At the 3rd Annual South Asia Conference of the International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA), Aug 27th, Delhi, Mr. Sivakumar presented on “Alternative Revenue Model: Times Private Treaties”.

The perspective highlighted was that Times Private Treaties is not just an innovation in print but rather, an innovation of the medium itself. And moreover as an innovative business model, that could slow the de-growth of the medium. Further elaborated with the example of a fictional character, Mr. Memani, who is an entrepreneur with little capital and no brand name – but an aspiration to make it big – and this is where TPT steps in to partner growth. The presentation delved into TPT’s portfolio over the past four years, which today talks about successful case studies.

Panelists (L to R): Mehul Choksi, CMD, Gitanjali Group; Mr. Sivakumar Sundaram, TPT; Sandip Tarkas, President – Customer strategy, Future Group; Ravi Kiran, CEO-South Asia, Starcom MediaVest Group; Anjani Saha, President – Indian Bullion Market Association; Prasad Kapre, Co-Chairman, Gems & Jewellery, FICCI (& the moderator)

Times Private Treaties in association with Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council organized an exclusive CEO roundtable: “Building a Vibrant Domestic Jewellery Business” held on August 8, 2009 at India International Jewellery Show, Mumbai. The panel discussion highlighted the importance of branding in the domestic jewellery market to make it a far stronger and resilient way of growing business.

Interesting perspectives by the speakers
S. Sivakumar: “Building a brand is like raising a child; first few years are very crucial and require lots of investment”

Ravi Kiran: “Building brands is the function of what u wish to build and what experience you want to deliver; for instance Google, I Pod”

Anjani Sinha: “When you buy a television, would you check raw material cost? But in jewellery a consumer evaluates attributes such as weight, cost, making, etc – hence the need and scope for branding”

Mehul Choksi: “Our unique partnership with TPT opened up a great opportunity and within a time frame of two years we managed to get many more brands in our portfolio”

Sandip Tarkas: “Store brands manage physical presence to influence consumers, whereas product brands are independent of space”

The Indo American Chamber of Commerce organized a seminar on “Rising East - The Melting pot for Technology, Media and Entertainment Opportunities” on July 24, Kolkata with a host of brands such as Colors (TV), Adlabs, Saregama and PWC.

Mr. Sivakumar was a speaker at the panel discussion on “Real Money to Run the Virtual World – Financing the Industry” amongst other speakers from Zee and PWC. Presented views on importance of brands and highlighted TPT as an interesting perspective – Virtual Money to run the real world!