MUMBAI: The three-day World Brand Congress is schedule to begin on 24 November in the city. The summit will see executives from global brands and influential marketing organisations examining today‘s critical business challenges.
Experts who will share insights include Fonterra Brands Middle East marketing director Ahmad Taufique Yahya; BrainJuicer COO Alex Batchelor; Nokia India VP, MD Mobile Phone D Shivakumar; Deloitte Consulting principal Jonathan Copulsky; Leo Burnett Global chief creative officer Mark Tutssel; Vyas Giannetti Creative (VGC) chairperson and chief creative officer Preeti Vyas; and The Dainik Bhaskar Group VP Brand Communication and national head Sanjeev Kotnala.
The first day sees guerrilla marketing being put in the spotlight in the morning. Speaker and author Shane Gibson will shed light on ‘Guerrilla Social Media Marketing‘. Guerrilla marketing is about achieving conventional goals by unconventional means. Instead of investing huge sums of money and people time, guerrillas use innovation, information, creativity and community to succeed. Social media is often referred to as a guerrilla media, but that‘s only true if the organisation understands the principles and processes of “Guerrilla Social Media Marketing”. In this keynote address Gibson will show attendees how to successfully create a guerrilla marketing culture in their organisation and succeed in the social media activities.
Then there will be a panel discussion on ‘Application of Guerrilla Marketing in businesses‘. The speakers are Godfrey Philips India executive VP marketing and corporate affairs Nita Kapoor, Intel Technology India director sales and marketing Sandeep Arora, Times Now, ET Now senior VP marketing and Sales Sandeep Sharma, Religare Enterprises director – brand and corporate communications Subhrangshu Neogi, Dainik Bhaskar Group VP- Brand Comm and National Head Sanjeev Kotnala and Wipro Infotech GM strategic sales Rohan Vaidya.
The first day also features an IBM panel discussion on the ‘Evolving Role of the CMO‘. The panelists are Canon India senior VP Alok Bharadwaj, Media Content and Communication Services India executive VP marketing and distribution Neeraj Sanan and Wadhawan Holdings senior VP, head strategic alliances Srinath Sridharan.
There are also technical sessions. Decipher president Kristin Luck will shed light on ‘The Delicate Art of Re-Branding: Retaining Equity While Creating a Fresh Face‘. In the rebranding conundrum one does not want to lose valuable brand equity and awareness but one also don‘t want to become stale and stagnant. By exploring a number of famous (and not-so-famous) case studies, Luck will share on-the-ground experiences to help deconstruct and analyse how companies hit, or miss, that re-brand balance.
As a market researcher who works closely with many top tier companies, and advertising agencies who specialize in client branding, Vim Group CEO Marc Cloosterman will talk about ‘Trends in Brand Implementation Management‘. More and more emphasis in rebranding programmes nowadays is on the implementation process. It‘s where the big money is involved and also where the internal organization needs to be fully aligned to reflect the new identity in all its applications. Cloosterman will explore some of the core insights he has gathered over the past two decades. Do‘s and don‘ts learnt through experience, and the latest insights and trends in the discipline of brand implementation.
Within the Congress there will be a Mobile and Digital Marketing Summit on 25 November. This will allow marketers to discover, discuss, and exchange strategies on digital marketing engagement, case studies, and global best practices. The conference brings together marketing experts, strategists, and media to share and deliver the issues and best practices that shape the digital marketing landscape with like-minded professionals as summit participants.
Among other things there will be a panel discussion on ‘Social, Mobile & Video – The Future of Digital Marketing?‘ The speakers are Vdopia VP India Debadutta Upadhyaya, Dentsu India chief experience officer Krishna Prasad, Interactive Avenues co-founder, COO Shantanu Sirohi and Ethinos Digital Marketing MD Siddharth Hegde.
The third day, 26 November, will see a Designomics Conclave. Among other things there will be presentations by design experts. The Hershey Company senior director global design Moira Cullen will dwell on ‘Soft power: 21st Century Design Value‘. Cullen will talk on the right use of design‘s power in business today. If power is the ability to influence the behavior of others to get the outcome one desires, in today‘s emotional economy design‘s ability to embody meaning and shape preferences through the power of attraction is critically valuable. This new design leadership — tangible and intangible, thinking and making — aligned with consumer values and business goals is transformative. It is the soft power of 21st century brand strategy.
There will be a panel discussion on ‘Design + Economics = A Profit Building Prescription”. The design industry is fast emerging from a cosmetic beautification option to a serious discipline that helps businesses navigate through today‘s economic uncertainties and generate value in tomorrow‘s products and services. This merging of the design and economic disciplines has given birth to Designomics. To celebrate this union of Design and Economics, the First Annual Designomics Awards will recognise and acknowledge examples of great Design that were effective in creating added value to a business through the use of Strategic Branding and Design in Graphics, Product and Service domains.
The Designomics Awards will be awarded on the basis of effectiveness and tangible results through intelligent use of Design, to those enlightened businesses that took the forward step in accepting the value of Design and incorporated its various skillsets and concepts in their path towards growth and profitability.
The speakers on the panel discussion are Dilip Chhabria Design founder, promoter Dilip Chhabria, Mint director, BP Ergo and columnist Aparna Piramal Raje, National Institute of Design director Pradyumna Vyas and Design Directions director Satish Gokhale.
