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Indias platform for Events and Experiential Marketing

Print Newsletter September 2008 27

fitting the brand image.


Increase in Brand Recall, is among
the things Pore feels such event
deliver well on. He underlined
the importance of the segment,
pointing out that customized
products for the category are also
a regular feature today. He said,
Our recent offering - Lets Rock
pre-paid plan, is a revolutionary
student friendly pack targeted at
the youth. The pack is a unique
combination of value coupled
with an unmatched mobile
experience.

Besides Malhar, Tata Indicom


has also been part of Horizon of
DY Patil College, and the Mirchi
Cool Jock Hunt of private FM
player Radio Mirchi, a contest for
college students.

Zapak, Intel and Lenovo also plan


to target youth at college fests
with Campus Gaming Star.
Intel and Lenovo have joined
hands with Zapak to organize
Campus Gaming Star, an annual
college gaming championship.
The property would be conducted and Lenovo pavilions, coupled Some recent brand associations with college festivals
across 30 leading college with workshops on laptop DJ-ing College Festival MainSponsor
festivals in the country, and is and digital art. NarseeMonjee Umang BruIceCappuccino(HUL)
conceptualized and executed by St.Xaviers Malhar TataIndicom
Zapak Live, the activation cell of Suresh Kumar, Director,
Mindspark Consulting, says IITPowai Moodi Bindass
Reliance ADA Groups gaming
portal Zapak.com. most brands see college fests Sophia'sMumbai Kaleidoscope Vodafone
as a vehicle to supplement their
The activity kicked off from core marketing campaign. So,
Ashok Cherian, Marketing Head, will capture the spirit, the
the capital on September 19, it works as a reminder medium competitions, the raw talent,
Bindass, explained, The best
2008, at IIT Delhis annual fest to enhance a brands visibility highs and lows of the youth at
way to reach out to our core TG
Rendezvous 2008. It will now among youth, he said. the festivals and air them on the
(18 to 21 years) is to present them
move to Zephyr08 at the Thakur a touch-and-feel factor of our show. Through Bindass Campus
College of Engineering, Mumbai, Building and cementing bridges Attack, we also want to reach
offerings. Hence we have tied up
from September 26 to 28. The with this core college TG, youth out to students who are unable to
with college festivals. We are not
property will travel to 15 cities channel Bindass has tied up with attend these festivals, he added.
just branding ourselves at events
in India, and will conclude by the various college festivals as a
but also reaching out directly to
February 2009, when the college TV partner. The list of festivals Blender Magazine, focused on
the youth by organizing games
festival season ends. that the channel partnered music, also participated in IIT
for them.
includes Malhar of St Xaviers Delhi Rendezvous 2008. Sam
The event features hardcore and (Aug 15 and 16), Umang of Lal, Editor, Blender Magazine,
As a part of this partnership,
casual gaming titles played on a Narsee Monjee College (Aug 15 said, We wanted to be part of
Bindass set up Bindass Zones
30-seater gaming rig. New product to 19), Kaleidoscope of Sophias something that was unique and
where students will be able to
launches and demonstrations (Sep 6 and 7), Pulse of AIIMS would connect with our readers.
play innovative and Bindass
would be conducted at the Intel (Sep 16 to 22). So we associated with an event
games like BMX cycling, sumo
that revolved around music and
wrestling and few others. They gave us mass audience.
have also infused special Bindass
rounds into competitions like The trend of college fests being
Bindass Street Funk and Mr and big draws is here to stay. Today,
Mrs Bindass. To add to the fun at brands are building elements
these college fests, street magician of their messaging and brand
Ugesh Sarcar also performed experiences into college festivals
tricks at the Umang fest. regularly. The day is not far off
when college festivals will be
This is an extension of our brand conceptualized and co-created by
to the students. Apart from being brands and students. It is a win-
a good marketing drive, we have win situation.
also integrated a programming
element to it, pointed out
Cherian. A new show on Bindass
called Bindass Campus Attack
Indias platform for Events and Experiential Marketing

Print Newsletter September 2008 29

ALL ABOUT MIC

Whats makes the offsite experience?


W hen it comes to creating an offsite experience to remember, theres
obviously more than one factor at work. One of the factors that
goes to work even before the offsite begins, is the choice of venue.
For a majority of organisations in the media and advertising space,
offsites are as much about brainstorming and strategy planning as they
are about a motivating fun trip for internal teams.

Theres an aura and an expectation about most travel destinations that In this, the first part of our dedicated section on MIC (Meetings,
gets audiences excited at the very mention of the place. Soon, computers Incentives and Conferences), we spoke with a couple of professionals
in office are busy googling away to find out what the attractions are, and in the media space. This part of the series is focused on destinations and
what to shop for, among other things, once there. the offsite experience, with a focus on media professionals.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are a whole lot of people who While Niloufer Dundh exchanged notes on her favourite offsite location,
believe that offsites have become annual picnics and need to change
Abhijit Pradhan underlined the need to create new levels of excitement
track to focus on learning. Quite visibly, different organisations have
different expectations from their respective offsites. at offsites.

My favourite offsite location...

By Niloufer Dundh
Chief Sales Officer, OOH Media, in conversation with EVENTFAQS
My favourite off site location is North Point in the air...
at Khandala. Its the campus run by Lintas. The The last two trips we made there were serene. The first was during
reasons for this being my favourite are many. the pre-monsoon and the second at the fag end of the monsoons. The
Before I get into them, let me add here that the great weather helped add to the wonderful experience. From what Im
last two off sites that we have had have been at penning here, it might seem as though the entire experience is about
this very location, and both these strategy meets getting lost in the midst of nature. Theres a lot of activity too, if one is
have been very successful in terms of output. interested. I did notice that there were many takers for the Indoor and
Outdoor sports on offer.
Thought its only an hour or so away (and perhaps because it is), I would
readily categorise it as a getaway in the true sense. People unfamiliar The great internet connectivity helped when you needed to connect to
with the terrain tend to club Lonavala and Khandala as one. The truth the world outside. And given our nature of work, we better be connected!
is different. In North Point, Khandala, your are locked away with no The service was excellent too, with home cooked food, and the hosts
temptation to exit, as its far away from the madness of Lonavala. always willing to ask you what you want!

Logistically too, this location is a dream. Its fairly easy to reach from With three different venues, theres no dearth of variety. Space is another
Mumbai. And for those coming in from out of Mumbai, its a little more huge advantage, with not many other conferences taking place there at
than an hours drive from the airport. A stay there definitely brings out the same time. We look forward to having our next meet at North Point
your creative juices. And it helps you think clearly. Theres something again.

An offsite is about creating new levels of excitement...



By Abhijit Pradhan
Chief Explorer and Executive Coach, Superstar Business Solutions, in conversation with EVENTFAQS
The last offsite I attended was when I was with We realised that it was about the production of the event elements too.
Mid-Day. It was in March-end this year, and Among other elements, the Audio Visuals screened at the conference
we had everyone from the 125-odd Marketing told the team what the industry perceived Mid-Day to be. That helped
and Sales team attending it. We took off to a lot.
Malaysia. I think it was very successful, and
what contributed was a combination of factors. When it comes to choice of venues, Goa is a favourite when youre
One of them was that Mid-Day hadnt done an looking at locations within the country. It gives you a feel that you have
international offsite for three or four years then. gone out of your city, but it is also quite affordable. Internationally,
The other was the entire Genting experience the foreign city offered. organisations regularly creating trips for senior people have looked at
exotic locations. When I was with the Times Group, the first offsite I
It was about some serious partying, and also about showcasing what went on was to New Zealand. Exoticness of the locale helps, especially
Mid-Day had achieved over the last one year. We were very clear that in the media scenario.
everyone from the Marketing and Sales teams should be part of this
experience. Of the 120-plus people, more than 40 had never travelled If its a cost and convenience consideration, then a majority from the
abroad. It was time to take all of them along, together. media space are travelling to locations in South East Asia. But many,
many media organisations are going off the track and looking at
To my mind, an offsite is about creating new levels of excitement, and countries like Turkey.
each offsite has its other specific objectives too. It does a lot to the
morale of the team. And yes, it is about learning and sharing notes too. Lastly, on the activity front, I have seen over-enthusiastic tour managers
missing out on some basics. Group activities are important, but they
This last offsite I am referring to did have its elements of conferencing should not be forced on the team 24x7 during an offsite. For instance,
and learning, but the entire feel was about the fun and excitement. We one thing that people sometimes forget is that we are Indians, and that
we love to shop! So you better give your team some time for that and
went the whole hog, from branding it KLPD to creating a logo for to be by themselves and explore the place.
KLPD! We didnt have a full form for KLPD, but that didnt matter
it was all in the spirit of the thing. We could always call it the Kuala Let them experience the place. You cant take them to exotica and then
Lampur Police Department! deny them that!
Indias platform for Events and Experiential Marketing

Print Newsletter September 2008 31

IRF: Five years on, still going strong


BY Jagadeesh Krishnamurthy

T he India Retail Forum (IRF), a congregation of retail brands,


companies and minds from across the globe, was conceptualized by
IM Entertainment, the events division of the Images Group, five years
Pico, an international company, was responsible for the stalls.

For the Awards night, Jag Mag Electrics was given the task of handling
ago. lightings, while Vinayak Video Vision is taking care of video services.
For the Awards, IM Entertainment took up the responsibility for the
This years edition got underway on September 16, and registered set design and erection, and attempted to blend mall elements with an
more than 1000 walk-ins for the three-day Conference, Exhibition awards setup.
and Awards night. While the conference was held at The Renaissance
Reasoning their decision to build the sets, Burgess Elavia, Head of
Hotel, the property drew to a close with the Awards night at the Grand Logistics and Operations, IM Entertainment, said, We decided to
Hyatt on September 18. erect the sets for the Awards night ourselves as it is our major forte.
We believe we understand the property better than anyone else, and can
This years edition of the conference and exhibition was spread over make much better sets than anyone for this event.
1500 to 2000 square metres at The Renaissance. IM Entertainment had
appointed Performance Audio to supply and manage the sounds for the On conference evenings, organizers decided to stick with a DJ and
conference as well as the awards night. For the conference, lighting jugalbandi performances, instead of performing acts as the entertainment
arrangements were distributed between Star Dimensions and Creative agenda. The Awards night was hosted by Dalip Tahil and Parizad Kolah.
Productions. Spectrum Audio Visual provided the Audio Visuals, while The Awards evening made up on the performances front, with stand-up
sets at the conference were erected by Benny from WYSIWYG. Hangars comedian Ash Chandler and singer Neeraj Shridhar of Bombay Vikings
used at the exhibition were created by Mumbai-based RM Gupta, while entertaining audiences.

EVENTFAQS spoke with Nirav Ganatra, Director, IM Entertainment. Excerpts:


How has the property grown over the years? areas. This time around, we had around 70 people managing the show
This is the fifth year for the property and we have gradually grown since for us.
the first year. The entire Retail industry is on the rise, and we have got
a very good response from the industry. Retail being a vast category, it What has been the response from exhibitors? And, has the
has lots of cross categories like fashion, food, health retailing. This has number of exhibitors increased?
helped us in increasing the areas covered by the event. The number of exhibitors at the event has been constant at 150
stalls compared to last year, but we have improved in terms of
Typically, how much time does it take to plan and execute the exhibitor brands. This year, we have powerful brands like the
an event of such scale? Kshitij Group, Inorbit Malls, Unitech, E-city Ventures and Sun-city
Now, since its an annual property, we have yearly plans for the group exhibiting at the conference. We have been getting support
event. We decide and finalize the dates a year in advance, so as to from all these strong players for our event over the years, and this
get comfortable dates according to our plans, requirements and space has helped us position our event on a different scale altogether.
availability. Ideally, it takes planning of almost four months to plan and
execute the event in the style and manner that we see it this time. Delegates its the same profile and number of speakers have
increased. We had around 60 speakers on each day over three days. We
How much manpower do you utilize for an event like
also had CEO meets every day. We had 30 CEOs sharing the stage at
this?
We have different departments for handling different areas like the same time, including industry bigwigs like Future Groups Kishore
registrations, media, hotel, delegates, speakers, exhibitors and stall Biyani and Shoppers Stops BS Nagesh.

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