last two years. We wish him all the very best in his future endeavours.”

     

    Speaking on the future, Iyer added: “The leadership of our media group will continue to focus on delivering Business Outcomes and Digitally Ahead solutions. Over the next few weeks, each of the agencies will be setting up their plans for the coming years and you can expect some very significant initiatives in this area by each agency. Rajni, Joydeep and Himanka, as leaders of their respective media agencies, will continue to innovate the way brands are built.”

     

  • The media investment arm will comprise four specialisations – Investment Management, Global Media Partnerships, Amnet & The Story Lab

    Dentsu Aegis Network to flex its buying muscles with Amplifi

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network has announced the India launch of Amplifi, its media investment arm that comprises four specialisations – Investment Management, Global Media Partnerships, Amnet and The Story Lab. Kartik Iyer, President Media Agencies and Amplifi will spearhead the initiative.

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Speaking on this launch, Ashish Bhasin Chairman & CEO South Asia said: “We are excited to launch Amplifi in India under Kartik’s leadership and bringing together the four key capabilities under one structure. In today’s world, our media partners have much more to bring on table for our clients, than just media inventory.  Amplifi’s is uniquely placed to drive this supply-side convergence by harnessing data, technology, insight and content to help all members of the Dentsu Aegis Network operating model.”

     

    Added Iyer: “Our constant endeavour has been to bring best in class solutions for our clients that enable their business growth. The launch of Amplifi is another step in that direction and I am very excited with this opportunity.”

     

    Sujata Dwibedy

    As part of this launch, Sujata Dwibedy takes over as Group Buying and Trading Head from Harsha Joshi who is moving on. Said Bhasin on Joshi’s exit: “Harsha, with her vast experience, has been a huge contributor in the growth of the media group. We wish her all the very best for her future.”

     

     

    Kartik Iyer

    Speaking on Dwibedy’s appointment, Kartik said, “Sujata, with over 20 years of media trading and strategy experience, has extensively worked across sectors such as FMCG, telecom, airlines, finance, alcohol and beverages and has led teams in the areas of planning, research, buying and strategy. Her holistic perspective will enable a better integration of all buying and trading functions across the group, in both online and offline media. Sujata will be supported by Prashant Nandan who has over 10 years of expertise in strategic digital marketing, media planning, media buying and content marketing across agencies like Isobar, Maxus and Motivator. Over the past three years, he has been leading buying for Isobar and now moves to Amplifi to deliver the digital buying and trading expertise to the group.”

     

    Speaking on her appointment as Group Buying and Trading Head, Dwibedy said, “I am delighted to have been chosen for this responsibility to drive ROI and deliver value to Dentsu Aegis Network clients. In today’s rapidly changing media marketplace, I look forward to working with our agencies and media partners to deliver this value across media to our clients.” The Story Lab, launched in 2015 in India, will continue to operate as part of Amplifi under the leadership of Sunil Kumaran.

     

     

  • These being Raj Jain, Rajiv Varma, Girish Agarwal, Vikram Sakhuja, Sandeep Sharma, and Sameer Satpathy

    MRUC appoints six new Board Members

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Media Research Users Council has announced the changes in its Board post its Annual General Meeting held in Mumbai earlier this month.

     

    As was reported Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, is the new MRUC Chairman. The new MRUC Board consists of six new members, namely Raj Jain, CEO, Bennett Coleman & Company; Rajiv Varma, CEO, HT Media; Girish Agarwal, Director, DB Corp; Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Madison World; Sandeep Sharma, President, RK Swamy Media Group; and Sameer Satpathy, Chief Executive – Personal Care, ITC.

     

    Other members of the Board include Inderjeet Singh, Brand Leader – Consumer and Market Knowledge, Procter & Gamble India;  Pratap Pawar, Chairman, Sakaal Media Group;  Ravindra Kumar, Editor and Managing Director, The Statesman; Satvir S Kataria, President, Marketing, Hari Bhoomi; Siddharth Kothari, Director, Rajasthan Patrika, Kartik Sharma, Managing Director, South Asia, Maxus; Anupriya Acharya, CEO,  Publicis Media India; NP Sathyamurthy, Executive Director, DDB Mudra Group and President, OMD Max; Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Media Brands; Rohit Gupta, President, Sony Pictures Network India, I Venkat, Director, Eenadu, Shailesh Gupta, Director, Jagran Prakashan; Punit Misra, CEO – Domestic Broadcast,  Zee Entertainment Enterprises; and Rajeev Singh, Member (Finance), Prasar Bharti.

     

    Commenting on his appointment as an MRUC Board Member, Vikram Sakhuja said, “It is a privilege to serve on the MRUC Board. In an era of burgeoning multiple media, the need to have a single credible media baseline is important. It is also critical to have a good fix on print readership to support and give confidence to one of the few markets where print continues to grow. The IRS has played this role all these years, and is now coming back after a gap. Inevitably there will be some gainers and losers. The challenge lies in holding all constituents together in this cause irrespective of how they fare. I see an opportunity in building robustness of data by collating both readership and circulation data under the aegis of RSCI.”

     

    On being elected as a Board Member, Girish Agarwal, said, “I am very excited to join the MRUC Board as I strongly believe that this is the most opportune time for the industry to provide relevant data to the stakeholders. MRUC has contributed a lot for the industry. In the given changed scenario, under the leadership of a new chairman, the high energy board will certainly do a lot going forward in terms of helping the stakeholders get the required and much awaited knowledge and information from research.”

     

    Added Sameer Satpathy: “The Indian media industry is witnessing a radical change in the way it is consumed. In an always-on social world, media and marketing research is set to become more dynamic. I am happy to be a part of the MRUC Governing Board and look forward to working closely with the Board to help create a robust research framework,”

     

    Said Sandeep Sharma commented on his appointment: “MRUC is a premier industry body and I am happy to be part of the Board. I look forward to encouraging multi-media research measuring “efficacy and impact” to aid better ROI driven decisions by the industry. Secondly MRUC should leverage new age media and technology to enhance the research process and offer new research products incorporating real time data.”

     

     

  • Helming MRUC in this critical period will be Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network in South Asia. Prataprao Pawar, Chairman of Sakal Media Group

    Ashish Bhasin is MRUC Chairman, Pratap Pawar is Vice-Chair

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s perhaps the most critical year in the existence of the Media Research Users Council and for the beleaguered print media sector.

    After the last IRS study was rubbished by key industry players a few years back, the MRUC is working on an all-new study frequently validated by constituents.

    However, it remains to be seen whether print media players – especially the big ‘uns – take the final verdict of the Nielsen-led research findings with maturity like the television players did a little over two years back when BARC first released its study.

    Helming MRUC in this critical period will be Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network in South Asia. Prataprao Pawar, Chairman of Sakal Media Group.

    Bhasin takes over from I Venkat and Pratap Pawar was handed the baton by Sanjay Tripathy.

     

  • The network intends to bring in a differentiated approach into the field of celebrity endorsements that is intelligent

    Dentsu’s CLab to handle data-driven celebrity endorsement and sports marketing agency

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network, the media and advertising conglomerate that operates 25 businesses in India, has now expanded its footprint into celebrity endorsement and sports marketing with the launch of CLab.

     

    With the launch of this new agency, the network intends to bring in a differentiated approach into the field of celebrity endorsements that is intelligent and is supported through substantiated understanding of the industry.

     

    Commenting on the launch, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network- South Asia said: “Today several of our clients invest huge amounts of money to establish their brand image with the help of celebrity endorsers. This is often done on gut feel. We hope to bring a data based, scientific approach in this area. Many of these celebrities are sportsmen and sportswomen and that gives us a great opportunity to offer both celebrity management and sports marketing under CLab.”

     

    Added Haresh Nayak, Managing Director – Posterscope Group, under whose executive mentorship the new agency has been set up, added, “Our vison with CLab is to bring accountability and informed decision making in a discipline which functions on perception, probability and gut feeling of advertisers in getting celebrities/sports personalities to associate with their brands. CLab aims to break the myth of notional acceptability that has its roots in experimentation rather than information. All the requirements of the Dentsu Aegis Network clients pertaining to celebrity endorsements and sports marketing will be directed to CLab for servicing and a team of experts is now in place to deliver this.”

     

    Said Deepak Kumar, Vice President- CLab, said, “Its exciting times for the group, which believes in constant innovation and service diversification into sectors that add value to media industry holistically and this has always been a part of our growth strategy. If we look at celebrity and sports marketing separately, the two might differ in their operational mechanism but the driving forces for the two are common. People, popularity, occasions and influence share the common angle, governing the dynamics of the business. We took timely cognizance of the lacunae that existed and focused our approach into forming India’s first data driven celebrity endorsement agency.”

     

  • Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, was elected Vice-President of the Association

    Nakul Chopra re-elected President of AAAI

     

     

    Nakul Chopra, Senior Advisor, Publicis Communications Pvt Ltd, was re-elected President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2017-2018 at the AAAI’s Annual General Body Meeting. Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, was elected Vice-President of the Association.

     

    Other elected members of the Executive Committee include: Kunal Lalani, Crayons Advertising; Vinod Nair, Network Advertising; Pranav Premnarayen, Prem Associates; CVL Srinivas, GroupM and Vivek Srivastava, Innocean Worldwide. Immediate Past President Dr M G Parameswaran will be the ex-officio member of the new AAAI Executive Committee.

     

  • With this acquisition, over 35% of Dentsu Aegis Network revenue will come from digital

    Dentsu beefs up digital play. Buys Sokrati to launch Merkle

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Left to Right: Anubhav Sonthalia, Ashish Bhasin, Ashish Mehta and Santosh Gannavarapu

    The Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) has announced yet another acquisition, beefing up its digital play in a bigger way. It has informed that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sokrati, a data-driven performance marketing and analytics agency. The network has also announced the launch of Merkle in India and post-acquisition, Sokrati will be rebranded as Merkle Sokrati. Founded in 2009, Sokrati is headquartered in Pune and employs a staff of 120 digital marketing professionals.

    Said Nick Waters, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific: “India is the fastest growing large economy in the world. It is on track for 400 million smartphone users, making it second only to China, and has emerged as a major e-commerce market. Sokrati’s strength in mobile, e-commerce, data, analytics and performance media provides an ideal basis from which to launch Merkle in India as we develop the roll-out plan for Asia Pacific. We will develop the unique M1 addressable media platform for India as a next step.”

    Added Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia: “Sokrati has strong ability in CRM and data to accelerate the launch of Merkle in India and further bolster our data practice, which is becoming increasingly critical in all aspects of our business. It will also give our clients added value as we bring CRM and data into the heart of our digital offering. With Dentsu Aegis Network India already being a leader in performance marketing services, with iProspect and the recent acquisition of SVG, the complementary addition of Sokrati will enable the network to take a clearly dominant position in the rapidly growing Indian digital advertising market. With Sokrati on board, we will now be more than twice the size of any of our competitors in search and performance. Out of 3,500 staff in India, about 1,500 will be digital professionals, and over 35% of our revenue – a market-leading statistic – will come from digital.”

    Added Zhengda Shen, President of Merkle Asia Pacific: “Given Sokrati’s strong credentials and proven capabilities in data & analytics, Sokrati will be in the ideal position to give strong footing to Merkle’s launch in the Indian market, in line with Merkle’s global growth strategy. India is strategic to Dentsu Aegis Network and is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world.”

     

     

  • With a focus to empower underprivileged children across the country, this year's 'Tools For School' project centred its efforts on education

    Dentsu Aegis Network reaches out to 2,000 kids on ‘One Day For Change’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network’s CSR initiative ‘One Day For Change’, witnessed 1,750 employees engage with 2,000 children to execute the project, ‘Tools For School’. Now in its fourth edition, the CSR initiative was conducted across all Dentsu Aegis Network offices in India including Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Kochi.

     

    One Day For Change is an annual social commitment by the Dentsu Aegis Network, where employees from each of the countries are encouraged to go out and volunteer on the same day. Incidentally, Dentsu Aegis Network recently launched its CSR advisory, Indeed, to facilitate corporate investments by companies in Corporate Social Responsibly, through insights and a brand-led approach.

     

    Commenting on the initiative, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO, South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, said: “A significant number of children in the primary years drop out of school and the chief reasons for this are poverty and accessibility. Therefore, this year for our One Day For Change, we decided to focus on education. After all, no country can move forward unless it is 100% literate. We partnered with Bitgiving to raise funds to utilise for our project, Tools For School”

     

    Last year, over 1500 employees volunteered in India, contributing 6,000 staff hours. While the final numbers are still trickling in, it is estimated that in 2017 in India 1750 employees volunteered over 5,000 staff hours for the ODFC initiative.

     

  • The first edition of the awards saw entries from more than 130 brands across 16 categories

    Social Samosa announces Best Social Media Brand winners

    By A Correspondent

     

    Social Samosa, leading news aggregator on social and digital media industry, has announced the winners of its first edition of Best Social Media Brand Awards, via a Facebook live stream event(* See Disclosure).

     

    The first edition of the awards saw entries from more than 130 brands across 16 categories which include Automobile, Cement, B2B, Beauty, BFSI, eCommerce, Education, FMCG, Food & Beverage, Healthcare, Media, Real Estate, Retail, Tourism & Hospitality, Technology, and Telecom.

     

    The journey of creating this formidable benchmark for the social media industry involved a pragmatic analysis of the nominated brands’ engagement on key social media platforms using Unmetric, a rigorous evaluation across parameters from the jury members and social media voting powered by Newsfeed to adjudge the brand’s popularity among social media savvy users.

     

    Speaking on the success of the first edition of the Best Social Media Awards, Hitesh Rajwani, Head-Social Samosa said, “We are overwhelmed with the response we have received for or first edition of the awards. We thank all our participants and winners from the entire team at Social Samosa. We hope to scale to larger heights in our next edition.”

     

    Added Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network and Best Social Media Brand’s Jury Chair said, “It’s good to see that the deserving brands have emerged winners. The quality of their work was good and the jury had a tough time choosing the winners. I congratulate all those who participated and particularly congratulate the winners, who have reasons to be proud of their accomplishments.”

     

    Disclosure: MxMIndia editor-in-chief was on the jury of the awards, though couldn’t participate in the judging process

     

     

  • Harish Bahl & Manish Vij exit SVG Media, sell stake to Dentsu Aegis Network which launches Columbus in India

    Win-win for Dentsu & Smile co-founders as…

    L-R: Chirag Shah, Deven Dharamdasani, Ashish Bhasin, Anurag Gupta and Ashwani Mehta

     

    By A Correspondent

    This news could be looked at from two ends. That the Dentsu Aegis Network has completed yet another acquisition and become really big in digital. Or fro the Smile Group point of view, where the co-promoters Harish Bahl and Manish Vij have hit the jackpot yet again after selling Quasar to WPP in 2008. According to some industry estimates, the deal size is in the region of Rs 750 crore.

    So let’s hear it from the DAN pov first:

    Dentsu Aegis Network has announced the acquisition of SVG Media Private Limited, one of the largest independent digital agencies in India. SVG Media will join the network’s Asia Pacific digital marketingagency Columbus and will become SVGColumbus.

     

    Manish Vij (L) Harish Bahl (R)

    Dentsu Aegis Network claims to be currently Google’s largest search partner in India, and the addition of SVG Media will further strengthen the Group’s leading search position in the market. This acquisition will also support Columbus’expansion in Asia Pacific – now in nine markets across the region.

    SVG Media includes the flagship brands DGM, Komli and Seventynine. Founded in 2006, SVG Media comprises over 280 specialists across four major Indian cities Gurgaon, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru. It offers diverse digital media competencies including online performance marketing, mobile app distribution, representations, social and web services through its flagship brands. The group has one of the largest client bases in the Indian digital media sector with over 700 monthly active advertiser campaigns locally, as well as international clients in Dubai, Indonesia and China.

    Anurag Gupta,CEO of SVG Columbus & DGM, will report to Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia. Anurag Gupta, CEO of SVG Columbus & DGM, Chirag Shah,CEO of SVG Media Mobile & Seventynine, Deven Dharamdasani,COO of SVG Media Mobile & Seventynine, Akshay Mathur, Business Head of Komli, and Ashwani Mehta,Finance Controller,will join the SVG Columbus Managing Board, which will be chaired by Vivek Bhargava, CEO of Performance, Dentsu Aegis Network India.

    Harish Bahl and Manish Vij, founder and co-founder of the Smile Group, will continue to focus on investments through the Smile Group and will no longer act as directors of SVG Media. It has also been agreed that the Smile Group will retain the TyrooTechlabs business.

    Said Ashish Bhasin,Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia: “India is a significant market with rapid growth potential in its mobile and performance marketing business, and Dentsu Aegis Network India has a strong track record in the search and performance space to deliver this. Given its capabilities in data led search, performance marketing and mobile,SVG Columbus is ideally positioned to capture the fragmented long tail publisher market in India using technology and data. As a Group we have leading position in digital in India, particularly in search and performance and this gives us a clear leadership position in this area. We will now have over 1,300 digital professionals, accounting for over 35% of our revenues, well ahead of our competitors.”

    On behalf of SVG Columbus management, Anurag Gupta, CEO of SVG Columbus,,said: “We started out as a digital media group more than a decade ago, and for us to join forces with a clear market leader in digital, that is Dentsu Aegis Network, makes perfect sense. Their priority in placing digital at the forefront of their strategy and goals align perfectly with ours. We will continue to scale our offering in performance marketing and serving clients through the network and other agency networks. We are assured of their strong growth momentum, which will enable us to further enhance our scale as a business operationally and geographically. Their unique one P&L model also allows us to be part of that shared vision towards a digital world which will provide us with access to the latest industry technology and talent to deliver the best solutions for our clients.”

    Meanwhile, this is what Messrs Vij and Bahl have to say:

    Manish Vij Co-Founder Smile Group: “We built SVG Media with the philosophy of profitable growth and market leadership. This philosophy is not the most popular in digital industry but has been very gratifying for SVG Media founders and key leadership. We understand that media consumptions habits are changing rapidly therefore will now focus on building the TyrooTech business and other media incubations.”

    Harish Bahl, Founder at Smile Group:“At Smile we are proud to have continuously built successful JV partnerships or exits with large global firms as, Airbnb, Yahoo, WPP Digital, Scan Group-Africa etc. SVG’s market leadership and exit to DAN is another feather in the cap for Smile.  Our strategy of Investing, Building and JVs through one common platform, is uniquely attractive to global unicorns and entrepreneurs and has evolved over years of learnings.  We hope to share few more exciting announcements in 2017.”

     

  • Acharya Balkrishna of Patanjali was the star speaker of Day 1 which also saw the presenting of the Media and Publisher Abby

    Day 1 @ Goafest: It’s celebration time

    L to R: Ashish Bhasin, Nakul Chopra, Ramesh Narayan and Raj Nayak

     

    It’s Goafest and while the knowledge sessions, masterclasses and awards, are on offer, it’s the networking and meeting old friends and making new that people look forward to. And in the spirit of things, the inauguration happened with champagne.

     

    The four heads of the organising committee – Ashish Bhasin, Ramesh Narayan, Raj Nayak and Nakul Chopra – appeared delighted that the event took off sans any hitches. Day 1 of the festival saw the Industry conclave with Archarya Balkrishna of Patanjali Ayurved being the star attraction. Other speakers included UpasanaTaku of Mobikwik and Hemant Malik of ITC Limited. The Media and Publisher Abbys were presented in the evening.

     

    Speaking about the event, Nakul Chopra, President –  Advertising Agencies Association of India said, “Twelve years ago, Goafest began as an event for people from the world of advertising to get together to network and celebrate quality work. Today, it gives me immense pleasure to see how this festival has grown into becoming one of the foremost events in the creative calendar. It’s extremely encouraging for us to see so many young people participating in the event with such enthusiasm – and not just attending the Abbys but also showing immense amount of interest in the varied seminars that we have lined up this year. The quality of work that has been felicitated today just goes to show how India has today become a tour de force when it comes to creative thinking. If the scene on day one is anything to go by, I’m pretty sure the next two days are going to be just as exciting with some exemplary speakers taking the stage and some must attend seminars taking place.”

     

    Added Raj Nayak – President, The Advertising Club: “Goafest is the world’s largest industry event in the advertising industry – organized by two industry bodies coming together. In the true sense, it is an event by Indians, for Indians and completely made in India. This year, we had over 300 jurors from across the country coming together to judge the entries for which awards will be presented over these three days of the event…with almost 112 of them judging tonight’s Media and Publishing Abbys. Goafest, when it started was only a creative awards ceremony. However, today, in its twelfth edition, it has become a festival of knowledge, wisdom, entertainment, fun and a great networking opportunity.”

     

    Elaborating upon the event, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman, Goafest 2017 said: “With changing times, Goafest has also evolved. For the first time Goafest is going green in part by getting the delegates visiting the event to conserve water and taking other baby steps to our bit for the environment. This year we have heavily subsidized entry to let more and more young people to attend the event. It is extremely exciting for us to see so many young people participating in the event and appreciating the changes we have brought in. Curious young minds are keen to attend seminars and talks by interesting speakers this year. Day 1 has been such a huge success. We can only see this getting better and better over the next two days.”

     

    Said Ramesh Narayan, Chairman of the Awards Governing Council of Goafest 2017: “The atmosphere at Goafest is always filled with excitement, camaraderie and a whole lot of fun. And this year is no different. It is absolutely heartening to see members of the advertising and marketing fraternity sending in some wonderful entries this year which have kept the jury on their toes. Judging any award is a difficult process and more so when you’re pitting one excellent entry against another. All I can say is, all the winners tonight are truly deserving of the honours that have been bestowed upon them. Judging by the level of excitement today, I’m sure that the next two days are going to be absolutely spectacular.”

     

    Karan Bajaj kicked off the Discovery Channel presents Industry Conclave on the topic ‘Role of brands in changing India’. “The brands that we experience in this room have a deeper impact on our lives than we realise. I’m happy to be in a roomful of people who are impacting people and lives,” he said. The UpasanaTaku, Co-Founder MobiKwik, came on stage to talk about demonetisation, the growth of digital payments and powering 55 million users and 1.4 million retailers in India. “Brands have played a role in transforming India. Consumer choice drives brands, and brands have the power to transform an entire country. 86% of India’s spending is cash. It’s a massive amount of money that moves in an unaccounted manner. I truly believe it’s the era of mobile wallets, and won’t deny that demonetization has sped up the journey,” she said.There was much anticipation for the session by Hemant Malik, Divisional Chairman of ITC’s Food Business, who also spoke about e-commerce and digitisation, while acknowledging the evolution of Goafest. “We are the only carbon positive company in the world.”

     

    But the session that everyone waited for was by Acharya Balkrishna, CEO and MD, Patanjali.  “If you learn to applaud yourself sometimes, the world will learn to applaud you,” he said. “The nation is ours, the children are ours, the life is ours. We must take care of it ourselves. Always remember, for the world India is just a market place; for us it’s our home,” he said.

     

    Earlier, the ceremonial lamp was lit by M K Anand, MD & CEO Times Network, Piyush Sharma, CEO New initiatives India Zee Entertainment India, Karan Bajaj, Senior Vice President & General Manager, South Asia, Discovery Networks, Asia Pacific, and Nagesh Alai other than Nayak, Chopra, Bhasin and Narayan.

     

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    Media – Abby 2017 | Publishers – Abby 2017