Facebook and GroupM to host FMCG Forum!

Facebook along with GroupM, the leading global media investment management operation and part of the WPP group introduced ‘Brand Bazaar’- the inaugural FMCG Forum in India. The goal for this forum was to rethink the possibilities of the digital medium for brands in the FMCG category, the largest contributor to the Indian advertising expenditure. The Brand Bazaar forum was held in Gurgaon and Mumbai.

The forum was a mix of presentations and panel discussions by experts from Facebook, GroupM, creative advocates and brand custodians. After an introduction by Kirthiga Reddy, Managing Director, Facebook India and CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia, the event began with a keynote address by Ashutosh Srivastava, Chairman and CEO - APAC & Global Emerging Markets, Mindshare. He raised themes in his presentation- the usage of data to effectively target consumers via digital media and creating relevant content to capture the consumer online.

Commenting on the FMCG Forum, Kirthiga Reddy, Managing Director, Facebook India said, “The FMCG community in India has always been at the forefront of marketing. Now, with the consumer shift to digital and mobile, the whole ecosystem is redefining marketing once again. This forum is the coming together of experts from across the spectrum — marketers, media & creative agencies, researchers, and publishers — to leverage the power of personalized marketing at scale to build brands and move products off shelves in a mobile-first world.”

CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia said, “At GroupM we are constantly prepared to give brands an edge in an evolving advertising industry. The main reason to create an industry forum such as ‘Brand Bazaar’ is to talk about the most relevant aspects of advertising in the FMCG category- from investment and creativity in digital advertising, smart usage of data to target consumers or develop new channels of distribution for products. We found a partner in Facebook to work with us to address new ideas and concepts at this forum.”

This was followed by a panel discussion on Return of Investment on Digital. The panel in Gurgaon comprised Gaurav Jeet Singh Head Media Services- South Asia, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Balendu Shrivastava, Facebook, Dolly Jha, Nielsen, Kartik Sharma, Managing Directory Maxus, South Asia, Uday Kagal, Milward Brown, and moderated by Sunder Muthuraman, Global Chief Strategy Officer, Gain Theory. The ROI on Digital session in Mumbai included panelists Priya Nair, Executive Director, Home Care, Hindustan Unilever Limited, T Gangadhar, Managing Director, MEC Global South Asia, with Balendu and Uday.

The second panel discussion was on Creativity and Content in Digital Media. Moderated by Anant Rangaswami, Editor, Storyboard- CNBC TV 18, the Gurgaon panel included Ruchira Jaitley, Senior Director, Social Beverages, PepsiCo, Joy Poole, Facebook and Fergus O’ Hara, Facebook. The Mumbai panelists were Srinandan Sundaram, VicePresident and Category Head for Skincare, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Kunal Jeswani, CEO, Ogilvy & Mather India and Abhijit Avasthi, former NCD at O&M.

The forum also had speakers on E-Commerce: opening a new channel of distribution for FMCG companies. In Gurgaon this session was with I Srinivas Murthy, CMO of Snapdeal and in Mumbai with Mihir Mukadam, Vice President, Marketing at LocalBanya.com

The other presentations through the forum in Gurgaon and Mumbai included the following:

• The changing face of the Indian consumer by Hemant Mehta, IMRB International
• The Three-Second Audition by Fergus O’Hara, Facebook Creative Shop
• Brand Building on Facebook by Sandeep Bhushan, Facebook
• Getting Started With Instagram by Alexandra Sloane, Facebook                     

The main aim of these panels were to help inspire creative thought on how communication can evolve to reach out to the core audience across various digital population in forms of text, imagery, audio and video. The panelists were successful in presenting a balanced view of the Indian consumer’s shift in media preferences and their changes taste in content consumption.