Khushi Singh Chaudhary reveals Percept ICE's Luxury Event Secrets & Global Brand Partnerships!

by  EVENTFAQS Bureau Industry Watch | September 29, 2023 | Feature

Khushi Singh Chaudhary Percept ICE ET Panache 35 Under 35

Khushi Singh Chaudhary has conceptualized and managed many impressive and high profile projects spanning the Lifestyle and Luxury domain over the past decade. With a diverse background spanning advertising, communications, events and intellectual properties, Khushi assumes an all-encompassing, hands-on approach to every project handled.

From sourcing new business opportunities, conceptualizing novel themes, identifying untapped destinations, curating innovative entertainment capsules, and incorporating state-of-the-art design and technology, Khushi has consistently presented the ‘wow’ factor to the Experiential business. She has managed some of the biggest International Weddings, Luxury Events and ultra HNI experiences for luxury brands and high profile clients.

As Vice President - Strategic Planning & Luxury Marketing at Percept ICE, Khushi specializes in crafting bespoke solutions, innovative events, image curation and management, and creating unforgettable experiences for a diverse group of global businesses and clients.

In an exclusive interview with EVENTFAQS Media, Khushi Singh Chaudhary, Vice President - Strategic Planning & Luxury Marketing, Percept ICE, shares insights about services offered by Percept ICE, co-creating IPs with global brands and what gave Percept ICE an edge in the Weddings domain. 

Tell us about the gamut of services offered at Percept ICE?

Over the past decade, Percept ICE has conceptualized and managed over a thousand global and domestic Experiential Marketing projects, Private Celebrations, Corporate Events and Co-Branded Intellectual Properties. From weddings and social gatherings, to managing special projects, to some of the biggest fashion and luxury brand launches, we have consistently raised the bar of creativity and designed many inventive and bespoke offerings for all our Corporate and Private clients.

Today we have evolved from being an Events and Experiential Marketing company to become a single point 360-degree Integrated Marketing Communications solution provider offering the entire spectrum of Communications, Branding, Public Relations, Events, Out-of-Home, Media and Digital services to our clients.

Some of the most ingenious, award winning projects designed and managed by Percept ICE include the Diageo World Class Festival, Indian Racing League 2022, Formula E, YPO – WPO South Asia Summit, One Plus Street Festival 2019, Yoo Vilas Launch in Pune, Kotak Presidium 2013 with President Bill Clinton, Zee 25 Years Global Symposium, GQ Men of The Year Awards – 2019, Thank Jeep It’s Thursday, India International Jewellery Show Networking Night and Jewellers for Hope Gala Charity Event for Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).

We have noticed that Percept ICE has been doing a lot of work in the luxury events space. Can you elaborate on this strategy and what differentiates you from other agencies?

In the recent years we embarked on managing more challenging assignments in the luxury brand marketing space. The Indian luxury market is expected to grow to 3.5 times its current size to reach the US$200 billion mark by 2030, and we foresaw great potential in this space. We started building in-house capabilities to cater to this bourgeoning segment.

This entailed in-depth research to identify niche business opportunities. We recognized that while Indians aspire for global luxury brands, they take great pride in showcasing their Indian culture and traditions. Observing this trend early on we started amalgamating the sophistication and exclusivity of international brands with the distinctive flavors and vibrancy of our Indian heritage to curate many bespoke events and experiences for our clients.

Some of the sensational launch events produced for leading luxe brands entering the Indian sub-continent include the H&M Launch in India and the Paco Rabanne Fame fragrance launch.

You had also mentioned co-creating IPs with global brands? How did this opportunity come about?

We comprehended that clients were looking for a holistic solutions provider, and accordingly over the years we expanded our services to incorporate the entire gamut of services spanning Advertising, Branding, Public Relations, Content, Experiential Marketing and New Age Media. Percept also created many successful Intellectual Properties like Sunburn which is today ranked in the Top Ten Global Music Festivals.

Leading global brands entering India recognized our in-house capabilities and expansive body of work to fathom that we were an excellent partner to associate with to co-create bespoke Intellectual Properties for them.

Percept ICE is credited with the development and execution of the IP ‘Parcos Beauty Influencer Awards’ – a first-of-its-kind annual IP. Parcos, a leader in the Indian luxury beauty retail segment, wanted to create a sustainable brand asset which would propagate the Beauty purpose in India, enroll micro influencers and groom the community, and establish themselves as trend setters in the beauty space. We curated a unique idea to celebrate and honor the community of influencers in the Beauty, Luxury and Lifestyle space. The bespoke IP saw a grand media announcement coupled with a phased roll-out pan India. The debut year saw 700+ entries audited by EY, followed by a Jury Panel scoring round and a public voting phase that got a great response of over 15,000 votes. The gala ‘Parcos Beauty Influencer Awards 2022’ saw 22+ winners inducted into the ‘Elle Hall Of Fame’ with a coveted place on the Parcos Panel, a shoot with ELLE magazine, among other gratifications. The entire project generated phenomenal media mileage, positive word-of-mouth PR, and achieved heightened brand trust for Parcos as icons in the beauty domain.

Going forward our emphasis would be on expanding our footprint in the luxury brand market, curating pioneering experiential modules and bespoke solutions, with an aim to personalize and enhance the Brand-Customer journey.

Percept has been a pioneer in the Weddings domain? Given the diversity of Indian customs, traditions and aspirations, how have you kept pace with the changing trends in this space?

Percept Weddings is a frontrunner in the business of weddings and is credited to have spotted the potential to transform standard wedding services into elaborate celebratory affairs. Our foray into the industry began as early as 2004, with The Sahara India Parivar Wedding which was the talk of the nation, and a turning point in the history of Wedding Management Services in India.

Over the years Percept Weddings transcended the realm of reality by delivering over a hundred exclusive weddings for a very diverse clientele. From short to weeklong celebrations, we conceptualized and executed some of the most spoken-about weddings across locations like Mauritius, Mykonos, Madrid, Florence, Monte Carlo, Austria, Cannes, Montreux, Budapest, UAE and of course, exotic locations pan-India.

We understand that every couple wants their wedding to be special and memorable; a celebration of love to share with family and friends that not only encompasses all of the joy they’re feeling but also tells their story in such a way that their guests will always remember how unique the wedding was.

Our philosophy, ‘Your Moment. Our Responsibility’ have always made us go that extra mile to offer our clients an unparalleled range of services from all over the world spanning professional consultancy, budgeting, designing, organizing traditional rituals, venue selection and management, F&B, entertainment, theme, decor, travel & hospitality, security, production and honeymoon arrangements.

Instead of churning out tens of weddings in a year, we only focus on selectively managing 2 – 3 Weddings in a year, but ensure that our team puts in a good 6-8 months of preparatory work into designing the perfect dream wedding for the couple. The nuances involved in creating a celebratory event of such massive importance and magnitude entail ensuring that every aspect of the wedding is thoroughly researched, planned, conceptualized and executed.

Consistent novelty in ideation, exploring novel untapped destinations around the globe, tapping into diverse multi-cultural themes, integrating the best of traditional, contemporary, global and local cultures to offer bespoke inimitable concepts, and delivering state-of-the-art services has ensured the necessary evolution and growth of our wedding business.

Given the growing competition in the wedding management business, what gave Percept ICE an edge in the Weddings domain?

Percept’s vast experience in the field of Entertainment, Media, Content, Sports, Talent and Events, gave us a commanding edge in the market and potential to leverage our relationships with vendors across industries around the world. Our seamless synergy with our Activations, Events, MICE, Advertising, Talent and Live Event SBUs in the Percept Group offered us an inimitable advantage.

Our extensive destination and venue database, coupled with intense research, offered our clients a vast repertoire of choices to help them pick their dream locale and venue. From forts to seven star hotels, islands to ancient cities, palaces to private yachts, and beaches to banquet halls, we have delivered unmatched experiences in untapped dream destinations.

The wedding of Lord Paul’s Grandson - Akhil Paul’s Wedding in the scenic destination of Budapest is a wonderful case study of how Percept Weddings tapped an unexplored destination to make it one of the most sought after tourism destinations in Eastern Europe. The wedding was themed around the 2014 Hollywood box-office hit 'The Grand Budapest Hotel', and saw a series of functions at iconic locations such as the Museum of Ethnography, Hungarian Railway Museum, and the Savoy Hotel.  We commenced preparations for this beautiful wedding almost 9 months in advance and visited Budapest numerous times in the interim to deliver a dream wedding that displayed the perfect harmony of mystique, drama, charm, grandeur and elegance.

With an unparalleled network to source global Talent across repertoires, Percept Weddings has offered the best entertainment customized to the theme of the celebratory function. From traditional classical acts, to out of the box artists, our database of performing artists, live bands, DJs, mentalists, illusionists, cirque acts, comedians, dance troupes and other novel acts and concepts from all over the world has ensured that no guests requests go unfulfilled.

From flying in world class gourmet chefs, to sourcing rare gifts and welcome hampers, to customizing all the wedding collaterals as per the theme, we synergize closely with all the Percept Group Companies to ensure that every element is curated to ensure a bespoke, memorable experience.

Over the past decade we have handled over 100 high profile weddings and celebrations across the globe. From the ostentatious Ganwani - Varma wedding in Montreux, Switzerland, to the serene Chordia – Moza wedding at their residence in Pune, our unwavering commitment to offering our clients unforgettable, emotional experiences, unique themes, refined design aesthetics and timeless events lies at the heart of every memorable Percept Wedding event created till date.

Recently, Percept ICE has been working closely with HNI Clients beyond your sphere of Events and Experiential Marketing? What has led to this new development?

Over the past decade we have worked with many HNI clients. Be it weddings or private celebrations, the relationship has grown organically beyond the sphere of events. Our clients have seen us consistently curate and design bespoke solutions, hand hold them through many challenging situations, work as strategic consultants to their business portfolio, and go that extra mile to deliver the unexpected to them.

This automatically led us to the next frontier of ‘Profile Management’ of our HNI clients in the global arena. We understand that HNI clients are more exposed to media, public attention, trolling and censure than others, and seek personalized, proactive services that require a very high level of expertise and networking skills in a very rapid turnaround time.

Our Profile Management portfolio customized for each HNI client encompasses curated image and reputation management services to ensure that our HNI clients enhance their image in the international market, leverage their brand equity across a global network, and establish their reputation as a leading and trusted name in a niche affluent market segment.

Can you elaborate on the scope of work involved in Profiling HNI clients?

We understand that no two clients are the same, and therefore at the outset we try to understand our client’s vision. Thereafter via many discussions, supported by intense market research, we create a customized roadmap to achieve their vision. Every client is unique, and that necessitates us to curate an exclusive and smart mix of solutions, platforms and bespoke service offerings that can help them achieve their specific goal.

We work as strategic aides and consultants to our HNI clients and our body of work encompasses advisory services on a range of matters, managing complex PR situations, crafting their unique image and reputation management in the online media space, enhancing their credentials across relevant media platforms via award wins, advocacy opportunities, and carefully curated PR pegs to ensure the elevation of their brand profile.

Our bespoke, curated multi-pronged strategy to achieve our client’s vision is vast, encompassing representing India at the MET Gala, collaborations with established global foundations, participating at international fashion, art media and political galas, winning prestigious national and global awards, being featured on A-list magazine covers, being an eminent Member of reputed Government and industry bodies, to name a few. Be it improved cross border cultural relations, attaining mass global visibility, salience and impact across worldwide media, every activity has been ideated and crafted very meticulously to aid our clients in achieving their specific goal.

What are the future plans for Percept ICE?

We will be foraying into the luxury brand market space in a very big way. My academic years in Europe, consumer insights garnered in the advertising domain, expertise in the events and luxury marketing arena and relationship with an evolving HNI network pan India offers me a holistic perspective towards accomplishing the next frontier of this business plan.

We will be diversifying our gamut of services. Clients need a one-stop-solutions provider and we will be integrating our offerings inclusive of designing private events, brand activations, digital solutions, public relations, online reputation and image management, and co-creating unique Intellectual Properties. Our goal is to partner with brands and clients to ensure they attain the 360-degree impact and desired ROI in the dynamic Indian market context.

We have also invested in R&D and partnered with many global affiliates in the technology space to ensure that we have the first-mover advantage when curating innovative concepts and unique themes for our discerning HNI target audience. We intend to capitalize on the rapidly changing trends in the Indian luxury marketing space by identifying niche segments and novel concepts, building a stronger luxe brand network and investing in technological augmentation to ensure we are at the forefront of providing innovative, bespoke services in the high-end events, experiences and profile management domain.