MUMBAI: GroupM partnered with the global social media conclave, Social Media Week in its debut outing to India. As the host of the Advertising and Marketing hub and an integral part of the advisory board, GroupM brought together marketers, publishers, influencers and thinkers discussing content, data, insight, mobile, search, platforms and innovations. Over a course of three days, the agenda sought to deep dive into all aspects of social media that affect brands today.

Day 1:

Day one of the hub with a spotlight on content focused on two pertinent questions:

Brands in The Youth & Social equation

On the high impact panel moderated by Anant Rangaswami Editor, Storyboard on CNBC TV18 and senior editor, Firstpost.com was Rishi Dogra (General Manager - Marketing Digital & Activations at PepsiCo), Alex Oberberg (Head of markets Engagement, Global Social media and Digital marketing); Nickhil Jakatdar (CEO and Founder, Vuclip); Arjun S Ravi (Co-Founder, NH7) & Social Media Influencer Abhishek Ashthna aka Gabbar Singh. From what the best in business are doing to engage a super connected demographic to what the Indian scenario lacks, this session covered it all. The panel extensively debated on where brand conversations and imagery fit in the world of a young consumer.

Socialization of Branded content

The next highlight event was an insightful conversation between Prem Panicker (Managing Editor, Yahoo India) and Anant Ranswami as they discussed the evolution of branded content through time, platforms and technology. The session focused on the changed game between content creators, carriers and consumers. Panicker spoke extensively about the changing balance of power between content producers, publishers, distributors and consumers.

Along with the session, the day saw enormous participation in the interactive workshops by GroupM Social and Search & KRDS. These were aimed at hands on and interactive learning for the topics in discussion.

Day 2:

The hub focus on day two were game changers, with discussions on data, cinema and mobile
Real time data and actionable insights

The day started with a group of industry leaders that are making numbers work harder. Listening, measurement and technology all served up in hot offering,  the panel moderated by Sandeep Pandey, Mindshare comprised of Lakshmanan Narayan, CEO & Co-Founder, Unmetric Inc; Venke Sharma, Vice President - Digital Marketing, Star TV; Kartik Sharma, Managing Partner Maxus; Ranjit Nair, CEO, Explic8. The session focused on how the best in the business are converting data into actionable marketing insights to drive value like no other. Amongst many intriguing conclusions, the way forward was making beta a strategy, real time optimization and democratic marketing structures
Cinema in the age of internet

Another aspect of the changing balance of power was brought to debate by the second panel of the day as Pragya Tiwari Editor-in-Chief, The Big Indian Picture quizzed Rohan Sippy, Film Director and Producer & Guneet Monga, CEO, Anurag Kashyap Films Pvt. Ltd on how social media has revolutionized what they do. This was a live wire discussion about all aspects of film production and marketing from creative, tech, production, marketing, censorship to criticism and box-office collections and how social helps.

Day 3:
Day three was full power Advertising hub day and also the closing day of the Social Media Week Mumbai.

The day opened with an invigorating address by Rohit Varma, Co-Founder, R SQUARE Consulting (CO) and Toby Daniels, Founder & CEO, Crowdcentric; followed by the highlight session of the day, the keynote address by CVL Srinivas, CEO, South Asia GroupM.

Speaking on the Changing Face of Agencies in the Dynamic Social Media World, Srinivas commented on the paradigms shifts of airing to sharing; digital first thought map and eventually about an adaptive and actionable marketing structure.

Amongst the many panels on the day, some of the noteworthy sessions were:

The Art & Science of Social Media Analytics

A descriptive 101 in how social insights are logical and analytical at the same time. This session by Karthik Nagarajan, National Director - Social Media & Insights, GroupM had it all - solutions, perspectives and best practices. The presentation explained the stages of insight from mere data  to an actionable logic backed inference.

The Publisher Brand and the rise of Micro-Content
This session brought to the fore the opportunity shorter forms of content brings. A pacey and heady conversation between four of the most dynamic thinkers of the media and social industry - Anant Rangaswami, Editor, Storyboard on CNBC TV18 and senior editor, Firstpost.com; Ashok Krish, Head - Web 2.0 Innovation labs, Tata Consultancy Services; Lakshmanan Narayan, CEO & Co-Founder, Unmetric; Karthik Nagarajan, National Director - Social Media & Insights, GroupM. The panel concurred how the arrival of micro content and real time responses not just meant a relook at content strategies but also a revision of the brands priorities.