Event Managers are skilled in wearing different hats which means we can ADAPT: Mirza Baig

by  Mugdha Gaonkar Marketing | September 9, 2022 | Interview

Mirza Baig Hammerhead Experiences Jimmy’s Cocktails

With over 23 years of experience in international marketing entertainment and live events, Mirza Baig has been an integral part of events since 2004. Post running successful companies and launching successful IP`s across India, Baig co-founded a brand called Jimmy’s Cocktails in 2020 where he managed marketing and international business for the company that valued at 150 crores in 2 years. With this he managed to ship the product to 7 countries internationally and changed the face of cocktail drinking at home. After his two years of stint, Baig is now back to running his Marketing Solutions company called Hammerhead Experiences

In an exclusive interview with EVENTFAQS Media, Mirza Baig, Founder and Director, Hammer Head Experiences shares insights on diversifying into an all-new business vertical with Jimmy’s Cocktails, making the business into a success story, adapting to new challenges and more.

Tell us about your journey of making business into a success story with various endeavours like Hammer Head Experiences and Jimmy’s Cocktails.

While entrepreneurs talk about their journey from the first job, I firmly believe our journey begins when we interact with friends or family. I have always termed these interactions as influences one gets to pave their career. Such forces made me choose my path to become an entrepreneur after my stint in hospitality for 7 years.

My first stint as an entrepreneur was starting an event company and running the brand successfully for a decade and a half. The company was termed to be one of the biggies in the events space.

The exposure and learning you garner in the events business are unparallel; you can call yourself a business owner who adapts and does not compromise on dignity of labor. Leave alone the world you meet while executing these stellar events that are put together at rocket speed.

You create a professional impact during these interactions with a few. One such interaction gave birth to the opportunity of co-founding Jimmys Cocktails, a non-alcoholic beverage mixer that made cocktail drinking accessible to consumers. Thankfully my two-fold experience helped as I had experience with -

Hospitality - My understanding of F&B was a clear winner.

Events - We have been termed Wizards of turning things around with utmost creativity.

From the time the brand was launched, we had one agenda, "Speed to Market," and in a short span of 2 years, the company is valued at 150 + crores and available across 9000 + touch points in India. 

Being an avid marketeer and a co-founder of a start-up, you are always bootstrapped. This is where the events avatar kicks in to become innovative in a dynamic environment, spend less, and be seen.

Post spending 2 dynamic years with Jimmys managing their Marketing & International business, I stepped down as a co-founder to start an end-to-end marketing solutions company called Hammerhead Experiences.

How do you strive to adapt to new challenges with the constant change in trends in the event and experiential industry? How do you cope up with it?

I have always believed that one has to have some mantras; if I have to spill the beans and communicate what I practice, they are:

Consume Content: The internet and the world is an open book; you must ensure you are on top of your game to understand global happenings & trends.

Change is Constant: Being fluid as an entrepreneur makes one hell of a difference; the ability to make changes and not be rigid makes for being proactive in situations.

Stick to Basics: The industry's stalwarts have set benchmarks on what can be defined as basics or some things you cannot compromise on; the company that tends to focus on basics manages to sustain itself through any storm.

Tell us about your progressive plans for existing projects and upcoming IPs.

Hammerhead Experiences thrives on delivering quality events and content to its existing clients; the brand has stellar projects in both the brand world and the corporate sector.

Additionally, the IP wing has some exciting plans that will take shape; although we cannot divulge important information, we can tell you that brands & consumers will experience never seem genuine international experiences.

Share some insights on how an event manager can be fluid while managing multiple businesses.

This is the most exciting question of the lot; before I answer, let us understand the strengths of our industry by correlating it to the work we deliver

Event Managers are always given massive projects but limited time to execute them; our ability to plan and deliver makes us fantastic at Time Management. A skill that every organization seeks in their teams.

Event Managers liaison with multiple vendors to put out a single project; we meet people from all walks of life, from daily wage laborers to celebrity superstars. We are skilled in wearing different hats to coordinate; this is a strength of Strong man management Skills.

Executing events is always a considerable challenge when it comes to additional last-minute requests; we always manage to deliver with a never say no attitude, which means we can ADAPT.

Our strengths are infinite; the fact that I was asked to wear multiple hats in my beverage start-up and successfully delivered each role makes us fluid as we are prone to challenges in every event, and rest becomes a cake walk.

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