KIIT School of Management, KIIT University, organized its 8^th National Marketing Conclave on 14^th October 2017. This year’s conclave had a contemporary theme ‘Consumer in Digital Age.’

Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Hon’ble Founder, KIIT University and KISS Tribal University, welcomed the dignitaries of the conclave. He highlighted the importance of digital marketing in the current era. He said that even though this is the age of marketing, companies have to create robust products and services to sustain. He shared his experiences and insights in developing KIIT and KISS into competitive world-class educational institutes.

The theme of the first panel discussion was ‘Consumer Power in Digital Age.’ The panellists were Mr. Sanjay Tripathy, Co-Founder and CEO, Agilio; Mr. Rohit Khurana, Co-Founder and COO, Tagbin Services; Mr. Prasad Routray, Vice President and Business Head, Airtel, Mumbai; Mr. Krishanu Chakravarty, CEO, Farmers’ Fortune India and Mr. D.J.Dutta, Vice President, Sales and Operations, Altitude Software. The panel deliberated on the power that a consumer wields in a digitally connected world. The issues discussed ranged from cybersecurity, the need and utility of Omnichannel marketing, the juxtaposition of traditional 4 Ps of marketing with the emerging 8 S of digital marketing and the requirement of brands to connect with the consumer and customize products as per their needs.

The second panel discussed on the topic ‘Digital Capabilities of Firm’. The panellists were Mr Rahul Kohli, CEO, Indo Gulf Fertilizer; Mr Deep Prakash Pant, Practice Head – Digital at BT – Global Services India; Mr Girija Shanker, Head – New Markets, India/South Asia, IBM Global business Services; Mr Vivek Merani, MD Magnon eg+; Mr Swapnil Dixit, Lead Product Alliances (Dev. Platform & Offline Innovation) and Co-Founder and former CEO, Jagriti Yatra. The panel said that the use of technology is imperative in enhancing core business processes and improving efficiency. With the use of technology, marketing departments today, are able to quickly assimilate and synthesize a lot of consumer data. The panel agreed that technology enables organizations to reach more customers at a lesser cost. Interacting with students the panellists asked them to practice the following principles to be successful – ‘Have confidence without attitude; Stay inquisitive, Challenge the status quo and To go beyond themselves.’

The final session of the conclave had eleven informative and interactive workshops with thought-provoking discussions on topics such as Designing a Digital Product, Digital Advertising, Omni Channel Commerce, Next One Billion Digital Consumers and so on.

The conclave was one of the three National Level events organized by KIIT School of Management in the areas of HR, Marketing and Finance to bring the industry closer to the academia. It provided students with an opportunity to interact with business leaders and policymakers for holistic learning.