In Pics: Symbiosis holds digital conclave 'DigiConfluence'

Lavale (Pune), September 9: The Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune organised an event called 'DigiConfluence' on Sept 7, Sunday.

The landmark conclave, held in association with the MSL Group, at the Symbiosis Knowledge Village, Lavale, went on to be a huge success.

The event was organized to enable an interaction between industry experts and students interested in the digital domain.

The speakers for the day comprised eminent professionals from the digital industry, who sought to address shifting trends in the online space and ensuing new opportunities.

Mr Narendra Nag, Asia Digital Head, MSLGROUP set the tone for the event when he said, "The biggest impact that digital has is wiring our brains differently. Brands can be publishers today. You like telling stories in a far more interesting fashion. You can choose to matter. There is nothing to hold you back today in this digital world.

A panel of digital wizards including Rohan Babu, Senior Manager - Digital at Audi India, Subranshu Kumar, Senior Manager-Digital Marketing at Whirlpool India and Namrata Balwani, former CEO at Media2win talked about ‘How digital media is evolving, and what's in it for brands?'.

"We always say the future is digital. It is time we say the present is digital," Mr Babu emphasized.

To brands looking to incorporate digital media, Namrata Balwani had to say, "Creation of demand is telling a story. Not only a medium where a story is told, but also how it is structured."

On the same note, Subranshu Kumar stressed, "As a brand, it is your prerogative to connect with the audience, educate them through your websites."

Mr Raheel Khursheed, Head of News, Politics and Government at Twitter India began with him describing the evolution of internet into a medium of creator-consumer interaction.

He said that digital is a social advantage, as it helps brands understand their audience like never before.

He concluded with an interesting observation, "The world becomes a big sofa where everyone is watching things play out simultaneously. Brands are able to exploit these moments".

The second panel which comprised of speakers such as Aditya Pawan, National Digital Manager at Red Bull, Abhimanyu Radhakrishnan, Founder i420digital, Prashanth Kumar, Director of strategy Digitas LBI and Ankit Oberoi, CEO of Ad Pushup discussed digital content being the King today.

The panel reasoned out how content, thought misconstrued to be flawed sometimes, is still an essential element for publishers and brand managers.

Reiterating the value of proper positioning of content, Ankit Oberoi detailed Adpushup's strategy of not marketing the brand but maneuvering the content provided to its consumers.

Ansoo Gupta, COO Pinstorm began the third session by attempting to abate the debate on technology invading personal space, as she illustrated how brands can use innovative tools like dynamic ad creatives, in-store CRM and facial recognition while hyper-targeting.

"The truth is technology will take its course backed by our desire to innovate. Someday it will help consumers manufacture their own product," she said addressing the aspirants.

"Will we control technology or will it control us? There is no debating that," she concluded.

The last panel discussion of the day was on the ‘Future of Mobile Marketing'. The participating members were Mr Sujoy Golan, Global Digital Marketing, InMobi, Mr Saurabh Arora, CEO and founder of Airwoot and Mr Hariom Seth, founder of Tagglabs.

The discussion took off with the panelists establishing the all-pervasive nature of mobile.

"Mobile is not waiting to happen. It has already happened," said Mr Hariom, elaborating on the urgency to make the most of this technology over the next 2-3 years while focusing on the audience preference.

Mr Arora concurred with this view when he talked about the importance of meeting customer requirements, with the example of how smart phones are improving their user experience.

The panel further discussed the reach of digital with Mr Saurabh Arora commenting, "Digital is so designed to scale that one click will carry out the message to 500 million users around the world."

The session concluded with Mr Hariom stating, "Concept Marketing is changing to Content Marketing," with Mr. Sujoy Golan adding, "One must design content in a manner that will appeal to all."

After the various inputs which stemmed out of the panel discussions, the students were treated to a demo of two startup stories namely Tagglab Technologies and Airwoort- two highly innovative ventures in the digital space.

The success stories of these entrepreneurs encouraged the aspirants to work towards realizing their dreams and taking the entreprenuerial plunge.

Here are some of the pics of the DigiConfluence event:

In Pics: Symbiosis holds digital conclave 'DigiConfluence'

Left to Right: Rohan Babu, Namrata Balwani, Narendra Nag & Subharanshu Kumar

In Pics: Symbiosis holds digital conclave 'DigiConfluence'

Right to Left: Abhimanyu Radhakrishan questions the importance of data at DigiCon 2014 as Prashanth Kumar, Ankit Oberoi, Aditya Pawan and Raheel Khursheed look on.

In Pics: Symbiosis holds digital conclave 'DigiConfluence'

Chandan Chatterjee, Director SIMC, poses a question to the panelists.

In Pics: Symbiosis holds digital conclave 'DigiConfluence'

"It all boils down to story telling", says Raheel Khursheed.

In Pics: Symbiosis holds digital conclave 'DigiConfluence'

The audience listens in rapt attention as the panelists bring their insights to the table.

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