The Xavier Institute of Management (XIMB) on Sunday conducted ‘Mercatique 2013 —Traditional Marketing and New Age Marketing: Striking the Right Balance’, a national level business conclave in the marketing domain.
The accomplished panellists highlighted the transition from the conventional to new age marketing, stressing upon the disruptive role the technological advancements have played.
The panel discussion was moderated by Prof MN Tripathi, who set the context for the panel discussion by elucidating on how marketing is increasingly becoming more customer-centric and experience-based. Madhumita Mohanty, Head, Merchandising, Foodworld, viewed the new age marketing as an extension of the basic tenets of marketing and stressed on the need for flexibility to adapt to the evolving customer demands.
Kartik Sharma, Managing Director, Maxus, shared five disruptive trends that have impacted marketing in recent times — complexity, management of media trinity, advent of disruptive technology, importance of data and real time marketing insights.
Srinivas V Manda, General Manager, Sales, Marketing & CRM (AP), Mantri Developers, spoke on the impact of the information revolution spearheaded by the percolation of internet access to the masses which has empowered both consumers and marketers by enabling them to make the right choices, and in the latter case, measure return on investment for the marketing efforts.
He also laid out a strategy to strike the right balance between conventional and new age marketing based upon timing around the launch of a product.
Ashish Pati, General Manager, Apollo Hospitals, believed that the fundamentals of marketing have remained the same, but the new age tools have enabled marketers to engage customers better and enhance their experience. Ravi Kumar, Associate, Accelerated Development Program, Ingersoll Rand, spoke of the challenges faced by marketers in the modern age. It is vital for a firm to focus on their core competence and aspirations and realise that modern marketing is now an ‘on-demand’ version of the conventional process, he observed.
Mercatique is the flagship annual business conclave of MAXIM, the Marketing Association of the XIMB. The winners of Creative Salvation (IIM-Ahmedabad) and Article Writing competition (IIM-lucknow), conducted in the run-up to Mercatique, were announced and
awarded.
MAXIM also conducts events like Maxinations, Brandstorm and Maxim Mela, which are immensely popular amongst students. XIMB, one of the most prestigious management institutions in the country, was founded in 1987, with a mission to connect business to society, by developing competent, committed and compassionate leaders who can help build a just and humane society.
XIMB offers its flagship post graduate diploma in three streams: Business Management, Human Resource Management and Rural Management.