a)    Two days summit focused on providing Insights and exploring ideas on how to effectively combine the power of marketing and advertising to meet the challenges brought about by a vibrant and complex market place and consumer demands unique to India .

b)   The Summit had close to 200 participants from the industry who felt that summit has served as a platform providing latest information on the Marketing Sector.

c)  “Gearing up for the Demand Revolution”- Marketing Summit emphasises need for marketers to embrace change ( Hindu Business Line , 1-April-2011 Edition)

d)  “Research Must Herald Innovations”-Social Insights  more powerful than Consumer Insights (Hindu Business Line, 2-April-2011 Edition)

e)    Mr. Ashish Bhatia ,Regional Director (Fortis Health Care) told at the Marketing Summit that Fortis is Contemplating  a new brand that will focus mainly on the affordable health care as we focus on and plan to enter tier II  and tier III cities. (The Political & Business Daily,2-April-2011 Edition)

f)     The two day summit had witnessed a few Indian leaders in Marketing Sector, making their presence as a speaker to the summit sharing their thoughts and insights on various issues of the Marketing Sector.

A rapidly developing and changing nation like India demands new marketing ways. The need for companies and brands here are two fold: first to compete with and secondly to find their own place in an increasingly globalised world. To look at the modern challenges of marketing, CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) has brought together a host of luminaries from the world of marketing, advertising and media in the 11th CII Marketing Summit to discuss and share strategies and innovation under the theme ‘Elephants Can Dance – New Ways to Market to a New India’.

“Marketing is under pressure globally. In the west the pressure is of a demand that is not growing. In India the demand is growing, but companies here have become extremely ambitious and aggressive. In virtually every category there are more brands, more competition, greater proliferation with retailers demanding more margins, increasing cost of raw material etc. There is a need for marketers to turn bold, more innovative and embrace change,” said Sam Balsara, Chairman, 11th CII Marketing Summit and Chairman and MD – Madison World.

Mr. Gulu Mirchandani, Chairman and MD – Mirc Electronics Ltd., put the growth of India in perspective when he talked about the three phases of the nation: the era of production in the 60s, the era of selling in the 80s, and finally the era of marketing beginning with the liberalization of the 90s. “In this marketing era consumers have a wide choice of brands. And the most important way in which you can create profits is by innovating and differentiating your service or product. You got to spend a lot of time on R&D and building your core competencies. That way you can create an uncontestable market space, make competition irrelevant, create and capture more demand, all of which will lead to more profit. I am interested in value creation. More than market share, I am interested in my companies profit share,”

In his concluding remarks, Mr. Chitranjan Dar, Chief Executive, ITC Foods, said, “Brands are not the focus of interesting things happening in a consumer’s life. However some brands stand out and all of them have a strong innovation theme.”

Mr. Rick Kash, author of ‘How Companies Win’ and CEO – The Cambridge Group, laid out the next big economic opportunity for the world. “The world had seen three great economic revolutions: the industrial revolution that is a few hundred years old. The 30 odd year old tech revolution in which you can still participate and the demand revolution that is currently unfolding in which you can become an active participant and change agent. If you do not understand the primacy of demand, you will never reach the full measure of your opportunity,” he said.

“The supply chain remains every bit important. Now it has a partner - demand chain. If you don’t know who your most profitable customers are, you are putting artificial barriers between you and success. In any company you’ll see that a small percentage of customers represent a larger percentage of profit. It should be your business to know them and how their demand is evolving,” Mr. Rick said, highlighting the most important aspect for profitability under the paradigm shifts happening globally.

Giving a success mantra for Indian companies he said, “Companies in India can choose how to lead and compete. You can be more aggressive and committed to growing faster than the economy and your competitors in the category. The really big idea is for native Indian companies to not just become great Indian companies but global powerhouses.”

Commenting on the theme, Mr. Sam Balsara added, “Marketing Companies in the past were characterized by three fundamental attributes: big, slow and change- resistant. A new breed of younger companies then emerged who read the market better, offered innovative products at competitive prices, had quick response time and challenged large companies. The large companies had no option but to respond. So today in India we have many large companies who have learnt to make their size an advantage and with their large resources have become nimble and quick footed. They are not averse to change and this is creating an exciting marketing space.”

The two day summit is aimed at focusing on issues relating to the needs and importance of consumers, the manner in which demand is picking up and the importance of of marketing strategies that respond to the changing and dynamic consumer demands unique to India. The various sessions under discussion include:

• Marketing Vs Advertising
• Marketing to a New India by a New India
• Luxury Products – The ‘not-so-small’ Top of Pyramid
• Only Innovative Marketing Strategies will deliver from hereon
• Can Research Create Leads for Marketing?
• What Indian Brands need to do, to succeed globally?
• Services Marketing – What’s Different ?
• Public Relations and Lobbying – Are they two sides of the same coin?
• Why do Indian Companies under invest in Advertising and Marketing?

The well attended summit has attracted national and international speakers and delegates. The industry leaders in the marketing, advertising and media space are addressing this summit including those from Google, Levi’s, Marico, ITC, Citigroup, Cadbury, Hindustan Unilever, Godrej, UTV Motion Pictures, Leo Burnett India, Beattie McGuiness Bungay, Rekitt Benckiser India, Procter and Gamble, Audi India, VU Televisions, Conde Nast India, Gitanjali Group among many others.  Godrej, Levi’s and ITC are sponsors of the Summit