Rewinding Day 3 of Goafest 2022

The 15th edition of Goafest concluded with flair after three days of knowledge seminars, conclaves by industry experts and leaders, masterclasses and parties, with the industry joyously cheering for the ABBY One Show Award winners every evening.

This was followed by a keynote delivered by Sandeep Bhushan, director and head of India GMS for Meta, who enthralled the audience with his insights on the road to the metaverse – interaction and immersion. He spoke about how the Internet evolved from a text-based platform, to photos, videos and is now looking at an immersive experience.

He added, “Metaverse will feel different. It will have continuity, your presence and will be connected across multiple devices.”

Following the insightful session was a fireside chat on diversity, equity and inclusion with Rathi Gangappa, CEO, Starcom India; Dheeraj Sinha, CEO and chief strategy officer, South Asia, Leo Burnett; Rohit Ohri, chairman and CEO FCB Ulka; and Suhela Khan, country program manager, We Empower Asia, UN Women.

The panel passionately spoke about various ways in which diversity, equity and inclusion can be imbibed in organisations across the board. Gangappa stated that organisations should begin enabling women and promoting inclusivity.

Sinha, while answering a question on changes that need to be inculcated, said, “We have to change cultural archetypes.” He emphasised the need to do or change small things that promote a culture of comfort.

Khan, too, stressed on the need to make industries gender-responsive, and inculcate the values and principles of women’s empowerment, stating statistical proof-points, wherein inclusivity has positively impacted business growth.

Subsequently, knowledge seminars by India Today was led by Kash Sree, executive creative director/writer, who presented the ads he worked on over his career that were undoubtedly avant-garde and ingenious.

“If you do something worthwhile for people, they will advertise for you.” Sree also stressed the importance of being data-informed and not data-driven, wherein ads and your communication need to contain relevant truths, truths in culture as well as personal truths.

In a Q&A session, Sree discussed the challenges of fragmented ideas and mediums, and ways to counter them for the brand's benefit. While entertaining one question from the audience about cancel culture in the industry, he responded, “If you are doing something right, it will piss people off!”