IMI: Annual Marketing Summit, Srijan’08 organized
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.