Noted actress Sulekha Naidu chaired the session on New Media and Entertainment. On the panel were Prem Akkaraju (Sanctuary Artist Management), Rajesh Jog (Waygate Capital), Suresh Babu (Suresh Productions), Alok Kejriwal (Contests2win.com), Raj Atluri (DFJ), Rahul Khanna (Clearstone) and Sekhar Kammula (Film director). Rajat Gupta reports:

Day 3, Track 6
Prem Akkrajau (Sanctuary Artist Management) emphasised the importance of New Media, and said that they have used it to promote artists like Groove Armada, Manic Street Preachers, Slayer, Slipknot, Super Furry Animals, among others. He said that -€œThe fan is obsessed with the star, you must be obsessed with the fan”. He said that they’ve seen trends similar to that of Hush Puppies, as described in The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, while trying to promote a new media initiative for an artist or album; it take some time but when it reaches a critical mass, it spreads like wildfire.
Alok Kejriwal, Founder and CEO of Contests2Win spoke about how brands can leverage interactive media to reach their customer. He outlined the lack of effectiveness of advertisements in the morning newspaper, of TV ads (since people can switch to other channels), and similar situations in Outdoor media and Radio. In case of interactive media, however, people willingly spend time with the brands. The time of ‘Spray and Pray’, he said, is over now there has to be a clear measure associated with the marketing efforts. The new media, he felt, is a pull media and not push. It is participative as compared to old media which is vegetative. Brands today are looking for consumer feedback: they want to connect with their audience. That is how they can build customer loyalty.
Rahul Khanna, Clearstone Ventures, said that day is not far when Indian Consumer will be immersed in MMORPG; some kids in Japan and Korea play these games for 8 hours at a stretch. There are gaming parlors in Hyderabad that are open 24 hours, and teenagers are playing games at 2AM.
Rajesh Jog added that animation, particularly animated movies of mythological characters, is going to be big business. Parents today don’t have the time to sit with their child to read an Amar Chitra Katha, and have now outsourced the task of telling their kids about these stories: They will buy an animated DVD for their child.