ad:tech New Delhi 2013: Think big, start small, scale fast, say digital experts

The third Delhi edition of the world's No. 1 digital marketing event kicks off with thousands of delegates

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | February 22, 2013

Vivek Bhargava of iProspect Communicate 2 presenting the speaker memento to Wendy Clark of Coca-Cola

The third Delhi edition of the world's No. 1 digital marketing event, ad:tech New Delhi 2013, kick-started in the capital yesterday with thousands of delegates pouring in from India and all over the world to learn about the latest trends from global experts, share their own experiences and for business networking.

The opening keynote in the morning by Wendy Clark, Senior Vice President, Integrated Marketing Communications and Capabilities, The Coca-Cola Company, deliberated on the concept of 'Liquid & Linked Marketing'. Clark stressed on the need to create more stories that are share-worthy instead of typical advertisements. In this age of real-time marketing, it is imperative to think big, start small and then scale rapidly, she recommended while addressing a packed audience. We are built for scale – if we do not reposition our failure, we will scale the wrong thing perfectly.

Clark during her session delved into Coca Cola's strategy of listening and engagement hubs around the world, which also provide them new measurement tools. Focusing on the three areas of stories, spread and value, she cited the example of the 'Hug Machine' set up by Coca-Cola in National University of Singapore, which would offer a free can of Coke if you hugged the machine. Even though the campaign ran only in Singapore, it became viral globally and generated over 10 million views in the US itself.

Clark also shared eight key learning's for today's digital marketers: be share-worthy by creating content that is interesting and compelling; embrace the new sales force which are consumers willing to carry brand messages ahead; listen and then engage; test, fail, learn, and then scale; speed trumps perfection so be 'flawsome'; disrupt yourself or be disrupted by the market; do not accept the status quo; and, play well on a behavioural level to manage increasingly complicated campaigns.

The second keynote presentation by Katharyn White, Vice President Marketing, IBM Global Business Services emphasized on the three imperatives for marketing professionals including understanding the customer as an individual, creating a system of engagement that maximizes value creation at every touch and designing your culture and brand so that they are authentically one.

The first interactive session on 'Brand Storytelling Gets Tech-ified' witnessed industry bigwigs, namely, Deepali Naair, Country Head - Brand, Customer Service & Corporate Communications, L&T General Insurance Company Limited; Sanjay Tripathy, Executive VP, Marketing, Product and Direct Sales Channels, HDFC Life; Nikhil Rungta, Country Marketing Head, Google India, and Rajdeep Endow, MD, Sapient India and Global Delivery Lead, SapientNitro, deliberating on how technology can amplify brand experience and create a powerful source of differentiation and competitive advantage with relevant technology expertise.

An engaging session on 'Integrated Marketing' focused on how brands can plan, create, execute, and measure cross-channel tactics for advanced digital marketing initiatives. This session was conducted by Shivanandan Pare, Head - e-commerce, Madura Fashion and Lifestyle, Aditya Birla Nuvo; Chandrakanth BN, Co-Founder and MD, Theorem India.; Nitin Mathur, Senior Director & Head of Marketing, India & South-east Asia, Yahoo!; Gaurav Seth, Senior VP, Marketing, Sony Max, and Ajay Kaul, Executive Director, Global Brand Communications Worldwide Marketing, Lenovo.

Day 1 of the conference also included power-packed discussions and break-out sessions on Integrated Marketing strategies, art of tech-storytelling by brands, Big Data, convergence of online and offline marketing initiatives, Native advertising, Augmented Reality, Gamification, and Location Based Relevancy among others.

Brands attending ad:tech New Delhi 2013 include Accenture, Aditya Birla Financial Services, Axis Bank, BBC Advertising, Bharti Airtel, Birla Sunlife Insurance, Cafe Coffee Day, Citi India,  Web18, Future Group, General Motors, Google Inc, HDFC Life, IBM, Ibibo Group, India Today, Info Edge India, Intertek, L&T General Insurance, Lodha Group, Monster.com , Dominos Pizza, Reliance Consumer Finance, The Coca-Cola Company, Times Internet, Viacom 18, Yahoo! and Yatra.com among others.

Day 2 of ad:tech will begin with a keynote address by Alyssa Altman, Vice-President, SapientNitro; and will also feature Durga Raghunath, VP - Product and Executive News, Firstpost; Sunita Rajan, Senior VP, BBC Advertising; and Bettina Sherick, SVP Digital Strategic Marketing, 20th Century Fox International.

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