IIJS Allowed Jewellers to Conduct Real Business at the Virtual Event: Nikhil Joshi, Digital Jalebi

by  Mugdha Gaonkar Business Events | October 28, 2020 | Interview

Digital Jalebi Nikhil Joshi India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC)

Experiential design studio Digital Jalebi conducted 75+ events virtually in the past few months, the most recent being the  India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) Virtual 2020 for the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.

"The IIJS virtual platform built to aid thousands of buyers and exhibitors is yet another milestone for the Indian virtual events industry, which is working towards pandemic-proof marketing capacity development,” said Nikhil Joshi, Co-founder of Digital Jalebi. The event had a reach of 8000+ people from the gem and jewellery industry and beyond.

Shailesh Sangani, Convener National Exhibitions, GJEPC added, “We couldn’t have asked for more. The virtual platform curated by Digital Jalebi was an ideal one for our industry as it required jewellery pieces to be showcased to buyers in the best possible way and help visitors to take buying decisions as they do at a physical show. The platform has worked very well and I thank Digital Jalebi for all the support they provided to make the show a huge success.”

To know more about the exhibition and future endeavours, EVENTFAQS Media caught up with Nikhil Joshi.

After getting the mandate to curate the India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) Virtual 2020, what was your brief from the GJEPC? What challenges did you face while executing a B2B virtual business platform for an exhibition? How did you cope with it?

GJEPC wanted to create a customised B2B virtual event platform for jewellers, i.e., both exhibitors and buyers. The initial brainstorming sessions helped us understand their requirements from a pandemic perspective and led us to strategic insights that we put together in the form of a full-fledged platform. DJ added features that helped a jeweller both to sell and buy on the platform itself, thereby conduct real business.

Please share some insights on some milestone events/brand campaigns that Digital Jalebi has executed in the past few months.

We worked with companies like Google, Flipkart, Cipla, L’ Oreal, etc. We also worked with an Australian company called Broadspectrum for their annual meet. We did various launch events for Stryker, CLAAS, BD, Sun, etc. All in all, we have conducted 75+ events in the past few months.

Technology has come into the working of the industry in a big way, thanks to lockdown. What are some of the big action points needed there just now?

Now that we are almost six months into the pandemic, we have realised that a lot of things according to the new normal will be permanent, which is surely a challenge for marketers. The need of the hour was to make solutions and opportunities that will help us do business and not just showcase the business. We worked with marketers to create tools to help brands conduct real business.

What are the initiatives that you have on hand at Digital Jalebi for the near future?

We have now started working on virtual experience zones which are handed over to the client from a long-term perspective. Due to the pandemic, we have also introduced no-touch activations which help marketers to engage their audience via various technologies like earlier, but with current social distancing norms. We are also looking at building various tech interventions in hybrid and phygital events to make sure that the experience is further elevated for the audience.

Tell us about a personal anecdote or realization from your life or work in the last few months that has remained in your memory. 

The biggest thing that we have realised is the power of mobile phones. Our day-to-day life is more and more dependent on the mobile device, not just for communication but also for entertainment, education, information, unique experiences… practically everything.