Mumbai: “Remember that advertisement is all about making a product or a service unique. Even the best of the software like ChatGPT will never offer that uniqueness. So, do not feel discouraged by them as they often compromise the quality of the advertisements,” said Ministry of Information and Broadcasting joint secretary & Government of India Vikram Sahay, while delivering his keynote address at the 19th edition of the Marketing Conclave (MarCon), organised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on 22 November 2023 in Mumbai.
This year MarCon explored, through 30 sessions, across four tracks, the theme of “Tomorrow’s Canvas: Tech and the Art of Marketing”. The conference was co-powered by Whistle Feed.
Addressing the conference’s theme topic, Sahay delved into the dynamic intersection of technology and marketing, shedding light on innovative strategies to navigate the evolving landscape of digital advertising.
In his keynote Sahay also dwelt on advertising regulatory practices and underlined the importance of ethical marketing. “Today, we have certain regulatory practices and guidelines that protect us from misleading ads, especially in education and healthcare. We must stay away from such unethical practices,” he said.
MarCon 2023 brought together on one platform more than 65 industry captains and subject stalwarts to explore the theme subject 360 degrees. Over 350+ agencies, 500+ leading brands and 1500 delegates took part in the conference.
Speaking on unified measurement for digital platforms, Jio Ads CEO Gulshan Verma explained, “Fundamentally, measurement is the backbone of business, translating into vital components such as your business metrics, engagement metrics, and sales figures. What further adds to this process is the perception of your brand. Introducing unified measurement transforms the landscape, where context makes all the difference. Online and physical touch points make it challenging to analyse or even apply unified measurement. Unification will happen if we are able to link business numbers and other tangibles to arrive at some sort of numeric unification or one scale of measurement for digital platforms.”
Talking on changing tech allowing new age marketers to connect with ‘BHARAT’, Federal Bank CMO MVS Murthy said, “AI does not have an emotional quotient hence it cannot be sensitive towards human emotions. Only humans can understand the subtle sensitivities of any matter. While targeting Bharat, it's important we understand and acknowledge these nuances and think regional and vernacular first, it's a human emotion, we think in our mother tongue and then speak in English or any other language.”
Among other prominent speakers at the conclave were Group M South Asia president Tushar Vyas; Games 24 x 7 VP Gaurav Verma; Meta ads business director & head Arun Srinivas; Sony Pictures Network Ltd senior VP and Ad revenue head Ranjana Mangla, Physics Wallah marketing head Sanket Narkar and Tata Digital CMO Shoumyan Biswas.
Results of the second edition of the prestigious Digital Native Brands Awards (DNBA) were announced at a gala ceremony at MarCon. This year there were over 150 entries for DNBA, which were distributed in 19 categories. The Awards celebrate and honour businesses and brands that have harnessed the power of digital technology, epitomize the spirit of digital entrepreneurship, and leverage technology as a core driver of their success. The Best DNB Woman Entrepreneur of The Year Award went to Ghazal Alagh, Honasa Consumer Pvt Ltd (Mamaearth) and the Best Digital Native Brand Entrepreneur Award was bagged by Manish Chowdhary, WOW Skin Science.
