For the first time in the history of Indian Market Research industry, a seminar was organized by a market research firm on a subject that was not market research, but the new ‘online’ economy. Who else could that be other than at-the-cutting-edge eTechnology Group@IMRB? Held at the Rooftop Rendezvous, The Taj Mahal Hotel, on December 15, 2000, the seminar was organized to build a platform to integrate the expertise of the Market Research industry, the insights of the dotcom world, and the experience of the traditional brick and mortar world. It was primarily based on the findings of the national syndicated Internet report I-Cube 2000. The seminar aimed at helping organisations in developing their Internet communication and commerce strategies.

And success it was! For a starting, it attracted speak-ers from diverse backgrounds like FMCG major HLL, consumer durable company LG, pioneer ISPs like Satyam to now famous DataAccessIndia, to leading dotcoms like Rediff, Fabmart and Ideasnyou. More importantly, it held the attention of the corporate world. So we had a buzzing environment full of likes of HLL, P&G;, Kellogg’s, Shoppers’ Stop, HTA, Lintas, Euro-RSCG, NIIT, HCL Infosystem, IBP co., etc. Talk about convergence of the Indian industry itself!

The seminar started off with a welcome address by Bhupendra Mathur, Sr. VP & Country Manager, eTechnology Group, followed by the keynote address by IMRB President Thomas Puliyel, who gave his usual in-depth analysis of the Internet opportunity in a succinct manner. Then we had Mr. Mathur giving an overview of the market as it exists today, and how it is expected to grow in the future. IMRB’s assessment of the Internet market inter alia addressed certain basic myths that surround the various estimates made in the press including differentiating between ‘accounts’ and ‘subscribers’, and between ‘active’ users vs. ‘claimed’ users. He was followed by Nitin Gupta, President and COO, Rediff.com, who expounded on the learning from the US market and relocating them to the Indian context. Hemant Bakshi, Head (e-Commerce Initiatives – Consumer Connectivity), HLL, talked about the dilemmas of traditional marketers and how to exploit this dramatically new market – even linking “Who wants to be a millionaire?” in the process.

The second session commenced with insights from Mohan Krishnan, Research Director at IMRB’s eTechnology Group, who talked about the challenges before the ISPs in the new millennium and how alternate access devices and access points can dramatically grow the market throughout the length and breadth of the country. V.V. Kannan, VP (Cybercafe), Satyam Infoway, spoke about the changing scope and scale of the cybercafe, and Vivek Jhamb, VP (Marketing), DataAccess, spoke on the convergence issue.

The third session started with Mr. Mathur providing a snapshot of content and commerce models to net the Indian consumers. The session was packed with K. Vaitheeswaran, VP (Marketing), talking about the experiences of Fabmart, and Santosh Sood, VP, Lintas, talking about conceptualization, development and implementation of LGezbuy.

The last session was about e-Branding. Mr. Krishnan talked about the developments in branding that are taking place across the world, and Ashok Jain, CEO, Ideasnyou.com, put things into perspective by giving examples of Nestle, LIC, Hyundai, Raymonds, etc.

Of course, one just cannot forget the lovely Taj food and snacks and the mesmerizing view of the rooftop view of the dockyard, The Gateway of India, the sea and beyond.