The theme at the recen-tly concluded Goafest 2017, a three-day event (6-8th April) organised by The Advertising Club (TAC) and the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), was digital expansion and brands and marketing.
The industry conclave on day one began with a session on ‘Role of brands in changing India’. At the discourse, MobiKwik co-founder Upasana Taku stressed on the importance of demonetisation in digitising India and the growth of digital payments. While Patanjali CEO Acharya Balkrishna equated Patanjali with a national movement and said, “Patanjali is a movement to build a new India. The idea is to build a formidable brand that has a strong Indian identity and benefits consumers in a real way. Our products have resulted in a disruption of a different kind, which has forced other players to rationalise product pricing, and this, directly helps the buyers in the long run.” Hemant Malik, divisional chief executive of Foods Business, ITC, agreed that Patanjali has disrupted the FMCG space like no other.
Sanjay Nazerali, chief strategy officer of Carat, kick-started the session on day 2 underlining the need to have specialists for data. Union Cabinet Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi, on the other hand, spoke about how her ministry was leveraging technology to empower women and the need to break the clichéd representation of women in mass media.
The biggest highlight of day 2 was a leadership summit with Sir Vivian Richards who spoke about the makings of a charismatic leader and also shared few anecdotes from his cricketing career in his classic humourous, yet poker-face style. Bollywood blogger Malini Agarwal shared her insights on influencer marketing and generating content that creates impact, while actor Sanjay Dutt shared the learnings from his life which was no different from a Bollywood potboiler.
On the final Day of Goafest 2017, author and marketing strategist Laura Ries talked about the defining factors of great marketing and advertising, while Phogat sisters, Geeta and Babita, shared their experience of fighting against all odds with the help of their parents to earn their place in the sporting world. Later, Juhi Kalia, head of Creative Shop, India and Indonesia, Facebook,took the stage and spoke at length on how ad agencies and brands can channel their creative might in producing immersive content.
The other highlight of Goafest 2017 was the Creative Abbys. Taproot Dentsu India emerged as the top winner with 41 metals, closely followed by The Social Street that won 40 metals, and JWT India with 36 metals claimed the third highest tally.
