MAM
AdAsia to focus on ‘Uncertainty: The New Certainty’
NEW DELHI: Around 1200 delegates are expected to converge in the Indian capital to hear 50 of the world’s top experts in the world of marketing, media and advertising at the 27th edition of AdAsia 2011 being held in India after a gap of eight years.
Asia’s biggest Marketing, Media and Advertising Congress, AdAsia will be held from 31 October to 3 November on the theme of ‘Uncertainty: the new Certainty’ and will have around 18 sessions on various subjects apart from the grand opening and closing ceremonies. The speakers will include around 45 from overseas.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni will inaugurate the meet and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit is expected to speak.
The last Congress hosted by India was in 2003 in the pink city of Jaipur and was considered a landmark event. AdAsia 2011 is being organised under the aegis of the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA).
The theme “Uncertainty: The New Certainty” underlines the dynamic world that is currently at an inflection point witnessing a realignment of global economic leadership. Post the global meltdown, Asia leads the world on the path of recovery, thus attracting attention from the world over.
There is a new paradigm as far as Asia is concerned, and the one thing that is certain is uncertainty, according to Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO & MD, Mudra Group and Chairman, AdAsia 2011.
Brands are on an experimental spree through multi-layered communication channels right from Twitter, Facebook to mobiles and micro-blogging as the new evolving mediums. Mastering this ever-evolving operating environment and its impact on business is gaining critical significance to long-term sustainability. AdAsia 2011 will not only chronicle the changes but also provide a glimpse of impending opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in this dynamic field of advertising and marketing.
The sessions will be conducted by global stalwarts of the Corporate, Marketing, Advertising Media & Communications community that will explore the business ecosystem and understand the nature of disruption. Time tested tools which have never failed the industry along with new tools, methods, applications and ever booming digital medium will be discussed in detail.
“With unprecedented tectonic changes impacting the way one does business, AdAsia 2011 is a platform which not only chronicles the changes, but also provides a glimpse of what opportunities and challenges await us. This is especially relevant as 2011 sees the world – after having weathered the financial tsunami – emerging from the effects of the global meltdown. Moreover, with Asia broadly, and India specifically, leading this global recovery, the centre of gravity is changing. If, in the 20th century, the world looked at the West for innovation and progress, in the 21st century, everyone’s attention is on Asia,” Kamath said at a press meet here.
Indian Newspaper Society Deputy President Ashish Bagga stressed that this was a knowledge-sharing platform and not a business meet, though he admitted some networking may lead to business later.
Some of the subjects being taken up are: Decoding the New Age Consumer, Future of Management, From Chat rooms to Twitter, Media Fragmentation – How to Navigate through traffic?, Disruptive Branding / Away from Herd Marketing, Art of Storytelling in Multi-screen environment, Building Brands in a Trust Deficit World, Global Ethos: Managing Unpredictability across circumstances of Life & Business, and The Pursuit of Big Ideas in the Age of Now.
Some of the speakers are: Indra Nooyi – Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo; A. Salman Amin – Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, PepsiCo; Chris Thomas – Chairman and CEO of BBDO in Asia, Middle East and Africa & Chairman of Proximity Worldwide; Anna Bernasek, Writer and Journalist; Nitin Paranjpe, CEO & MD, Hindustan Unilever Limited & EVP South Asia, Unilever; Harish Manwani, COO, Unilever; Arvind Rajan, Managing Director and Vice President of Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) at LinkedIn; Ronda Carnegie, Head of Global Partnerships at TED; Kate Day, Communities Editor, Daily Telegraph Online; Ram Charan – Business Consultant, Speaker and Author; Akira Kagami – Executive Advisor & Global Executive Creative Advisor, Dentsu Inc.; Thirasak Tanapatanakul – Worldwide Chairman, Creative Juice; Duncan Goose – Founder & Managing Director, Global Ethics Limited; Joseph V. Tripodi – Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer, The Coca-Cola Company; Kitty Lun – Chairman & CEO, Lowe China; Koichi Yamamoto – General Manager, Global Solutions Center, Dentsu Inc.; Michael I. Roth – Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Interpublic; Pankaj Ghemawat – Global Strategist, Professor, Author and Speaker; Irfan Mustafa – Chief Leadership Development Officer, Yum! Brands Inc. & Managing Director, Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and Turkey, Yum! Restaurants International; and Piyush Pandey – Executive Chairman and Creative Director, South Asia, Ogilvy & Mather India.
Taiwan and Thailand are to pitch to hold the AdAsia 2015.
Brands
33 per cent of women believe the salary scale is rigged: Naukri report
Voices @ Work study finds rising calls for equal pay audits and lingering bias
MUMBAI: Progress may be visible in India’s workplaces, but many women still feel the need to tread carefully. A new report by Naukri reveals that one in two women hesitate to disclose marriage or maternity plans during job interviews, worried that such information could influence hiring decisions.
The findings come from the second edition of Naukri’s annual Voices @ Work International Women’s Day report, titled “What Women Professionals Want.” Drawing insights from more than 50,000 women across over 50 industries, the survey sheds light on evolving workplace aspirations alongside the biases that continue to hold women back.
One of the report’s most striking insights is the growing demand for equal pay audits. The share of women calling for regular pay parity checks has climbed to 27 per cent this year, up from 19 per cent a year ago. The demand now stands alongside menstrual leave as the most sought after workplace policy.
Interestingly, the call for pay transparency grows louder higher up the income ladder. Nearly half of women earning between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore annually say equal pay audits are a priority, suggesting that pay gaps become more visible as women move up the career ladder.
At the same time, confidence and ambition appear to be rising. About 83 per cent of women say they feel encouraged to pursue leadership roles, a significant jump from 66 per cent last year. Cities in southern India appear particularly supportive, with Hyderabad leading the way as 86 per cent of respondents there reported encouragement to step into leadership positions. The education sector recorded the highest sense of encouragement at 87 per cent.
Yet the report also highlights a growing trust deficit around pay equity. Nearly one in three women, or 33 per cent, say they do not believe men and women are paid equally at their workplace. That figure has risen from 25 per cent last year, pointing to widening perceptions of disparity as careers progress.
Bias in hiring and promotions continues to be the biggest hurdle. About 42 per cent of respondents say workplace bias is the main challenge for women from diverse backgrounds. The concern is consistent across major metros, with Chennai and Delhi NCR reporting similar levels.
Reluctance to discuss personal milestones during hiring processes is also widespread. While 34 per cent overall said they hesitate to share marriage or maternity plans in interviews, the anxiety increases with experience. Among professionals with 10 to 15 years of work experience, the figure rises to 40 per cent.
Info Edge group CMO Sumeet Singh, said the data reflects both progress and unfinished work. “Behind every data point in this report is a woman who is ambitious. The fact that 83 per cent feel encouraged to lead is something to celebrate. However, the fact that one in two still hide their marriage or maternity plans in interviews tells us the work is far from done. As India’s leading career platform, it felt not just important but necessary for us to shine a light on these gaps through the second edition of our report,” he said.
The report suggests that while ambition among women professionals is growing, structural changes around pay transparency, fair hiring and supportive policies will be key if workplaces hope to keep pace.
