Guest Lecture by Mr. Gaurav Kakkar, Head- Digital Marketing, HCL Technologies.
“If everyone is thinking alike then somebody isn’t thinking” – General George Patton.
These words were the core of the interactive session we had with Mr Gaurav Kakkar, Head- Digital Marketing, HCL Technologies, in TAPMI campus. Also, Mr Rajan Bedi, Head- ERS Presales, HCL Technologies, accompanied Mr Kakkar in the session .
In the current scenario, a topic like digital marketing needs little spark to fire. The students looked forward to the session with much anticipation and even more questions. The crux of the session was to have a High level understanding of Digital marketing in the Context of Marketing 2.0 along with the actual cases like the online recruitment campaign by HCL where the prospective candidates were interviewed on Twitter. The reach and innovation behind the campaign not only kept the marketing students awe struck but earned plenty of lip service from the HR students as well for being the most transparent process of recruitment.
Amongst other campaigns, Mr Kakkar also discussed the recent ‘Relationship beyond the Contract’ campaign. This is one of the few campaign to see such success and used LinkedIn as a platform. The students were excited to get insights about the campaign from Mr. Kakkar himself and not just online reviews. He also showed the students how the app functions by giving a quick demo on the following website: http://rbtc.hcltech.com/
He spoke about the philosophy behind this initiative where in the changing business landscape no contract can predict about the business relationships. Through this initiative HCL Technology aims at achieving relationships based on trust, transparency and flexibility.
Other than the campaigns students also had questions about social media, its relevance currently and its probable future which has evolved Marketing 2.0 and the Importance of the CMO ( Chief Marketing Officer ) .
A notable point discussed was the importance of engagement over followership when measuring returns from social media. This has been the motive for HCL not focusing on the no of followers hence, enjoying unprecedented followership.
There were also many valuable inputs provided by Mr Rajan Bedi, who provided insights into the concepts being discussed and provided examples to better substantiate the theories. He also helped in keeping the audience engaged by asking questions which further made the students enthusiastic about the learning and explained the importance of having a Digital entity which spans across social media covering Facebook , LinkedIn , Twitter , Blogs and Websites .
Mr. Kakkar with his enthusiasm and oration kept the audience engaged through the course of the session. There were a lot of questions asked during the session on how HCL Technologies has successfully used Digital marketing and the Power of the same the mode of the session remained highly interactive throughout. The students went back with a lot more clarity on concepts and the live examples helped set the picture clear for them.
The session ended with the Mr. HS Srivatsa, Professor – Marketing, TAPMI extending the vote of thanks on behalf of the TAPMI fraternity and presenting the guests with a token of appreciation. The session was well received by the students and gave them a highly industry centric perspective on the concepts of Digital Marketing.