Baba Ramdev holds fort on Day 1 at Goafest

Baba Ramdev stole the thunder on Day 1 of the 13 edition of the Goafest.

Baba’s nearly 90 minutes speech at the industry conclave was peppered with gyan, humour and puns, transforming what used to be a genteel, even slightly dull, gathering of senior ad and marketing executives. He took on everyone from powerful MNCs to new age consumers obsessed with looking good, capping things off with a live demo of asanas and exercises.

“People keep complaining about the obstacles faced in doing business in India. But they forget if they were to do business in the UK, they’ll have a growth rate of 2%; in India they have a growth rate of 10%,” he said. “And if you are Patanjali, it’ll be a growth rate of 100%,” he added.

He also spoke of some of his future plans, which include forays into milk and dairy milk products as well as apparel: kids wear, ethnic wear, fashion and sportswear. He also has bigger business plans around honey and mineral water (under brand name Divyajal).

This year at the Abbys, the organisers have sought to bring in many changes. Vikram Sakhuja, president, The Advertising Club, said, “The changes include rationalisation of categories to stay relevant to today’s young and dynamic creative geniuses and the formation of a Master Jury made up of industry masters.”

Added Ajay Kakar, vice president of The Advertising Club and chairman, awards governing council, “Instead of minor tweaks we decided to seek industry inputs for co-creating the awards.”

Many of the major agencies like O&M, JWT, McCann and Publicis Groupe have stayed away from the awards this year.