Event Coverage
Indian Digital BrandFest 2023: Accelerating Modern Marketing Practices
Mumbai: The 3rd edition of Indian Digital BrandFest 2023 kicked off and had brands, advertisers, and tech platforms discuss all these trends and more. The summit looked at the latest trends driving the change in consumer behaviour and how it has impacted the industry’s growth.
Whether it was a boom in influencer marketing or the popularity of short video platforms, brands did not hesitate to jump onto the digital bandwagon to up their marketing game. So Indian television.com is taking this opportunity to bring a host of industry experts together under one roof to discuss all these new trends shaping the future.
The panellists for this session were HDFC Bank VP- growth marketing & martech Deepak Oram, Pernod Ricard India lead digital communications Shetanshu Dixit, Titan Company Ltd e-commerce channel head-watches category Afzal Hussain, The Sleep Company CMO Ripal Chopda, MiQ global commercial board member Siddharth Dabhade, Pocket Aces senior VP and clout & head of strategy Vinay Pillai. The session chair for this panel was Ernst & Young LLP marketing advisory services & partner Amiya Swarup.
Swarup started the session by saying how marketing practices have evolved over 4-5 years and how digital mix in an overall medium spends has increased from less than 2 per cent to over 20-30 per cent for many other brands. He questions the panellists on how modern marketing has changed over the last few years and the ecosystem over the allocation of marketing budget in terms of skill and re-organisation.
Dabhade said, “Data is playing a very important role as digital channels have increased a lot. The digital footprint has increased in marketing and brands as well. So companies and brands are collecting a lot of data and then trying to make sense of the data they are collecting. The biggest trend we are seeing from a media perspective is that offline TV is going digital as well. All the channels will become digital as we go along with that, more data will go in and from there, AI will start playing a very big role in marketing.”
Dikshit said, “It has more to do with tracking. There’s a separate in-house created tool, to track the entire distribution to the last mile. I think there are a lot of in-house specialist roles created today. Gone are the days when there was one person doing all”
Oram replied by saying, “Software has now become such an important part of our marketeer’s life. It is. You can’t survive without it.”
Pillai commented, “If you avoid content, you might completely miss out on building a brand and building a perception of your brand. This is where content marketing is not just crucial, it is essential.
Chopda added on by saying,”Your cost per reach or your cost of acquisition is dependent on the number of people at the end of the day you want to acquire or at the end of the year. And that’s how your data works with you.”
Hussain said, “E-commerce is seen as a garden of growth and possibilities, which is largely true, but it’s also a graveyard.”
Swarup concluded the session by saying he was positive about how upcoming brands are doing in data and technology and continue to enable it in marketeer’s lives.
Event Coverage
Anime India announces Amazon MX Player as co-presenting partner for Anime India Kolkata 2026
MUMBAI: Riding high on the success of its blockbuster Mumbai debut, Anime India is accelerating its nationwide expansion with the announcement of Amazon MX Player as the co-presenting partner for Anime India Kolkata. The partnership marks a significant step forward in the festival’s mission to deliver large-scale, accessible, and fan-first anime experiences across the country.
Scheduled for 14 and 15 February 2026 at the iconic Biswa Bangla Mela Prangan, Anime India Kolkata will launch the first regional chapter of what is set to be a year-long, multi-city tour. As the curtain-raiser for the 2026 circuit, the Kolkata edition aims to fuse the energy of global Japanese pop culture with India’s fast-growing community of anime, manga, and pop-culture fans.
A household name in digital entertainment, Amazon MX Player brings unmatched reach and cultural relevance to the Anime India platform. With its expanding focus on anime and youth-driven content, Amazon MX Player’s involvement as co-presenting partner reinforces Anime India’s vision of making anime culture more inclusive breaking barriers of language, geography, and accessibility to connect with fans nationwide.
Anime India Kolkata 2026 will showcase cosplay competitions, interactive zones led by the Indian Gunpla Community, India-39 Vocaloid Community, The Japan Curry, and Adda-o-Otaku by The Otaku Guild. Fans can join tournaments across fighting games, Pokémon VGC, and more. Acclaimed Japanese director Susumu Mitsunaka (Haikyu!!) will attend as guest of honour, appearing in panels and live sessions. Positioned as an immersive celebration of fan culture and industry collaboration, the Kolkata edition marks the beginning of Anime India’s nationwide expansion.
Sharing their perspective on the partnership, Amazon MX Player director Aruna Daryanani expressed, “Anime in India has evolved from a niche interest into a mainstream cultural movement, driven by an increasingly engaged and passionate fanbase. At Amazon MX Player, our focus is on expanding access by bringing anime to audiences across the country for free and in multiple local languages. Our association with Anime India reflects our commitment to supporting the growth of anime in India and deepening connections with fans, while continuing to build Amazon MX Player as a trusted destination for free, high-quality entertainment.”
“Anime India Kolkata is a celebration of how anime has grown beyond entertainment into a powerful cultural and creative force. By bringing fans, creators, and industry leaders onto one shared platform, the festival is helping define the future of pop culture in India,” said Anime India co-founder and director Neha Mehta.
The debut edition of Anime India 2025 in Mumbai attracted over 29,000 fans, quickly cementing its status as a landmark celebration of anime and Japanese pop culture. Riding on this overwhelming response, the Kolkata chapter is projected to draw more than 40,000 visitors across two days, positioning it as one of the biggest anime conventions ever held in eastern India.
Anime India is focused on bringing together fans from across the country to create a truly pan-India celebration of anime, manga, cosplay, gaming, and Japanese culture. With plans to expand into four key metropolitan hubs in 2026—east (Kolkata), north (Delhi), west (Mumbai), and south (Hyderabad)—the festival seeks to deliver globally benchmarked experiences while supporting and uplifting creators, artists, and fan communities throughout India.
