On Nov 4-5, I was at the World Brand Congress! It was held in Mumbai at the great Taj Lands End Hotel. The World Brand congress is a group of some of the best marketing brains that gather from all over the world. Check it out here!

http://www.worldbrandcongress.com/index.html

The meeting was unlike any that I have been to before! The award evening brought people from multiple countries. It was jazzy and focused on the value of marketing. The energy was enough to last a year!

There were some great sessions including the use of Radio in India (millions and millions of listeners!) and other sessions included Brand Valuation, top trends in consumers in India, and marketing in the down economy!

Interesting on consumer trends in India! Here are the top 10 that I took down and it is interesting to see how many are relevant WW not just in India!

  • Sandwich: Today’s generation is caught taking care of kids and parents
  • Focus on what’s best for their children. not that the cost of school for one child increased at 2x the rate of inflation in India with some families spending over 50% of their income on education.
  • Age as an identify. “60 is the new 16”
  • “I” dentity switching to “E”dentity with the new focus on social media.
  • “me” culture
  • Self perservation
  • Time is #1 currency
  • No frills chic
  • Having enough is always ahead of you!
  • Don’t share kids lives, they live it!

A Big thanks to Dr R.L Bhatia who was a wonderful host of the conference! Thank you for your honor that you bestowed on me as the brand leader of the year along with my peers! It was amazing!