Heavyweight speakers, Bollywood style razzmatazz, and a gimmicky gala evening where everyone will have to turn out in their national costumes will mark Ad Asia 2011 to be held in Delhi in end-October.
Celebrity leadership coach Ram Charan and global strategist Pankaj Ghemawat, the top leadership teams from firms such as Pepsi, Coco-Cola, Unilever and Kraft Foods, as well as big names from the advertising world, including Michael Roth, CEO, Interpublic, are expected to speak at the big billings ad industry event that returns to India after eight years.
Over three days, marketers and creative heads will chew over the theme ‘Uncertainty is the new certainty,' discussing the need for the reinvention of brands and businesses, take a peek at what the New Age Consumer is like and brainstorm over how the Asian Tiger can lead the next creative renaissance.
“We decided on the theme two years ago following the global recession, but it's more relevant than ever today. With the future so unclear, the only certainty today is that marketers will have to plan for uncertainty,” said Mr Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO and Managing Director, Mudra, who is on the organising committee of the event.
But it won't be all business and learnings with plans afoot to recreate the sights, sounds and flavours of old Delhi at the venue, the Taj Palace in Delhi.
The performances will include the Manganiyar Seduction that promises a spectacular crescendo at the end.
Film stars Mr Shahrukh Khan and Mr Amitabh Bachchan might also participate in the event.
The organisers also unveiled two contests over Twitter and Facebook today. The best 10-slide presentation on ‘uncertainty' on Facebook and the best 40-word tweet (Twitter handle AdAsia2011) on the theme would get free registrations to the event, which would otherwise cost Rs 40,000 to attend.