BWI: Brand Activation Summit 2010- Effectiveness of Activation Measured

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: Jagran Solutions
Monday, March 22, 2010 04:37 PM IST (11:07 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Lifestyle, People; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Business services, Media & entertainment, Telecommunications; Technology
--------------------------------------------------
Brand Activation Summit 2010- Effectiveness of Activation Measured


New Delhi, Delhi, India, Monday, March 22, 2010 -- (Business Wire India) -- -- More than 200 delegates participated
-- Discussions by 15 panel members on changing consumer lifestyle and buying habits, defining new marketing tools, measuring ROI through various marketing techniques and exploring new avenues for growth of activations
-- Examines opportunities & challenges ahead by marketing veterans and leading activation specialists

Jagran Solutions, India's leading new age marketing agency that provides solutions for Brand Activation via Consumer Connect Strategies and afaqs! Events organized India's first-ever Brand Activation Summit (BAS) on March 19 2010. It brought together more than 200 participants from across the country, including marketing veterans, activation specialists and other representatives from various marketing, advertising and branding disciplines. The overwhelming participation made it a grand Success amongst the target audience.

BAS 2010 offered a platform for exchanging ideas and to explore debate and gauge the power of activations with the aim to share the best practices and models for earning much higher returns in the age of neo-consumerism. The theme of the Summit was aptly and timely titled "Redefining the Return On Investment".

The Summit began with a welcome address by Prasanna Singh, COO, afaqs! It was followed by a keynote from Arvind Mohan, Group Chief Strategy Officer, Rediffusion YR who shared his views on Changing Lifestyle & Impact on consumer buying behavior.

BAS 2010 witnessed three key sessions as well as a Case-Study presentation and a Live-Brand Activation Activity by a leading news channel.

The first high-level panel on "Of, by and for consumers" by Amita Karwal, Executive VP (Lintas Media Group), Ambika Sharma, National Head (Jagran Solutions), Suvodeep Das, Marketing Head (Kaya Ltd.) and moderated by Ishan Raina (CEO-OOH Media) deliberated on the emergence of brand activations as an integral part of marketing plans, the reasons behind it and the pitfalls to be wary of.

They discussed the essential ingredients for a successful activation campaign and brand managers can best integrate activation in their outreach campaigns. The speakers suggested that Brand Activation be viewed as a marketing process of bringing a brand live through creating brand experience.

Commenting on the occasion, Ms Ambika Sharma, National-Head, Jagran Solutions said that, "BAS was created to provide marketing professionals with an event and a community for sharing the best practices and expertise they need to maximize ROI. The event saw comprehensive discussions through case studies, panel discussions thus creating real value for the participants. BAS 2010 offered attendees the opportunity to learn actionable strategies and tactics from leading brand marketers, agency professionals and activation specialists. BAS 2010 brought together thought leaders into the activations marketing space in India, sharing their views on topics constantly defining the consumer activations marketing space. "

As a panel member at the summit, Ambika was quoted as saying that," Activation is all about taking the brand to the consumers and having a feedback loop. Consumer engagement is the essence of activations. Integration is the future. The speed and transparency with which we now communicate require cohesive messaging and tactics driven by integrated marketing strategy that supports the overall business plan."

Recognizing the importance of Measurability of output and the Effectiveness of Activation in comparison to other marketing tools, a panel of Ajay Sharma, Director Events and Promotions (Momentum), Sumit Arora, Associate Director and Head (Synovate), Sameer Kaul, Marketing Head (Dr. Lal Path Labs Lal's), moderated by Venkee Sharma, Sr. Vice President & Director (Arc Worldwide) discussed "The Currency of Brand Activation". They debated on defining the parameters for measuring the effectiveness of activation.

This plenary session was followed by a "Live" brand activation exercise by Star News and a demonstration for the audience who attended the Summit.

The final panel discussion of the Summit was on the "categories that lend themselves best to activation" and "ways of maximizing ROI" by Ambika Sharma, national head, Jagran Solutions; N Divakar, head, retail branding, HPCL; and Hiroshi Omata, director and vice-president, Dentsu Marcom and moderated by Sreekant Khandekar, co-founder and director, afaqs!, The panel unanimously believed that Activation cuts on duplication, helps in reaching only specific audience: users or decision makers, has higher conversions and induces maximum participation while earning word of mouth via experiences.

At the end of the summit vote of thanks speech was given from Prasanna Singh, COO, afaqs!

About Jagran Solutions

Jagran Solutions is a new age marketing communications company which provides brand activation solutions via Consumer Connect Strategies. It is a part of Jagran Prakashan Limited. The group owns multimedia brands like J9 Ventures providing VAS and mobile marketing solutions, Jagran Engage: OOH media solutions, I Next: tabloid for youth. Jagran is a national agency and a pioneer in Integrated Marketing Communications specializing in Planning and Implementation of measurable Brand activations in India with offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai.

About afaqs!

afaqs! is the online leader in marketing communications established in September 1999. The objective is to make easier the lives of professionals in advertising, media and marketing by fulfilling their information needs. It is the only site in its segment to get an audit certification (from ABCE, UK) and is also the leader in revenue. afaqs! has organized many annual events such as The Future of News, 101 Markets, Mobile Conversations and the Agency & Media Cricket League. The company aims to be India's most complete B2B site for India's booming telecom industry.


CONTACT DETAILS
Jaya Jindal, Positive Communications, +91 9654443463, jaya@positiveindia.biz
Neha Chowdhary, Positive Communications, +91 9810929991, neha@positiveindia.biz

KEYWORDS
LIFESTYLE, PEOPLE, MARKETING, BUSINESS SERVICES, MEDIA, TELECOMMUNICATIONS, TECHNOLOGY

If you wish to change your Business Wire India selection please click on this link http://www.businesswireindia.com/media/news.asp and use your personal username and password to login.

Submit your press release at http://www.businesswireindia.com