24th August 2018 was a special day for Chennai. It was a day when the city has witnessed few good people coming together on the single platform to discuss the present scenario of Digital Marketing, future of the industry and transformation process of the businesses. Media Bytes and Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME), Chennai together organized the ‘Digital Marketing Leadership Summit 2018″ at XIME campus. Though it was not the first time this kind of event was happening in India and no one could guess why the event would be special until the person has attended it. Every attendee at the end of the program was uttering the same statement, “such events should be organized more!” So what was special about this digital marketing summit? This wasn’t the first time people were speaking about digital marketing in India but there were a few things which were special!
I flew from Surat to participate as one of the panelists. I was a bit skeptical before going there about the quality of the summit though as I was not knowing much about the other panel members and their background. But the moment I met other panelists in the campus, I thought something is going to be special today! The management of the XIME; Prof. M J Xavier, Dr. Ravi Veeraraghavan, Fr. Dr. George Sebastian S.J and Dr. D Jawahar are the great visionaries I must say. The idea of organizing this event in collaboration with Media Bytes proved to be a great decision in the end.
So what was special about this summit? Why must such summits be organized more and more in our country at different places? The first reason is the selection of the topics of the panel discussion and the second reason was the selection of the panelists in all the 3-panel discussion groups. 12 digital marketing experts with the solid background proved to be the fuel of the engine. The first-panel Discussion topic was “The Future of Digital Marketing: Plans, People, and Technology” and it was moderated by Mr. David Appasamy, Head – Brand & Strategy, Social Beat. The panelists were Ms. Arunima Singh Business Director, Wunderman International, Mr. Viswa Nathan Deva Raj, Business Head, Jaya TV Network, my self Bhautik Sheth Founder, iVIPANAN Digital Marketing Services and Hari P.K.– Director of Big Foxx Branding & Technology.`The members discussed the role of the people in making the digital marketing plan successful, how gradually India is adopting the digital platform, the integrated role of the TV and social media, and scope of digital marketing in education and B2B industries.
The second-panel discussion topic was “Driving Business impact with Digital marketing” and it was moderated by Mr. Shyam Sekar S, Chief Mentor and Strategist, Startup Xperts. The panelists were Mr. Hareesh Tibrewala, Joint CEO, Mirum India, Mr. Rob Peck, Director – Client Services, O3M Directional Marketing, Mr. Austin PM, CEO, EduCentral, Mr. Logesh Kumar, Senior SEO Consultant, ClickDo Limited. The panelists discussed how digital marketing can drive the business to the next level and how different platforms like Google Ads, SEO and Email Marketing can help in generating the revenue.
The third-panel discussion topic was “How Should CMOs Lead Thriving Digital Transformations?” and it was moderated by Prof. M. J. Xavier, Distinguished Professor XIME. The panelists were Mr. Faheem Ahmed, Founder & CEO, BYT Digital, Mr. Rajasekar KS GM -Marketing, Matrimony.com, Mr. Siddharth Rajsekar, Co-Founder, Scion Social, and Mr. Himanshu Arora, CEO, Social Panga. They discussed how CMOs of the companies can become the key players transforming the existing business and to take it to the next level digitally.
The whole day was a great learning experience not only for the audience but for the panel members as well. The cherry on the cake was “Distinguished Digital Leader” award that was received by all the 12-panel members.
Businesses in India are still adopting the Digital marketing platforms like Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Digital Ads, Content Marketing etc. and to push the advantages of these platforms, such summits proves to be very important.
