MAM
Melting to a fabulous show
MUMBAI: After literally ‘Melting’ for two days with sessions going around at all times, Zee Melt 2015 in association with GroupM was a resounding success. Speakers from across the globe flew down to address audiences with their expertise.
Not only that, the event was trending on Twitter on day one. With agencies having workshops and stalls to showcase their work to the masses, Zee Melt 2015 was possibly one of the most memorable events in town.
The two day festival of creativity in advertising and marketing created by Kyoorius in partnership with Zee, GroupM and D&AD offered delegates a plethora of choices of events, such as workshops, seminars, showcases and the main conference.
Kinetic Future Citizens was centred around understanding the consumers of the future – their needs, wants and behaviours. Kinetic Future Citizens engaged the delegates with a different experience. The concept was simple. One had to pedal a cycle and the animation on the TV would start playing. A technology, which understands the future of consumers and the environment.
Meanwhile, Happy Finish created a lot of buzz with its augmented reality experience. It made delegates enter the virtual world in their world and do many things like bring a car alive when it is actually not present.
Metalworks by Maxus, on one hand, through its Provolv Cricket wearable technology kit gave delegates a player performance cricket match experience, while Mindshare had an interactive marketing Purple Box and Loop Room.
The industry appreciated the work and initiatives taken at Zee Melt 2015. Here is a look at what some of them had to say:
Madison World chairman Sam Balsara tells Indiantelevision.com, “I could not attend much of the sessions, but I did attend Martin Sorrell’s and it was a great one. The initiative is a good one and in the near future more and more such events are likely to emerge. It was a fabulous show and I look forward to more years of Melt 2015.”
Ogilvy & Mather former ECD Abhijit Awasthi summed it up in two words – “It’s fabulous.”
BBDO India chief creative officer Josy Paul said, “I enjoyed the MELT experience. I attended some of the seminars on Day one and the awards night on Day two. I thought the turnout and energy was fantastic. Great idea to have it at the Nehru centre. Never realized the place had so many auditoriums and seminar rooms. This created an integrated well knit feeling. It also helped that the location was close to our office.”
He adds, “The teams from our office who attended both the days were singing praises of the workshops.They are keen to cascade their learning to the rest of the office. Congratulations to the organizers for bringing together such a diverse set of speakers across so many different disciplines and fields of communication and technology. What’s great is that these new influences are people, ideas and actions that we are not exposed to sitting in our offices. So the interactions were most rewarding.”
Advertising Club chief operating officer Bipin Pandit said, “We are eventually from the same fraternity and it was a good initiative.”
MAM
Edelman elevates Siddharth Panicker to head of Mumbai office
Financial services veteran steps up after nearly 15 years at the firm
MUMBAI: Edelman has elevated Siddharth Panicker to head of its Mumbai office, promoting a long-serving leader who has spent nearly 15 years building the firm’s financial services franchise in India.
Panicker has held a series of senior roles at Edelman, including associate vice president, head – financial services, and VP & head – financial services. In these positions, he led the development of the firm’s financial services practice, advising C-suite clients across investment banking, private equity, NBFCs, fintech, disputes, litigation and life insurance.
The promotion reflects his track record in corporate and financial communications, strategic counsel and leadership, as Mumbai remains a central hub for India’s financial and professional services sectors.
Earlier in his career, Panicker gained industry exposure through internships at Nalco Water, part of Ecolab, and MSL India.
His elevation underlines Edelman’s focus on leadership continuity and deep sector expertise as clients navigate increasingly complex regulatory, reputational and market environments.
