IIM Bodh Gaya Organized The International Conference Of Marketing On Consumer Experience In The Digital Era.

IIM Bodh Gaya organized the International Conference of Marketing on Consumer Experience in the Digital Era on the 14th -15th of April, 2023. The conference was hosted in association with the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, with an effort to bring together academics, educators, doctoral candidates, and professionals from around the world and to focus on how businesses can adapt to the rapidly evolving digital landscape to provide consumers with the best possible experience.

On the 14th of April, Prof. Vinita S. Sahay, Director, IIM Bodh Gaya, took the stage with all the eminent dignitaries to inaugurate the conference with the auspicious lighting of the lamp. Prof. Medha Srivastava, Assistant Professor of Marketing at IIM Bodh Gaya and the Convener, ICM 2023, commenced the conference with a welcome speech and mentioned the goals and objectives of the conference. Prof. Sahay addressed the crowd, thanking everyone for their active participation. She spoke about the institution’s aim of building socially responsible students: “We don’t just create and write down our vision somewhere, but we embrace it. We take immense pride in embracing our vision of building socially responsible business leaders of the future.”

Following her, the gathering was addressed by Prof. Cecilia Soler, Associate Professor, Department of Marketing at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. She spoke about the importance of Sweden's dependency on Indian markets for various sectors like the software segment. She further quoted, “I have come here to learn about the Indian market, especially the digital models. We are also keenly interested in learning about healthcare management. I am a yoga person, so it gives me joy to find my fellow mates interested in mindfulness.”

Prof. Russel Belk, Distinguished Research Professor, Kraft Foods Canada and Chair in Marketing, Schulich School of Business, York University gave informative insights on Metaverse. He added, “The Metaverse will not be the new internet. It will not be what we exactly envision it to be.”

Prof. Sunaina Singh, Vice Chancellor  of Nalanda University, emphasized the importance of consumer behavior and relationship, and highlighted the need for right and ethical marketing.

Prof. B. Mittal from the Department of Management and Marketing at Northern Kentucky University, said, “We have to be the point of the start of the trend” and talked about how research should be embedded in action.

The Conference Proceedings booklet was released by all the guests present. The inaugural session ended with a vote of thanks by Prof. Amresh Kumar, Assistant Professor of Marketing at IIM Bodh Gaya and Convener - ICM 2023.

This was followed by a panel discussion on the theme “How Digitalization and Web 3.0 is Reinventing the Consumer Experience?” Mr. Pranav Kumar, Director - Digital and Data Driven Cx, Emerging Tech & Innovation; Seenivasan Subramanian Ph.D, Head Marketing - Colors Tamil, Viacom18 Media Private Limited; Ashish Anand, Vice President - Digital Marketing, CK Birla Healthcare and Amit Bhargava, Director - Consulting (Global Head - Marketing Automation and Operations), LTIMindtree were the eminent panelists. Prof. Ramesh Roshan Das Guru, Assistant Professor at IIM Bodh Gaya, moderated the discussion.

The panelists deliberated over a number of topics ranging from ‘Personalization with Boundaries’, ‘Ethical Digital Marketing’, ‘Data Security and Control’ to 'the Effect of Web 3.0 on Consumer Behavior, Relationship and Experience'.

Later, the participants enthusiastically delivered their paper presentations on various themes like Consumption and Consumers, Brands and Consumers, Digital Marketing in a BANI World, Marketing of Services, Sustainability, and Well-Being, Digitalization of Marketing, and Marketing of Services.

The conference had received 232 submissions out of which 177 received letters of acceptance based on rigorous peer review. 195 registrations from industry practitioners, academicians and research scholars were received from India and abroad. The authors belonged to a number of noted institutions such as IBS Moscow and GSCM RANEPA, Russia, NIT Durgapur, Delhi School Of Economics and many others.

This was followed by a Cultural Programme organized by the students of IIM Bodh Gaya.  The audience enjoyed watching a wide range of performances such as traditional Indian dancing, folk dances, group singing, individual singing and many more. This entertaining session not only mesmerized the audience but also portrayed our rich  Indian culture.

The second day of the conference witnessed more paper presentations from the participants. Some themes discussed were Research in Marketing, Facets of Consumer Behaviour, and Technology and People.

The valedictory session started with welcoming of all the dignitaries and participants. Prof. Michael S. Mulvey,  Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Ottawa addressed the gathering. This was followed by Keynote Address by Mr. Manish Gupta, Chief Digital & Technology Officer of Yum! Brands. Further on,  Ms. Deepa Krishnan, Director - Marketing, Category, Loyalty, Digital, Tata Starbucks gave interesting insights to the audience. This was followed with another Keynote Address by Rohit Gulati, Director - Marketing (India & South Asia), Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision.

After all the presentations were over, the ‘Emerald Best Paper Award’ was handed over, and certificates were provided to the participants. The conference ended with a Vote of Thanks delivered by Prof. Medha Srivastava.