An MBA with a flair for writing and more than 10 years of experience in the marketing industry, Rajesh Kishanpuria is a man of several talents. Ideazfirst, the company that has dominated the event management and experiential marketing industry for almost the entire decade, is the brainchild of Kishanpuria.

By Tias Chakraborty

Over the years, Ideazfirst has built an elite client list. Some of its valued clients include Sanmarg, Starmark, Punjab Technical University, United Colors of Benetton, Microsoft XBOX, Hindustan Lever Limited, Godrej Sara Lee, Hewlett Packard, JCB, Vivify Enterprises and Fame Cinemas.

“From corporate conferences to incentives we have the experience to create and design the perfect event. From intimate executive gatherings to large sales conferences, we take care of every little detail from budget management, timelines and production schedules, to ensure that the event design fits within the marketing and branding framework of a company.”

In an exclusive interview with Bizxchange, Kishanpuria spoke about the nitty-gritty’s of a relatively less covered industry.

Excerpts from the interview:-

What was your biggest inspiration behind launching Ideazfirst? Take us through your first steps with the company.

Among the several factors and inspirations for starting Ideazfirst, the key ones were my inclination to be an entrepreneur and remain independent professionally. Besides, when we started in 2003, there were hardly any professionally managed events and experiential marketing companies. During my earlier professional stint, I saw this gap and wanted to fill in the same. I always wanted to make use of my creative ideas and management skills to best of its use. Moreover, event management and marketing services was the only business where initial capital requirements were very less, and I started Ideazfirst with an initial savings of Rs 30,000.

What were the initial challenges during the launch of Ideazfirst?

One of the challenges in this line of profession is that you always have to be prepared with not only a plan but a backup plan. Further to this there was the constant challenge of getting customers to believe in us and assign projects and even financing them when clients did not want to pay advances.

Besides, getting the right team in place, including contractual vendors and employees, executing the projects on time was another challenge. Internal team coordination and making the team members work was another task. Handling the egos and attitude of the team members yet motivating was an added challenge.

While your client list already boasts of some of the biggest names in the hospitality, food and retail industry, what would you say has been the greatest achievement for your company so far?

In 2003, there were very few event management companies and those who existed could not sustain beyond 2 years. We stuck through thick and thin and have achieved a considerable amount of success after fighting some of the most challenging tasks. We execute around 80 projects annually and have a 100% success rate due to process driven checks and measures adopted during execution.

What are the five key lessons that you have learnt in the industry over the years and would want to share with young entrepreneurs?

The five key lessons for any entrepreneur would be proper planning and backup, process driven execution, personal customer relations, patience and perseverance, and to have a positive attitude. The right mix of all of these is an easy way to success.

How do you think the industry has changed in the last 5 years? What influenced the change?

The events and entertainment industry has undergone a major change in terms of professionalism. Clients have become aware of the emerging design and production trends in events, through a variety of reality shows in TV. Hence, they have become more demanding in terms of innovation and newer ideas. This is good for the industry and helps promote healthy competition. The quality of events has improved and with increased number of events and PR agencies, the need to constantly do better has cropped up, as otherwise you are out of the race.

What is the next big thing for Ideazfirst?

We are planning to open offices in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai, and then establish a pan-India presence with offices in all the major cities. We have been primarily managing corporate events so far, but now we have opened a separate division with weddings and social events management, which would be one of our key focus areas in the coming days.