Virtual is Not the Key Word for Weddings; 200% Growth Expected in FY 21-22: Samit Garg of E Factor

by  Mugdha Gaonkar Industry Watch | November 4, 2020 | Interview

Samit Garg E Factor

Samit Garg, Co-Founder and Director of experiential weddings and events firm E Factor, is a pathological disruptor at heart, always gunning for new things to do. As the Government issues Unlock 6.0 guidelines, EVENTFAQS Media reached out to Garg to know how the agency is coping with the pandemic, its key focus areas, new initiatives, challenges faced, future plans and more. Here are excerpts from the conversation.

Speaking about growth in the weddings and events space post Unlock 5.0, Garg said, “Unfortunately I don’t see any growth in the wedding space in this financial year. Having said that, I expect the opportunities to grow 200% in financial year 2021-22 both in terms of destinations and domestic wedding celebrations. Virtual is not the key word for weddings.”

Trends beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

According to Garg, the top 3 things that will stay are -

1) Respect for hygiene and cleanliness, basically leading to health concern and consciousness

2) Streaming of events to audiences that are not physically present will be here to stay

3) Work from home or elsewhere as a concept will prevail when office presence is not deemed necessary

Execution of ICWF amidst the pandemic

“The International Convention of the Wedding Fraternity (ICWF) has been announced as a virtual event - but with a lot of difference. It has been gamified a bit and the environments are quite mind-boggling. We intend to transport our fans into another space altogether called the Wedding Land. There is a strong possibility of some sessions and the Great Indian Wedding Awards (GIWA) being staged in the real world in Delhi NCR. We will take a final call only in November-end. The speaker line-up cannot be disclosed just now,” said Garg, known for crafting transformative experiences in the Indian events industry.

Speaking about the milestone weddings and events that E Factor has executed in the last 4-5 months, Garg said, “We were fortunate enough to do a wedding in June with 50 people (family name can’t be disclosed) but everything was top dollar. We also experimented with a rather different concept of a self-created virtual event called the Hi-Life Rendezvous at FoF.”

Talking about the future initiatives of E Factor, Garg said, “We are focusing on creating cultural landmarks for governments, light and sound shows, experiential hospitality spaces plus the regular business of weddings and festivals.”

On his priorities and challenges as the new Executive Vice President of EEMA, Garg listed the following points: 

His priorities are:

-To make sure that we start getting recognised as the apex industry body.

-Have a strong policy matters-related think-thank within the association to enable us to represent properly to the Government.

-Increase qualitative membership, especially in zones that do not have any EEMA members.

-Develop two or three IPs for EEMA that are around industry-based subjects.

-Have a unified voice of the members and move along in unison of thought and spirit.

His challenges are:

-Remote working has its own shortcomings – some things move with a lot of difficulty

-There are many people suffering because of mental ill-health and other financial pressures in the industry. Being able to cope with that is a tall order.

-Online and virtual have become rather boring now. To find a solution.