<div><div>In a vibrant panel discussion at the launch of the 11th edition of the Marketing Whitebook, panelists talked about how brand Bharat is gaining momentum in and outside the country despite the gloom and doom. Speaking on the paradigm shift in retail trends, Sahil Jain, co-founder, DineOut, said convenience is key for consumers both in urban and semi-urban areas. Convenience drives demand for companies to build mobile apps on various consumer products. The other convenience for consumers in smaller cities where penetration of debit and credit cards is still low, is e wallet, which is gaining traction. Bipin Preet Singh, CEO & Founder of Mobikwik said: "SMEs and consumers operate through e wallets, which are fast growing in cities like Surat, Ahmedabad and Lucknow. Incidentally, 10% of the users are above the age of 50 years." Aloke Bajpai, founder, iXigo, agreed that the main challenge was in getting the SMEs and vendors online in tier 2 and 3 cities. </div><div> </div><div>In the next session, talking on two Indias and the one in between, the panelists extensively discussed how marketers market their products across the spectrum from techn savvy ufban India to moffusil towns. "Digital adoption is breaking down the barrier," says Balchander Sekhar, Co- founder, RenewBuy, one of the speakers in the panelists. There was a consensus among the speakers when they agreed that young consumers today are dictating terms to marketeers. Mahesh Kanchan, Director-Marketing, Carlsberg says, "the youth is ever experimenting with the mediums to access products and they are an extremely profitable segment for us." The discussion went on to say that mobile phone is as powerful a tool for a marketer to reach their consumers today as is the television. </div><div> </div><div><img alt="" src="http://bw-image.s3.amazonaws.com/SAN_1670-lrg (1).jpg" style="width: 650px; height: 384px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; margin-left: 1px; margin-right: 1px;"><br><br>Brand Bharat was the theme for the next panel that discussed how Brand India is gaining momentum in and outside the country. "The Narendra Modi brand equity has gone up, slogans like 'Make in India' and Digital India profuse optimism," said Kamal Bali, MD, Volvo India. But despite all the gags about India, the panelists were also of the opinion that India still has to go a long way by putting the basics in place. Rajesh Sud, MD & CEO, Max Life Insurance said, "India needs to grow 9 per cent annually. It's a compelling need. Otherwise the demographic dividend will become demographic nightmare."</div><div> </div><div>The last session was a fireside chat with a young successful leader Nitish Kapoor, Regional Director, Reckitt Benckiser South Asia, on trends that are changing the consumer outlook in India and their effect on FMCG business. Kapoor threw figures about his company's budget on digital advertising to its growth story to the leadership skills of Indian leaders in various multi nationals. "India has a long way to make digital advertising a main component of ots marketing spends, says Kapoor. When asked by chairman Annurag Batra what gets Indian CEOs hired globally, Kapoor said, "Indians have a lot of mental and cultural agility to deal with chaos."</div><div> </div><div>The mega show ended with the unveiling of Marketing White Book and a laughter riot by Papa CJ. </div><div> </div></div>
