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Tag: Virtual summit

  • Aabid Surti and Biren Ghose to be honoured at Animation Masters Summit 2022

    Aabid Surti and Biren Ghose to be honoured at Animation Masters Summit 2022

    Mumbai: Renowned artist, writer and activist Aabid Surti and animation industry veteran and Technicolor Creative Studios country head Biren Ghose will be honoured at the 2022 edition of the Animation Masters Summit that will be held virtually between 23-27 May.

    Organised by Toonz Media Group, the five-day summit will include sessions by stalwarts in the fields of media and entertainment across the world. Google India country head Sanjay Gupta will deliver a keynote address at the inaugural session. The master sessions in the following days will be led by well-known artists and creators including Belgian director-producer Paul Demeyer who has worked on shows like “Mission Force One,” “The Rocketeer” and “The Rugrats” series and film, Emmy award-winning composer Wendel Harris, best known for supervising the music for the Netflix sitcom “Family Reunion,” Ravishankar Venkateswaran maker of the first Sanskrit animation feature “Punyakoti,” Ogilvy India chief creative officer Sukesh Nayak and NFT ecosystem GuardianLink co-founder and chief technology officer Arjun Reddy.

    “Animation Masters Summit is Toonz’s flagship annual event where we provide a platform for young artists and students to interact with veterans in the field art and entertainment,” said Toonz Media Group CEO P Jayakumar. “The AMS awards have been instituted to honour legends in the field of art. Aabid Surti is a true legend in this regard, having made his mark in multiples streams of art from painting to cartoon, to writing. After a scintillating career of more than 60 years, he continues to work tirelessly focusing more on social and environmental issues now. He is an inspiration for not just artists but for everyone. It is a privilege for us to present this year’s Legend Award to Surti.”

    “Biren Ghose, who is being awarded the Special Contribution Award, has helped build the AVGC ecosystem in India with his visionary leadership. As a mentor and industry spokesperson, he also played a significant role in fostering a strong and cohesive animation and VFX community in India,” added Jayakumar.

    At 87, Aabid Surti, has made significant contributions towards popularising cartoons and graphic novels in Indian languages in a career spanning over six decades. He is the creator of several memorable characters such as ‘Dhabbuji,’ ‘Inspector Azad,’ ‘Doctor Chinchu’ and the much-loved Indrajal comic superhero ‘Bahadur.’ A prolific author, he bagged the National Award in 1993 for his short story series titled “Teesri Aankh.” Having passed out of one of India’s oldest art institutions the JJ School of Art in Mumbai, Surti is also an acclaimed painter known for experimenting and developing innovative and critically acclaimed painting techniques. In recent years, Surti has made a mark with his trailblazing activism in water conservation through his organization Drop Dead Foundation, which was started as an initiative to provide free plumbing service for residents in suburban Mumbai. Surti personally leads his NGO in fixing an average of around 400 taps a year after visiting close to a thousand homes.

    Technicolor Creative Studios country head and industry leader, Biren Ghose is a prominent figure in the Indian AVGC (Animation Visual Effects Gaming and Comics) scene. As a thought leader and business head of some of the most prominent entertainment companies, Ghose has made significant contributions in the growth and development of the AVGC ecosystem in India over the years. He also holds several important roles in government and quasi-government agencies, institutions and trade bodies.

  • Digital Brand Fest 2022: Tracking the post-pandemic shift to digital marketing

    Digital Brand Fest 2022: Tracking the post-pandemic shift to digital marketing

    Mumbai: The pandemic has brought a change in the marketer’s playbook over the last two years, challenging the existing guidelines on brand building and customer relationships. The second day of the ‘Digital Brand Fest 2022’ organised by Indiantelevision.com saw an interesting discussion centered on this new-found marketing reality in a session on ‘Digital Marketing – The New Dynamic Shift Post Pandemic.’

    The panelists included industry executives and marketers – BharatPe VP – Growth Ashish Agarwal, Omnicom Media Group Asia Specific chief digital officer Bharat Khatri, GoKwik co-founder & CEO Chirag Taneja, and Godrej Corporate brand and communications general manager Michelle Francis. The session was moderated by Tonic Worldwide Media CEO Chetan Asher.

    The week-long virtual summit is presented by Voot, and Interakt, Josh, and Pixis have joined as industry partners.

    Changing patterns of content consumption

    Today consumers are spending an increasing amount of time on their smart devices and connected TVs, compelling businesses to take a relook at their digital marketing goals. “There has been an increase in Digital spending by brands over the last two years,” said Omnicon media’s Bharat Khatri. “The Indian market is in the midst of the narrative where Linear Television is increasingly being replaced by Connected TV.”

    But, how have the large and legacy consumer brands dealt with this shift in the marketing paradigm? Are they still seen as a traditional marketing function?

    According to BharatPe’s Ashish Agarwal, earlier traditional marketers had a tendency to look at Digital marketing as just another channel, but now they have realised that it requires a different skillset. “You need to think of it as a product and a technology function when you are processing such a huge amount of data. It requires a ‘product manager approach’ and more technical expertise to handle it,” he added.

    Brands should consider digital marketing as a separate function that needs a specialised team, the panelists contended.

    “We also need to define the ROI and business metrics,” said Godrej Corporate brand and communications general manager Michelle Francis, adding that digital also played a critical role in reputation building, and building a connect with consumers. In the case of digital, ROI is performance-oriented and one that usually gives instant gratification, he added.

    The panelists also discussed the role of technology in marketing, on whether brands are building a marketing stack with MarTech, and if it is with a planned and sustained approach. They highlighted that most brands are open to the concept of additional tools to measure ROI, especially if a tool is able to decrease the brand’s cost per lead, and harvest a spike in sales and conversions by 10-15 per cent- which works as a good pointer for the brand. “You will see a lot of tools emerge which will cover up for talent gaps – or enablement products. Similarly, in the e-commerce space in India there are many companies trying to improve the funnel,” noted GoKwik’s Chirag Taneja.

    Omnicom Media Group Asia Specific chief digital officer Bharat Khatri said the investment is already happening from the agency’s point of view. “We have a separate division called analytic, which works mostly on the martech deployment tools, technology, etc. The new truth now is- marketing begins if you know your customer segment well, as opposed to ‘knowing your customer’ previously,” he added.

    With all the chatter going around on Web 3.0, NFTs, and the Metaverse, will brands be able to leverage the buzz?  It’s a “marketers’ paradise” and it’s here to stay – just like the new normal of the virtual world we have gotten used to, highlighted the panelists, adding that its scope goes beyond gaming. “Metaverse is going to be more powerful, when it comes to Web 3.0, digital economy, more so, creator economy,” said Michelle Francis. “Although I don’t see many brands integrating themselves as of now with it, it’s a great opportunity for the brands that are navigating it, for sure.”

    According to panelists, the challenge for brands now is to outdo themselves each time. They need to deliver better than what they delivered last time. “The ‘Test & learn’ kind of approach- that’s something that works better in a Digital world because you know what works and by how much. So keep testing, learn from it and incorporate it,” said BharatPe VP – growth Ashish Agarwal.

    There is also a need for stronger measurement metrics. To summarise what we need in this fast-paced, constantly evolving digital ecosystem is agility, flexibility, value-added customer experience, and constant iteration, the panelists concluded.

  • Digital Brand Fest 2022: How SMS and mobile marketing can accelerate brand growth

    Digital Brand Fest 2022: How SMS and mobile marketing can accelerate brand growth

    Mumbai: The digitally empowered consumers of today have more choices than ever before. As we enter into 2022 with new technologies propelling the digital transformation, several new age, as well as legacy brands, have jumped onto the digital bandwagon to up their marketing game, and retain connect with consumers.

    On day one of the Indian Digital Brand Fest 2022, IndianTelevision.com brought a host of industry experts together on one platform to discuss these trends shaping the future.  The week-long virtual summit is presented by Voot, and Interakt, Josh, and Pixis have joined as industry partners.

    The session on ‘Panel on SMS, Notifications & Whatsapp Marketing’ held virtually on Monday was moderated by Group M head of mobile and emerging tech Niraj Ruparel and the panelists included Soptle chief business & marketing officer Ritesh Ghosal, PhonePe corporate communications head  Priya Patankar, SUGAR chief business officer Suchit Sikaria, ex-WOW Skin Science VP of Marketing Madhur Acharya, Jio-Haptik’s SMB Solutions VP & business head Ahshad Jussawala, and Clever Tap SVP Marketing Jayant Kshirsagar.

    The industry executives discussed the latest trends driving the change in mobile marketing and how it has impacted the industry’s growth. SUGAR CBO Suchit Sikaria noted that the digital strategy has to revolve around mobile, and it starts right at the time of designing the asset and it has to be a mobile-first design.

    PhonePe corporate communications head Priya Patankar shared that PhonePe considers itself essentially as a utilitarian that begins with payments. “We have realised customers start with the most basic use cases for which they download an app. Once customers start trusting the app, they graduate to the more complex use cases,” she said about new consumer behaviour on the payment platform, while admitting that the pandemic has been a huge inflection point for digital payments.

    When it comes to mobile marketing, SMS and WhatsApp are very powerful media to build a connection with the customer, the marketers asserted. However, brand communication to the consumer has to be looked at through the lens of relevance, timing & value in the message, the panelists noted. According to WOW Skin Science VP of marketing Madhur Acharya, mobile marketing gives a better ROI & retention as there is more clarity on how one’s campaign is performing.

    The executives emphasised on leveraging WhatsApp for a mobile marketing strategy from the beginning. Jio-Haptik’s Ahshad Jussawala added, “For any small business or SME looking to grow their online sales and improve overall customer support, Whatsapp can be a game-changer.”

    On customer acquisition, Clever Tap SVP Marketing Jayant Kshirsagar said, “Retention is more important than acquisition and we help our customers retain their customers.”

    Also read: Digital Brand Fest 2022: Decoding digital transformation for tech-led future

    The industry executives were also unanimous in their views on the importance of hyper-personalisation in mobile marketing. Clever Tap’s Jayant Kshirsagar observed that the right kind of personalisation involves looking at customers as a ‘cohort’, and not as a ‘one size fits all’ with hyper-personalisation. Soptle’s Ritesh Ghosal agreed that personalisation on WhatsApp & SMS marketing allowed them to create a loyalty program, by crafting a value into the message. To which SUGAR’s Sikaria shared their experience of sending out personalised messages to their most loyal customers on Whatsapp, wherein the responses the brand received from its customers consisted of instant emotive acknowledgments.

    Group M’s Niraj Ruparel gave a huge thumbs up to Mondelez’s SRK campaign, citing it as one of the best instances of hyper-personalisation using AI & ML.  “Stop selling, start serving. Because if you serve your customers right they’ll refer to your brand and you’ll get new customers!,” said Clever Tap’s Kshirsagar concluding the discussion.

    Towards the end of the session, the marketers also addressed the concerns of Spamming in mobile marketing. Putting consumer fears to rest it was pointed out that WhatsApp has all the policies and measures in place to curtail Spamming activities by brands.

    For more details on the event, click here

  • Brands need to motivate consumers to buy during Onam

    Brands need to motivate consumers to buy during Onam

    MUMBAI: As Kerala preps itself for Onam celebrations, brands are trying to recoup some of the profits that had been forsaken because of pandemic. 

    At indiantelevision.com's ‘The Comeback Of Kerala: Onam Returns’, the fifth session was about understanding overall brand sentiments.This panel was moderated by Kalyan Jewellers independent director Anil S Nair. The panellists included Lodestar UM, IPG Mediabrands executive vice president Laya Menon, Asianet News Network VP Unnikrishnan BK, Malayala Manorama VP marketing Varghese Chandy, Zee Entertainment enterprises limited south cluster head Siju Prabhakaran, Mathrubhumi Group national cluster head Sunil Nambiar and Blue Star Ltd VP sales and marketing cooling and purifications products division C Haridas.

    According to Nair, for the past three years, Onam in Kerala has been affected by floods and now Covid2019. It has impacted the consumer requirements and sentiments.

    C Haridas said, “Though there is an air of caution, people will start spending from Onam. People are positive and they are hoping that the spending spree will start. Onam is the first festival in the long list, it is a melting ground for all product categories. However, consumers will need the right kind of value and motivation then they will be happy to spend.”

    He further added that consumers are actually spending on the basis of a need. In Kerala there is a surge in the sale in water purifiers and air conditioners to maintain the humidity. As per him it is a brand's responsibility to create a need in the market.

    Nambiar shared that in the past six months, there has been a total change in the way in which people have accepted this as new normal. He also added that except for the first few months consumer sentiment is more positive now. However, he believes that the Onam market is going to be very dynamic, but there needs to be a right plan to pull the consumers. Media also has a major role to play in that.

    Elaborating more about the media's role in influencing consumer sentiment, Unnikrishnan highlighted that the month of April came as a blow, but post 15 August he believes the market will pick up and from being in a saving mode people will start to spend.

    Menon pointed out that the usual classifieds are still coming and the level of briefs have not come down. As per her, Kerala is still doing better than other states, giving it a reason to become more optimistic. She also thinks that marketers across categories are looking at spending and advertising rates will go up.

    Prabhakaran said that brands should look at how they are responding during this crucial time. According to him, over-reliance on Onam is not a very good sign, there needs to be another festival where consumers have the propensity to spend.

    Panellists are of the common opinion that Onam is just not Kerala’s interest, it is nations interest to make it successful. It is the right time to sell products but for that there needs to be proper advertisement and promotions.

    Also, they noted that brands should not wait till 15 August to see how the market is performing, but they should start advertising now. Offers need to be floated now in order to create a buzz. Brands should give irresistible offers during this Onam to attract more consumers.