Utsaha is one of a kind and the largest marketing fest of Central India by IIM Indore. This being the 11th edition, Utsaha enthusiastically conducted its workshop on Marketing & Leadership on August 31, 2019 at IIM Indore; with 4 eminent speakers from the field of marketing. The workshop was studded by Mr. Sumit Arora (Regional Commercial Director (Asia) METHOD), Mrs. Khyati Madaan (Digital Marketing lead, Red Chillies Entertainment), Professor Thomas Puliyel (Adjunct Professor & Area Head- Marketing, SPJIMR) and Mrs. Parnika Shrimali (Brand Guidance Domain Lead, Kantar South Asia Insights Division).
The workshop started with the address by Professor Himanshu Rai, Director, IIM Indore. He gave examples by drawing parallels from the Mahabharata to today’s marketing scenario.
Succeeding this, marketing research veteran Mr. Sumit Arora spoke about accountability in marketing and evolving measurement metrics in the field of market research. Mr. Arora stressed on the fact that, “Better marketing is more effective, more efficient and always economical”.
Mrs. Khyati Madaan brought in a fresh overview to the marketing domain with her insights on digital marketing in the film industry. She is the Marketing lead at Red Chillies owned by Mr. Shah Rukh Khan and Mrs. Gauri Khan. She said that AI bots, AR, VR and gamifying are changing the way films are marketed and also emphasized on the capitalization of the same. “There is only one rule in film marketing is that there is no rule” was her mantra to the audience of the day.
Professor Thomas Puliyel provided insights into how market research is transforming today’s business needs. Data has evolved such that “not just descriptive but looking at predictive and prescriptive kind of information through data emerging today” is the future. With this said by Mr. Puliyel, he talked about integration of qualitative and quantitative data. He also focused on how start-ups are aiding in filling the gap in the market caused by the shortage of data.
The last talk was by Mrs. Parnika Shrimali, who took a different approach to convey her message at the workshop. The usage of case studies and engaging video made understanding techniques to solve business challenges through branding and communication much easier to grasp. Increasing your audience base (Lululemon case), gender equality and safety conventions (Jim Beam case) and differentiation of products (Engage perfumes case) were some of the topic she touched up on.
The workshop concluded on a high note and provided a platform to the participants to learn new tips and tricks of marketing from the experts.