MAM
How the experiential & marketing Wowed them in 2016
MUMBAI: Last weekend was celebration time for the entire events and experiential marketing ecosystem, courtesy the WOW Asia Awards – organized by EventFAQs – which were held in New Delhi’s AeroCity. The event saw keynotes and panel discussions involving leaders in the events and marketing space both in India and Asia, numbering around 100. The purpose of the Wow Asia Awards and Summit: to help give a leg up to this rapidly expanding prong of marketing.
The Wow Asia Awards which were part of the proceedings from 23-25 saw Encompass Events taking home 16 metals followed closely by Laqshya Live Experiences that won 15 and Percept Group that won 8 metals. Wizcraft International and Encompass both won the maximum four Golds at the awards.
An agency which won two silver awards in the experiential marketing category is Vritti Media for its activities done during the Nashik Kumbh Mela for GoodKnight FastCard (small budget on ground promotion) and Emami Navratna Oil (rural activation).
Vritti director sales and marketing Rajesh Radhakrishnan says that it is a high for his company as the competition at the WoW Awards is quite tough. Says he?: “ The nominations are at par with standards, and the winning margin is quite thin. These awards underline the capabilities of Team Vritti of handling big events in a grand way”
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
