Highlights from the 11th Edition of WOW Awards Asia
by EVENTFAQS Bureau Business Events | July 8, 2019 | News
The region's largest business and recognition platform for the Experiential Marketing, MICE, LIVE Entertainment and Wedding Industry had its most successful 11th edition this year on June 27th, 28th& 29th2019 at Aerocity, New Delhi. Over 1790 delegates were in attendance at the largest ever WOW Awards till date. Entrants were awarded for their entries in four Groups namely Experiential Marketing, Experiential Celebrations, Experiential Management, and Experiential Venues. Here are some highlights:
MPOWER WOW- #StampOutStigma around Mental Health
MPower WOW, an initiative to eliminate the stigma around mental illness in the event and entertainment industry, provide education and support to a community of event professionals working under extremely stressful conditions was associated with WOW Awards and Convention Asia 2019. MPower, Wizcraft, EEMA, and WOW Awards Asia proactively championed mental health causes, created awareness, and advocated prevention through an address by Neerja Birla, Founder and Chairperson, MPower, followed by a signing of a pledge to #stampoutstigma.
As part of MPower WOW over 40 artists have pledged one free performance to the cause. These performances were being auctioned to the event industry through WOW and EVENTFAQS Media. The LIVE auction at the awards ceremony of June 29, for 4 highlight artists has already raised over INR 50 lakh.
Read more on Mpower, Wizcraft, WOW Awards Asia & EEMA Collaborate to Launch #StampOutStigma Initiative
Knowledge-Exchange: WOW LABS, WOW DIALOGUES AND WOW JOURNEY STUDIO
WOW LAB: An incubation hub of insights and innovations designed to test new concepts, contemplate methods that work and determine future trends and winning formulas. Topics covered in this session included:
- Kommune presents The Storytellers with Roshan Abbas
- Reverse Mentoring: Today's Leaders on what the Founders need to know
- The Greatest Debate: Wedding Planner’s v/s Corporate Event Planners: Who’s got the Tougher Job?
- Decoding IPs and the Business of IPs
- Artists' Speak: Working Together with the Experiential Industry
- The Evolution of Engagement Marketing Through Content Creators and Influencers
- How are some of the Biggest Sponsor Brands evaluating Events / IPs to invest in?
WOW DIALOGUES: Thought provoking engagements with industry stakeholder groups with an objective to set the basis of collaborative growth within the experiential industry. Topics covered in this session were:
- Key Trends in International Incentives: Corporate’s Speak
- Where the World is at with Event Production?
- Engagement Tech that will BLOW YOUR MIND
- EEMA Leadership Dialogue: Global Footprints for the Future
- Gourmet Entertainment: Latest Trends You HAVE to know!
- Hotel Packaging to WIN Indian Weddings
- Destination Weddings: Opportunities and Support
- MPower WOW: Fostering Mental Wellness in the Event Industry
WOW JOURNEY STUDIO: This year, sessions in the Studio included noteworthy journeys by professionals in the experiential domain, sharing personal experiences with the objective of imparting essential learnings. This session topics were:
- The Story of Kommune
- WOW Journey Studios with Sonam C Chhabra
- Learnings from Curating IPs @BookMyShow
- The Story of Under 25
- The Story of Bollywood Music Project
- The Story of Pinkathon
Capturing WOW
A first of its kind initiative bringing together the photography / videography community and event and wedding planners. Sessions and Master Classes at Capturing WOW included:
- Everything is content and content is everything
- Discovering your Style
- Collaboration is the New Black
- Is mobile-filming the future? with Raonak Hatiramani (Recall Pictures)
- Intimate Portraits with Jayant Chhabra (Cupcake Productions)
- Filming the Melody with Rajesh Gupta (The Lensocrat)
- Capturing the Chaos - Ankita Asthana (WeddingNama)
- WOW Premiere & Experts Jam
- Experience Counts – The Crucial Dos and Don’ts with Raju Sultania (Raju Sultania Photography)
- Black and White Photography with Rafique Sayed (Rafique Sayed Photography)
- The secret of sustaining Happy Clients with Luv R Isrrani (Signature Films)
- Photography: When art meets business with Anand Rathi (Reels and Frames)
- Storytelling through pictures with Arjun Kamath (Arjun Kamath Photography)
- Science of Selling with Arjun Kartha (Twogether Studios)
- Finding your inspiration with Divyam Mehrotra (Weddingrams)
- Awards: Cracking the Code with Abhimanyu Sharma (Going Bananas Photography)
- Decoding Couple portraits with Saurabh Rungta (Saurabh Rungta Photography)
The Best of KOMMUNE- Storytellers with Roshan Abbas
A specially curated evening along with Roshan Abbas that featured great stories and spoken words colourfully rendered and presented that made people laugh, think, feel moved and feel something powerful. This session was aimed at encouraging people to look up and connect with one another by sharing their personal life experiences face to face, without inhibitions and with honesty. The session took place on June 28 to a fuller than full house, and featured: Warren D'Souza, Founder & Managing Director, SOUND.COM, Harshad Chavan, Managing Director, Toast Events Deepak Choudhary, Founder & Director, Event Capital, Neale Murray, Co-Founder & COO, Fountainhead MKTG, Mahesh Shirodkar, Managing Director, Tamarind Global, Samit Garg, CEO & Co-Founder, E Factor Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Poonam Lal, Director, Innobuzz Marketing Solutions and Sushma Gaikwad, Co-founder, Ice Global.
PowerWOW: Power Breakfast co-hosted by Sabbas Joseph
EVENTFAQS Media and Sabbas Joseph, Director, Wizcraft International hosted PowerWOW – the Leadership Breakfast at WOW 2019. This exclusive event included event and live entertainment industry leaders who have global aspirations, in a one-of-its kind exchange. The Power breakfast was followed by EEMA Leadership Dialogues at Pullman Hotel, Aerocity. The session highlighted India’s presence and opportunities for collaborations on the world stage. The focus was on the areas of collaboration that can be undertaken; sharing of knowledge and experience that can be endeavoured between India and the world. Panelists of the session were Paul Berger, President, ILEA Middle East, Salvatore Sagone, Chairman ADC Group and BEA World Festival, Fuat Ersoy, Managing Director, IMWF, and Sanjoy Roy, President, EEMA.
ESA: Everything that’s ‘New’ in EventTech:
ESA gave the Event companies a platform to exhibit their best and connect with over thousands of industry experts, forming long-term business relations. Event Show Asia is the ideal growth platform to showcase the company to the biggest players in the Experiential Marketing, Event Management, Wedding and Entertainment Industries. Listed partners of Event Show Asia Partners are SEES/Hub, CVENT, Translation India, Liviano Lighting, Select Holiday Resorts Pvt. Ltd. Furniture & Interior Rentals, Take a Break Consulting, ARK Infosolutions Pvt. Ltd., Blue Moon Travels, Sixinch India/Sculpt Furniture Rental, Consortium Gifts Pvt. Ltd., Hotel Sahara Star, Atthah Info Media Pvt. Ltd., Third Wave Services, Ferns & Petals Weddings, Proyuga Advanced Technologies, Modern Stage Services, Scoop Brand Holdings, Canon India Pvt. Ltd, Panasonic India Pvt. Ltd., Manfrotto, GoPro, iB Cricket, Cha-art Kitchen, Talent Square, Kitchen Kraft, Indian Roar LLP, and Paprika Kitchen.
Partners of WOW:
The WOW Awards 2019 was in association with the Event and Entertainment Association of India (EEMA), strengthening its partnership and deep integration with the apex industry body for the 11th year of WOW.
Qatar National Tourism Board was associated as the Platinum Partner at WOW Awards Asia 2019 with enhanced presence thereby furthering the destination's awareness and recall amongst the largest gathering of the experiential industry!
Gold Partners of the event were Jumeirah International, CVENT, Pullman Hotel New Delhi Aerocity and Andaz New Delhi, who had extended participation at the event. Jumeirah Group was also ‘Presenting Partner’ of the Jumeirah WOW Gala 2019.
Jumeirah WOW Gala:
The Jumeirah WOW Gala 2019 was the grand celebration and finale to the WOW Awards 2019, where the winners celebrated along with their fraternity, whilst also experiencing some great entertainment and unique experiences. The Jumeirah WOW Gala was held at the Pullman Hotel, New Delhi Aerocity on June 29, 2019 after the awards ceremony and had over 1700 top industry professionals in attendance. Featuring the sensational tune of the ‘The Best Kept Secret’, a Bangalore-based band that had guests dancing till the very end of the evening. Also featuring the WOW All Star Jam, with performances by Neale Murray Co-Founder & COO, Fountainhead MKTG.
Over 1790 delegates were in attendance at the largest ever WOW Awards till date.