When Goa was at its greenest, 120 Senior Madisonites met in a laid-back setting for a duration of three rain-soaked days. The agenda for the meeting? Drawing up a blueprint to aid in navigating through today’s challenging economic environment, effectively encouraging consumers to loosen their wallets and keep the client’s cash registers whirring.
In a rapidly evolving media environment, where new outlets vie for attention and traditional media strive to maintain their position, experienced Madison Media planners & buyers teamed up with the newly established, under-30 Madison Youth Leaders (MYLs) to explore strategies for thriving in today’s complex media environment.
The Chief Creative Officer of Madison OOH, Ramesh Bhaskaran along with Pallavi Patil, Vice President - Insights & Strategy, Madison, opened the conference in true Bollywood fashion. The opening act included gliz, glamour and a faux Amitabh Bachchan (Ramesh) dressed as Shehenshah for the night.
Group CEO, Vikram Sakhuja, touched on the key changes happening in the planning, buying, and implementation avenues, and shared 7 switches essential today for navigating the future.
Rob Norman, Madison’s Chief Transformation Officer, had flown in from New York to participate in the conference. Amid discussions of the rapidly evolving digital landscape, he underscored the crucial importance of asking the right questions. This foundational skill, he emphasised, is essential for all Madisonites to cultivate in order to uncover the right answers.
Sam Balsara, Chairman, in his first public appearance after the recent fall, offered a compelling glimpse into Madison’s future, emphasising the need to continuously ‘Change, Adapt and Innovate’. He said, “Madison has always hit a home run, every time we did something new and different.” He further added, “In advertising, if it’s safe, it’s risky.”
Santosh Desai, the foremost strategist and insights specialist of our times, delved into the understanding of change and technology. He said that technology has evolved from the mind seeking ways to overcome the body’s limitations to enhancing the mind’s capabilities, and now, in the age of AI, allowing the mind to reflect and expand upon itself. As AI lacks true intelligence and relies solely on patterns, humans can add value by revisiting the basics. By questioning our fundamental beliefs and assumptions, we can bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas that AI cannot generate on its own.
Rebecca Maxwell from The Client Relationship Company in Perth, shared insights derived from years of analysing referral rating data regarding what it takes to achieve client delight. She concluded that clients today, on one hand, seek greater agility and efficiency, while on the other hand, they desire a more strategic, long-term perspective on their brand, especially in the context of performance marketing and short-term results. Additionally, she noted that the gap between agencies has increased, signalling a significant opportunity for agencies to differentiate themselves.
Saugata Bhowmik from Meta, in an enlightening presentation, asked Madisonites to take a fresh new look at Meta and shared impressive case studies of many advertisers who had used Meta successfully and gave delegates a hint of what unique and useful technologies are available on the Meta platform, tailormade to meet advertiser challenges.
Members of Madison’s in-house software development and roll-out team, Manish, Pallavi, Pallavi M, and Deepak, unveiled ‘MFlash’, a fully automated planning, implementation, operations monitoring, billing, and accounting system that is slated to enhance productivity many fold, reduce errors, and leave planners enough time to think, strategise, and innovate.
Executive Director Lara Balsara Vajifdar, recently having completed a 7-week Harvard Business School Leadership programme, shared the essence of her learnings, revolving around purpose, strategy and culture. She ended by saying, “The more power you have, the more humble you should be, and the more humble you are, the more power you have.”
The conference also featured a surprise guest, the legendary footballer and Padma Shri awardee Baichung Bhutia, who shared inspiring anecdotes about teamwork, collaboration and the power of the human spirit during an engaging chat session with Dinesh Singh Rathod, Madison’s in-house sports champion.
Madison Leaders Vishal Chinchankar, Sunny Vohra, Dinesh Singh Rathod, and Jayesh Yagnik took the floor and surprised everyone by saying that in 2023-24 Madison World dealt with over 600 large, medium, and small clients. They also highlighted the tremendous business potential that existed in all units within Madison World’s clients if all units collaborated a little more with each other.
Manish Menon, the group HR Head, closed the conference by outlining ‘What to expect from Madison HR’ and shared the findings of the recently concluded Happiness Survey across Madison World, where Madisonites rated Madison very highly and Madison was certified as “A Happy Place To Work.”
To bring it all together, Futurise featured AI Sphere, an experiential zone that used theatre to bring out the magic of AI by showing how LLM can write briefs; MidJourney, Runway, and Suno can create images, videos, and audio creatives; Meta Smart Raybans can record, photograph, and post on the fly; Oculus Rift provides an AR experience that can get replicated in real life; and Advantage + can combine all these to get a desired result. This was a perfect way to cement the learnings. The entire conference was produced in-house by Madison Turnt.
Senior Madisonites returned to work invigorated with a vow to find a more efficient and innovative solution to every Madison client’s marketing challenges.
