e4m Conclave begins in Delhi with session on ad spends during slowdown

After a very enthusiastic industry response in Mumbai on June, the exchange4media Conclave 2009 kicked off in Delhi on June 5 to a packed house. The theme for the Conclave remained ‘Thriving in challenging times’. The day-long Conclave is presented by Star News and powered by Hindustan Times. Yuva is the associate sponsor for the event. The event partner is Encompass.

The first session of the day on ‘From Available to Accountable: Ad Spends Movement between Mediums in Slowdown’ saw a distinguished panel comprising Abraham Thomas, COO, Red FM; Rajat Sethi, Executive Director, Reader’s Digest; Rohit Sharma, COO, Zapak; Sandeep Lakhina, COO, Starcom Worldwide - South Asia; and Sudha Natrajan, President and COO, Lintas Media Group. The session was moderated by Praveen Tripathi, CEO, Hansa Consulting.

This was followed by a Macro Session on how the media should respond to clients’ needs in the current environment. This session was moderated by Amit Agnihotri, Co-founder and Director, exchange4media Group. The session speakers included CVL Srinivas, Director - North, Times Private Treaties; KC Jacob, VP, The Muthoot Group; and Shruti Bajpai, Country Manager, HBO, South Asia.

Both sessions had the audience listening to the discussions in rapt attention.

Going forward, post-lunch there will be a session on ‘What comes first: Media or the Message’; a special address by Suhel Seth, CEO, Counselage, on ‘Changing rules of Media Accountability’; besides a special session on ‘Lessons from Recession: Broadcaster’s perspective’.

Wrapping the day’s proceedings will be an hour-long CEO Roundtable from 5.20 pm to 6.20 pm, which will see the distinguished panel discuss on ‘From it’s time to grow to it’s time to grow up’.

This will be followed by a Vote of Thanks.