BW Businessworld launched its 16th edition of marketing Whitebook in association with ABP Network in a virtual summit.  Anurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, exchange4media Group & BW Businessworld was the moderator of the summit.

The BW Marketing Whitebook 2020 was launched in a virtual conference in the presence of Avinash Pandey, CEO, ABP Network. The BW Marketing Whitebook is a handy manual that is based on current studies from the country's best-known consulting firms and market research agencies.

Avinash Pandey, CEO, ABP Network addressed the virtual summit and shared his views on the latest edition of BW Marketing Whitebook calling it "one of the extremely popular comprehensive books among marketers, clients, businesspersons, and media network owners".

The ABP Network CEO also spoke on the topic Building Blocks of a New Normal - The Role That Media Plays. He said "the media industry went through a massive change in these unprecedented times as the organisations altered themselves to understand the change in consumers' behaviour". He emphasized that the news industry did an exemplary service at the time Coronavirus broke out in the country and the nation was under lockdown.

The media industry adapted technology as a part of its life and while social media platforms overloaded people with fake news, broadcast media established itself as a trusted medium.

The media industry learned to be digitally agile and the future challenges can be dealt with a  much better perspective.

On being asked by the summit moderator whether the media industry has lost its credibility after few instances of TRP rigging and the shift towards nationalist reporting, the ABP Network CEO said that every business goes through its cycle but the most important point is media rights should be protected at any cost. He said that everyone knows that some organisations are buying Facebook and Twitter likes to prove themselves better in the race but one or two instances can’t malign the entire news industry.

"The media is doing an excellent job at these challenging times and ABP Network works toward providing the correct information at any cost," Pandey said.

He winded up the discussion by listing 3 changes that will happen next year due to the pandemic. He said that the year 2021 will be huge for the advertising industry, centers' plans to provide easy loans, push in the agriculture sector will help people advertise their product and benefitting the advertising sector. The second change he mentioned is that the travel time for meetings and summits will be reduced as people will choose to be available virtually in spite of travelling 2-3 days and it will depend on the necessity of work. The third change which the ABP Network CEO mentioned is that the healthcare companies will come into consumer spaces after the coronavirus. Media will also benefit if such companies will be allowed to advertise on electronic platforms.

ABP Network has been a partner of BW Marketing Whitebook for the past 6 years. The BW Marketing Whitebook 2020, brings under the scanner how marketing changed in the toughest year the modern world has seen, and how some of these changes are now irreversible. The 2020 theme for the Marketing Whitebook 2020-21 hence, for the first time in many years, puts the lens on the ‘marketer’, bringing out characteristics and examples of the Recession-Proof Marketer who is Resolute, Resilient and Reimagined in India’s Robust Digital Economy.