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<ul><li>With events across the globe getting postponed indefinitely or even cancelled in some cases, the experiential marketing industry is expecting the next few quarters to be very challenging. </li><li>We spoke to a few industry leaders to get a sense of how they feel this pandemic will affect the industry in the coming months, and for everybody the answer is the same, ‘How do you prepare for the unknown?’</li></ul>As the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic with over 125,000 confirmed cases and 4,600 deaths in 114 countries, India has shut down its doors for foreign travellers. Just today the first death from Coronavirus in the country was reported from Karnataka, substantially increasing panic, with the government ordering closure of schools, colleges and multiplexes in cities like Delhi. While the hospitality and the entire service sector is expected to be impacted hard, the events and <keyword id="8901436" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="experiential-industry">experiential industry</keyword> is bracing itself for a few dismal quarters. With events across the globe getting postponed indefinitely or even cancelled in some cases, the experiential industry is expecting the next few quarters to be very challenging. While India has still not been affected as adversely as a few other countries, corporates are taking precautions and limiting their events. If media reports are to be believed, even big tickets events like IPL might have to be held without spectators for the first 15 days, which could affect the industry to a huge extent. AdClub’s Goafest 2020, which is a gathering of all advertising and media stalwarts and is looked forward to every year, is also postponed as several international speakers who were participating in the event have cancelled their trip to India. Facebook’s Global Marketing Summit, which was scheduled on March 9 in San Francisco is cancelled. In such a scenario, the experiential industry, which is all about creating experiences for people in huge gatherings, is obvious to face the brunt of this everyday-unfolding situation. We spoke to a few industry leaders to get a sense of how they feel this pandemic will affect the industry in the coming months, and for everybody the answer is the same, ‘How do you prepare for the unknown?’ <keyword id="8901438" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Event-and-Entertainment-Management-of-India">Event and Entertainment Management of India</keyword> (EEMA), the apex body of the experiential industry in India, recently sent out an advisory to all its members, putting together some protocols for venues that are still hosting events. The industry body set together guidelines around ‘Hygiene and Infection Control at Events’. Postponement and cancellation of many events With the government suspending travel visas and the general panic growing with each passing day, brands are refraining from organising events, which will hurt the experiential industry the most. Speaking about how the spread of the virus is already having an effect on the industry, Sabbas Joseph, Co-founder &amp; Director, Wizcraft International said, “The outbreak of the Coronavirus has caught the world of experiential marketing by shock. Multiple global events have been hit -- postponed or simply cancelled: IIFA2020, the Geneva Motor show, ITB-Berlin, the India Today Conclave, the META Awards, IMEX-Frankfurt, the Barcelona Mobile Congress…the list is endless. Additionally, product launches, promotions and activations, business conferences, business travel, MICE, exhibitions, trade shows have been simply put off or cancelled.” Adding to the list of cancelled and postponed events, Deepak Pawar, Managing Director, Midas Next added, “We had a few large events and activations for Colors, Mumbai Indians and IPL, but all of them have been canceled for now. We also had a couple of large exhibitions and conferences planned for the pharma industry and those have been postponed indefinitely. We were organizing an activation for Cadbury catering to tourists across the Himalyan belt. Since tourists are not allowed in India right now, we had to cancel that too. Similarly there was an activation planned for Lifebuoy about hygiene to avoid Coronavirus. Now since schools are also shut down, where will we do those activations?” Anticipating a few dismal quarters While India has yet not been as badly impacted as a few other countries, there are still new cases being detected everyday, with the current count being 62. As a step to contain the future spread of the virus, the government has suspended all existing visas, except diplomatic, official, UN/international organisations, employment, project visas until April 15. With it, many foreign nationals or companies that were supposed to come to the country for various events are having to cancel their travel plans. Moreover, the industry was already grappling with the effects of the economic slowdown, which was followed by riots in Delhi. Speaking about how all these factors combined will have a massive impact on the industry, Sanjoy Roy, Managing Director, Teamwork Arts and President, EEMA said, “Since February, we have postponed our festival India by the Bay in Hong Kong, India by the Bosphorus in Turkey, and another event in Morocco. In India, we have just postponed the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META). And everything else we have in the pipeline is getting pushed back. There’s that unknown factor as to what is this going to result in. While there's enough information out there, the fact that the world has reacted in a particular way means that there is more to it than meets the eye. And anyway, the economic slowdown was already impacting the industry. The biggest effect was the Auto Expo. We saw around 50% of Auto Expo disappear and many of the major players did not come, and that's a big thing for most of the event companies. If I were to talk about how the industry will perform, the quarter figures are not out yet and we won't have a sense of it right now. But I am sure both the industry as well as the quarter figures will be dismal.” Agreeing with Roy, <keyword id="52304" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Roshan-Abbas">Roshan Abbas</keyword>, Founder and Managing Director, Geometry Encompass, added, “The worst hit is the experiential business. From large sporting events to film awards, concerts to festivals all have been postponed. With the 14-day quarantine, many international speakers are also cancelling. There is a sense of panic everywhere. In these times take part in spreading information and awareness. Verify your facts. Try work from home and remote working. It’s the best time to test it. Also the only hope is to try digital events and plan for the future, cut back on all expenses. This will impact Q2 and Q3 very badly.” Tackling the crisis by going virtual The experiential business is all about direct-to-consumer engagement. The business thrives on human contact and the assembly of people is an important part of the entire offering. However, whenever a crisis hits, the only way of bouncing back is by thinking out of the box and doing things a little differently. On how brands have been reacting to the entire situation and how that might lead to an overhaul in the way the experiential industry works, Joseph said, “Brands are resetting their plans, expectations, markets, delivery systems, marketing focus and logistics. This will force the experiential industry to change its method of working, composition of team structure, use of technology, data, global resources, innovation and physical space. Collaboration and Innovation are going to be the new drivers of the experiential economy.” Dalveer Singh, Head Experiential Marketing - APAC, GroupM has come up with a plan B for this predicament. His team is trying to figure out if the experience can be digitised through some virtual or augmented reality experience. He says agencies equipped with digital skills can manage to survive else, this unfortunate situation will push them to think how to take experiential beyond mass-gatherings. “One solution can be how much of the experience that we create by being physically there, can be converted into ideas that are virtual or digital. Now that's something which we as a team are planning to do and that is our plan B. Brands wanted to have physical events because virtual does not give the same amount of joy. However, today, in these circumstances, brands will be more open to doing these events digitally because that gives them reach. So marketers will be more receptive to doing things virtually. However, in this whole environment, how many experiential marketing companies are today equipped to shift from physical to digital to virtual? There are a few companies that have those skills. This means it's also an opportunity for companies to get those new skills in,” said Singh. Singh also suggested helping each other in this dismal times, especially the smaller parties and freelancers. “For putting together an experiential marketing piece, we work with a lot of freelancers across different companies. And in this whole game, I think the small agencies and freelancers are the ones who might be affected by the heat because you are the resources for them. So, we need to figure out how to protect these small agencies and freelancers who do not have deep profits and holding capacity when the times are tough,” added Singh. While things don’t look very bright right now, the industry is still hopeful that the festive season will bring about some respite.

Coronavirus scare expected to impact experiential industry hard, Q2 & Q3 might register dismal growth

If you need a rather prolific indicator of <keyword id="143" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Bollywood">Bollywood</keyword>’s success on Hollywood-dominated land, just look at the golden shores of the US. <keyword id="24705" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="40" keywordseo="Dhoom-3">Dhoom 3</keyword>, the sequel of the earlier films with the same name, has reasons to rejoice its success. The film may be scoffed at for the content and for packing way too much masala, but it is still celebrating a roaring success offshore. 
 
The film set the North American box office record for a non-English and a Bollywood film, taking in $3.3 million from 236 theatres. The movie, which has been shot on large-screen format, also benefited from IMAX surcharge and went on to wear the crown of being the first Bollywood flick to grab such a huge number of screens across the US. 
 
In fact, Dhoom 3 broke the record set by Chennai Express, which had grossed $2.2 million across the American theatres. Earlier this year, another Bollywood film Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani managed to break into the US top 10, showing in 162 theatres across the country. 
 
Such feats by Bollywood films, with the industry celebrating 100 years of its existence, continue to create records in a non-Hindi-speaking territory. 
 Almost all the top-line actors/celebrities of Indian cinema have tried to make foray into Hollywood and enjoy a great rapport with the Red Carpet events abroad. Big names like <keyword id="6357912" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="amitabh-bachchan">Amitabh Bachchan</keyword>, <keyword id="6366471" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Aishwarya-Rai">Aishwarya Rai</keyword>, <keyword id="6358615" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Shilpa-Shetty">Shilpa Shetty</keyword>, <keyword id="598" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Deepika-Padukone">Deepika Padukone</keyword>, Shah Rukh Khan, <keyword id="6355846" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Madhuri-Dixit">Madhuri Dixit</keyword> and <keyword id="6354580" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Sridevi">Sridevi</keyword> have a sizeable fan base in the US and it is not surprising that next year’s International <keyword id="131934" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Indian-Film-Academy">Indian Film Academy</keyword> (<keyword id="19317" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="IIFA">IIFA</keyword>) event is going to be held in Tampa Bay, Florida. 
 While IIFA is a global platform which celebrates and presents the Indian cinema beyond its geographical boundaries, the fact that it is going to be held in the US is highly significant. It signals the ‘arrival’ of Indian cinema to the land of high-quality cinema. According to IIFA and <keyword id="1994787" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="Wizcraft-director">Wizcraft director</keyword> Andre Timms, the decision to hold the IIFA event in Florida during April 24-26, 2014, was taken following the ‘unprecedented demand’ for the event to be held in the US. “Florida was chosen, following the need for the largest stage to host various larger-than-life sub-events as part of the main event,” Timms had reportedly said. 
 
Slowly but surely, Hollywood seems to be realising that Bollywood is something more than <keyword id="32892" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Slumdog-Millionaire">Slumdog Millionaire</keyword> or the usual song-and-dance routines, although they continue to be the strength and the USP of Bollywood productions. 
 It’s the stuff that can make fairy tales look rather insipid. When the then Miss New York <keyword id="1994786" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nina-Davaluri">Nina Davaluri</keyword> danced to popular Bollywood song ‘Dhoom Taana’ from the film Om Shanti Om for her talent show round, experts had probably underestimated the reach of Bollywood and wondered if this choice could affect her chances of winning the coveted crown. In fact, no one had placed bets on her victory. It is now history that she won the Miss America crown. 
 
And what a victory it was! 
 
In retrospect, a Bollywood song on the Hollywood-adoring land found its share of takers. It wasn't the divider; in fact, it must have been the unifying agent. The thickly Hindi-flavoured Bollywood had crossed the shores and reached the global audience, much like Butter Chicken Masala and the spicy Indian curry. 
 
Is it, therefore, surprising that the world looks at Bollywood as India’s biggest export? It is the largest film industry in the world and the biggest employment churner in India. Bollywood and its local counterparts within the country produce more than 1,000 films annually across 20 languages, predominantly for a film-watching population of half a billion who are well under 25 years of age. 
 
What more can you say about a film industry that has existed for over 100 years, and has produced numerous stars and superb cinematic moments for the fans to cherish? Hollywood was not even in the concept stage when the theatre-inspired Bollywood was experimenting with entertaining people in many languages. 
 
Bollywood came into existence in 1899 with the production of a short film and Hollywood took its first gasp of breath a good 11 years later in 1910. Now, crunch some numbers. While Hollywood produces 500 films per year, Bollywood does more than 1,000 films even during a lean year. Hollywood movies are watched by more than 2.6 billion people worldwide with English being the language of communication. But Bollywood, even with its severe language limitation (the medium is Hindi, a language spoken by the majority in India), enjoys a viewer base of 3 billion. 
 
After Indians started to migrate in the early 80s, the late 90s saw a spate of movies with the NRI life as their key theme. And the old plots were resurrected, with flavours to suit those who had left home to earn more of the foreign soil like seen in ‘DDLJ’. Needless to say, these movies packed lots of emotions – that of being away from homeland, the feeling of alienation and the search for identity. Bollywood had matured with time. 
 
Hollywood continues its triumph in many areas but what Bollywood has made possible is quite another thing. A multilanguage-based film industry, sniggered at for being the song-and-dance trade, managed to turn that very aspect into its strength. 
 
But you have to consider another thing as well. Although Pakistan and India don’t see eye to eye in many areas, Bollywood gets the singers from Pakistan to sing some quintessential numbers. And many of those songs have become super hits in both countries. Movies build the bridge between the two nations, if nothing else. 
 But Pakistan is not the only country where you will find Bollywood fans. Bollywood finds its audiences in West Africa, Dubai, Prague, the US and the UK. And not all of them are Hindi-speaking people. There are Berliners who have learnt Hindi to be able to follow those films; there are Russians who have watched Bollywood’s dream merchant <keyword id="6358412" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Raj-Kapoor">Raj Kapoor</keyword>’s classics and shed tears when he passed away and there are the Japanese and the Chinese, too. 
 
Interestingly, Bollywood and Hollywood had signed a pact back in 2010 in order to leverage their industry experience and diversity, and use the same for the benefit of global audiences. Termed as the ‘historic co-operation pact,’ it will also see two of the world’s biggest movie industries come together for content protection and distribution. 
 
Now, in a situation where Bollywood and Hollywood have come together, the world will sure be one big cinema hall! And entertainment? Unlimited, of course. Treat yourself!

Rest
A While, Hollywood; Bollywood’s Gyrating Here!

It was a proud moment for A.R. Rahman, also known as the Mozart of Madras, as his band NAFS debuted on the stage in front of the who’s who of <keyword id="369120" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-Music-Industry">Indian music industry</keyword>. 
 The occasion was the fifth <keyword id="476600" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Global-Indian-Music-Awards">Global Indian Music Awards</keyword> (GiMA), presented by Gionee and Star in Mumbai yesterday. The awards ceremony was anchored by Mika Singh and Manish Paul, and had performances from Atif Aslam, Arijit Singh, Pritam, <keyword id="89958" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Shraddha-Kapoor">Shraddha Kapoor</keyword>, Benny Dayal, Sonu Nigam, Ankit Tewari, and Shankar Mahadevan among others. 
 
"It has been my privilege to showcase NAFS at GiMA for the first time ever," said Rahman after the sensational debut performance of his band. "For me, to give a platform to the next generation is my mission and this is one of the first initiatives to represent India internationally. The inspiration behind was Stevie Wonder," he added. 
 
Another performance that kept the audience entertained was done by 'The S7- Super 7', which was an act comprising some of the most talented singers of the Indian music industry. 
 
"It has been an absolute honour to bring together some of the world's finest musicians on a platform like GiMA. We've had the privilege of seeing greats like Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Jasraj, Usaat Zakir Hussain and A.R. Rahman on the same stage today," said Sabbas Joseph, director, Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt Ltd. 
 
Following is the list of major wins during the ceremony: 
 
· Lifetime Achievement Award – Classical: Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia 
· Global Musician Award: Ustad Zakir Hussain 
· Wizcraft Honour for Best Live Performer: Daler Mehndi 
· Best Fusion Album in the Non-film Category: A.R. Rahman (Coke Studio MTV Season 3) 
· Special Award for Best Music: Red Bull Tour Bus 
· Best Film Album: A.R. Rahman (Highway) 
· Best Music Director: Pritam 
· Best Music Debut (Film): Armaan Malik 
· Best Film Album: Yaariyaan 
· Best Playback Singer Male – Arijit Singh (Muskrane, CityLights) 
· Best Playback Singer Female – Kanika Kapoor (Baby Doll, Ragini MMS2) 
· Best Music Debut (Non-Film category): Armaan Malik 
· Best Celebrity Singer: Shraddha Kapoor (Ek Villain) 
· Best Devotional Music: Shankar Mahadevan (My Devotional Favourites) 
 
The awards were powered by Hungama.com and Kellogg’s Chocos, and would be telecast on Star Plus on March 15.

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