The batch of 2010 at SIMC conceptualized, created and executed a new initiative by the National Cyber Media Conclave, better known as NCMC. So, on 28th March 2009 ten speakers from across India gathered on a platform to share some of the insightful thoughts on cyber media as a medium for social marketing and for internet marketing.
The day began with Prof. Ujjwalk Kumar Chowdhury formally inaugurating the event. The pre lunch session largely dealt with potency of cyber media for social change and networking. The session kicked started by the first speaker of the day Mr. Kiruba Shankar, Founder and CEO, The Knowledge Foundation, he made the session interactive by speaking on Internet as a tool for knowledge sharing. It was a Blogger’s day out as the next speaker on the Dias was Mr. Shivam Vij, nationally renowned blogger. His spoke on Internet and its impact on the common man to express his views. He introduced an interesting concept of the “Arm Chair Revolutionaries” or the people who can raise their voices on the internet or in anonymity but can never join any actual campaign on ground to make the change. He mentioned how the Pink Chaddi campaign on facebook has more than 58000 members but when it’s come to executing about a 10 % would actually participate in making the change. Following him was Mr. Shiv Bhaskar, CEO, The Viewspaper. Mr. Bhaskar spoke about Media playing the role of the fourth estate along with executive, legislative, and judiciary. The session came an end with the last speaker for the pre lunch session with Ms. Jasmeen Bhateja, founder BlankNoise who spoke about internet as a tool for social change. The campaign made heavy use of the internet medium and also generated great responses in term of people views and engagement. Following that there was the question answer session that was raised a lot of questions on the credibility of the content of the blogs. Mr. Kiruba Shankar answered this question in a witty manner when he said that if two people are saying the same thing then it must be true!! This was his take of doing your own check on the reliability of the content before judging the credibility of the blog.
The second half of the day focused on emergence of the web as a medium for branding and marketing. The session was started by Mr. Rajesh Lalwani, Founder and Director at Scenario Consulting – Pitchh.com; Blogworks. He highlighted on how internet is used as a tool for marketing. He introduced a pool of concepts from broadcast and narrow cast to random cluster and tribes online. These concepts were around the key idea of impact of internet on the customers purchase decision. The next speaker was Rashmi Dhariwal – Marketing Manager of the Bell Bajao campaign. She updated us on the Bell Bajao campaign the response it generated. Following her was Mr. Namit Bimbhat CEO Switch Technologies speaking on digitizing the content. His imparted knowledge on creating a community around your brand and making the customer empowered. He also presented facts like 80% of the population in Asia is consuming the information on the internet for their daily purchasing decisions. The last speaker of the day was Mr. Atul Chitnis - Senior Vice President Geodesic Information Systems. His session was on the Business of Open Source. His views were interesting and in tangent to the present day scenario where he suggested that now that the internet is already here and no longer the future, its time that we move to a software which is collaborated by the users’ content rather then that of the creator. The event was formally brought to an end by the volunteers of Team NCMC. Three Cheers to the team NCMC for the putting up such a great show.
