I am Anna - Eventfaqs

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F E A T U R E
creating client loyalty. Parameswaran talked about the
importance of creating a loyal client base and how to
ensure that a company can retain client relations for the
long term. During the Q&A session, Parameswaran also
discussed how EEMA can play a role in helping to build
client relations, the need to protect business interests of
the industry and the requirement of a united approach
when dealing with the government.
On the sidelines of the convention prior to his speech,
ExM caught up with Parameswaran to take his views on
the convention and the overall industry. Parameswaran
believes that the EEMAGINE convention has grown
significantly over the past four years, and expressed his
delight that the event management business was coming
together and becoming more professional through such
events. “The event industry is highly personality driven
and with such events, the industry is becoming driven
by processes and other aspects,” Parameswaran said.
On the question of what he thinks about the theme of the
convention - scaling up, Parameswaran said that “the
industry is very much ready to scale up, but it also needs
to maintain focus on the areas of talent, legal issues and
technology. The leaders of the industry are coming together
to address these issues.” Parameswaran forecasts that
the events and experiential marketing industry would grow
at the rate of 15 per cent per annum and that in future,
agencies will specialize themselves into areas like events,
activation and other verticals.
Maneck Dastur of KM Dastur Associates was up next
on stage to talk about event risk management and how
insurance can help event agencies ensure that they do
not bear the cost of cancelled events or mishaps due to
unforeseen circumstances. He spoke about the various
circumstances which insurance can cover and the clauses
that need to be taken into consideration while taking
insurance.
The final speech of the second day was on the topic of
rural marketing by Raj Kumar Jha, National Creative
Director, Ogilvy Action and Vice President, RMAI. Jha’s
presentation on the scope of the rural market and the need
for the experiential marketing industry to spread further
into such areas was both educating and entertaining. In
fact, the speech was so well received by the audience that
they gave Jha a well-deserved standing ovation. Jha’s
message was as simple as it was effective - the people
living in rural areas have the money to buy products and
it is just a matter of tapping this audience with the right
amount of brand promotion.
“There is a misconception that there is no money or market
in the rural areas. There is a lot of scope and the reach of
the rural market is immense,” Jha said during his speech.
“Understanding the rural market is crucial and there is
opportunity for the event industry. The industry just needs
to build scale. Demand for products increases during
4 September 2011, EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING 58
Ambi MG Parmeswaran, Executive Director and
CEO, Draftfcb Ulka
Maneck Dastur, KM Dastur Associates
Rajkumar Jha, National Creative Director, Ogilvy Action
festive seasons, sports promotions can be done in rural
areas, intellectual properties can be created, and events
around cinema can also be done to engage the rural
audience.”
On the sidelines of the event, ExM caught up with Jha
to find out more about rural marketing. “There’s a lot of
opportunity in the rural market; a lot of work opportunities
that are opening new avenues. Smaller towns and cities
are not economically that bad, a lot of money is available,”
Jha told ExM. “People in the rural areas are getting into
an aspirational mode. They want to buy trendy products
that are related to urban society. There is a need to bring
the service these aspirations. They are buying big ticket
products, but we need to give them more options.”
Speaking about experiential marketing expanding into
rural areas, Jha said that experiential marketing has