Mumbai: AdTech Today successfully wrapped up the first edition of EMERGE 2024 – The Rise of Independent Agencies, an event that celebrated the innovation and creativity of independent agencies in the advertising and marketing world. The event provided a platform for these agencies to showcase their excellence, while fostering connections with venture capitalists and brands to build long-term partnerships.
Supported by Blis as the session partner, Explurger as the support partner, MRSI as the knowledge partner, and Treize Communications as the PR partner, the event kicked off with a keynote by AdTech Today’s CEO, Srikanth Rayaprolu who highlighted the company’s vision for disrupting the media industry.
India at Blis, head of sales, Nabajit Nath followed with an insightful session on “Using Location Insights for Marketing Campaigns,” revealing key statistics on the power of location-based data.
The panel on "India’s Media Boom: Independent Agencies, Economy, and Growth" featured Amit Singal (FluidVentures), Karun Arya (Get Vantage), Tamanna Gupta (Umanshi Marketing and Branding), Tufayl Merchant (HOWL Digital), and Avik Ashar (Artha Ventures), and was moderated by Amiya Swarup from EY. The discussion highlighted key insights from VCs and independent agency leaders, emphasizing the role independent agencies play in driving the media boom and supporting the SME ecosystem, with a focus on agility and brand adaptation. It also stressed the importance of shifting from vanity metrics to real growth metrics, balancing debt and equity, and the need for agencies to evolve as strategic partners, not just implementation partners, to meet the expectations of brands and investors.
MRSI’s Ebu Issac delivered a keynote on “Understanding the Indian Phygital Consumer,” while Explurger’s head of monetisation and business partnerships Jwala Kumar who spoke on "EMERGE with Impact: Redefining Social Engagement Through Explurger’s Innovation."
The panel on "The Future of Ads: Independent Agencies and Phygital Trends" featured experts from technology platforms, clients, and agencies, including Dev Batra (Lyxel&Flamingo), Tejas Chaudhari (Unilever), Kunal Joshi (Enormous), Amaresh Godbole (Publicis Groupe), Rahul Dutta (Microsoft), and Kaustubh Pawar (DSP Mutual). Key takeaways included the rising importance of integrating digital and physical experiences, with phygital here to stay, the full-funnel phygital and omnichannel strategies, and the advent of AR and MR in enhancing these experiences, emphasizing the need for businesses to plan for the phygital future.
The final panel on “Thriving Independently: Adapting to tech, media shifts and competing with Giants” was closely aligned with the event's theme, and featured leaders from top independent agencies in India. Panelists included Ranjeet Kumar (Team Pumpkin), Ravikant Banka (Eggfirst Advertising), Nisha Singhania (Infectious Advertising), Harikrishnan Pillai (TheSmallBigIdea), Sowmya Iyer (DViO Digital), and Ahmed Aftab Naqvi (Gozoop), with Chirag Bhatia (Channel Factory) moderating the session. The discussion highlighted how being independent provides agencies with greater agility, flexibility, and speed, allowing them to leverage their strengths to foster a culture of innovation and gain a competitive edge both domestically and internationally.
The event concluded with the EMERGE Awards 2024, celebrating independent agency achievements. Buffalo Soldiers, DigiChefs, DViO Digital, and White Rivers Media were among the winners. A special tribute was given to advertising legends Bipin Pandit and Josy Paul. Pandit’s poetic shayari and Paul’s inspiring message on turning weaknesses into strengths left a lasting impact on the audience.
