“In India for every truth, the opposite is also true”, said Mr. Syed Ahmed, EVP-Marketing of ITC, the keynote speaker of Synapse 2006 (quoting Mr Shashi Tharoor). Diversity, he said, is one of the biggest challenges in India and marketers need to be sensitive towards the values and belief systems of the consumers. Citing the example of ITC’s E-choupal to justify the viability of ‘enlightened self interest’; he emphasized corporate responsibility towards society and the environment, which in turn would go a long way in reducing economic inequity. He stressed that a good corporation acted as a trustee of the socio-environmental resources that it employed in production, using them in a sustainable manner. Mr. Ahmed signed off by saying that the boundless potential of India combined with the energy and enthusiasm of the younger generation could create magic as we stood on the cusp of a new age.

Mr. Jayanth V Pendharkar, Head – Global Marketing, TCS gave a riveting talk on the role of marketing in IT companies. Having first joined TCS in 1971, he discussed the evolution of the IT industry in India, specifically clarifying how It’s growth in India was driven more by happy coincidences, such as a fore crunch in the 70s and the Y2K boom, rather than any ‘grand design’. Stressing on the importance of Indian IT companies developing global brands based on Indian values, he touched upon the importance of the 3Cs – cost, clutter and consistency – of building a strong brand. He stated that Indian IT companies currently clock around $30 billion out of an opportunity of $1200 billion, signifying the magnitude of the challenge ahead. He concluded his speech by impressing upon the students the attributes they needed to possess to succeed in today’s companies.

Day 2 kicked off with a lively and interactive talk by Mr. Anupam Datta, Head – Dairy Business, Britannia, who has been instrumental in the revival of Britannia’s Milkman brand. Mr. Datta started off with a snapshot of the dairy industry in India, its business drivers and related challenges. Emphasizing that differentiation is the key to marketing, he added that sometimes-tough decisions need to be taken to build image leadership. To reinforce this statement, he detailed the strategy that helped Britannia affect the resurgence of Milkman. He concluded by reiterating the importance of adopting a focused approach in order to meet goals.

Mr. Deepak Sood, Senior Partner, Erehwon Consulting delivered an inspiring talk on the importance of innovation in succeeding. Through stimulating examples, he explained how conditioning and ‘mindset gravity’ stifle radical thinking and prevent growth. To stay in the lead, he said, businesses must challenge internal paradigms while constantly re-evaluating their core competencies. He ended by saying that ‘the understanding of the power within and the desire to unleash it’ differentiates innovators from the milieu.

Mr. Atul Phadnis, Founding Partner, Media e2e, discussed communications planning in the global economy. The first part of his presentation dealt with complexities in communication and the second part dealt with the fallout of these complexities. Mr. Phadnis also focused on the need to quantify the effects of brand experience, PR coverage and how the consumers cope with surprise advertising. He also spoke about the ubiquity of advertising, citing the example of how a typical cricket match bombards viewers with as many as 400 brands.

“Consuming content has become as natural to humans as eating or sleeping,” said Tarun Tripathi, the Marketing Head of Yash Raj Films. In a four-hour workshop whose aim was to educate and sensitize budding media professionals to the emerging context of content management and marketing, he enumerated the roles for management graduates in media. He described the international and national markets and their evolution into segments and niches. He also took the students through the process of an in-film pitch and the evolution of marketing strategies at Yash Raj films. Through the examples of recent Yash Raj movies like Dhoom, Fanaa, Hum Tum, Salaam Namaste, Saathiya, Bunty aur Babli, and Veer Zaara, he gave riveting insights into the whole movie scenario right from concept inception to release and post-release marketing. He also mentioned snippets from his experience with distributing other banners’ films, such as Krrish and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.

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Talking about In-film publicity, the current flavor of the market, he said that models such as NTIV and Q-Ratios help in objectively assessing the value of such placements.