Interview with Amit Relan, Co-producer, Woot Factor Brand Architects

1. How did the WOOT Factor Brand Architects start?

Amit Relan: It’s a 12-year-old organization that started typically as an event management company. Initially, it primarily serviced the retail industry alongside the real estate sector. We transitioned to also servicing the banking sector. It was started by 2 individuals -  Amit Relan and Smita Jadhav. One of the founders comes from a background in IT, Sales and Account Management, whereas the latter has a background in the financial services industry. We built and grew over the last 12 years; and now specialise in services focused on the BFSI, Real estate and luxury sectors.

 

2. What are your future plans for the company?

Amit Relan: We aim to become a relevant extension to the brands we source. We want to be in a space where we are indispensable because of the ROI generated for these brands. We understand the banking, real estate, and luxury segments. These are the three segments that we plan to scale both domestically and internationally. The larger purpose of the company is to create happiness and provide a platform for employees to advance in their careers. We are in a process of creating intrapreneurs - a culture where we are breeding entrepreneurs and we hope that these professionals will go out and create magic in the future having embarked on their entrepreneur journey with Woot Factor.

3. Please share your take on the evolution of the event industry in India?

Amit Relan: I think it’s a very crowded space. The term experiential is a more evolved term wherein people and organizations come into the picture. It entails creating experiences for individuals, and the way we look at events or experiential space is mainly trying to bring the vision of the company to life whether be it a campaign or a brand positioning. Bringing that experience to life when it comes to on-ground event experiences or marketing. Within that space, brands have found a lot of relevance to going to an established organization seeking help. At the same time, the awareness of the skill of events is growing for over a decade.

 

4. What is the scope of event management as a career option?

Amit Relan: It has already become a lucrative career option there are lots of institutes that have come up. Education will play a major role for people, guiding them in picking events as a profession. Individuals studying Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM) or Bachelor Management Studies (BMS) are in the grey area whether they want to get into a brand or to events. People need to look at their natural abilities before they align their service to an industry like this. It's an industry meant for extroverts and thinkers. There is enough scope in events. It’s a growing industry. A Lot of sectors have yet not adapted true professional event experiential service providers so the scope within the country is huge; however, the ecosystem at the education level needs to get stronger. Individuals who are currently in BMM, BMS or other institutes of event management are coming out with not too much live knowledge, the bookish knowledge is not going to help you within the industry. The education system can get a little better aligned to give us clarity to resources and output but as in industry, it is a fantastic experience because it is no more just putting things together and delivering an event. It is actually about telling stories. There are various beautiful forms to do that. 

 

5. Any message for young entrepreneurs who aspire to be successful in the events industry?

Amit Relan: Don’t look at the glamour, look at the hard work. Don’t look at it from the outside and think everything is nice. There is a lot of hard work because clients are becoming intelligent, and they know what they want. Get into business thinking about actually delivering results rather than delivering an event you will be far more successful.