Goafest 2023: 'The expectation is high, the work that shines here will undoubtedly be world-class'

As Goafest kicks off today, Campaign India caught up with regulars who attend the festival. 

We asked them what they look forward to this year at the fest and a session they are keen on attending. 

Here is what they had to say: 

Abe Thomas, CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network: To be honest, the idea that caught my eye is 'Advertising Rocks' - a first-of-its-kind initiative that encourages music talent - bands and solo performers from the media and advertising industry to perform for us! What a cool idea! Besides the entire agenda is smartly interspersed with lots of entertainment. Look forward to three days of digital-driven ideation and learning, networking and catching up with industry colleagues.

Prasanna Sankhe, co-founder and CCO, HyphenBrands: My primary interest in the Goafest this year is to see many ideas that are travelling well across multiple media like TV, digital, activation etc. (or what the modern jargon calls 'integration' ) Because the big idea is going to be the beacon for the advertising industry now that the infatuation with digital is waning, and the romance with chatGPT has started. So a big idea executed well across disciplines, be it design, communication, activation, or digital will find resonance with even the marketing fraternity and entrepreneurs because that is the only thing that delivers impact. I have already seen some ideas while being on the design jury duty that have already demonstrated this ability, and I'm excited to see even more from the other disciplines. Goafest is going to be exciting.

Satbir Singh, founder, chief creative officer, Thinkstr: Participation from agencies has gone up. Hoping to see what we were all missing all these years. I’ll definitely attend the series of musical sessions lined up. I’m yet to see the list of other sessions. Will decide once I’ve seen that.

Viral Pandya, partner, Cog Digital and advisor, Tongadive: With The One Show partnering with The Abbys, it will be splendid to see how our country’s best Awards have evolved. The expectation is high as the work that shines here will undoubtedly be world-class. As I would be only attending the festival for one and a half days, I would like to catch up with friends, the new younglings and the seniors.