Wrapping it up!

From brand building knowledge, to powerful touching stories and never ending entertainment, The Himalayan Times Perspectives Brandfest Nepal 2016 had it all

Abhilasha Rayamajhi
Kathmandu

Weekends are meant for relaxation, parties and family get-togethers. However, brand geeks, enthusiasts and gurus came together on Friday and Saturday (August 5 and 6) to learn and understand brands better at Soaltee Crowne Plaza. In Nepal, the branding culture is still in its infancy; most people are not aware of branding and hesitate to invest in it. However, The Himalayan Times Perspectives 3rd Brandfest Nepal 2016 ventured to initiate a conversation on branding and celebrate the power of brands.

Participants experienced ‘Brand Qi’ where they could connect brands to the life force and find a way to balance it from the first speaker Babita Baruah, Senior Vice President, J. Walter Thompson. Describing herself as a JWT vintage she expressed her magical slides eloquently. Then there was the powerful storyteller Bharat Avalani, CEO of Connecting the Dots who shared the stories he had collected and offered some tips on how to ‘spot a story’. Alvin Teoh, Executive Creative Director, NagaDDB and his team became almost everybody’s favourite with their powerful stories about failure and how we can tap into the power of pain. Anand Tilak, Global Brand Partner at Facebook engaged audience with his spectacular talk on trends in digital media and its impact.

The second day had Carla Enslin, National Academic Head, Vega School of Brand Leadership introduced herself as a strategist at heart and illuminated some significant shifts in brand orientation. She explained how brands are connected to media, government, stakeholders and consumers. ‘Co-creating consumer tribes’ was another topic that was covered with clarity by brand guru Sumit Roy, Founder Director, Univbrands. Vino B. Sookloll enlightened the audience with the holy truth about branding with his comparisons of Brand and religion. Finally, Sridhar Sunkad, Managing Director, EON Reality talked about Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality and How It Can Change the Whole World of Travel, Tourism and Education.

Cyrus Brocha, Master of Ceremonies was witty and wicked and full of life as always. At the end of each day there were panel discussions and a Brandfest 2016 quiz where the participants actively engaged and won exciting gift hampers, cocktails, dinner and networking. The mega event lived up to its expectations, from brand building knowledge, to powerful and heart touching videos and stories to entertainment, it had it all.

(The article was published on The Himalayan Times Perspectives on August 14, 2016)