Promax is the global association for the entertainment marketing industry, representing thousands of people who create, market, and distribute content in media. They foster community, creativity, and inspiration to drive bottom-line results.
Since 1997, Promax has honoured creativity, innovation, and storytelling in the media and entertainment industry. Given the ‘new normal, they have embarked on a new interesting journey with the first Promax India Regional Conference & Awards 2021.
In conversation with Medianews4u, Rajika Mittra, Country Head & Strategic Partnerships (India, Hong Kong & Philippines), Promax Asia PTE Ltd spoke about Promax India, regional awards and objectives, and more.
Excerpts:
Speaking on the launch of Promax India and its objectives, Rajika said, “Promax’s global mission and vision has been to lead the global community of marketers and creatives in the media & entertainment industry, by celebrating excellence, driving talent & industry development, and connecting people. In terms of generating local content across media platforms, be it Films, TV, Radio and Digital (OTT), India has been a very large market. Our association with India started in 1997 with Promax India, followed by our foray into Radio in 2006 with the India Radio Forum, then OTT Digital Re-Invent in 2020 and now Promax India Regional in 2021.”
She added, “It has been our constant endeavour to grow the community and stay true to our commitment of training, educating, and imparting knowledge by coming together to discuss, share and explore topics and opportunities impacting the industry. We have a vast network of international speakers that bring forth a world of inspiration and growth.”
Elaborating on the Promax India Regional Conference & Awards and the innovative ideas behind it, Rajika said, “According to the latest Census; there are 22 official languages, 121 languages and more than 19,500 mother tongues spoken in India, which has a population of 121 crore. Across the entire media and marketing landscape in India today, it is the regional language markets — that are being considered the biggest high-growth areas. Multiple regional platforms are wooing Indian audiences with original, local, and culture-specific content.”
She continued, “With the Rise of the Regional, there has always been a need to bring people together. We are always looking for opportunities that benefit the community and enhance their knowledge and career goals. We invest in understanding the needs of the people and solicit feedback. There was a gap in the market and based on all the feedback received. We are super excited to present the 1st edition of Promax India Regional on Friday, 11th of June.”
“Due to the limitations of hosting a live event, we have tried our best to get an incredibly strong line-up of speakers, from FMCG to Media to take us through their thoughts and insights on the rise of regional content, grow newer audiences, uncover the latest trends and unfold the new set of rules in the regional story of Media & Entertainment. The Promax Awards is viewed as the Ultimate Accolade for today’s broadcast, marketing and promotion. We have introduced 25 categories across all regions from India. The teams have worked extremely hard to push boundaries in preparing some fantastic works for the Awards. We wanted to celebrate their hard work and award the teams for their outstanding achievements in entertainment, marketing and design,” she added.
Talking about the jury for the first-ever regional awards of Promax India, Rajika said, “We are very fortunate to have many Jurors from all over – India and global to help judge the awards – it will help bring the regional brands to the forefront, a deep understanding of different regions and their preferences.”
Speaking about the challenges faced during the event launch, she said, “Bringing the best international speakers, industry networking sessions, and engaging workshops were always a part of all our Promax events globally. With the COVID-19 Pandemic, all that changed, and we had to adapt very quickly to transforming into the digital space. The awards need a lot more pre-planning, and a lot of time and effort is spent on putting together all the various components of the awards show to ensure that it is broadcast like a LIVE event.”
She continued, “Lots more coordination and many pre-recorded video shoots combined with inputs from many regions take a lot of time. Added to this, we do several tech runs to ensure no glitches, interruptions etc. Despite all this, we are also dependent on the basics – the internet glitches while it is broadcast, bandwidth issues, resolution issues that are beyond our control at times.”
Speaking about the industry’s responses about the Promax India Regional Awards, Rajika said, “We understand – India’s diversity and scale will continue to fuel the growth of Regionalism. This is the first time that a Regional Awards is being held in India at this scale. The response from the industry has been overwhelming given that there has been a phenomenal growth in the OTT space and the need for quality content to keep audiences engaged.”
“The community is growing, and with the Regional Awards, the teams feel empowered to showcase their best works which probably gets lost somewhere when competing with English & Hindi shows. Dedicated ownership of the Regional awards gained massive popularity amongst the teams, the regional content has been an enlightening experience for the Jury, where they get to see so much talent coming from all corners of India, and for the speakers, the dynamics in storytelling, innovative trends and strategy is a gamechanger,” she added.
The first edition of Promax India Regional Conference & Awards has an eminent sponsorship lineup.
Speaking about managing to get sponsorships and partnerships in a tough market, Rajika said, “To run any show – we need revenue! We are extremely fortunate that we have the valuable support of our sponsors and partners, who have helped us in our journey and did not stop believing in us. Given the pandemic, we were quick to adapt and go digital.”
She added, “Our association with India is a long one, and Promax is regarded and respected in the Media and Entertainment industry for putting together international quality Conferences and Awards. We are honoured and extremely grateful that our sponsors and partners have stood by us and supported us through these callous times.”
Speaking about the hopes and expectations about the Promax India Regional Awards, She said “This is the first year that we are embarking on the Promax India Regional Awards. Despite being digital, the response from the industry has been fantastic. With regional content growing, with more regional players coming into the market, I see this award becoming bigger and better with each passing year.”
“Once things are back to normal, these Awards will open the doors for a bigger stage – a full-on conference bringing in the best of the industry together to share ideas, network and exchange best practices and learnings, keeping in tune with Promax’s mission and commitment.,” Rajika concluded.
