MUMBAI: The second day of ZEE MELT 2019, India's biggest conference for disruptive marketing witnessed an impressive and comprehensive line-up of industry veterans. Marketing stalwarts and industry leaders converged at NSCI, Mumbai to discuss their formula for effective marketing and recount their success stories which changed the way we perceive brands.
The day began with an address by Fernando Machado, Global Chief Marketing Officer of Burger King who shared the inside story of the Whopper campaign that changed the brand’s entire outlook on marketing. Mr. Machado revealed the marketing approach he champions which reignited the creative spark the brand had previously lost. “I worked at Unilever before Burger King and that is a company that’s invested a lot in ‘purpose’. After 18 years, I approached Burger King determined to reignite the brand with advertising as bold and celebrated as its legacy,” he said. “It’s about identifying what's going to trend or what’s going to be relevant to people, and find creative ways to hack into that, in a way that is not just self-serving, but in a way that adds value to people, adds value to the society, and adds value to the brand,” added Mr. Machado
Other celebrated speakers included, Gerardo Mazzeo, Global Innovation Director and CSV Manager, Nestle; Mark Pollard, Strategy CEO, Mightly Jungle; Dave Trott, Author and Creative Director; Samuel Scott, Columnist, The Drum; JP Hanson, CEO, Rouser; Vikki Ross, Copy Chief; Faris Yakob, Co-Founder, Genius Steals; Laura Jordan Bambach, CCO, Mr. President; Shubho Sengupta, Co-Founder, Healthcase & Activewear; Suresh Balakrishnan, Chief Revenue Officer, The Hindu and Prathyusha Agarwal, CMO, ZEEL and Rashi Goel, VP – Consumer Communications, Nestle, among others.
A series of panel discussions was organized by The Collective, a multi-agency initiative that focuses on gender issues. The discussions featured prominent professionals like Babita Baruah, Managing Partner, Head of WPP, GTB India; Deepa Geethakrishnan, Consultant, Lowe Lintas; Tista Sen, Regional Creative Director, Wunderman Thompson – South Asia; Anusheela Saha, Group Creative Director, FCB India; Gayatri Sriram, Digital Creative Head, FCBUlka, and many others.
Commenting on the conference, Rajesh Kejriwal, Founder & CEO, Kyoorius said: “Zee Melt brings together marketing experts, strategists & the media for an open unfettered discussion on the future of advertising and brand building. The objective is to host an insightful and rewarding event that recognizes unconventional ideas that have disrupted the industry, prompting us to relook at how we perceive marketing. What makes this conference so extraordinary is the fact that it represents the convergence of five different industries: marketing, media, advertising, emerging technology and digital. It’s not a platform where people are lectured to but one where they can raise questions and get answers.”
In addition to the talk sessions, the second day of Zee Melt 2019 also witnessed a workshop facilitated by the Mudra Group on how to tackle the clichés surrounding feminism in advertising. Shagun Seda, Executive Creative Director and Toru Jhaveri, Senior Strategy Director of DDB Mudra Group facilitated the workshop that focused on calling out the contradictions and inconsistencies with regard to ‘femvertising’.
Organized by Kyoorius, Zee MELT is partnered by the The Hindu, the Mobile Marketing Association and Cadbury Fuse, and supported by Laqshya Media Group, Garage, Communicate India, Fortune4 Technologies, CashUrDrive, Garage and Dome NSCI, Mumbai.
