The Department of Media Science, The Heritage Academy Kolkata organized its 3rd mega AD event AD ADDA 2019 on 19th and 20th September at The Heritage campus. The event was inaugurated by Mr. Biswajit Matilal, Head- Corporate Communications, Birla Corporation Ltd as the Chief Guest followed by Prof. Subir Ghosh, Ex-Principal, Bhavan’s Institute on 19th September 2019. Various colleges across the city participated in this two day event which comprised of various events like AD jingles, MAD Ad, Fashion Marketing, Film Marketing, Quiz and two important panel discussions.

 

The first day panel discussion was addressed by experts from the areas of Film marketing, Print media, Digital media, from renowned academic institutions and also from the visual communication industry. The panelists were Mr. Suproyo Sinha, CEO-Education, Pratibha, ABP Pvt. Ltd, Prof. Krishanu Rakshit from IIM Calcutta, Mr. Ajit Issac Mathews, CEO, Indusnet Techshu, Mr. Francis Harrison, an eminent photographer from Tokyo and Mr. Arijit Dutta, an eminent Film Distributor. The topic of the discussion was Brand Bengal for the Millennial. Mr. Supriyo Sinha stressed on the fact that technology is now the deciding factor for today’s generation for buying goods and services. Moreover Mr. Francis Harrison was in the opinion that today’s generation is shrinking a lot and is suffering from various stress and depressions. Prof. Krishanu Rakshit focused on the Consumer behavior aspect in case of the Millennial whereas Mr. Arijit Dutta stressed on the marketing aspects for a film when we are targeting it for the Millennial.

The first day session closed with an interactive talk delivered by Mr. Rudranil Ghosh, a well known Indian actor. The second day Mr. Saibal Mitra, the upcoming producer of the recent film which is scheduled to get released ‘Debotar Gras’ interacted with the students on the topic ‘Film Marketing’ The students also made various brand pitches for products like Himalaya Optical and Chowman which were judged by the Marketing Head of Chowman, Ms. Ananya and Marketing Head of Himalaya Optical, Ms. Jaya De. Apart from this, the students also got an opportunity to interact with Mr. Judhajit Sircar, well known director of films, RJ Smriti from Friends FM and Ms. Malavika Banerjee from Byloom. They were also the judges for various events at AD ADDA.

 

The second day also witnessed a panel discussion on the topic ‘how our brands are coping with Digital disruptions and how millennial are consuming today’s brands’. The panel discussion was addressed by Mr. Kaushik Roy, President- Brand Strategy & Marketing Communications, Reliance Industries Limited, Mr. Atri Bhattacharya, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Tourism, Govt. of West Bengal, Mr. Pritimoy Chakraborty, Chairman and Founder, Purple Movie Town and Mr. Arjun Gaurisaria, a well known film director. Mr. Kaushik Roy stressed on the fact that Content marketing now plays an important role for managing brands. Advertisement is just a portion of Brand management and apart from advertisements, a brand has various other attributes which forms the content and if that is not properly promoted to the target audience, the whole effort gets wasted. He gave the example of Colgate. Mr. Pritimoy Chakraborty and Mr. Arjun Goursaria stressed on the marketing aspects for films and how to promote them to the Millennial. Mr. Atri Bhattacharya gave the example of West Bengal Tourism and how it has revamped its brand to get it positioned in the minds of the target audience.

 

The last day concluded with the prize distribution ceremony which also witnessed the presence of Ms. Richa Sharma, former Mrs. India International. “Such events help our students to know the practical applications of various concepts in Branding, PR, advertisements and Film marketing. Moreover they get an opportunity to interact with Industry professionals which is very much necessary for Media education,” said Dr. Madhupa Bakshi, Dean, Department of Media Science, The Heritage Academy Kolkata. She moderated both the panel discussions on both the days of AD ADDA. The event also witnessed the presence of CEO of Heritage Group of Institutions, Shri Pradip Agarwal, Dr. Gour Banerjee, Principal, The Heritage Academy and other faculty and staff of the Institute.