 Now before moving on to our next session all those joining us don't forget you can connect with us through our hashtag e4m webinar and We'd love to keep this interactive So please share in your questions and comments if you're on zoom then in the Q&A box Thank you very much. And now moving on to our next session Although various industries are affected by corona virus This our industry amongst them the event and experiential industry are the most Hampered but it does not stop here, you know, the practitioners have Found out a little way to reach their audience and our next session is going to elaborate on how Experiential will shape up in this zero-touch world and future of virtual events I'm sure all those who are watching us are eagerly waiting for this particular session Because all of us being a part of this very enriching industry are come to this Sudden halt or rather complete stop right now and all are wondering what to do and in this conversation We have with us the stalwarts of the industry. Mr. Roshan Abbas multi-hyphenated Entertainer who apart from being a radio jockey theater actor writer and director is the founder of commune Managing director of geometry global encompass a very warm welcome to yourself Also, we have with us a mr. Brian cellist co-founder and group CEO fountainhead marketing Brant Ellis is an unparalleled pioneer in the events and entertainment industry with a path-breaking career span over of over three Years the decades in 1995. He co-founded Fountainhead promotions and events private limited brand is a founding member of EMA to they will With dr. Anurag Bhattra. I would like mr. Bhattra to take it over Thank you. You know, I'm really excited about these Two gentlemen because they are multifaceted in the real sense of it. They're entrepreneurs They are brand accelerators But let me talk about each of them. I have had the good pleasure of knowing them and Roshan has been a radio jockey. He's been an actor. He's been a stage artist He's teaching people how to do storytelling. He does a podcast on how to do podcasts. So, you know They are really multifaceted pride apart from from being an entrepreneur and being the experiential marketing industry leader Having set up fountainhead and then partnered with 10 to ages network also hosts the radio show Which sometimes I tune in and he has a voice both of them have voice that you know makes your hard-go fonder if I may use they are Really really talented. So welcome Roshan. Welcome Brian Today we're discussing how the experiential industry will reinvent itself in the contactless times How will the future of virtual events make up for the loss that the We've had in the experiential domain. What can each stakeholder do whether if you're a brand owner If you're a media owner if you're an experiential agency if you're an emcee if you're a vendor How should we make that shift? And I'd like to start with personal story. I start with Roshan Roshan How've been the last 45 odd days for you? So I keep saying that scarily I feel that I might be made for this because I am A geek so I love technology. I've been always exploring things and what I what I found was that in the first couple of days Of course, there was this whole thing of saying that there's a there's a sense of stasis that enters your life You seem to be at standstill and we are in the we're in the business of hugs handshakes emotions people Meeting up with each other. We thrive when we meet. So suddenly being out. It seemed like a little strange But then you know in the very first week. I I also love I'm curious and I'm a problem solver So I started saying how do I solve this problem? So the first thing I did was that I started looking at this whole medium of zoom and doing a deep dive There are so much to learn that is so much to learn on just how you use this interface Or I realized that I have a mic and I can do a podcast from home So I started creating a podcast and you know, it's a niche medium But you slowly grow and build a very very loyal audience on a podcast. I started doing that I took some of my theatre friends and created a play We are obviously at home Shaheen and I both have this whole thing of being able to she cooks I cook So we've been doing these little turns on cooking doing all of that So it's really apart from missing out on the human connection of a few friends I feel that it has bought a lot of efficiency sometimes Over-efficiency to the extent that you start feeling. Oh my god, am I doing too much? So I just keep telling everyone take breaks because I went into hyperdrive So I've gone into hyperdrive now I've gone into cruise control mode and I have friends like Brian I can chat with occasionally And we discuss everything from great rock music to you know, the kind of great shows that he does You know, whether it's the blues festival and great music a great life And of course just living life a lot more fully with a lot more satisfaction Fantastic Russian. I think that's a very reassuring message for a lot of professionals who've logged in Who if Russian a basket reinvent I'm sure everyone else can be in when because you know As he said he's a very social person Multifested doing gigs coming to Brian Brian show is called tell us as it is So, you know Brian tell us as it is how's been the last 45 odd days So, you know, I think Russian kind of, you know, very succinctly Evaluated the situation a couple of differences where I'm concerned I'm the other extent of the other end of the spectrum when it comes to technology Also, I get teased about I'm not too bad. I think personally That's the one thing but I tend to agree with him completely about It's it's a great time. I think I By default I am a person who thinks positively You know the half full versus the half empty and I think I have also used this opportunity individually To introspect it's been a great learning over the last 45 days You know to use another proverb. There's no there's no success without challenges Albeit a big one that we're facing at the moment Hey, you know what big challenges might make for big realizations and big changes And if we can be at the helm of those big changes, that's as exciting to me You know as it was being the entrepreneur 25 years ago that having been said I think you know at this point in time besides the learnings and the half full One has to be cognizant of the half empty one has to be cognizant of the challenges And uh, you can't lose yourself in positivity No, am I recommending that you lose yourself in negativity? I think you need to be balanced in your approach If if you pull out and and let me use the business of experiential go beyond me into the Into the business we are in and happily am I tired? You know, I believe we are social animals. Anura. We are social animals. There's no taking away from it And I no one on this earth can predict. I'm certainly not going to try when things will turn around but Having said what I've said, I think we will go back to being the social elements. We are by DNA When that is like I said, no one knows. Certainly I don't Now, how do we treat the interim? I think the interim is is meant to be a period of learning Again, we can discuss this further. We often get asked You know, is experiential going to move to the digital domain? I think the answer is no Is digital is the is digital going to play a vital part in our going forward? Of course the answer is yes and we can discuss details So generally speaking to answer a question while they are tough times I think we need to introspect we need to plan we need to strategize And I say this with a happy bent of mind. We need to ready ourselves and I'm not going to say for the new normal But we need to ready ourselves for that turnaround point When things do get better in our sense of the term Thank you, Brian for bringing again a very I love the fact that you said It's a time for learning and being ready when the opportunity comes when there is You know, a new way of doing business to prepare yourself for the future have balance that are your opening remarks You know, we we in business world doing the cover which is saying from sharing economy to contact less economy, right? Tell us how the experiential industry will morph itself in the new Less or a zero contact economy. I'm not sure it will become a zero contact But if the contact points and content of contact occasions come down How is the experiential industry looking three months six months from now? Right first you and then I go to ocean. Okay, so I firstly want to change the context of the understanding of your question I want to just go back a couple of steps Our while obviously we are the nucleus of the problem and the very purpose of what we do Is aggregating communities bringing people together creating experiences I want to for a moment just dwell on why we do this We do this with a large sense of objectivity Whether it's a brand objective, whether it is a societal objective Whether it is, you know, we all know that, you know If you look at there are many reasons for for us creating experiences, you know, there is should I say the faith Area where we create festivals like the kumbh mela for instance Just give you an example We we create Events to celebrate life or celebrate champions, you know the ip l is a case in point We spread beliefs we honor talent, you know award shows and the likes we launch corporate products We celebrate times of year in festivals We also celebrate togetherness in marriages and the like so There are tons upon tons of reasons why we've become social animals How is this going to change our lives? Well, I'm not sure it will change our lives too much Outside of the interim that we're talking about Right, I don't believe that it will change our lives too much Like I said We need to focus on the new elements going back to the purpose If you look at the purpose of why we are in this business It's to further certain agendas now. I'll give you an example of how one can be Adapt one can adapt, you know recently Last sunday actually we Have a privilege to be at the heart of you know, I for india which was a completely digital Driven forum to raise funds, you know For we care and obviously for you know for the covid-19 area now We came together Experiential put it together. We created experiences. We served the purpose the end purpose that was supposed to have been achieved While convention Would you know drive us towards one large meeting at whichever venue and then whatever we used an amplification Through the various mediums we chose to actually approach it from an amplification medium a conventional amplification medium And made that the driving channel for the purpose of raising funds for covid-19 Okay, it was a strategic change of focus the objective was the same And I think the results if if not were the same or even better Okay, so it's a question of adapting and adopting change. We sometimes get stuck in purpose We create events for purposes. We can still achieve the purpose We can still even when things change. Maybe there'll be an equal focus on digital and on ground I'll give you another example of a festival we do in the blues as you know as roshan mentioned The maindra blue festival. That's right. Now the primary focus of the fest the the primary manifestation of the festival is on the ground Happens over two days in a weekend in may book studio or six thousand people But over the last 10 years we've we've created an online community for instance I don't wish to overindulge myself or ourselves, but it has the largest active blues community in the world It has a radio manifestation which goes out to five cities in the country week on week on sunday evenings So unfortunately if it doesn't happen, let's say at the early 2021 We could celebrate it. We could serve its purpose We're online online plus radio It may be a manifestation on ground if things don't turn around a smaller manifestation on ground As we speak six thousand people celebrated on ground Maybe 200 people will celebrate it live on ground. I don't know But it'll still happen. So my underlying sentiment is That we shouldn't overreact to this We need to stay on top of the situation. We need to reinvent ourselves We need to be clear about what primary focus is on what we do and who we are And I think, you know, if we actually adopt this method of analysis I think we'll be a lot happier. We'll be a lot more focused and I think the results will be evident Brian, thank you for really giving a 360 degree view on why you believe the digital will be an integral part of experiential but at some stage experiential on ground events Keeping the hygiene and sanitation in mind will be back and hopefully In september october if not definitely early next year russian Would what do professionals brand managers media manage owners, you know, media creates IPRs experiential agency owners SMEs that use events to bring along their dealers event management professionals Give us something for them to reinvent themselves because you You know, you reinvented yourself multiple times And kept all the good parts and kept adding layers. So how do people add layers? How do professional add the skills that Brian topped off a little bit So, so, you know, I I keep telling people that hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy is one of my favorite books and It opens with a man sitting in a house and suddenly outside There is an alien with this tractor beam and a huge spaceship He says I'm sorry, but I got to destroy the earth because you're standing in the way of a Highway that needs to be made in the galaxy and he's like, what do you mean? And suddenly he's on this journey across the universe He has never been in and he has only two things with him a book and a towel and it says don't panic So the first thing that I tell people is this is going to be a new universe that many people are entering Many people digital used to look at physical and say we don't do that Physical used to look at digital and say we don't understand that but there will be a brand new world that will emerge So the first thing I often say is that Don't panic take a pause and first look around you and say what are you in the business of? See very often we forget we just say oh, we've got to put money here. We've got to put money there What are you in the business of are you? You know when when we do work we often turn it said the other day We were doing an event for HP which had 7,000 people online with us in a zoom because you can take Zoom and make it much bigger and there was about 10,000,000 people who viewed it over a period of two three days At the time during the cost of the event 70,000 people Now you were what was the purpose the purpose was it was called the spirit of HP And we had to engage with the entire community of their partners with their employees So we decided on what the messaging is going to be and you can then Work on that purpose by using just like we used to use everything from song music light, etc at our events There is a translation of all of those online Right now we have X number of participants people who are attendees We engage with them by doing polls by doing q&a by playing things by doing things again. I'm saying Let creators and technologists every brand Should get a bunch of creators and some technologists together and say play Here is a little bit of things play I remember punita at fc at one point in time and digital had just started used to tell me saying roshan I don't want to back one idea I want to put a little bit of money behind 10 ideas I'll see which of them works and then I will go after it So this is the time to so a hundred new seeds This is the time to incubate or innovate Do one of the two things because that is critical. Don't get into this mode of I'm not going to do anything I'll keep my money till things will come back Brands that do nothing at this time will start losing relevance because someone else will use this medium a little better The other thing is that in the live industry people are people know that there are I think at the last estimate when you know ima did one whole comparison. They said that over 400 million people Indirectly get impacted by what we do. It's hospitality. It's travel. It's food. It's entertainment It's the entire live industry. Everyone gets impacted But people so many people getting impacted are not going to sit. They're all going to come and do something I read a beautiful thing yesterday where a dutch restaurant has set up these cabins near the water side And if two people can or three people can enter at one time, it's totally sanitized. You can go in Sit by yourself. It's sanitized before you go and it's sanitized later Believe it or not. They are booked out for the next one month Because somebody has solved for the fear somebody has solved for the sanitization So people are already doing that. We would have all seen videos of planes being sanitized by these machines places So innovation is key. This is the time to go and incubate 10 small ideas That may not even be from your domain, but you can do them to give you an example We have this division which we set up actually in the last two months called prodigy And people said are you just starting up another digital agency and said no We are setting up a human experience agency for the digital world Because we need to keep creating that emotional context. We need to be finding ways of translating Human emotions across the screen. That's what great content does. So we said we'll do that We did a song for a brand online by getting people together. We did these mega concerts We even did a play. We use this zoom technology We repurposed a storyline which was about blind dates to being online dates And now it's a product that brands are buying because we have created something that get eyeballs The relevant eyeballs are of a younger generation that is a lot more You know akin to technology and understands technology and then a brand will say Where the consumer is the brand will follow So one other advice that I want to give people is invest in creating your own digital communities You have a community of marketeers a community of business owners a community of brands that come to you here Which is why you're relevant But build the digital avatars of that for too long We have ignored the digital avatars of the physical work we do It is really time to think of the digital avatar and think of it in a million different ways Concerts have happened online But right now people have not worked enough. I feel personally on the experience agenda And that's what we will bring as a change I really I want to add to what Sure Bharat Brine I want to add to what roshan said while I completely concur Conferred with what he has said this apples to brine in every webinar. So I know that it's a good omen It's a good omen And it'll always be an urgent Three leaders who were logged in with the reason we took brine and roshan We wanted two good-looking men and one clean shaven Who's making sure the jillet the stock price is moving up and one who's making sure that uh, you know Other grooming product for beard beardo is working Yes, brine Um, sorry. Yeah, so, you know, I uh, I started to say I concur Except for the for the beard orbit. No, actually I do on the beard of it as well roshan Uh with what roshan said I I just want to add that you know people generalize about digital Like roshan's talking about prodigy. We had fountain at our working and we used a fair bit of it in the last, you know I for india where We have experientialized Our technology in digital. We're creating a separate brand called merge Which as the term suggests will hopefully merge what are our principal mediums of engagement which is live experiences With technologically driven experiences. I mean, I think I think the writing's on the wall as far as that is concerned And I might I'd happily so Happily so we need to we need to really embrace This change and use it to our advantage again Roshan mentioned and I want to validate that this is time for You know, they say when they're going to get stuff the tough need to get going You know, and I think this is a boys to men kind of time when When when we need to kind of introspect like I said and actually grab the opportunity by the what you call it It's and take it forward. I think this tends to be again. Sorry. I just needed to validate What roshan, I I agree and I'm just going to add one more point Unrock, sorry with your permission No, no, no the the other thing is that I keep you know people again keep telling and saying that Or is this thing about technology and creators you keep saying I said guys Every time there has been a seismic shift in media It has been because of this when radio gave way to television anurag I I can tell you and I always love this story that the first couple of radio presenters who went to television Just put a desk and sat behind it and spoke because they knew no better But when they bought theater people and said we've got these cameras. You've got a studio. What do they do? The sitcom happened And if you remember in the early days, they used to have a live audience sitting because the theater people used They said we need a live audience The first one was not a stock show but sub CD Right and india, I love saying that the that the early bunch of shows that happened here and so many That's how you added interactivity and interactivity. This platform is ripe for engagement You can do everything from a game show to a meditate. I have seen the craziest thing I've seen people doing meditations online right now I've seen podcasting go up because people are sometimes sick of a visual medium So they want only audio, you know and spotify is working on that and developing that and I mean Today I was asking how many people can you take in your workshop and I said we have a 500 people zoom webinar I said but how many have registered? They said 800 people have registered now imagine 800 people want to make new age content using their phone For a medium that's just come that is great news because this generation Is a DIY generation. They want to do these things When a diageo turns around and says, you know what? I'll stop and I'll start making hand sanitizer When you have an Asian paints has launched An entire range. I was told that they are you know getting into saying this is just one more surface We need to be able to find so Go back to the core of what you do. Why is why is a brand not doing classes for us to groom at home right now? I gave myself a haircut. You can see the results are I don't know whether you're scary because Brian looked at me two days back and said What happened? I said, you know, I just I just I came from the gym upstairs in the house and I came down I was feeling really warm and I'm like, let's use the clipper. I'm just glad you didn't say it's the new normal No So the whole thing is that there are so many missed opportunities and that pains me that brands are right now saying I'll hold back for quarter three quarter four You know, this is a time for relevance or revenue. There are opportunities for both People need to find it. And you know when you said that that from the sharing economy, we're going to the you know No, I'll tell you. I'll tell you, you know, I'll give you a better headline From sharing to the caring economy I love that. We are really going to the caring economy. Anurag. Look at what's happening. I in my podcast I was talking to restauranters and saying, how will you survive? They said forget about us. How will the person on the road survive? A person who is our dear friend Brian and me Rahul Gomes has just gone and you know went and took a whole bunch of vendors and created a hospital Because that's what is needed using event vendors and event suppliers Right. The dome was created into a hospital because I think people are going out and caring How many people have gone and made a donation Brian's I was amazed I for India I mean that number what was it 57 crores? Yes and counting and counting. Look at that So we are becoming a caring economy. We suddenly care for our neighbor We care for the man on the streets. We care for the migrant labor So this is the time for the caring economy to come Also, one more You know, sorry Anurag. I hope I'm not we are not No, I'll tell you Over the last few days, maybe weeks. I don't know There have been a lot of questions that we've asked ourselves that people have asked us we've asked people Not every you can't every one of us can't be everything to everyone Okay, I suppose what I'm starting to say if you haven't already been of a collaborative nature And now's the time to embrace collaborative nature. Okay I might be we sometimes make the primary mistake And a fatal mistake sometimes of me trying to be who Roshan is or vice versa Don't you don't need to do that? Rest secure in who you are Understand your do a swat understand who you are understand where your strengths are Like I said, you don't have to be everything to everyone figure out Someone who can help you who can ally with you? Don't be afraid to share the spoils because in the process of collaborating you're increasing the size of the pie So I just want to propagate at this time You do not need to become digital a digital expert. You do not we just gave me a headline for my next business world cover I'll charge you 15 percent. I learned this from No problems. No problem. It's all a very serious note. It was called the contact less economy And you just given me another three c economy Collaborative caring and contactless. There you go. Beautiful. There you go. And it is collaborative You know, I truly firmly believe that Don't try to be everything to everyone and it's worked for us as well Again, an example maybe is is necessary to prove my point About two and a half three weeks ago You know, there was a we were approached to do a global conference And a global conference with a stage a live stage with live performances And it's not about recording the performance. It was live performances live speeches uh, a live panel discussion now We found a country It turned out to be a city stock home in which which is for obvious reasons allows for a little bit of luxury in today's day and age We actually got partners there to build a stage in a in in in a large place Build a wonderful stage. We got an actual live host And with backdrops with audio visuals and everything we controlled it out of sweden with our partners We had performers from different parts of the world We actually had a band perform a band perform We actually had speakers from various parts of the world now all of this calls for collaborative effort We may have been the pivot. We may have driven certain areas Even in i-fort india It was a collaborative effort. So I want to just drive home the point and drive it home really emphatically today for all the right reasons That all of us have different strengths even as we speak in the conventional experiential industry Some of us are known for a certain something some of us are known for being export wedding, uh, you know, kind of Agencies some of us are known to be way more corporate agencies. Some of us are known to be theater propagating I mean, I'm saying we all have our strengths and we and we build so build on your strengths Learn in the process do not be bashful about collaborating and you'll be amazed at the results where the pie will grow Yes, it might take for you to share the spoils at this point in time But I mean we've been there. I I'm not saying anything new or earth shattering Roshan said something so beautiful. I've been talking to lots of mds Very large owners of businesses brand managers media heads And you know roshan said something that this is a time to be relevant and revenue will also happen I think brands that they've taken a pause Should take note of what roshan has said. It's just that you need purpose the way you kind of reach out Absolutely There's a question that Rohit Mohan has asked saying experiential has been key in lead generation activities offline How do you think the same will now be done online? So, you know, I'll tell you one thing Rohit It's an amazing thing that uh, these metrics that we always used to hear of which was reach Engagement views, right? I mean whenever somebody talks of digital. This is what they talk of in live events very often We didn't look at these metrics. We were just happy keeping people happy Whether it was the audience or whether sometimes it was a brand. I'll be very honest Sometimes you're fulfilling one wish list sometimes you're fulfilling another but now This metric of reach engagement views this how many people I can tell you the number of people who have gone and clicked on the Anchor app due to my pitch fest for podcasting. I have 25600 and some people who have gone there I have got over 800 entries. So this is lead generation Lead generation on digital is far more quantifiable far more easier to do But are you taking a human action? An experiential action to get the person to take part That's what sometimes people miss. I find a lot of digital has also gone and become and I'm pardon my saying this I am part of glitch and I think that they work so hard because they put on the same hats They think like youngsters and say would I react to that and they'll give the campaign to 10 people and who would say No, this is really not worth it. But you know with prodigy what we are doing is we are constantly telling and saying So what's the human action that I want? I want people to at this point do the following click the following Sense the following share the following That's what we used to do at events. You would hug someone you would clap with someone you would laugh You do all of these things and later people started using technology Beacon technology was being used to see how many people aggregated around the booth Right heat sensors were being used GPS mapping with space was being done to actually estimate how many people attended a rally or how many people attended a live concert Because people used to give numbers which are fictional very often There is a lot more measurement. There is a lot more quantifiable things that you can do Using the power of experiential with the measurability of digital So I think that's possible ocean. Let's give one more idea to anurag where we can maybe take 15% each Using alliteration So here's one more so the next seminar for which we'll take 10% each is Reach relevance and resurgence of revenue Anurag 10% each. Okay, that's the deal. We've got a fair fair amount of people listening and they are you know You know, you solve my one problem today Brian I always when I was preparing for this and Priyanka called me and I said I'd love to chat up with them because You know, they're really, you know, they're entrepreneurs. They're multi-faceted. They're experiential leaders So, you know, I and I know them well and you know, it'd be fun to talk to them I you know, I was confused when I grow up. I want to be like Brian tell us or should I be like Russian a boss But now I know I can be a Russian tell us I can be a Brian a boss that can be a collaboration. So I think Anurag, don't forget there was a film called Amar Akbar Anthony. Absolutely You're going to say that Brian, my God, you're just going to say that. You took the words out of my mouth So we've got we've got, you know, Amar Akbar Anthony, Anurag, Roshan Bryan Exactly One thing I want to tell you this is what's happening interestingly, Anurag, right In the chat, we talked of data. One person said, I have a database of so many one person said I want a database. There's already a connection that's been made, you know Now you will have one more person who turn and say, I could validate that data for you And we will come on top of that and say, I'll tell you what you might have the data But getting that data to engage with you is what we will show you And that is it. Engagement is what people need to learn You know Live is one of the most difficult things to create engagement because people have seen everything They've done everything and each time we will conjure up something from our hats and do something which is unique I remember with Amit Singhal every year at Asian Panes when we used to do a conference used to turn to us and say What will you do next year? And we would come up with something new because You know this this whole idea of almost being a magician Which brings you know some amount of emotional relevance is what we used to do And I think that magic can be recreated on digital now that we have put our minds to it Really really great technologies great people in data great people in creative should all come together This is a laboratory Environment and we will get together and beat it Fantastic, you know, I'm so happy I've done lots of webinars throughout the week and I can say for me It is one of the most interesting today has been before you I spoke with Raul Agarwal or Leno He was so real as a business leader so real and so specific And this is so much specific and fun and a full of new idea We'll take questions beyond 2 p.m. We have lots of questions But I want to ask you two questions one Is the marketing spend in the next three months and I'm taking a three six month horizon will come down They've already come down How much will experiential come down because it's a subset of marketing Brian you want to take that you already take that at all. We can we can both give our points of view but I I'm hazarding a guess at best Anurag because no one knows What's going to happen? There's the level of uncertainty is really really high But obviously we are mapping It's it's a perspective. This is a perspective and it is subjective to the nature of your business to the nature of your beast Even with an experiential there are some, you know Areas of commerce or industry that will be affected a lot more than other areas, right? I mean if you're working if a lot of your work, for instance is with retail people That's come to a grinding halt as well for obvious reasons if it's manufacturing Yeah That's usually impacted. Correct. So that's it. So it's different strokes for different folks at this point in time But if you're asking me to generalize On how much it'll affect by way of percentage points We've done a bit of introspection as far as we're concerned and we see at this point in time Obviously, it's a number that will keep changing. Hopefully going down But we believe that the percentage that it will go south is around 35 percent is I mean to try and give you a direct answer So you're saying 75 that's a very large number No, I think it'll drop by 35 It will stay 65 percent The first first time Where I will actually disagree. Yeah Because I really feel that it's we have to be a little, you know Q1 was fine for most of us if this is an annualized number that brian is giving maybe I would still Yeah, okay, I analyze because q2 is next to zero for most people People are willing to let you experiment But we are now getting to the stage of getting them to pay for it Remember what used to cost a corral to do on ground is costing 10 lakhs to do online And that's where the problem is starting because if you have People who cost you the amount that those outputs justified There are a lot of very harsh decisions that are going to be around the corner I don't think anyone has a runway as an agency etc to manage things for more than three months And I don't think it is even prudent business to do that. We we are all being as as caring as we can But really q2 is a write-off. I think q3 will also be a write-off There will people who will repurpose themselves may be able to get Some revenue and therefore we move most of the thankfully we have a lot of lot of Fees that are paid to us because we have a shopper marketing division And that and planning gives us some fees Creative and content will be paid for But what will you do if you don't do a physical production and there is no light no sound no set no stage whatever Talent is now available for at least a 50% off because people are saying hey, you're at home The live engagement is not happening a great comedian friend of mine told me that You know he he said I've realized that they paid 20 rupees out of 100 for me And 80 for everything else. So unless I can recreate that 80 The value at that core is 20 and and therefore many people are refusing to do things because they do not want to compromise Or maybe the halo they built or what they built otherwise So I I genuinely feel that q2 q3 are write-offs the ima report has said that the impact To the industry in the first two months was about 3 to 5000 crores was to the event industries In two months the overall impact over time. Sanjoy said is about a trillion over time because it's not coming back so easy And when people say when will this end? I'm sorry. I've been very optimistic about most things But this one I don't see before a spring 2021 things to go back to a thing because it's so vaccine dependent because Fear will keep people away from physical expression. It will be the same with going out and seeing films It's the same that will happen with eating out and I've been in my podcast I've been talking to these industries so I can tell you it's very good Okay, sir ocean. I just want to double check uh when you say Uh, when when I said so what when you talk about annualized percentage that it'll drop Are you talking the financial year? Are you talking april to march 21? Are you talking? So we have a jank to december cycle therefore So therefore i'm saying that these two quarters are almost i mean even in prediction q3 people are making predictions But you know, I've actually been turning and saying that Let's be realistic and see what can be done in q4 and whatever revenue you can do will have to be from These lines of work Right and those are those are 10 to 20 percent brian or what we all do overall, right? No, so let me actually let me actually throw some light on this or help get some light From you for the benefit of course of our viewers listeners So, you know, I think it's a no-brainer that in our business Let's take the calendar year for discussion the first quarter jant to march has been I think the second best quarter of the year for most people if not all people And the fourth quarter, which is you know, october november december is the best quarter given the nature of our beast, okay? So I think the upside is that the first quarter jant to march has been well, I'd say relatively unaffected by this Relative yeah, we did our numbers for q1. Yeah, so that stays the course, okay The third the fourth quarter october to december is when we are hoping And I am hoping that our hope is based On what will happen rather than what won't there'll be a sense of normalcy that will be Restored a sense of normalcy. I'm not saying it'll happen like the beginning of the year The middle two quarters, you know, which is pretty much april through to september Have in any case in our business been low quarters in when you look at the macro They have been lower quarter. So in that sense Two things have happened One is it gives us If you're working the calendar year, it gives you night gave us nine months Even as we speak, it gives us about six to seven months If not eight to kind of do what we have to do Whether it is adding revenue or whether it is dropping costs and creating cost efficiencies So keeping you all of that in mind is is is me projecting what I am Okay You know, I There's a whole bunch of questions. I'm not we just started coming. So whenever you want to if you want to take I want to ask you one question. See you are while you are experiential experts, you're talk shows You're entrepreneurs. What is your advice to entrepreneurs in any segment? Of course in the ad tech space experiential space mark tech space That's the space exchange from media pitch impact What's your advice to entrepreneurs first russian and then brian? So So, you know, I I keep saying that there are there are hard working and hardly working You know, that's the division right now. And can you give us can you give us examples? Right. So see what happens is that digital is is really hard working at the moment because there's so much to do Sure. So, you know, so so that's one space essential services hard working But the restaurants entertainment Theater movies all of these as areas are hardly working So firstly what I keep saying telling people is look at the hard working sectors and see Is there an opportunity to partner? Is there an opportunity to Collaborate or is there if you are an entrepreneur who has saved up money an opportunity to invest Because there will be a lot of gaps that will emerge that you will fulfill for example textile manufacturers are suddenly Making mass because there's a need gap. They've discovered making PPE I've had at least seven friends who running factories of different things contacted me saying hey, we are doing now PPE production So they are Identify need gaps and address them. This is a great time to you know, when people go every year annually They used to do this health check. This is a great time to do a reality check and a health check on your business Many people run vanity businesses for the longest time A lot of media establishments Are realizing that they were running vanity businesses that were dependent on just a few advertisers Now if that's not happening look at the slew of shutdowns Embrace it Swallow it it happens. You all are great entrepreneurs. You can restart But embrace it don't shut your eyes to it because I think Many mediums will realize that they are not as relevant as other mediums work And so start I keep going back work on your relevance. The revenue will follow This is the time to hunker down Collaborate learn new things cut out costs So for example, if there are any common costs that entrepreneurs that you feel you and five other businesses have Combine that together so that you can bring that cost down Be this is a very important time to reach out to the government and actually pressure them to say We are the ones who fill your coffers every year We are tax-paying businesses We need your support and I really feel that it is important for that For for that lobbying to happen and for people to I don't know what the right people to lobby But I think Brian and I often keep searching for who will do it for us. But You know, because we are there we are all we are making Everything from your religious function to your home celebration to your corporate celebration to Your connection and your emotive connection to your audience happen But suddenly when this happens the first people to be ignored are So again, I'm becoming a little more personal looking for the businesses But as entrepreneurs these are my these are a few of the things that I think people should Brian. Yeah, I think you know, I don't want to sound repetitive Roshan has you know Gone through some of the key points. I just want to dwell while Roshan has dwelt and dwelt quite cleverly and rightly on the revenue side And how one must react. I just want to dwell on the on the cost side because you know money saved his money earned You know and as an entrepreneur You're supposed to draw the balance between the two cleverly draw a balance between the two We know where the challenges are at the moment. So one needs to focus on both sides Increasing revenue or protecting revenue as also rationalizing costs And I'll tell you one of the challenges that we face We face accepting and embracing reality Okay, we sometimes tend to live In a fool's world That's a bit of a harsh statement. I'm making but I'm making it very deliberate completely You know, and we need to take that long hard proverbial look in the mirror And actually draw a line differentiating who I am as a person And who I am as an entrepreneur I must retain my emotions as a person to the best I can But it cannot be detrimental to the expectations from me as an entrepreneur I know And we all say this over and over again and mean it. Hopefully every time we say that Our in the services business that we are in our key assets are our people And that's absolutely right now having said that And having embraced that sentiment we are also in a position as entrepreneurs And the expectation is none less Then keeping the business profitably alive and well Now there is going to be there is going to be or there are going to be moments When the person in you debates the professional in you or the professional in you debates the person in you I think one of the key challenges for entrepreneurs is to draw a fair balance keeping all of the ecosystem in mind Being absolutely honest and true not just to yourself But to the business and to your kras and to the expectation that whether it's the investors or whether you know the The rules of entrepreneurship demand from you to make prudent And the clinically right decision as well. You can do it with empathy. I always say, you know, you can go into a boss's cabin After having done something wrong And there are there are two mindsets you can come out with And I had the privilege once many years ago of being absolutely dressed down by my British manager at that time And I was in the airline business But I'll tell you he he didn't hold back. He told me exactly where I had messed up He told me exactly what You know, I was expected to do and what I didn't do But you know, the difference was I walked out of that cabin with my self-belief and my dignity intact And I think you can make some of the hardest decisions But you can do it in a few ways some ways are disastrous ways But if you're prudent if you retain dignity if you retain integrity in your communication I think you can make hard decisions and in fact make them work for you Because I think at this point in time people understand That the environment demands Certain things from us So I do believe to answer just come down to the meat of the matter of your question, Anurag The one thing that we need to do as entrepreneurs Is to make the right decision for the business as well At this point in time Sustainabilities cash flows are the key words and not for the wrong reasons for the right reasons So there will be prudence and spend That's where innovation comes in. So it's not just about revenues and protecting revenues or increasing revenues It's also it's also about creating efficiencies and operation and hence efficiencies and cost Thank you. I want I want to bring in the audience and I'll keep my last two three questions for the air There is Tanya Grover asking does the normal VTL activation Make sense in the next six months in the coming six months. She's possibly asking Will VTL activation be back in the next few months? Roshan and then Brian for essential services. Yes, we've done activation Define essential services. Um, so see for example when we've been doing work for Uh, a couple of brands which have got elements like Sanitization, etc at part of their portfolio. We've been able to go out and do that I think e-commerce will also at some stage start doing some amount of activation Frankly, they may not need it because they are already so much in demand and they are fighting a different battle where they want to get other things delivered apart from non-essential because Um, that there is a strange phenomenon that happens when you've been kept down so long Everybody is looking for that guilty pleasure To indulge in the minute descents Um, so people I can tell you I've heard conversations saying, you know, I am going to do that one Bag I'm going to buy one holiday one whiskey one food So people are waiting but uh, what happens is that it's up to the government to decide what they will open when And that's where the problem is right now that even if we want to follow the norms and do it Um, a will the powers that we allow it? So I don't see it happening for things beyond Um, non-essential and again essential and non-essential is what our world has become divided into as somebody rightly said Uh, that's that's what Tonya Grover has asked will activations be back in the next three months. What kind of activation? So see Tonya will give you an example Uh, activations mostly the july used to be the back to school back to college activations Right now what will happen classes will start online the activation will move online And you can make it happen online the same activation that you did we did a huge thing for amazon prime last year which was Very actually made them buy from a virtual shopping mall the design was brilliant It was being done by using ar headsets now I will not have the ar headsets, but I will create the website online I will find ways of entering your feed with maybe influencers and other people saying oh my god I just went to this website and I bought this will you try it as well? It's the same formula Just find its expression for digital And if you don't have that then you are in trouble because physical activations are still awake What will physical activations happen around the government may employ some people to educate people on saying This is what you need to do. This is how you need to stand in a line This is how you need to buy stuff all this will happen But how many agencies will get that job? I don't know and where will that work come from? I don't know So that's my only my pride I want to add you know as always Roshan has thrown some really wonderful light on it But I just want to add that while we look at you know while we look at the situation we are facing of I think marketers point of view Sorry, the marketers point of view is you know they I think they will there's already activity in fact in the b to b space Okay, which which might not happen Across the table, but there's already action happening in the E demos That's right. And and b to b. So I'm saying Not just b to b but even internal so a lot of brands are looking at this time like we are Of introspecting of internal training of internal education of knowledge aggregation of all of these things So these are areas that one must use at this point in time Like we go back to the basics. What is it when we think of in normal circumstances What does a brand or a company want to do? We we need to now look at extraordinary circumstances and what do brands and marketing custodians want to do for brands Basically, one of the key areas is they want to intern do internal training internal knowledge aggregation So so they're doing internal training and new skills possibly digital Possibly storytelling. Absolutely. I'm dealing. I'm dealing with we're not dealing with that sounds negative. I'm we are actually Talking about three maybe four of our brands who who now want to use this time On digital training get an expert. You're still the formula doesn't change as roshan said It's the engagement medium that changes For better or for worse is subjective So we've already got three brands that are talking to us on how can they Strengthen the internal teams by way of information by way of formal training by way of informal training By way of uh, you know, unfortunately in our regular workday We don't get the luxury of talking to each other exchanging knowledge even within an organization If you're so busy running around chasing our team. I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing Companies have realized that it's time to actually bring their teams together through engagement and through communication That's the one area and there is a b2b to see as well Yeah, there is a there is a similar question from anubh badja Anu anua badja I know I'm from event management company cooperate only so my question is How we will plan or from where we can start to do any kind of activity? I think it's I think it's kind of answered already. So can we go to buy this idea? Digital is the medium for communicating. But do people have money to spend the priority has changed completely? How do you tackle this so well digital make money? I mean people always have money to People always have money to spend. It's a matter of how convincing is your pitch I'll give you multiple examples here Many many people do the following. So for example, are you in a position pile right now to actually offer them a demo of your digital service and show them the result Are you able to ask them to pay basis performance? That's what digital has been doing all along There is so much performance marketing which is involved in digital campaigns When a when somebody when a youtube salesperson goes or a person goes from an instagram They talk numbers when big platforms go they talk numbers if you talk numbers and you talk Action that a brand needs people will buy Please if you if you haven't there are so many lovely books to read and you know David will be his book often talks of the whole thing of saying creating You know the salesman who sold you the aga stove The there are so many things that we all are still looking for. We are all excited About that excitement translates to sale for example As brian said learning is a great focus content is a great focus I can say with the you know with guarantee that when you open your youtube the first ad that is playing is netflix Because they have made sure that they are going after that market right now because they figured content is one relevant area Education is one relevant area. There is this e-services area, which is also happening So these are places to go for if you want to look for brands that are looking for activation But remember everyone is going to them. So do you have great ideas? Yeah, you know and To continue from where roshan left off roshan has very cleverly spoken about What one can do pile to you know to get your product right to get your offering right You know offer proof of concept which will convince the client I'll add to that. I'll add to that Have we actually spent enough time? I don't want to use the word researching but finding out what the client or the brand actually needs at this point in time Get deeper into that. That's right. Can we do that? Can we actually Are we clever enough? Like netflix netflix knows that with people sitting at home all over the world One of the big things they can do is actually watch netflix So it's actually figuring out what the brand whichever brand you your company deals with power Figure out at which stage of its life cycle the brand is what does it need to communicate? Especially at a time like this how relevant can that communication be To its ecosystem and actually make an offering beyond what rosh or what roshan said and beyond So there has to be a product that can deliver but deliver on what deliver on a promise Deliver, you know on a concept. What is that concept that concept of that promise has to be based on what the brand needs It can't be what you think will work in the market It has to be what the brand things will help it in its life cycle and in its growth Sometimes we make the mistake of dwelling too much on our expertise It's about how can we apply our expertise to what the brand needs? They are the ones spending the money We make that mistake very often of propagating who we are and what we do Which is a good thing But you need to understand that who we are and what we do has to marry a need in the market Whether it's a brand need or a community need So spend a little time introspecting and applying what you do best to what is required and you will have a formula There is shruti chitari Considering the current scenario is the event industry going completely digital post-covid Brian has already Answered that that digital will become bigger but experiential and in the core way Does will stay and roshan answered it. It's how you define businesses You're in the business of creating experiences. Now some of those experiences will get created or using digital Harish dollathing. I am an event management agency catering to the real estate sector I would appreciate few ideas to help my clients Reach out to prospective buyers or channel partners. There is a show as well. How do you see event execution? What makes a Y event good. Go it compliant event. So can I answer those two? Can I answer one of those? Okay. So so one thing about the gentleman who asked about real estate? I think that's a sector where right now everybody is looking ever see see buyers have money I don't think it's that uh buyers don't have money but the buyer for Some amount of real estate definitely has money. What do they need right now? Either they need a never before never again Right. I often say that in the festival experiences Brian and I create we often look for the never before never again Translate that can there be a never before never again that you could offer The second thing is that it's a beautiful time to tell a person. I don't need you to visit 20 of my Locations, I'll give you a virtual experience of 20 of them and see the view of the race course from this one and please see the view of the See from the other and uh, you know, please enjoy it and This is so if you offer them a great deal and a virtual reality experience. I think that's one thing that's possible You could always engage with the sales channel to say let me teach you how to sell better in this time And that would be a great experience. These are simple ideas. The other gentleman who talked about covid Brian Do you want to take that about how you make an even more covid compliant? So I mean so for instance, I'll just give an example of what we are doing And it's it's yet another, you know area of being prepared enough For when it does turn around You know, we again like I said like we need to understand what the brand requires to get done We need to understand what the consumer requires to get done for things to reach normalcy Obviously everyone including me Will be very concerned are very concerned will be very concerned about as a consumer about events going forward Because of you know, the obvious in covid 19 Are we spending enough time understanding what are the measures we need to take? I know people who are developing apps that you know, are self-distancing apps I mean if if someone comes within five to six feet of you it beeps Uh, so it tells you that you know, someone's too close to you or you are too close to someone for Yes, yes, we used beeps to to uh to disguise other things in the past But we'll need we'll need beeps now to to uh to warn us of Of things or areas that we're doing areas that we're going wrong in But we need to be we need to be researching. I I I've just had a conversation And and and a mail exchange of we and when I say I I'm in the company With companies that are actually doing this professionally They're actually creating safety measures or parameters that govern safety measures and what will be required To use those parameters effectively. They're actually doing it. That company is doing it So we need to be thinking about it because I'm a hopeful person like I said and when things turn around whenever that is I would need to be compliant not just to what the brand needs but to what the consumer or the person Attributing that event needs So there are companies to answer a question very directly There are companies who are looking at that look it up and you'll find more than a couple of good companies that are actually creating And this is where collaboration comes in companies that are creating methodology and actual products That will help you stay covid compliant or safety compliant Take a look at it. Thank you Brian and you know, I just I want to at this point bring the I want to say that we share your optimism About the country about the economy about brands businesses that they will reinvent as roshan said You got to reimagine your business. We had exchanged from media. Certainly believe that and 20 days back we launched red carpet exchange from media does not have a Experiential marketing ip and we believe that you know exchange from media should have one So ruel amin is launched and to share have launched red carpet We launched it with 20 odd very large CMOs on the jury And we believe that the industry will be back So we really share your optimism. I would say cautious optimism because you've got to look at cost. So I want to bring the Uh All of you know is our For exchange for media is a senior editor. That's fantastic jobs. We've survived him for eight years. You know, I have survived him for eight years So ruel go ahead. Uh, ask your question Uh, mr. Bass and uh, mr. Tell is lovely. Uh, hearing you. Can we get this gentleman on the screen? I hope uh, okay. Yes Hello great listening to you. I was in fact tweeting. I mean what all you said. So quick question. Uh, I have Uh, roshan, you said that you created an event with 7 000 people online Yeah, just want to say how was this? I mean, did it create the impact that you looked at? Is it really kind of doable as we move on from here? So the the beauty of it was that this is what I keep saying that You can create a passive event with 7 000 people event and they exit But but the idea is how do you make the event active? And I don't want to let any of my secrets out But I can assure you that I have an entire team that sits and keeps only saying this that how do you translate that human experience Across a digital screen. That's it. You can make it equally interesting if the prime minister of this country can get everyone to go to their balcony and You know, uh, clan kathali. I can get 7 000 people to take an action together as well So you said this is a lab in kovat times that we are living in my last question to uh, Mr. Tell us, um So, I mean, do we see fidgetle coming up in a very big way? I lost you. Uh, well, I lost you Fidgetle physical physical Do we see fidgetle coming up in a very big way? No, absolutely right. I said it on the top of the discussion. Well, and I'm Reinforcing it now. I think over the years and I don't want to waste time giving examples Challenges have to be hurdles that help us redefine ourselves and actually grow Okay, and I believe That this challenge this particular challenge. I don't need to tell anyone to convince them has given A huge relevance and importance to digital in what was on ground physical Okay, I believe that we'd be fools not to accept it wholeheartedly with open arms I know there's a theory that says don't go to digital because you know, it will eat into our otherwise profit of Physical, you know, if you are earning 60 rupees from physical, we're earning six rupees from digital These are all short term manifestations of what the end result can be to come back to your question I have an emphatic yes to say that Fidgetle is the way to go. It's the balance between physical and digital That will actually define effectiveness in what we do One will not replace the other I said it in the beginning it will it will be the balance between physical and digital That will determine effectiveness and effectiveness Obviously will determine quantity of work and earnings. So you have to be prudent and there's no ready answer It's based on who you are your strengths. It's based on the client. You're talking about the brand you're talking about It's based on the consumer and the mindset You know the uh, the kind of consumer you're talking of the type, you know, the demographic type or psychographic type of consumer you're talking about So those are all subjective answers or subjective answers to subject this question broadly speaking It's the time for Fidgetle Drawing the balance between physical and digital will be the ask And to Shardewan who runs red carpet. That's the name of the e4m experiential IP red carpet Tushar wants to ask a question. Tushar go ahead. Prayanka. Can you get Tushar on the screen? So again one clean seven guys And one guy who hasn't saved Hi Thanks for your insights. Uh, uh, everybody right now is talking about uh digital and how do we do events? But nobody's talking about people like mcs anchors event agencies and vendors Who in general who in general like a sound guy or a A state setup guy who doesn't know how to function digitally or is not well versed with the digital platforms So what and then you know, what should mcs do some of them doing where we chatted it one today Yesterday sanjali was there. I'm sure other mcs that are doing online events. They're reinventing their persona. What business are we in? I think roshan you said So what can smaller midsize agency? There are lots of questions like that. Also, what do we do to survive? So let's let's divide it into the talent and then let's divide it into on the other side Let's render the the people who are providing you support services technical services, etc technical services Many technical services will find online Avatars for example When you do a sound concert online currently zoom is not optimized for concerts Somebody will find the solution and that solution will be worth a million dollars Anybody who can reduce quality of hd Across lower bandwidth millions of dollars of money to be made Anybody who can actually hold a website Hold a webinar to tell us how to look better in limited light at home Millions of dollars to be made Anybody who can tell who can be a zoom certified mc I can tell you like I promise you I've been doing this for two months now I know how to run this like I mean I genuinely I love doing it I can I can switch to this you know by the way roshan I have to Tell you that you are the only speaker and I'm doing three webinars with three big guys Who actually got the questions who's looking at the screen? No, no, I am looking at I am anurag Even looking at a number of participants drop at which point to which point I take screenshots of things This is a joy for a person who loves technology and a zoom certified mc will be the highest paid mc in the future Because they will be able to control an offline online experience together if chatty tomorrow picks that up She's going to kick ass with all of this because that's what you need to do I'm able to integrate music many people are not because I learned something which others don't know It's just it's I keep saying knowledge is par my parents are both teachers They always taught me this thing saying knowledge is par and that's it you just need to find and that's that's the red carpet Jury, it's not the phone. We have not 28 jury members. This is a very old one Of course some of our editors are there I was most happy If I may chip in uh, just because we're talking about uh mcs and roshan sir has been telling us about it So there was a question on facebook live as well from shalini shankar sir Which said that most of the artists and performing artists are taking a hit right now because Whatever we can possibly do physically There is still a limitation on what we could do digitally. So are there anything uh suggestions or chips that you can share with us and also On the avenue uh monetizing this because a lot of people are doing certain things But are doing it uh in a non-commercial way currently So how doing more I I I promise you I have made more money as a host online Host covet than I made in the two months pre-covid and I assure you it's amazing because again I went and sold something unique. I said guys I can assure you I'll create more engagement online than offline by doing the following things once And there was a whole list of things that I could list I was able to turn and say that there is a tech that you can integrate in this tech So not just this tech there are the tech so number one and saying Don't think revenue opportunities are over. There are enough revenue opportunities. There is a price drop That is a natural thing But I'm very happy to do a price drop because from here I go into my shorts and go into the next room I don't have to travel stay live be away from my children I can go and you know hug my daughter and come back and do the next section. It's perfect So we should pay that much as a dearness cost that we should all come down with that's fine Right when people are asking you to do too many things free that too You've got to weigh as an opportunity saying how much publicity how much relevance how much engagement Do I get a point to turn and say I'm available at I mean you've got to also We often get exploited as as talent I think that there are opportunities the talent that discovers how to engage people on screen will keep winning the battle Fantastic on this note. I think we have we have to keep to our time I just want to ask you one question and the question is Can you sing a song for us or a couple of years home? How can you give a you know, you both are performance You're not you know, you're as I said multi-faceted multi-talented in the real sense of it and I really mean it And I really respect you guys and offer it I'll back you up on how many Here's a little song I wrote you might want to sing it note for note. Don't worry Be happy Oh, if you worry your face will frown That'll bring everybody down. So don't worry Be happy Beautiful and Brian you never heard me singing the harmonies. I sang Okay with with with with all the with all the business potential that roshan has If only he wore a skirt at a propose to him I know that But uh, but roshan if you wore a skirt and if you looked a lot prettier then you do look like shahin does Out of song to you stuck on you I got feeling down leaving my soul that I just am Yes, I'm on my way I'm mighty glad Thank you so much. Thank you roshan. Thank you Brian for making this Friday afternoon So much fun and so much real and giving very real advice. God bless you continue to do well and I must tell our Viewers and readers that as the business comes back as we all reinvent our business as we Redefine our businesses. We'll find new idea new solution and we have exchange for media We'll make sure we're a catalyst in that. Thank you. God bless you. Thank you so much. Thank you Thank you Thank you. Neeraj Tushar everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much Thank you so much Mr. Chalice and mr Abbas and dr. Bhattra. Thank you for being here and making this session so interactive and so Engaging and so entertaining too. Thank you so very much