Talk by Dr. Sangeeta Pandit at the CII event in association with SIMSREE -‘Start Up India, Stand Up India' Live Streaming

Talk by Dr. Sangeeta Pandit, Prof. & HOD Finance, at the Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII ) event in association with SIMSREE -‘Start Up India, Stand Up India – Enablers and way ahead’ on Saturday, 16 January 2016.

Dr. Sangeeta Pandit

Prof. & HOD Finance

Good Evening everyone! Warm welcome to esteemed panelists, CII representatives, honorable Director Sir, faculty colleagues, representatives of other colleges and my dear students. We are all gathered here today to deliberate, discuss and hear from entrepreneurs themselves about entrepreneurship. We are then going to hear our Prime Minister’s address launching the Start Up campaign.

India is one of the leading Start Up Hubs of the World with over 3100 mostly tech start ups in 2014-15. However our investments are not adequate and also most of it is from overseas. Our government has decided to help accelerate Start ups. Governments of Brazil and Korea invest heavily in Start ups. Our Start ups cannot ape the Silicon valley, we need to leverage our humongous population and build an ecosystem conducive to our environment and culture. We have the benefit of large number of young population, high mobile penetration, large number of internet users and untapped e commerce markets. We hear about successful start ups becoming global entities but many also have an early untimely death. We have to tread firmly but with caution. Proper mentoring and vigorous risk analysis is needed. Government can boost financial resource availability, technology and mentors can be identified but the main stakeholder of entrepreneurs have to be created, they are a creed by themselves, creative, hardworking, risk takers who walk new paths. Our education system needs to factor in subjects that will kindle and foster entrepreneurial skills.

Magazine-Business Today reported in their December issue about 10 Start ups in India which have grown big. Amongst them were Start ups in E-Learning, helping recruiters in filtering applications for IT jobs, E marketing, digital video content making and so on.

One must understand ones skill sets and core competencies, match it with market opportunities and in this frame work zero down on an idea. Rest is all about leadership skills, implementation and prudence.

If all want to be employees, employers are bound to fall short. The country needs entrepreneurs and today I think we are making history by taking a small step towards it.

Thank You.        

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MUNIJAN 2015

The University of Mumbai, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti organized the event – Mumbai University New Initiative Joint Action Now (MUNIJAN) in Mumbai. The objective of this initiative is to bring about positive changes in society by involving students in a series of constructive and socially responsible activities. MUNIJAN rests on the belief that effective transformation in society can be achieved through collective efforts to inspire, support and serve consciously.

This initiative, which began in 2010, provides an avenue for future leaders from management institutes to innovate sustainable solutions for social issues that plague the nation. It will help in shaping the students not only as leaders of tomorrow but also as globally responsible citizens.

The theme for MUNIJAN 2015 was –“SENSITIZING SANITATION”. The Prime Minister of our country, Shri Narendra Modi has requested the nation to maintain cleanliness and ensure “Swacch Bharat” and the theme was an attempt to ensure the students are aligned to the vision.
                                                  
SIMSREE SSR committee was part of the organizing committee for MUNIJAN 2015 and collaborated with other colleges and ensured that a successful event was conducted which inspired all the people present in their efforts to work for improvements in the society.

MUNIJAN received an overwhelming response this year as students from colleges across Maharashtra participated. For the grand finale, 10 teams were shortlisted from which 1 was representing SIMSREE. All the teams came up with innovative idea and were deservedly applauded by judges and audience alike. The chief guest for the event was Mr. Bharat Nadkarni, Former Corporate Sustainability Head, Tata Power.

The event concluded with the speech of Honorable Vice Chancellor, University of Mumbai, Dr. Sanjay Deshmukh who appreciated innovation and creativity of all the teams. He also acknowledged the efforts put by organizing committee in carrying out the event successfully without any obstacles.

MUNIJAN will go a long way in shaping the future of the society by bringing innovative ideas which will positively change the society.

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Sankalp 2015: Social flagship event of SIMSREE

Thoughts do more. Words do much. Actions do much more

Following the above quote, the Student Social Responsibility (SSR) Committee organized the annual social flagship event of SIMSREE i.e. Sankalp on 7^th March 2015. The theme Sankalp’15 was ‘Theory into Practice’, which means not just giving ideas, but carrying out necessary actions to implement them. The theme highlights how each individual can make a huge impact in bringing out a positive change in the society.

In line with the theme, the SSR committee came up with an initiative ‘LAKSHYA- aim to educate’. ‘ LAKSHYA’ is an initiative wherein the students of SIMSREE will be actively involved in educating the children of a local BMC school, with the ‘Lakshya’ of enabling them to not only clear 10^th grade, but also develop a strong foundation for the bright and promising future that awaits them. This will be implemented from July 2015 at SIMSREE.

The Chief Guest for the event was Dr. Madhav Chavan, CEO and Co-founder of Pratham Education Foundation. He is also a former Member of the National Advisory Council of India and member of the governing council of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Mission (SSA) of the Government of India.

The event started with an address by our Director Dr. Sandhya Dhabe introducing the theme of the event and emphasizing its importance. Our HOD Finance, Prof. Sangeeta Pandit, explained the students the importance of being involved in social activities. This was then followed by an inspiring speech by our chief guest focusing on the need and methodology of educating young kids. His emphasis was on motivating the kids to learn, rather than focusing on how to teach them i.e. do not teach them concepts, but increase the curiosity in them so that they will learn even when you are not there. This will also help the mentors learn a lot in the due course. He urged the students to actively volunteer in this initiative. Also, it was very kind of him to extend his support for the implementation of ‘Lakshya’.

After the initial inauguration, we moved to the final rounds of the competitions held during Sankalp’15. SSR committee along with ESSAR FOUNDATION organized the social b-plan competition, which saw the highest participation among all competitions. Top 5 teams were chosen for the final round, which was judged by Mr. Neerav Parekh (Director, Iksula) and Mr. Nilesh Halde (Director, AppLions Pvt. Ltd). The teams presented their ideas of a socially motivated profitable business plan, with top 2 teams being declared as the winners.

  

Other competitions included

a.       A case study competition: Solving the issues of secondary education in government schools in India (in line with the initiative Lakshya)

b.      Social vision competition: What will be your tipping point? (inviting people to share their socially motivated dream)

The case study was judged by our HOD Finance, Prof. Sangeeta Pandit and Dr. Arvind Dhond (President and Treasurer of all India Teachers Association), where top 6 teams presented their solution.

 The ideas and enthusiasm of the participants in each of the competitions, the involvement of the jury and the support of ESSAR FOUNDATION significantly raised the standard of the event. We would also like to thank the students of SIMSREE for their active involvement in the initiatives and events by SSR committee.

“We are all born with a divine fire in us. Our efforts should be to give wings to this fire and fill the world with the glow of its goodness.”

-A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

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Guest Lecture by Dr. S. Srinivasan

On Wednesday, 7th January 2015, Dr. S Srinivasan delivered a lecture at SIMSREE on the topic of 'Stress Management by Staying Alert'. He is the Chief Learning Officer at Wockhardt Foundation and MD at Wellness Consultant and has four decades of experience in healthcare and human behaviour.

He started off the discussion on a lighter note by explaining how stress forms an integral part of our lives. He stressed upon the importance of wellness and life skills by demonstrating several examples. Striking a balance between work and personal life is of essence and stress management involves mutually balancing the two in order to lead a stress free life. Stress is not what happens to us but how we react to whatever happens to us. In order to manage stress, we have to manage our reaction and not the stressor. And only an alert mind can manage its own reaction. So it is imperative that we stay alert and control our emotions and reactions to a particular situation.

He further emphasized the importance of 5S management in lifestyle which includes – sleep, sex, snacks, stamina and spirits. By using the 5S, we can manage the 6^th S i.e. soft skills and get ready to tackle the 7^th S which is ‘Stress’.

Dr. Srinivasan explained the concept of 'Amygdala effect' and also how different parts of the brain help generate different emotions and responses to a particular situation, sometimes increasing the stress levels. He emphasized upon the difference between 'high road' and 'low road' and how managing the two leads to effective management of individual stress levels. He then shared some anecdotes of how people who overcome their limitations and inhibitions lead a 'Balanced Life'.

We are really thankful to him for giving us great insights into the literal meaning of the word 'Stress' and giving us some tips in order to overcome it. The entire session ended on a positive note and it turned out to be a great learning lesson for all of us.

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CONFLUENCE '15 - Annual Consulting Conclave by SIMCON

SIMCON-SIMSREE Consulting Club organised its Annual Consulting Conclave, Confluence on the 8^th of February, 2015. The event is in its third year. SIMCON has succeeded over the years in building strong and beneficial relations with corporates. The event is aimed at bringing management students and the corporate world together to generate insights into current happenings in the industry. Based on the theme “India -A Gateway for Global firms”, Confluence ’15 aimed at focusing upon the industry requirements and steps the government can take to ensure progress for the country.

The event began with the Welcome Note by Director of SIMSREE, Dr. Sandhya Dhabe. She introduced the theme for the event & highlighted the significance of relevance of the theme in present times.

In line with this theme the Chief Guest for the event, Mr.Vivek Kulkarni (Founder & Chairman, Brickworks India) spoke on the topic “Supremacy for India amongst emerging markets”. Mr. Kulkarni highlighted upon various statistics showcasing India as the path ahead for global growth. Even through google trends, India could be seen as being highest searched. Mr.Kulkarni also quoted IMF in saying “India’s economy will overtake China in terms of its annual growth rate by 2016.”

Post the Chief Guest speech, it was time for the first panel discussion. The topic for discussion was “India’s Investment Landscape –The Road Ahead”. The panel discussion consisted of the below panellists:

·        Mr.Girish Vanvari (Partner & Co-Head Tax, KPMG)

·        Mr. Prateek Pant (Executive Director, RBS)

·        Mr. Anant Gupta (Vice President, Kedaara Capital)

·        Mr. Santhi VIjetha (Director, Grant Thornton India)

·       Ms. Mukti Hariharan (Vice President, Credit Suisse) – Moderator

The panel highlighted the policy paralysis along with various other issues plaguing the scope of growth for India presently. Mr. Vanvari highlighted how they need to keep themselves on toes to understand the ever changing laws. He also threw light on the fact that the Companies Act 2014, was actually tabled in 2002, but was passed in its present form in 2014. This showed the policy paralysis prevalent in the governance of the country. The panel touched upon the topics of GAAR, GST and other such policies that prevent multiple investments in India along with how India has the potential to tap into multiple such opportunities with regards to FDI, FII through M&As etc. The discussion revolved around activities that would result in ease of doing business in India like Tax reforms, GST, single window clearance and other such activities. The wariness of the investors in investing in India was cited by examples like the Vodafone Tax case. The conclusion of the discussion was that unless India removes the road blocks, it would not attract huge investments. The first panel answered the queries put forth by the students from various topics such as Tax, GAAR.

The second panel discussion was more related towards how the industry needs to modify itself or suit itself to do business in India. The topic for discussion was “Adapt or Innovate - The Mantra for Survival & Sustained Growth’ from a marketing perspective. The panellist were:

·        Mr. Mohan V ( Former Executive Director/VP, HJ Heinz)

·        Mr. Vinay Gupta (Business Head, VG Retail Consulting)

·        Mr. Sandeep Zutshi (CEO & Co-Founder, Ascentaz Consulting)

·        Mr. Sunit Kishore (Head of Marketing, Novartis)

·        Mr. Joydeep Roy (Member of Governing Council, IIB) – Moderator

Discussion started with Mr. Roy giving a brief about the discussion and handing over the reins to the panellist one by one and keeping a check on the time at the same time. The discussion flowed in a question answer format where the moderator would ask a question in order to structure the discussion. Mr. Zutshi started with different types of innovations that we see in the world today- product, process, communication and technological innovation. Be it the Nirma case or the Balaji wafers case, product innovation is right in your face and hence the most visible. But given this fact, it is the technological innovation which retains imperious benefits and far-fetched benefits giving rise to a host of opportunities. The discussion moved then towards how Indian markets perceive any innovations. The session being an interactive one, the famous question of which of brick and mortar or e-retail industry would dominate in India came out. This was answered in different perspectives with Mr. Vinay Gupta explaining that the market always come to an equilibrium – eventually price would not be the competing factor but service alone would be the deciding factor. Mr. Mohan talked about how innovation is sometimes has to be achieved in the realms of the business and brand. Mr. Mohan talked about how Heinz had taken tougher route of launching ketchup in India; when it first launched its operations here; instead of making local tomato chatni which Indians are already fond of eating.  This is how brands operate in terms of maintaining their legacy along with driving innovations. Mr. Sunit Kishore steered the discussion towards the pharma industry and expressed how innovation is actually an over hyped word in the industry circles and how companies view innovation as just a task to do and hence do it for sake of it. This statement gave a very interesting path to the discussion and everyone started about their experiences of such incidence in their industries.

Overall the session was very interactive with students asking a lot of questions and the panellists and moderator answering them with patience. The students gained a lot of insights from both the panel discussions & from the Chief Guests addressal.

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MINDZ'14 by SIMSREE in association with JLTI

SIMSREE successfully hosted a first of its kind insurance broking competition named MINDZ’14 in association with Jardine Lloyd Thompson India Pvt. Ltd. (JLTI) in October- November 2014. The event was organised and coordinated by the Corporate Relations Committee, SIMSREE.

           

About JLTI

JLT India Pvt. Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group. Set up in May 2007 as a Global Shared Services Centre for the Group, JLT India has grown significantly to become the second largest office of the Group, supporting both Employee Benefits and Risk & Insurance operations of the Group. It is the first company in the Group (and one of the first companies in India) to achieve the international standard for business continuity management, ISO 22301. JLT India provides a multitude of services under 7 main verticals viz. Operations, Finance, Group Business Process Management, Information Technology, Knowledge Services, Legal Risk & Compliance and Human Resources.

About Mindz’14

Mindz 2014 is an inter college insurance broking event, that tests the statistical, strategic and analytical skills of the participants along with their ability to work in teams.

Format: The game comprised 3 rounds which involved an online quiz, an online insurance broking simulation game and a case study presentation round.

Timeline: The 1st and 2nd rounds were held between 12th October and 18th October and the last round was held on 26th November. 

Prizes:

●      Rs. 50,000/- for the winning team

●      Rs. 30,000/- for the runner up

●      Gifts and certificates worth Rs. 20,000/- (total) for teams that complete Phase 1

Participation: Entry into the event was by invitation only. A total of 8 prestigious b-schools namely SIMSREE, ISB Hyderabad, NMIMS, NITIE, SJMSOM, SIBM Pune, SIMSR, SCMHRD had been invited to this competition.

Unique features:

●      The online simulation game was played concurrently by the participants and JLTI employees

●      Teams from b-schools which qualified from round 2 were merged with those qualifying from JLTI for round 3 i.e. the case study presentation

●      These teams were assigned a mentor each, who guided them through the case study round

●      The teams had to present the case study to senior JLTI management and their global counterparts for the final round

This unique format of the competition enabled students to experience an ideal corporate interface like never before. Also, it was a first hand learning experience as they teamed up with people already working in the industry.

The Finale:

The Final round of Mindz 2014 - the case study presentation was held on 26^th November, 2014, at JLTI, Mumbai. The top 5 teams qualifying from the second round (Periloscope), both from B-schools and JLTI were given three primary topics to present on. Their presentation and ideas were judged by a panel comprising the JLTI management and their esteemed global counterparts.

Every presentation was followed by a comprehensive Q&A round. The contestants were judged on the quality of insights and research on the topic chosen, team work, presentation quality and responses to the questions asked by the panel.

At the end of all presentations, the judges adjudged team INVICTUS from SIMSREE and team MAVERICKS from JLTI as winners of JLTI Mindz 2014. They combined to form team BIZ WIZ for the last round. The team from SIMSREE were praised for their leadership qualities and the poise shown by them throughout the presentation and the subsequent Q&A round.

We would like to thank JLTI and all the contestants for making this competition a success. We hope to be back soon with a bigger and better Mindz 2015. Keep watching this space!

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Amogh Gothoskar

​On Sunday, 11th of January 2015, Mr. Amogh Gothoskar graced the auditorium of SIMSREE with his presence. In the lecture organized by the Corporate Relations Committee, he enlightened the batch on 'Securitization and the US sub-prime mortgage crisis'. Mr Amogh, an entrepreneur since 5 years in the financial services sector and the owner and CEO of 'End to End Financial Services', spoke passionately on the topic of the financial crisis of 2007-2009.

He started the discussion by asking the batch a few basic questions on the concepts of securitization and the various types of securitization. He went on to explain the nitty-gritty of securitization and the fundamental differences between the various types. Furthermore, he spoke about the basic securitization process that was carried out in the US before the crisis and the various players that were involved in the securitization process focusing mainly on mortgage backed securities. In the build up to the explanation of the crisis, he also showed some statistics which compared securitization and land rates in the US with the rest of the world and also showed a period based comparison of the same. This helped the batch to get a rough idea of the gravity of the crisis and the sheer enormity of it.

Mr. Amogh suggested that there are many parties to be blamed and held responsible for the crisis, right from the lenders to the investment banks, as well as the rating agencies. He said this situation could have been avoided if the regulators and the rating agencies would have been more alert of what the securitization process was evolving into.

​ ​Talking about Indian investors, he said that Indian investors are generally risk averse and that has prevented such a crisis from happening in India. He also said that one of the root causes for this crisis was the risk taking nature of the American borrowers and investors. American borrowers were enticed into taking up such seemingly easy loans. Also, investors bought securities backed by those sub-prime loans in expectation of higher than normal returns. He categorized an investor's psyche into two categories viz. risk prone and risk averse. He build upon this investor psyche as the base to further explain how this enabled the lenders to sell such risky loans and how these loans got bundled up and found their way into the stock markets as securities which adversely affected the entire financial ecosystem and the real estate bubble finally burst.

In response to one of the questions during the Q&A session, he said that bailing out the big companies to mitigate the problem wasn't the ideal step as it could act as a fallback for the companies in future if they were to engage into such activities again. But in the hindsight, the US government had to bail them out to deflect a domino effect from taking place and the decision turned out to be pragmatic if not ideal. He also added that the government must be focused on creating real employment rather than artificial, temporary employment for the population. With this he ended a very fruitful and knowledge gaining session for the students of SIMSREE.

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Guest Lecture by Miss Tanaz Buhariwalla

On 18th November, 2014, Ms Tanaz Buhariwalla, Vice President at IDA Ireland, graced the campus of Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education with a guest lecture organised by the Corporate Relations Committee. With over 15 years of experience, she is an expert in the fields of International Business, Business Development, Business Strategy and Planning, Marketing amongst many others.

With the topic being Business Development Strategies of Indian Companies in Foreign Markets, one of the major points of discussion was inward FDI along with outward FDI in India and across the globe. She discussed Free Trade zones, the Cluster effect, the effect of various laws in different regions, the roles of tax structures and so on. The discussion then steered towards the “drivers of FDI”. She gave the students numerous live examples for the same so that they could understand more easily.

She encouraged student participation and answered all the questions very patiently. She ended the session by emphasizing on the future role of FDIs and the power of networking. We thank Ms Tanaz Buhariwalla and look forward to having more and more interactions with her.

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Colin Mendes

On the 8th of November, 2014 Mr. Colin Mendes, General Manager and Head Human Resources, Domestic Projects Group at Voltas Limited, graced the campus of Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education with his presence. The guest lecture was organized by the Corporate Relations Committee. Sir has over 20 years of experience and is an expert in the field of employee benefits, compensation, rewards and employee engagement.

The Guest lecture was on ‘Leadership during times of complexity and change’, a topic that is relevant to all management students. Sir started the discussion by emphasizing and explaining change as a constant factor in all our lives and expounding on the role played by technology while taking managerial decisions. He explained how data analysis and data mining are shaping the world as we know today as against earlier techniques of intuition. In order to inspire the young minds, Sir discussed and gave examples of leaders who have been instrumental in changing the course of events such as Mahatma Gandhi, Barack Obama and current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting the common thread which makes the leaders stand out amongst the crowd. He then shared an interview of Miss Avani Davda, CEO of Starbucks, with the batch walking them through her success story and elucidating how sheer dedication, hard work and vision can lead one to unprecedented success. He also shared the story of the young entrepreneur Farrhad Acidwalla who is listed amongst the top 25 young entrepreneurs of the world. He blessed the batch saying that he would love to see one amongst his audience become the next Farrhad Acidwalla emphasizing on how the youth can lead..

The students gained insights on the relevance of leadership in today’s competitive environment, concluding with an active question answer session. We thank Sir for answering all the questions patiently and look forward to having further interactions with him.

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Sudeep Nair

Like the age-old adage goes, “change is the only constant”, companies too have to keep transforming and reinventing themselves. But how and when do they transform themselves is the billion dollar question. To answer this question, SIMSREE Corporate Relations Committee was honored and privileged to have on campus, Mr. Sudeep Nair, Global Head – Business Transformation at Jardine Lloyd Thompson on 26th of August, 2014. Mr. Nair is an IIM Ahmedabad Alumnus and has prior experience in Cognizant, Switzerland as the Head of Cognizant Business Consulting.

To train the naïve business minds of the batch, Mr. Nair kicked off the session by giving a basic idea about how a typical business organization looks. He explained that any organization is built on three basic blocks viz. the front end, the middle office and the back end; and also mentioned that the core competency of a company comes from any of these three basic blocks.

The discussion slowly steered towards how an organization should constantly assess itself using Porter’s five forces and adapt to the changing attitude of the customers. Mr.Nair focused on the point that regulatory hurdles could also be considered as a force that could disrupt the industry.

After assessing the operating model, if an organization feels that a major overhaul is due, it should set its sights on a target operating model that it could capitalize on in the long run. This transformation roadmap can include people, process or technology. Mr. Nair mentioned that implementation is the most difficult part in any business transformation after the vision and methods are set, especially if the change involves transforming people.

After sharing insights on business transformation Mr. Nair threw the floor open for Q&A. The enthusiasm of the batch was portrayed by the number of quality questions asked by the students, which Mr. Nair answered patiently. The session gave the students an understanding of the various aspects of business transformation.

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Marketer’s Mark ‘14

Students of Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education (SIMSREE) belonging to the Corporate Relations Committee organised “Marketer’s Mark” for the first time ever on 22nd August, 2014. It brought together a few of the marketing world’s stalwarts with its theme being “Rewriting the Rulebook”. The guests included Ms. Deepali Naair (Chief Marketing Officer, Mahindra Holidays & Resort India Ltd.) as Keynote Speaker, Dr. Hemant Dande (President, Raptakos Brett & Co.) as Moderator, Ms. Anjali Patil (Director - Brand and Communications, BNP Paribas), Mr. Ajay Jethi (Chief Marketing Officer, Reliance Capital Asset Management), Mr. Sanjay Vakharia (Director - Marketing, Spykar Lifestyles Pvt. Ltd.), and Mr. Madan Mohapatra (Head - Media & Marketing, Future Group).

The students were introduced to many new marketing concepts like micro segmentation, need for reshaping the customer demand and the importance of personalization amongst many others. Apart from these, through the discussions of the panellists, greater emphasis was laid on adaptability and pace of the current world. The esteemed panellists mutually agreed that everything is evolving continuously as the consumer is changing, becoming more confident and technology dependent. As a result, companies have to innovate to include digital mediums and follow innovative marketing campaigns in order to capture the ever decreasing attention spans of the consumer.

The importance and need for context in marketing was reiterated throughout the conclave focussing on the changing needs, wants and demands of the consumer. Marketing cannot be considered in isolation and must be done with the right context to succeed. 

All the guests were very enthusiastic in sharing their experiences and answering all the students’ questions in detail. Through these discussions, the students gained immense knowledge into the workings of current marketing world, its evolving nature and the latest trends which they would be otherwise hard pressed to find in any textbook, magazine or newspaper in such a lucid manner. This shows the very successful start to Marketer’s Mark becoming an annual event at SIMSREE.

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Gaurav Sharma

What is digital marketing? Is it the next big thing? How does it help businesses to grow? To answer all these questions, SIMSREE’s Corporate Relations Committee organized a guest lecture by Mr. Gaurav Sharma on Digital Marketing. 

Mr. Gaurav Sharma is the General Manager (Digital & Mobility) at Omnicom Media Group. He considers himself as a Solutions Specialist and a Sales Professional with an experience to sell digital solutions to clients. He builds a connect with clients, understands their business issues and works on result oriented solutions

He commenced the session with a short video clip on motivation to inspire the students to stretch themselves and stay ahead in today’s intensively competitive marketing industry. He then shared his varied experiences as a marketing and sales professional and emphasized upon the challenges that an marketing job needs to face. One of the major challenges in this job is achieving the given targets on time.

Mr. Sharma then elaborated on the concepts of video marketing, substantiating each concept with a corporate example. Moreover, he also explained how an advertisement should be relevant and attractive to the consumers. According to him, viral marketing through the social media could be a cheap and effective means of communication for the same. He stressed that businesses should constantly revamp themselves to sustain and survive in this ever changing market by citing an example of how a leading bank changed its advertisement from serious commercials to fun filled animated viral online videos to connect with a wider audience.

Having said that, he also explained how the advertising industry is technologically budding every day with several advertisers now using mobile apps to engage with their customers. Mr. Sharma gave an example of a new trend in the market wherein marketers are making the use of mobile apps coupled with the Bluetooth or Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to create interactive multi-player games for children. 

“The internet of things” was another topic which he spoke about. He explained how businesses are trying to connect various devices such as a washing machine, a refrigerator, or even a smoke detector, to the internet and let consumers control them from any location.

Towards the end he left the audience with a hard hitting example of social advertising. The “Kankhajura Tesan”, winner of 3 Lions Gold awards at Cannes 2014, is an initiative aimed at entertaining media-dark villagers through mobile phones and also creating brand awareness amongst them, making the rural market ready for urban brands.

Mr. Sharma's enriching interaction with the batch resulted in an enthusiastic response from the audience which was evident in the fruitful question answer round towards the end of the session.

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