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The world of advertising and marketing has witnessed a sea change over the past few years. The onset of new-age media and the internet revolution has changed the way marketers look at the art and business of marketing, advertising and all its related functions. Today,t raditional marketing concepts are being challenged, and marketers are being pushed to the limit to keep pace with rapidly fading boundaries, and a cynical, well-educated customer.
It was against this backdrop that MarQuity, the Marketing Club of Management Development Institute (Gurgaon), organised ‘Advent’, a two-day advertising and marketing summit. As one of India’s only Marketing- and Advertising-dedicated summits, Advent attracted some of the best marketing talent from across India. With its plethora of seminars, advertising contests, quizzes and other events, Advent predominantly aimed to generate interest in advertising and marketing among B-School students.
As has been the tradition over the years, Advent 2009 boasted of a unique advertising workshop, ADRENA, conducted by experts from Lowe Lintas. The workshop was followed by an inter-B-school ad-designing contest, which pitted the best teams from each business school in a fiercely contested battle of creativity and insight.
Advent was also host to ADAGE a corporate interaction series, graced by some of the most prominent professionals from the area of advertising and marketing. The Chief Guest of the inaugural session on the first day was Shri S.K. Swamy, CMD, R.K. Swamy BBDO, who spoke about ‘Connecting Minds’. Mr. Swamy enlightened the audience on issues such as brand leadership and differentiation. Emphasising on the continuous evolution of advertising, Mr. Swamy spoke also about co-create of products, advertisements and involvement of consumers in the message and communication. Mr. Rajiv Bakshi, Director (Marketing, Asia Pacific), Discovery Channel detailed the nuances of media planning and buying. He also dwelled upon the current television media sprawl and the possibilities it holds for future. The final day was graced by Mr. Rahul Kansal, the CMO of BCCL, who spoke to students on the topic ‘Social responsibility and ethics in marketing’. Mr.Kansal spoke about how unique events such as globalisation helped the Indian mindset evolve to a state where the guilt about doing business no longer exists;CSR has moved from mere tokenism to consciousness towards societal and economic issues, and a strong degree of respect for the environment. The final speaker on the second day of ADAGE the Corporate Interaction Series at Advent ’09, was Mr. Prasanna Singh, the COO of Afaqs!, who spoke to students about ‘Growth through Innovation – the Media story’. The session focussed on the various innovations in the different forms of media targeted towards capturing the mind of the consumer.
Q’riosity, the Picture Quiz, was another hit among the plethora of events at the summit. Participation in Q’riosity reached overwhelming proportions, with over 300 teams from 27 business schools across the country trying their luck at the jackpot. In addition, on-the-spot audio-based ad identification contests, brand tagline-related dumb charades and impromptu speech contests added to the flavour of the event.
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