Marketing Rostrum on "Experiential Marketing" Held at DMS, IIT Delhi

Marketing Rostrum on "Experiential Marketing" Held at DMS, IIT Delhi
Post-event Press-release

Despite the fact that experiences will be the essence of life in the New Economy, "... most companies trying to pull this 'experience thing' off will fail miserably. They won't get it... This 'experience thing' is... extremist. Not a dab of 'delight' here. Nor a pinch of 'amusement' there. But... An Entirely Different Way of Life."

- Tom Peters
in Re-Imagine!

Experiential Marketing is an idea, a mindset, a focus on creating fresh connections between brands and consumers out in the world where things happen. Connections in the form of experiences that are personally relevant, memorable, interactive and emotional. Connections that lead to increased sales and brand loyalty.

This was the central theme for the Marketing Rostrum'06 held at the Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi. The event was held in three sessions where distinguished marketers from the industry shared their experiences on where, how and when Experiential Marketing (XM) lead them to create a differential advantage.

The inaugural session was chaired by Prof. Rajat Baisya of Department of Management Studies who introduced the theme for the day. Experiential Marketing can be a powerful tool, which can supplement the effort of brand building through the traditional route, exploiting mass media advertisement. However, it cannot substitute the traditional methods of marketing, said Mr. Chandra Mohan Sethi, CMD of Reckitt Benckiser. The company showed the application of XM in the case of Harpic, with sales growth from 700,000 in 2003 to the current 3.5 million. Mr. Harsh Verma, Professor at Faculty of Management Studies, explored the philosophical angle of the topic. He touched upon different levels of experience, right from the physical to the spiritual. Mr. Prem Raj Pillai from CSC enlightened the house with his practical experiences in the IT sector and discussed the Internet as a medium of Marketing.

Mr. Harish Chaudhary of Department of Management Studies flagged off the 2nd session. Mr. Mayank Pareek, Marketing Head, Maruti, told students about the Maruti Swift experience. Innovations with regards to XM, be it preparing dealerships, new sales force called Energizers or night test drives coupled with personalized experiences resulted in huge sales and a different customer base (23% of all Swift customers are women). Shefali Chhachi from Nokia emphasized on notion "Customer Touch points create experience moments". It navigated from creation of a branded experience to after sales service. This was followed by an address by Mr. Anupam Saronwala, Head of Innovation, IBM. He emphasized on application of XM in technology. A question-answer round closed the session where the speakers interacted with the inquisitive audience.

The post-lunch session began with an introductory note by the session chair, Prof. Ranjan Chaudhary. He emphasized upon the dilemma that the consumer is faced with when choosing a product / service as the market is constantly bombarded with media clutter, and hence, the need for XM. Following this, there was an enlightening address by Mr. Amitav Virmani, currently with Ranbaxy. His interpretation of XM involved adding an experiential layer to the marketing programs by inserting a brand into a target's life where he can feel it, eat it, hear it, touch it or play with it. He concluded with a case study on his previous company Bristol Myer Squibbs, and the way his team used XM to enter Indian market. Ms. Saloni Nangia from Technopak explored the topic, "Retail Theatre: Experiential Marketing". It covered the entire gamut roving from manufacturing, retailing right down to services and travel.

The event served as a platform to bring together the government, the corporate, the media and the academia to deliberate on issues and challenges facing the nation and share their experiences and views with the larger audience / students.

Concluded.

Contributed by -
Swapan Chauhan,
Media Cell,
DMS, IIT Delhi.

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