CII Brand Summit in Chennai from Feb 17

CII-Southern Region is organising a two-day 'Brand Summit' in Chennai next month to examine the changing consumer dynamics and devise strategies, and reorient brand management for the new environment.

The objective of the summit, slated to be held on February 17 and February 18, is to share the learnings gained from an increasingly integrated global market place.

The key speakers at the summit will be Eric Joachimsthaler, CEO of Vivaldi Partners who co-authored a book titled Brand Leadership with professor David Aaker, and Venkat Ramaswamy, professor, University of Michigan, who co-authored The Future of Competition: Emerging Patterns of Value Creation with C K Prahlad.

Other speakers at the summit will include Lalita Gupte, joint managing director of ICICI Bank; C K Ranganathan, CMD of CavinKare; Jayadev Galla, MD of Amara Raja Batteries Limited, and Partha Rakshit, managing Director of AC Nielsen India.

Krishna Mohan, member of the steering committee, CII Brand Summit, and president (general management) of Ogilvy and Mather, said that the summit begins with an in-depth analysis of the radical changes that have taken place in the brand environment and the consumer's mind space.

Various sessions and discussions of the summit will focus on brand management in the changing consumer and business landscape, integration of brand and business strategy, enhancing consumer connect and co-creating brands with customers.

CII will also be giving for the first time, the 'CII Brand of the Year' award.

Anita Gupta, member, steering committee, CII Brand Summit, and senior vice-president of J Walter Thompson, said, "The response to this maiden initiative has been excellent with over 150 nominations from over 90 companies. The prestige and importance attached to the award can be derived from the fact that the nominating companies represent over 70 per cent of the publicly traded stocks in the Bombay Stock Exchange."

L Ganesh, former chairman of CII-Southern Region, and vice-chairman and MD of Rane Engine Valves Limited, said: "Occupying a place in our customer's mind is imperative for Indian companies to sustain the global competition. Strategic brand building initiatives which would complement for the companies growth in the long run is the top most priority for any company irrespective of sector or size, manufacturing or services", he said.

N Murali, chairman, steering committee, CII Brand Summit 2005 and joint managing director, The Hindu, said, "Today, India has the second largest number of brands in the world. As such, defining a meaningful role for the brand in the consumer's lives becomes paramount for marketers, in other words building the Connect with the consumer assumes tremendous importance".

Highlighting the history and focus of CII Brand Summit, Murali said the summit, over the years has provided support to Indian businesses and entrepreneurs on brand thinking with its programidentifying and addressing issues relevant to the marketing community.

The cost of building brands is an expensive process, so there is a need to share experiences to minimise the costs. The first edition focused on need for brand management and the second edition laid emphasis on impact of technology on branding and communication.