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Tag: Vidur Patney

  • Vidur Patney appointed as National Director Experiential Marketing & Pooja Verma as Head of Maxus ESP

    Maxus makes key senior appointments

    By A Correspondent

     

    Maxus announced key appointments across its two specialist units. Vidur Patney joins in as the National Director Experiential Marketing and Pooja Verma as Head of Maxus ESP respectively.

     

    Vidur joins Maxus from Globox Media Private Limited. As a founder in a start-up of an Experiential Marketing company, he was responsible for the day to day running of the firm along with everything that went into building the business and developing new clients as well as executing projects. Some of his key achievements at Globox include, managing all TVS Racing initiatives for the last 2 years at the BIC, MMSC and the KMS racing tracks and conducting over 70 Apache Pro Performance Stunt Shows across India etc.

     

    In a career spanning eighteen years, Vidur has worked with leading agencies these being Dentsu Communications Private Limited, Encompass Events Private Limited, and 212 Traders etc. He has handled important and significant clients in all his earlier stints and brings to the table a proven ability to manage key account relationships and large-scale projects.

     

    For nearly a decade and a half, Pooja has been involved in building engagement as a part of content strategy through communication, branding, marketing and citizenship initiatives. She has worked for leading multi-nationals including Disney, BASF and Make-A-Wish Foundation. In her last role Pooja was Director of Marketing and Communication for Make-A-Wish based in Singapore. She also consulted independently for brands in India and overseas for their content marketing and multi-platform content needs. In her free time, Pooja also offers her content and marketing communication expertise pro-bono to non-profits.

     

    Kartik Sharma, Managing Director, Maxus South Asia said “The appointments of Vidur Patney and Pooja Verma reflect Maxus’ commitment to attracting the best and brightest talent to our agency. They both are reliable leaders with robust backgrounds in experiential marketing and content marketing respectively. Both of them will fit very well within our strongly established client-driven culture and marketing culture and we are sure they will achieve even higher success with Maxus.

     

    These appointments come in the wake of Maxus solidifying its position as an employer of choice and are a step towards becoming the leading marketing communication consultancy in the country.

     

  • Some brands do launch with BTL as their marketing backbone, but that’s not a one-size-fits-all model. A combination of ATL, BTL and Digital is in my mind critical and the most effective, says Vidur Patney, National Director, Maxus Experiential Marketing

    BTL Baatein: Vidur Patney, Maxus… Powered by VISCOMM

    After this education in India and the UK, Vidur Patney, National Director, Maxus Experiential Marketing, has worked for nearly 20 years across the marketing spectrum. Recently, he has worked with Encompass, Dentsu and most recently Globox until joining Maxus earlier this year. In this edition of BTL Baatein, Vidur Patney speaks on the importance marketers give to BTL activity in their overall marketing plan, and more.

    What is the importance of BTL in the world of advertising and promotions?

    Experiential marketing has over the last few years moved more centerstage as a tool to promote and engage with consumers. Advertising has been the medium of choice for years and has largely worked, but today consumers are smarter, more aware and crave personalised interaction, that’s why more and more marketers who want to have one-on-one conversations with consumers are looking at experiential marketing as the medium of choice.

    What would you say is the importance marketers give to BTL activity in their overall marketing plan?

    Brands that need localised solutions are far keener on going down the BTL route, as are brands that need to provide specific personalized information to consumers. The lines are however a bit blurred and the need is defined by the information to be delivered. Having said that, BTL spends are on the rise. But it’s not just BTL, digital solutions are also gaining popularity.

    Are there are certain types of marketers who have a greater affinity for BTL? (eg FMCG, durables, auto, etc)

    Any marketer who wants to engage with consumers will by and large look at BTL solutions as the way forward. FMCG brands use BTL as a tool not just to promote products but also for sampling new products. Auto brands, use BTL to expose the physical car or bike to a larger audience and give them a 1st hand touch and feel of the vehicle beyond a showroom. So, yes, different brands use BTL in for different needs and to achieve different results. BTL is also a great tool for influencing consumers at the point of sale.

    Typically what is the break-up of spends…. ATL v/s BTL?

    Varies from industry and brand, but is fast growing. For some it’s close to 30-40% for some even higher.  But as mentioned, looking ahead, a BTL – Digital solution is the way forward. Consumers will demand it and brands will have to follow suit.

    Can you also specify the range of activities that you undertake as part of the below-the-line advertising and promotion for your clients?

    Ranges from localised promotions to mall displays to school and college contact programmes to modern trade activities, events internal and external, roadshows, conferences and exhibitions. Quite honestly just about everything and everywhere.

    In terms of generating results esp from consumers and in B2B, do you find BTL a more sureshot avenue than ATL?

    A tough one to call. BTL solutions provide more focused results as compared to traditional spray and pray advertising. So if the need is to engage with consumers one-on-one, BTL is the way. But here again having a digital layer is critical.

    While sales and salience are good indicators of its success, what are the attributes you/your clients look at to measure the success of a BTL campaign?

    It depends on the requirement. If it’s a new product launch and sampling, then that’s measurable, but if it’s just promoting a product to drive sales, it’s very tough to work out the math on how many people bought a product after any sort of BTL engagement vis-à-vis an ATL campaign. The only other measurable element is cost per contact. Participation and experience delivered are tough to quantify.

    There are many organisations who often do new launches almost entirely on BTL aided with an outdoor and/or digital blitz? Your view on this? Given rising media costs, do you see BTL managing on its own, without ATL?

    Some brands do launch with BTL as their marketing backbone, but that’s not a one-size-fits-all model. A combination of ATL, BTL and Digital is in my mind critical and the most effective.