Tag: event management

  • APREE 2012 to focus on social media marketing

    By A Correspondent

     

    Spotlight Event & Entertainment announced the fifth edition of APREE, which is an annual interactive knowledge exchange platform aimed at bringing Advertising, PR, Entertainment & Event Management companies come together for networking and to discuss the way forward.

     

    “We are pleased to announce the fifth edition of APREE and I am grateful to the industry experts who have contributed in making this a huge platform and trusting the benefits it can bring to the communications industry by way of networking, sharing and evolving through each other’s experience,” said Salama Yamini, Operation Head, APREE Organizing committee.

     

    The seminar will be packed with powerful speakers, giving the participants an opportunity to interact with the ‘Thought Gurus’ of the industry. It will also provide an insight into relevant data explaining where the communications industry is heading. The event is catalogued to provide one with better networking with competitors, brands and industry professionals from all aspects of communication business.

     

    Speaking about the event, Gagan Myne, Director, Spotlight Event & Entertainment said: “This year the focus of APREE 2012 is to concentrate on “How to make most out of Social Media Marketing.”

     

    Some of the prominent speakers this year are: Santosh Desai, MD & CEO Future Brand; Ekalavya Bhattacharya, Head of Digital MTV India; Ryan Valles, CEO Deal & You; Kunal Kishore, Founder & CEO, Value 360 Communications; Moksh Juneja, Founder of Avignyata Inc.; Snigdha Manchanda, Storyteller; Xavier Prabhu, Consultant on branding and Communication

     

    The event will be held from August 23-26th 2012 in Goa.

     

     

  • Vibgyor Brand Services gets future-ready

    By A Correspondent

     

    Vibgyor Brand Services, a pioneer in brand activation services, has completed 10 years of operations. This not only signifies the coming of age of this specialized industry, but also reflects on its growing importance as a tool of marketing communications.

     

    Vibgyor started out as a generic event management services company and has transformed into one of the top activation agencies in the country with a pan-India presence. Vibgyor has 6 offices and a team of over 90 that support top-notch companies like HUL, Dabur India, Pepsi, Samsung, Flipkart, Toshiba and others for their brand activation strategies including events, exhibitions and on-ground consumer contact programmes.

     

    Ankur Kalra, founder and CEO of Vibgyor recalls that a decade ago he had to explain brand activation and experiential marketing services to his potential clients. Today, no marketing plan is complete without Brand Activation and every forward looking company ensures a healthy balance of ATL & BTL as part of their plan.

     

    The discussions are now more on strategy, on methods of targeting the specific customer profile, engaging them and ensuring that they experience the brand and convert into loyal consumers. “This is the reason that we are adopting a new corporate identity and business philosophy today. Our benchmark is going to be how involved we are as a team with the clients brand and how much excitement we can create around it”, he said.

     

    Today consumers, with the overload of information, are looking for exciting brand experience and Vibgyor is committed to delivering the same. The new philosophy “Involve > Excite” is based on the input output principle – to get involved in a brand to create excitement around it.

     

    The brand activation industry is estimated to be anywhere between Rs5000 – 6000 crore, growing at 15 – 20 per cent per year. Vibgyor clocked a growth rate of 25 per cent last year which is substantially higher than the industry average. “The twin focus on commitment and creativity has enabled us to reach this far and we hope that adding involvement and excitement as part of our service delivery will help our client and in turn enable us stay ahead of the industry and maintain our double digit rate of growth”, Mr Kalra added.

     

  • Hard Knocks: Event mismanagement

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Whenever I get invited to participate in an event, my first reaction is to hesitate. And this is because, of the many I have visited in my life, most have turned out to be shoddily organized. Mismanagement of crowds, late start, poor banquet service, clueless hosts/hostesses… it’s a long list of gripes. And this turns out to be the case even when professional event managers have been hired. I must also add here, the few events I have visited in London, Cannes and New York, were a pleasure. Which is why I have always wondered why we screw things up in India.

    Since most events are usually private/low-scale functions, no one discusses the bloopers, and life simply goes on. But we get caught with our pants down when they are held on a mega scale, when the world is watching. Our pathetic show at the Commonwealth Games, and now with the mess on Metallica’s performance in Gurgaon, has made us look like bloody jokers.

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”300″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VELQ39QAYP4[/youtube]

    I really don’t understand why we Indians make for such poor planners and executors. Maybe it’s in our DNA. Or, we can blame it on bad karma, as we usually do for everything! However, here’s a hunch: I suspect our event management companies are not being run professionally. And they aren’t being held accountable for flop shows. Perhaps a hefty fine for botched events may make them pull up their socks. I wonder if these people train their staffers on the skills required to run an event. If there’s any quality control in place. I would stick my neck out and say that most staffers are hired based on their general enthusiasm and little else. When the ground reality is that running a huge event takes a lot more than enthusiasm. It needs astute planning skills, a resourceful temperament and a jihadic passion to execute a successful event.

    Our event management companies need to clean up their houses. Or be ready to get penalized for bringing embarrassment to the host. Or to the whole country on occasion.

     

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    PS: Haha. Came across this funny ad on the need to wear proper lenses. Must say the dude reminds me of a bumbling Indian event manager. Just kidding!