IIFT Seminars

IIFT-CII National Marketing Symposium

Changing Face of Marketing in the Creative Economy

21st september, 2007, ITC The Sonar, Kolkata, India

In Association With	Premier Sponsor

Changing Face of Marketing in the Creative Economy
21St september, 2007
Hotel ITC The Sonar
Kolkata, India

The age of tangible core competencies is long gone. Attributes & strategies that saw corporations through the 20th century wouldn’t see them through the 21st. Companies strive to find new and more meaningful competencies lying within the organization which can create sustainable performance. In this new environment the Darwinian struggle will be won by smart companies, who can harness creativity to generate top line growth.

Companies are applying innovation to products, services, manufacturing processes, managerial processes, or organizational design. But now the challenge that companies are faced with is to connect with their customers' emotions, to link research and development labs to consumer needs, and to construct maps showing new opportunities for innovation. In an age when the customer is being hailed as God, it has become imperative for the companies to heed to the customer.

For this to happen the organizations need to put in place processes for innovation as they would for any other functional area. Nurturing a culture which supports and encourages creativity is the only way that organizations can keep themselves ahead of the market curve and satisfy the customer.

Corporations are thus converging towards “The Creative Economy” and many have found unique ways of flourishing under this new economy. Companies in the B2C segment have been at the forefront in leveraging innovation to hone their marketing mix and create customer delight. The challenge doesn’t end with improving the elements of their marketing mix alone.

With convergence being the order of the day the challenges have become multifaceted. Increasingly the organizations are faced with and are trying to address challenges in product and market innovation, innovation in services and in distribution and retailing.

Objectives The Seminar:

This symposium is an effort by the Institute to offer the leaders a platform to share their views on how creativity is changing the face of marketing. It is an opportunity for the students, academicians and managers from the corporate world to be an audience to the crème de la crème of the industry and learn about their strategies to win the challenges being presented by the ‘Creative Economy’

Subjects to be Explored:

New strides of tangibles

Innovation in products, processes and markets are the key differentiating factors in a Creative Economy. Companies are innovating and improving in ways that provide value to both consumers and their own brands. Creativity these days has become integral to every aspect of marketing, manifestations visible in the product innovations of 3M, the rural marketing focus of the likes of HLL and ITC, the distribution of Saffola along with the Mumbai dabbawallas, or new economy mediums like Web2.0, RSS, blogs and beyond. The underlying strategy in the above examples is to create new products, capture new demand, and enter uncontested markets, while simultaneously ensuring low cost and differentiation, thus making the competition irrelevant. It is not about capturing markets anymore; it’s about creating them.

Services Marketing: Ready to serve–Laterally

Historically companies have strived hard to reduce the cost, time and complexity involved by implementing technological innovations but the need of the hour is to put their creative hat on and to make an everlasting impression. The logic and analysis of the left brain has been increasingly overshadowed by creative inputs from the right. Cooking the food in front of customers as seen in theme restaurants, strategic tie-ups like M-Ticketing between Hutch and Jet Airways, exotic customer experiences like the Pizza Hut Taco Bell and novel concepts like health tourism are examples of the increasing emphasis being placed on creativity in every aspect of marketing. A move towards this would involve creating an innovative ecosystem encompassing people, process and physical ambience. The game is no longer about selling services, but marketing enduring experiences.

Retelling the Retail

The fastest growing sector in the Indian economy, retail, is no longer the mundane activity that we recall. The manifestation of western style malls can be seen in the form of departmental stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets and specialty stores which are revolutionizing traditional markets and which have changed the faces of metros and second-rung cities alike. “Going big” is the in format now, using which the retailers are increasing the touch points and providing a wide array of choices to the consumers. Retail is being introduced afresh to the Indian consumer, who used to spend grudgingly, but now revels in this new shopping experience. With Wal-mart and Reliance vying for a piece of this pie, the question remains: Will this lateral thinking be able to convert footfalls into actual sales realization?

Who Should Attend?

This seminar is for managers and leaders who are responsible for the development of innovation within their organizations, or consultants who have to overcome resistance when implementing new projects or product ideas within client firms
Professionals from the discipline of marketing, sales, advertising, product and brand management who want to develop strategies based on the emerging trends in the marketing space.
Strategic decision makers in Micro, Small and Medium businesses that have deployed or intend to deploy Creativity & innovations as a means of productivity enhancement, competitive advantage and value addition.
Students and professionals who dream of a successful career in the Consultancy space and want to network with their peers.

Download Symposium Brochure (841 Kb)

Online Partner	Television Partner	Radio Partner