Given the current economic slowdown in the country, decoding growth in the midst of a slump was the hot topic under consideration at MediaCom’s inaugural flagship event, Blink.

Media communications company MediaCom’s thought leadership and innovation lab Blink is designed to help marketers understand better and leverage the latest media and marketing trends, insights, innovations and opportunities.

At an event in Mumbai, speakers elaborated on the importance of keeping the brand top-of-mind and making it immune to economic headwinds.

Speaking on whether the promise of e-commerce would survive a slowdown, Josh Gallagher, Chief Product Officer, APAC, at MediaCom, said brands that lean in to the growth of e-retail would be best equipped to face the headwinds of an economic slowdown. However, he rushed in to add, what would be an undeniable opportunity for one brand could also be its biggest threat, and that marketers need to evaluate how much they were willing to give up in the pursuit of more sales.

Noting that the frictionless buying experience offered by the new retail giants resonates with consumers who now have greater access to brands and increased purchasing power, Gallagher said it was daunting how a particular brand could survive, “when you don’t own your data, when an algorithm dictates brand preference and when the brand you built is housed inside a walled garden.”

The event saw a detailed session on ‘Laws of Growth’ by keynote speaker Byron Sharp, Marketing Science Professor, and Director of Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, Australia. Speakers also elaborated on how to keep brands top-of-algorithm. Nihar Das, Overall Lead, Borderless WPP Team, shared insights on how to ‘Tackle the slowdown through customised growth models.’

Bianca Best, Global Managing Director of Blink & Strategic Partnerships, MediaCom, said in the volatile and ever-evolving landscape that brands operate in today, there was an urgent need to trial innovation.

Navin Khemka, CEO, MediaCom South Asia, said since the media landscape has changed drastically, exchange of trends and ideas globally has become more relevant than ever. Preeti Reddy, CEO, South Asia at Kantar-Insights, spoke about how traditional growth formulas were no longer working and how growth was getting harder to find and maintain.

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