Kochi to host IAA World Congress

The International Advertising Association (IAA) will be hosting the IAA World Congress at the Grand Hyatt Lulu International Convention Centre in Kochi between February 20 and 22, 2019.

Steering Committee IAA World Congress chairman Pradeep Guha, “This is being planned as the most significant event covering marketing, communications and related technology areas in the world.

“We have assembled a stellar array of 35 speakers, each one a global leader in their own right.

“The topics will appeal to professionals in the areas of marketing, advertising, media and technology, as well as academics and students.

“We even have a great line-up of inspirational speakers to make this convention really complete. Our unique theme Brand Dharma addresses the growing need for brands to have a higher purpose.

Apart from this, we have scheduled the Congress in a truly world class convention centre and have planned out three evenings of great entertainment.

These include a “welcome to Kerala theme nite”, a “Fashions and flavors of India” theme nite with a fashion show curated by leading designer Manish Malhotra featuring 42 models, and a farewell Bollywood Nite which will have some of the top Bollywood stars in attendance.

I can assure you, this kind of a scale of content and entertainment is very difficult to see together.
And we have special rates for academics and students so that they learn from this great line-up of speakers.”

Srinivasan Swamy Chairman and World President IAA said, “The IAA is an 80 year institution headquartered in New York, having a presence in 55 countries, and having as its constituent’s advertisers, advertising agencies and the media.

“The World Congress is held every alternate year in important destinations around the world. I am very pleased that the 44th. World Congress is being held in India. The India Chapter with Punit Goenka as President and Pradeep Guha and Kaushik Roy as Co-Chairpersons of the Congress Steering Committee have been planning things out at an impressive scale.

“I am grateful to Mukesh Ambani who has guided them as Chairman of the Congress Governing Council. I am expecting about 2000 delegates from India and around the world to come to this Congress. Incidentally this is the first time that the IAA World Congress is being held in India”.

Reliance Industries Ltd. CMD Mukesh Ambani, Unilever CEO Paul Polman, Qualcomm CEO Steven Mollenkopf, non-executive Chairman of Infosys and former Chairman of UIDAI Nandan Nilekani, CEO of Softbank Investment Advisors Rajeev Misra and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar are scheduled to address the summit.

Bollywood legend and the nation’s most valuable brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan will also speak, as will social influencer and actress, Deepika Padukone.

Some of the other speakers include tennis great Andre Agassi, Vijay Amritraj, Alibaba Group Chief Marketing Officer, Chris Tung, Facebook VP of global marketing solutions Carolyn Everson, co-founder of Skype Jonas Kjellberg,  President and Chief Executive Officer of BBDO Worldwide Andrew Robertson and Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Worldwide Piyush Pandey will embellish the occasion. 

More than 2,000 delegates from nearly 25 countries are expected to participate. Social humanoid robot Sophia, a harbinger of the coming era of cyborgs, will be one of the attractions.