Mumbai: We’ve heard a lot about experiential marketing, and with strategic and technological prowess getting stronger with each passing day, it is undoubtedly evolving into becoming the talk of the town.
Launched in 2019, XP&D is a new age experiential and digital platform.
As a people platform, XP&D seeks to harness two decades of experience in events and activation and the potential of the ‘new data powered smart and social last mile’. The product platform blends offline to online to offline (O2O2O) at its core – to deliver beyond only on the ground or digital. Their collaborative business platform is built for the sharing economy bringing specialist partners.
For clients, XP&D aims to bridge the power of experiences and the scale of smartphones, social and digital to drive business.
XP&D drives the change; where experiences live beyond events. XP&D leads transformation in outreach; building digital communities where Facebook and Twitter don’t have relevance. Most importantly, XP&D brings to all digital platforms – the power and reality of human experience.
With key offices in Gurgaon & Mumbai, and a partner network within India and across the world, XP&D works with India’s biggest brands and organisations including Hyundai, Asian Paints, Kia Motors, BMW, Dream11, BCCI and Mercedes, amongst others.
XP&D CEO Chanda Singh leads the company. In 2019, Singh moved on from Encompass to start her own venture, XP&D. Old clients and colleagues who believed in her, came on board and gave XP&D a much-needed boost. Today, Singh has made XP&D into a talk-of-the-industry, and with her relentless passion she is driving her company and teams to deliver the best.
Over the years Singh had been at the forefront of Geometry Encompass’ transformation. From being an experiential expert, she had seamlessly transitioned into leading teams in shopper marketing, rural activations and expanding the client width and depth of relationships to focus on more strategic forays. Her key accomplishments had been to execute eight IPL opening ceremonies in a span of ten days - where no one dared to even attempt it, she made it happen. Apart from this, she has also executed 36th National Games Opening ceremony, Hockey World Cup Opening Ceremony and other large scale events ushering in the new era of experiential experiences.
She is the mind behind bringing true global legends like Andre Agassi and Michael Phelps to India for a lifetime experience for the partners associated with True North.
Singh always leads from the front, keeping her people at the heart of her growth too. She is the nerve centre of XP&D, orchestrating the complex day-to-day functioning of the company.
In an interaction with Indiantelevision.com, XP&D CEO Chanda Singh talks about the experiential marketing firm, the O2O2O model and much more.
Edited excerpts:
On the journey of XP&D
The journey that XP&D has had over the past few years has been long and winding. We've worked with incredible clients, like Mercedes, BMW, the BCCI, Dior, Asian Paints, and many more, creating jaw-dropping experiences for all who attend their events. But we're not done yet! We're always looking for the next big project, and I'm excited about what we're going to create!
On what prompted you to set up XP&D
The goal for XP&D was to set up an experiential marketing company that would be on par, and eventually even better, than some of the top players in the world! It's the reason the team and I wake up in the morning—to get out there and create something that no one has ever seen before, and to put a smile on people's faces while we're at it.
On the kind of market gap that you sought to fill with XP&D
When we ventured into the experiential space, we noticed a general need for events that had elements of interactivity, engagement, and enthralling audiences. So with the events we do at XP&D, our goal is, first and foremost, to create an unforgettable experience for all those in attendance by making them a part of the show! Additionally, we've championed the O2O2O model (Online-to-Offline-to-Online or Offline-to-Online-to-Offline), which serves as a way to keep people engaged even after our events are over.
On being a woman entrepreneur in a patriarchal society, with not many Indian women at the C-suite level or in decision-making positions
At the end of the day, it's about loving what you do, and I really enjoy what I do with every fiber of my being. So no matter what ladder I have to climb or what stones I have to leap over, I'm going to keep doing what puts a smile on my face!
On the evolution of experiential marketing over the decades
Experiential has always been about exactly that: the experience. So over the past decades, every new invention, innovation, and development that has contributed to enhancing an experience has enhanced experiential marketing. Some of the most notable changes we've seen over the ages have been Web 2.0 taking offline to online, and today with Web 3.0, we're going from online to the Metaverse, our two primary models in recent years, O2O2O and O2O2M.
On your thoughts about events in the time of Metaverse
The Metaverse of today presents a huge opportunity to enhance experiences with the power of technology. Using AR, VR, and XR systems, the various Metaverse platforms have created new ways to conceptualise experiences that delight audiences. As for offline events, there exists a vast potential for integrations, primarily through our O2O2M model, where we create experiences that span Offline, Web 2, and Web 3!
Events today need to be new, data-powered, smart, and social to effectively reach the last mile – please elaborate on this.
In any form of communication, it's essential that our message reaches as many people as possible, which includes those with little access and those living in the last mile. As such, we've been required to innovate, getting more innovative with our communications and using every tool at our disposal to reach out to every one of them.
On the similarity between Indian and international experiential marketing events
As far as similarities go, experiences are always tailored to the audiences they seek to entertain, entrance, and enthral. In that regard, every event shares the same objective: to leave a lasting impression in people's minds while creating an impact. The significant differences lie in the audiences and how we can best tailor stories to different groups.
On how digital and experiential marketing are going to prove to be a great and effective concoction in the realm of events
We live in a digital world where people spend more time staring at the small screen than the big screen. So to create all encapsulating events, harmony must be created between the digital and real worlds. Through our O2O2O model, we have been developing experiences that extend from offline to online and vice versa to create a balance between the two and hold our audience's attention for as long as we can.
Your vision for XP&D
XP&D's future is centred around creating an impact for people to look at the things we do and say, "Wow, I wonder who did that!" In doing so, we want to create engaging experiences across platforms and mediums, reach out to as many people as possible, and create memories that last a lifetime.
