Mumbai: Xaxis India’s first DeViate Summit, had the country’s top advertising and marketing professionals engage in thought provoking discussions of issues including data-driven creativity in the face of new technology, the future of customer engagement and other emerging media channels. DeViate aims to inspire agencies and clients to keep up with the curve and continually operate at the leading edge of what is making advertising relevant.
Commenting on the same Bharat Khatri, Country Lead, Xaxis India said; At DeViate we are proud to host the biggest meeting of the digital community in India. Technology, today is playing a vital role in every marketing campaign. We hope our endeavor DeViate will be fruitful. I am thankful to all the participants who shared their valuable insights with us at the summit.”
Aditi Anand, Brand and Media Head, HMD Global – Nokia: “I think the agenda is very well curated. I really liked the Spotify session in terms of knowledge and INCA bot session, those were the highlights for me. I think there were a lot of good topics being discussed today. Some of these are very thought provoking. We’ve been thinking about them for a long time. There are of course no easy answers, but good debates and discussions over all.”
The summit featured 14 panel discussions and presentations beginning with welcome remarks from Xaxis India Country Lead Bharat Khatri and Xaxis APAC CEO Arshan Saha. The event was filled with stimulating, insightful conversations and presentations from industry-leading experts including Babita Baruah, Managing Partner, GTB, Vikram Chande, Head of Adobe Advertising Cloud, Adobe India and Sai Narayan, CMO, Paisabazaar among others.
Commenting on the same Ms. Natasha Kapur, National Digital Head, Wavemaker said; “I think DeViate has really been exciting if you want to know anything about programmatic advertising trends then this is the forum. No one knows it better than Xaxis. Whether you talk about new voice activated ads or wearables, AI, digital out of home, the entire programmatic advertising stack. The single view journey of a consumer and how it has been powered by technology Xaxis DeViate is the place to be. The panel discussions were interesting about how to eliminate silos, the panel on OTT that then threw light on the emerging new ecosystem in digital, of essentially television broadcasters now on your mobile screen. DeViate is a delightful date with programmatic.”
Some of the other speakers at DeViate were
- Arjun Kolday, Head of Sales, Spotify India
- Anirudh Sharma, Inventor, Air-Ink
- Gulab Patil, Founder & CEO, Lemma
- Gulshan Verma, SVP & Head of Client and Agency, Hotstar
- Ria Sharma, Founder, Make Love not Scars
- Tania Singh, CEO, Make Love Not Scars
Bhavana Mittal, VP- Media and Digital, RPSG: “DeViate been a very interesting event. They’ve been a lot of insights about how things are going to be different in the future. You’ve seen it in Black Mirror and other TV shows, but when somebody at the stature of Xaxis puts it up on stage and says this is what the future is looking like – it feels far more real and far more exciting.”
Following the success of the DeViate Singapore events in 2018 and 2019, Xaxis expanded its Innovation Summit series to the Indian market where programmatic is experiencing rapid growth. The DeViate event series has also launched in LATAM and EMEA.
Vinod Thadani, Chief Digital Officer – South Asia, Mindshare: “I love the energy here. One of the best sessions for me was when Rishabha Nayyar came onto stage and spoke about numerous insights. It was a great presentation. Another thing I loved about this day is that there are partners, publishers, agencies – all are talking about their experiences. Very few such events actually happen when clients take part in fireside chats where they tell you what they want or need, the agencies give you an insight into their world, platforms tell you what they can offer – so it’s a great learning experience for me personally. More sessions like this need to happen and I expect Xaxis DeViate 2020 to be one of the best events next year as well.”
Xaxis APAC CEO Arshan Saha said, “The DeViate summit is an immersive event. A playground for technology and media communities to assemble and share new ideas. It is also a great opportunity to make contacts, build relationships and define innovative strategies.”
In line with WPP’s sustainability pledge to phase out single use plastics by 2020, both DeViate Singapore and India are single use plastic free. All food and drinks are served in glassware, all food ingredients are sustainably sourced wherever possible and event carpentry are predominantly made from natural or recycled materials. All non-food items will also be repurposed after the event. DeViate India also strives for minimal waste, which means that there will be no brochures/pamphlets and only reusable items in the swag pack.
Commenting on the same Roshan Abbas Media entrepreneur, TV host and Managing Director Geometry and Encompass said; “To have an innovation summit is really the need of the times. It is only by ‘deviating’ from the norm can we achieve something. I love the fact that they have created deviations that are so important, while we are at a digital innovation summit having a human face is equally important. Xaxis has demonstrated the same by showing a human face to sustainability.”
