The importance of authenticity and simplicity for the brands of the future
The world is getting quicker, more reactive, less patient. How will businesses overcome these challenges and create compelling brands that don't merely survive but thrive in this brave new world?
Steve Owen is the founder of I am SO creative. With over twenty years' experience in the branding industry he has worked at some of the top global agencies including the role of Executive Creative Director at Landor (London), Siegel+Gale (EMEA) and Heavenly (Global). He also cut his teeth at The Partners – the UK's most decorated and awarded design consultancy. In this time he has worked with a rich and diverse range of clients and projects, these include three Asia-Paci_c telecom giants in Ncell, Globe and Maxis; British sporting institutions such as England Rugby and Fulham Football Club; the branding of the historic British icon Battersea Power Station; re-brands of Patek Philippe and Jaguar Cars; as well as celebrated work for the likes of Warner Bros.; Wedgwood; Orange Telecom and Amnesty International.
Over the years Steve has won numerous awards including golds in DBA Design E_ectiveness; the Marketing Society awards; Marketing Magazine design awards; The New York Festivals; Critique Magazine awards and a seven coveted D&Ad pencils. He is also a regular contributor to industry publications and blogs and has chaired juries on award panels for D&Ad, Design Week, Marketing Magazine and The Roses. With a strong belief in the attributes of honesty and compelling clarity he is passionate about the roles of experience, verbal personality and the merging of traditional print with broadcast and digital expressions to create modern brands with simplicity and originality and their heart.
Luxury Brands Future Fit
Innovator, leader and brand builder. Annicia's career in advertising and media marketing spans over 15years before she branched out as an entrepreneur in the African Luxury space as the founder of NicLuxe.com. Her current role in leadership at FCB Joburg, she is the Executive Business Director heading up South African Tourism and Brand South Africa accounts. A part of EXCO team at FCB and having served at EXCO for Airports Company South Africa, she has been in leadership roles at South African Broadcast Corporation and Times Media. As a consultant she has worked for MTV Africa, Siyaya TV, Visit Britain and Ogilvy.
In Art, she has served the following committees, Friends of Iziko National Museum and Zeitz MOCAA Fundraising team. Her interests include Culture, Travel and Technology. A great lover of books, the Opera and a collector of African Contemporary Art. She is a speaker on Brands locally and internationally including the 2017 Brand Magic Conference in Mauritius and has been a guest lecturer at Vega Brand Communications schools.
How Artificial Intelligence is (already) influencing branding and advertising
Whether you want it or not, Artificial Intelligences (AIs) have already penetrated many layers of our lives. From customer behavior analysis to recommendations, cognitive services analyze, store and aggregate monstrous volume of data to serve their masters better: brands! Major and minor brands have enlisted AIs in their product mix, so they know with more accuracy, faster and cheaper how to target customers and make them spend more. Are AIs the Holy Grail of branding? In this presentation, you will understand why there is not one AI, but multiple. Why the singularity is not what to fear, but the loss of your data is the biggest danger of all. And ultimately you will have a glimpse on how to future-proof your business with AIs.
Marc Israel is a dynamic Entrepreneur and Thought Leader with more than 30 years of success across the technology, IT, and IoT industries. Leveraging extensive experience in technical leadership for global organizations, Marc is a valuable asset for IT, manufacturing, or energy companies requiring expert assistance with next stage development, business planning, competitive positioning, value-add, or IT strategy. His broad areas of expertise include Marketing Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Customer Service, Strategic Partnerships, Business Intelligence, Arti_cial Intelligence, and new business development.
Currently CEO of Aetheis ltd, Marc has held leadership positions with organizations including Microsoft, SupportIT, and EFII, where he drove double digit growth, leading various technical, marketing and sales teams.
Marc attained his degree in Robotics and Engineering from École Superieure D'Ingénieurs en Électrotechnique et Électronique in Paris. He has completed Dale Carnegie Sales Training, INSEAD Executive Education, and Wharton Executive Education (with distinction) programs. Marc is the past President of Port Louis Toastmasters Club and the recipient of the National Champion of Humor Public Speaking Award at the Mauritius Convention (2010, 2013, and 2015). He is _uent in French and is the author of over 20 books published in French and English on various technical and leadership topics.
SPONGE - Leadership Lessons From Clients
In every field of marketing, advertising and sales there is an opportunity to interact with very Smart people. They could be clients, customers, associates, dealers or vendors. We can all become so much better in our job if we can adopt the S.P.O.N.G.E Learning Framework. By treating every interaction an opportunity for learning, we will be able to improve our leadership skills and effectiveness. The talk will take the participants through some of the more memorable conversations I have had with clients and how they ended up being so enlightening and enriching.
Ambi is an Independent Brand Strategist, Author and Founder of Brand-Building.com, a brand advisory. He was till recently ED and CEO of FCBUlka Advertising, one of India's top _ve ad agencies. In a 35+ year long career he has handled assignments in marketing, sales and advertising with companies like Redi_usion DY&R, Boots Company and UDI Yellow Pages. Over his marketing / advertising career he has worked on brands including Tata, Tropicana, Digene, Brufen, Santoor, Sundrop, TCS, ICICI Bank, Wipro, Tata Indica, Zee TV, Wipro, Abbott, J&J among others.
He is an author of nine books on branding, advertising and consumer behavior. His book,"Nawabs Nudes Noodles – India Through 50 Years of Advertising", was a top 5 Finalist in the Crossword Popular Book Awards 2017. In 2018 he published his latest book "SPONGE –Leadership Lessons I Learnt from My Clients".
He has been contributing articles to premier business publications and has been a speaker at TEDx, numerous industry forums, literary festivals and international forums including the Kellogg India Conference at Northwestern University; he is also a guest faculty at several business schools including ISB, IIMA and IIMC.
Communication as a force for good.
Why the industry needs to wake up to this?
Ramesh Narayan is the immediate Past President of the International Advertising Association (IAA) India Chapter. He also Vice President (overseeing Marketing) on the Execom of the Gobal IAA. And an Execom Member of the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA).
He is also Immediate Past President of the Rotary Club of Bombay. In 2014 he was inducted into the International Advertising Association Hall of Fame. In the same year he was honored by the Advertising Agencies Association of India (the apex body of advertising agencies in India) with its Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2015 he was honored as Global Champion by the IAA at its inaugural Inspire Awards at London. In November 2017 he was honored with a Special Award for his distinguished service to the industry in the Asian region by the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations at the AdAsia Bali. He is credited with conceptualizing and rolling out the Olive Crown Awards, Asia's _rst and only awards that salute excellence in communicating sustainability.
Ramesh Narayan founded and oversaw the creative and management functions of Canco Advertising from 1983 to 2006. The agency had an impressive roster of blue chip clients in the areas of _nance, insurance, infrastructure and media, and earned a name for its professionalism. He has been very active in the advertising industry.
Future of Brands is a Humane Tale
Today's brands are tech-savvy and digital, but what about the brands of tomorrow? Technology is a double edge sword giving more power to the brands; on the contrary it also fuels the "Future of Brands is No Brands" argument. But brands are here to stay, yet not all brands! Clear differentiation and purpose is the key to brands' survival in the impending non-brand apocalypse. Brands can triumph over the non-brands only by embracing Human Values.
Ashraf Bin Taj is the President of Marketing Society of Bangladesh (MSB). He also chairs the Marketing Committee of Asia Marketing Federation (AMF). Mr. Taj is a successful business professional turned entrepreneur in Bangladesh. After doing MBA in 1994 from the Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka, he started his career with Berger Paints in 1995. Since then he had an illustrious career of 19 years in renowned multinational and local companies including Berger, Nestle and ACI Limited, one of the largest business conglomerates of Bangladesh.
In 2013, Ashraf Bin Taj started his journey as an entrepreneur and co-founded a FMCG distribution company, named International Distribution Company Bangladesh (Pvt.) Limited. Under his leadership as Managing Director, currently IDC is one of the most admired distribution companies in Bangladesh representing globally renowned companies like Ferrero, Nivea, Amul, Unilever International, Kellogg & Pringles as national distributor.
Ashraf is a Board Director of Tetley ACI (Bangladesh) Limited, a joint venture company between Tata Global Beverages and ACI Ltd., an Independent Director of Reve Tex Limited and an Advisor to the Consumer Brands Division of ACI Ltd. Mr. Taj sits on the Brand Council of Superbrands Bangladesh and on the Jury Boards of di_erent national awards including Commward, the biggest celebration of creative communication in Bangladesh.
Chalks that wrote history
" A journey through the case study of Savlon Healthy Hands Chalk Sticks. A simple idea of designing chalk sticks with soap, changed the hand washing habits of children in over 5000 schools. This idea won the hearts of juries across the world and touched the lives of millions of kids, changing it for the better."
In 2017, Kainaz and Harshad were named Chief Creative O_cers - Ogilvy India (West). They lead South Asia's largest, most admired integrated communications agency, Ogilvy Mumbai, delivering some of India's best campaigns, for over 40 brands, across mainstream and digital platforms.
Their work on Brooke Bond Red Label put the brand in the #1 position in the tea category in 2017, and won the LAADLI AWARD for ADVERTISING THAT EMPOWERS WOMEN.
They led the work on the Savlon Healthy Hands campaign for ITC.
Special chalks infused with soap were designed for schools in rural India. Every time children rinsed their hands, the soap in the chalk dust ensured their hands were clean enough to eat with.
This idea won 7 CANNES LIONS in 2017.
The idea was picked up 2 D&AD and 2 D&AD IMPACT PENCILS
4 Spikes Asia
The prestigious WPP Crème de la Crème for Health and Wellness was won by them. They also led a campaign called Beauty Tips By Reshma, to enforce the ban on open sale of acid.
They won
OGILVY INDIA'S FIRST CANNES GLASS LION in 2016
2 CANNES FILM GOLD in 2016
CREATIVE EFFECTIVENESS LION at CANNES in 2017
Beauty Tips by Reshma also won
D&AD White Pencil, the _rst D&AD IMPACT for Government Engagement and a ONE SHOW GOLD in PR. In the last two years they have also won more than a dozen EFFIES, 9 AMES, 15 KYOORIUS BLUE ELEPHANTS AND 2 BLACK ELEPHANTS.
The Times Square Moment' (how consumers across the world are converging into some common segments irrespective of geography) and the Impact for Brands of the future
Neil George will share his observations of consumers from actual visits and trends from around the world and highlight how in the new world, consumers are showing similar trends/behaviours. He will then indicate the implications for brands and what the future will be for brands.
Neil George is the Managing Director for Nivea – India & South Asia. He is a member of the Leadership Board of the Emerging markets region for Beiersdorf. Beiersdorf is a €6.5 Billion DAX 30 corporation and owner of brands like Nivea, Nivea Men, Eucerin, La Prairie and Labello. The Emerging markets group manages a cluster of 94 countries across Eastern Europe, Middle East/Africa and South Asia (including India & Pakistan).
Neil has previously worked with Beiersdorf (in Northern Europe and in Dubai), Reckitt Benckiser, Private Equity and Procter & Gamble managing businesses and teams across Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America.
Neil is an Alumnus of the London Business School and is a visiting Faculty at various business schools in Asia. Recent professional successes include his teams winning 'Brand of the Year 2013 –U.K and Netherlands' and double gold at the 'Digital Impact Awards 2013' & 'Global innovation of the year award 2015'.
His interests include the Arsenal football club, wine regions, photography and he recently published his and the World's _rst brand management comic "Building the Perfect Beast – What Really Happens in Brand Management".
Neil lives in Bombay with his wife and two children.
