In the words of Brian Solis, a new era of marketing and services has emerged where the brand is defined by those who experience it. This was the very essence of the Mark Buzz Marketing Conclave 2018 organised by Marquest, the marketing club of JIMS on 11th Dec 2018 at India International Centre (IIC), Delhi. The conclave saw a huge enthusiasm amongst the students of PGDM programme who wanted to gather insights about INFLUENCER MARKETING in this dynamic marketing epoch from the industry experts, academicians and influencers themselves.
Dr. Pooja Jain, Director, JIMS, addressed the attendees with a warm welcome and expressed her views on the importance of extracting relevant information from the clutter around the consumers and the importance of influencers. This paved the way for first panel discussion titled – “Influencer Marketing- Origin, Hits and Misses.” The session was moderated by Gaurav Singhal, Founder and CEO Blue Digital Media Pvt. Ltd and the panel comprised of eminent members from the industry – Rajeev Bhatia, AVP Marketing, Relaxo Footwear Ltd., Mr. Sandeep Budhiraja, Country head India, MMR, Shivam, Founder, Vibsera – Delhi based PR agency, Kritika Lalchandani, founder Apostrophe Communications. Post the engaging discussion on the topic panellists answered queries related to the Likes and engagements of the customers, the role of AI in influencer marketing and the authenticity of influencers to state a few.
The Second Session gave the audience a chance to hear some famous influencers in person. The session was titled – “Modern Day Consumer- Not an easy nut to Crack”. The session was moderated by Mr. Manish Gupta – Chairman JIMS, Rohini, Sector-5 and the panel comprised of popular influencers- Sameer Bawa,food blogger (Spiceitupwithsam), Priyanshu Kumar, a lifestyle blogger, Ritvik Arora, a television artist of ColorsTv fame, Anmol Rodriguez, an inspiration and motivator, Nitibha Kaul, an influencer, Bigg Boss fame. The discussion was around the importance of real time engagement, how an influencer helps add value to the brand and makes an impact in the minds of the customers, significance of values and responsibilities in the business and many more pointed questions. The third session was “Influencer Marketing as a Strategy: Potential, critique & Sustenance.” The session was moderated by Dr. Bhavneet Kaur, Professor, JIMS. The panellists were eminent academicians from the marketing domain- Dr. Moutusy Maity, Professor at IIM Lucknow, Mr. Sandeep Rawat, Assistant Professor at NMIMS, Mumbai and an alumnus of JIMS and Dr. Vijendra Dhayni, Associate Professor-Marketing with School of Business Studies, Sharda University. Each session ended with felicitation of the esteemed guest speakers and a best question from the audience was rewarded. Dr. Yukti Ahuja, Faculty co-ordinator delivered a vote of thanks at the end acknowledging the efforts of each and every individual for successful completion of the conclave.
The conclave was one of its kind giving insights about this dynamic yet potential sector.