IMI: Annual Marketing Summit, Srijan’08 organized

First in line was the panel discussion on Innovation in Sales and Distribution. Participants included Mr Apoorv Varma, Corporate advisor, CEEZAY Trade Mart; Mr Rahul Goel, National Sales Head, Sony Ericsson and Mr Samik Dasgupta, VP, Yes Bank.

The post lunch session began with the studentsa presentation contest on the topic aInnovative Brand Buildinga. The participants elaborated on the factors that go in to make a successful brand, using examples like that of Titan, Oral B, Vodafone, etc. One of them aptly mentioned the famous Steve Jobs quote – aInnovation distinguishes between a leader and a followera.

The panel discussion for the session was initiated by Mr Apurv Nagpal, Marketing Director, Sab Miller-India. Then, Sanjeev Katyal, Marketing Director, McDonalds India, started off by dissolving some myths about brands, and then went on to define a brand as a personas gut feeling about a product, service, or an organization. The first day ended with Mr Princy Bhatnagar, National Director of Xerox India, sharing his thoughts on ‘Why Innovation in Brand Building does not happen’.

The second day of Srijan 2008 saw participation from Mr Vishal Bhatia, VP, Marketing Pepsi; Mr Ashwini Aggarwal, Country Category Manager, HP India; Mr Baljeet Singh, Head Sales Support, Apollo tyres; Mr Sanjeev Nimkar, Business Head – VMA, Phillips.

The session began with a paper presentation competition on the topic aPricing: Overcoming the Hurdles and Challengesa which saw participation of students from B-schools such as ISB Hyderabad, IMT Ghaziabad.

Mr Bhatia emphasised the fact that in todayas market the value that a product provides is more important than the price it is offered at, and for this very fact, the consumers will be only willing to pay for what the good is actually worth. Carrying the discussion further, Mr. Singh talked about how the Indian economy has shifted from being an economy of shortages to an economy which provides consumers with a lot of choice. Mr Nimkar discussed his experience of working in different industries and stated that the pricing policy of firms depends upon the structure of the industry that each firm falls under.

The second session of day two included Mr Sandip Tarkas, Head a DCM, Pantaloon Retail India Ltd.; Mr. Gaurav Saxena, DGM, Bharti Walmart Pvt. Ltd. and Mr. Sukhpreet Singh, GM a Marketing, Whirpool as part of the panel. The topic for the discussion was aRetail in India: Revolution or Evolutiona.

The first speaker on the lectern was Mr Tarkas who shared his views about evolution of retail in general and particularly in India. Mr Sukhpreet talked from a manufactureras point of view. The third person to speak was Mr Saxena who started by pondering over the birth of retailing, i.e. the barter system. He spoke about how retail has evolved from there to its present condition and what lies ahead in its path. The session was concluded by the panel answering the questions put forward by the students.