The face of Marketing services has changed tremendously with the infusion of technology in the sector. Self Service Technologies for customers, in particular, have had a massive impact. While they offer exciting opportunities, they also pose new challenges for marketers. With that thought in mind Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida organised a Marketing Conclave on 26th October, 2013. With a highly relevant theme- “New Realities of Service Marketing: High Tech, High Touch, High Prop”, the session sought to offer solutions to today’s marketers.

One of the biggest highlights of the event was the list of eminent luminaries who made their presence felt. Experts from top brands like COAI, McCann Eriksson, Mahindrassg.com, Oberoi Group, Cisco Systems, Gmid Associates, YEPME, Indiatimes.com, Steria Solution and the Ministry of IT talked on the three panels lined up for the day. It was an immensely enriching and satisfying experience for students to listen as the who’s who in the world of business shared their ideas and experiences. Prof. Goswami from Jaipuria Noida inaugurated the conclave and set the tone for the panels to follow by talking about the different array of services. He said, “Services are the basis for all marketing activities and in this global environment, customers are becoming more demanding with the services they are getting.” He then talked about Digital Marketing, which has been a game changer for companies today. Alumnus Mr. Lakshya Khanna, now working with Mind Share, further elaborated on the point in his crisp address to the gathering.

The audience was thus keyed into the first session on “Service Marketing: Experience & Customer Engagement”. Mr. Rajan Mathews, Director General COAI, Mr. Manish Dewan, Vice President (Corporate) SBI Card joint venture G Capital and Mr. Vivek Gaur were the esteemed panellists for the session. Dr. Rajiv Thakur, Director, Jaipuria Noida, got things going by talking about the challenge of establishing credibility and connecting with people.

Mr. Mathews started his talk with a short story that instantly connected with the audience. He went on to stress on the importance of opportunities for growth for professionals when they choose the industry they want to work in. It was advice that students in the audience will definitely hold close to their heart. Mr. Dewan also related real life instances from his experiences at SBI and companies like Google, Nokia and Blackberry. He asserted, “Continuous evolution with new challenges is crucial. There’s a difference between Standardisation and Personalisation, which is vital.”

Mr. Gaur then described enterprise products and individual choice determined products so that the concepts were crystal clear to his audience. “Indeed, there are various barriers and triggers in service marketing. How you cope with these challenges is important,” he ended his talk and the session, to huge applause.

“Technology in Services” was the theme for the second panel discussion and Mr. Vivek Khattar, Group Business Director, IMRB set the ball rolling by offering real life examples to explain the importance of loyalty for marketers. He stated his opinion by saying, “Customer expectations and satisfaction are imperative. But today, these have become more dynamic and uncontrollable. Constant hard work and loyalty creation is important in firms to achieve your goals.”

Mr. Kishore Chakraborthy,Vice President, McCann Eriksson then surprised the audience by saying- “The game of branding is a game of emotions. Services should be earned and provided as promised.” Throughout his interactive session, Mr. Chakraborthy had the audience in splits but still managed to drive his point home. Mr. Shubranshu Negi, Director, Brand and Corporate Communication, Religare Enterprises Ltd finally formulated his own, three C framework, “Competition, Consumer and Commerce. No brand is bulletproof and digitisation is important for every brand. Today’s customers don’t get overwhelmed by big brands,” he concluded, by offering helpful advice to marketers.

Inspired by the talks and tips from experts at the venue, the audience then settled down for the third and last panel session of the day. Based on “Systems Process & Re-Invention”, the session had Mr. Ravindra Pandey, Vice President, Gopaljee Foods Ltd. talking to the audience. Mr. Pandey has more than two decades of experience in the FMCG industry and it was on display through the session, which was lapped up by the audience.

He used customer-friendly and popular product examples like Tata Sky, Tablets, and the women-friendly Scooty to strike a chord with his audience. Mr. Pandey then talked about the influx of different technologies in various fields of operations. He particularly focussed on technologies in Store Management Systems, including Hand Held Terminal, Self Edge Label and Infrared sensors at gates for security. He ended his speech and the sessions for the day with an important message, “Innovation is the key to success and as technology is changing every day, we need to keep innovating and reinventing.”

By now, the audience was definitely feeling rejuvenated and reinvigorated as Prof. Goswami took to the stage to thank the speakers and coordinators for making the event a huge success.