Deccan Despatch (January - April 2010) - CII

This will disrupt everything for MarketersA Report on Marketing Disruption –A Way forward from Brand Summit 2010Whenever we hear a word‘Disruption’ – somehow it leadsto a negative feeling. After all, ashumans we are averse to changeand disruption by nature disturbs thenormal rhythm of life and forces you tochange the course. Now, let’s look at thisword from a marketer’s perspective and itbecomes even more dreaded! Who wantssome tiny David to come and disturbGoliath’s party? But, the CII Brand Summit2010 was a great success with views fromthought leaders around the globe made thisword a favorite amongst the participants.it, but the end objective is to understandand deal with the new age customers.” Hestressed the need of a quality of a service ora product and development on emotionalconnect with consumers to become winnerin the disrupted economy. He stressed thatwith a technology at hand, every consumertoday is not only a media consumer but aevery process or every discussion we have.Mr. Deepak Srinivasan, VP of Corporate &Business Development, Ankeena NetworksInc. USA ephasised the role of technologyin distributing the content and need forimproving the infrastructure to sustain theongoing growth. He believed that bettertechnology can help in increasing scale andreach of any media and gather requiredintelligence for the marketer to customisethe offering.Mr. Ivan Pollard, Partner of Naked22While the summit ChairmanMr. Srinivasan K Swamy set a stage forthe days to come, he demonstrated howthe disruption is affecting our lives usingsome humorous cartoons and hard hittingfacts from Indian and global perspective.Mr. Adi Godrej, Chairman of the GodrejGroup in his key note stressed on theneed for marketers to look beyond thetraditional media mindset and spoke abouthow his company is trying to connect with aconsumer in new world order. Dave Evans,Founder of Digital Voodoo has someinteresting facts about how people areusing newer technology and newer mediato bring in the change. He shared his richexperience and enthralled the participationwith come cool antics from his slides.The discussion on ‘Disruption by therise of new media’ saw two interestingpanelists debating about whether the newmedia has really impacted the consumersas much as we are thinking or it’s just amyth. Talking about the subject, sessionChairman and Executive Director & CEOof TV Today Network, Mr. G. Krishnan saidthat, “Disruption is a pluralistic approachand everyone has different views aboutmedia creator as well.Another panelist, Rahul Welde, VP,Media Services, Asia AMET Unilelver,Singapore clearly stated that no media isdead and going to be dead. He believedthat the media evolves with a time andno form of media will ever die. Customerswill always look for creativity and qualitycontent and whoever will provide themboth of these, they will go for that mediachannel – traditional or social. His one linemantra was ‘Media is important, the typeis irrelevant’ and marketers should go toplaces where they can find consumers andnot the other way round.The next session looked at a topic,“Disruption by Technological Advances”and the panelists shared their views on howthe technology is becoming a centerstage ofCommunications Limited, UK emphasisedon the role of technology in buildingtoday’s brands. He gave some practicalguidelines to marketers to follow for usingthe technology for marketing –a) Add to experienceb) Work togetherc) Play to learn andd) Be useful.While the consumers are evolving muchfaster with technology, he mentioned thatthe brands must follow the consumerswith insights and integration in the newtechnology driven superior world.The interesting debate on ‘End ofTelevision & Advertising as we know them’seen Dr. Saul J Berman, Partner, Global &Americas Business Strategy Leader, IBM