All about game theory

Book review - "Lessons from the Playground"; Author - Vinay R Kanchan

Sport is something that excites, enthrals and rewards or on occasion even devastates the viewer. Business — on the other hand — is dull, serious, strategic and, in some cases, can even be a matter of life and death for those running organisations.

Clearly, at a first cursory glance there is nothing in common between the two. You work to earn a living and watch sport to make that life interesting, is what the average person might tell you. But Vinay R Kanchan, the author of Lessons from the Playground, is no average person. He seems to be a ‘sports tragic’ whose interest spreads across a variety of games.

In his book, Kanchan attempts to give a method to brilliance and success on the sporting field and talks about the learning that the corporate world can take out of that. So, whom does the book target? This book is for anyone in business who is interested in some sport or the other.

Is this all about cricket? Sadly (for me) it is not. The book covers a multitude of sports and sporting personalities such as tennis star Roger Federer, Brazilian football legend Pele, boxing giant Ali, US basketball sensation Michael Jordan and our own cricketing phenomenon, Little Master Sachin Tendulkar.

Of course, I have missed a few others thanks to my ignorance of sports other than cricket.

What’s it about?

The book is classified into four Ps (such as the four Ps of marketing that we grew up with). They arepeople, platforms, processes and pinnacles.

The section on people highlights and eulogises the achievements of heroes of the sporting world who have thrilled spectators and audiences in different playing fields of the world. This section features Tendulkar.

The section on platforms is interesting, talking about Wimbledon and the uniqueness of the grass surface, not to forget the rituals of strawberries and cream, and other huge sporting events such as the Olympics and the cricket and football World Cups.

‘Processes’ is a significant section given the Indian fixation with results.

One remembers the much vilified Greg Chappell (the former Australian cricketer and erstwhile India coach) constantly talking about processes. But he was sacked unceremoniously as all we wanted was results, the process be damned.

The final section on pinnacles speaks about unforgettable sporting achievements. What better example could be chosen than Kapil Dev’s match-winning innings against Zimbabwe when the cause was almost lost.

As luck would have it, the BBC was on strike, so we came to know of this after the fact!

Some lessons

The book is strewn with examples on all the four ‘Ps’ with pertinent questions to corporates on what they could learn and apply from Lessons from the Playground.

I must mention too that at the end of every chapter there is a quick summary of the lessons from the examples detailed.

Having authored two books in English and one in Tamil, I believe I have an understanding of how authors go about writing and positioning their books.

Marketing a book is much like marketing a brand — just as brands try to differentiate themselves from the competition in a multitude of ways, authors too try to position their books differently.

Both my books, One Land, One Billion Minds and Googly. Branding on Indian Turf, were built on the fact that India is a cricket crazy county. India must be the only neutral country in the world which watches a Bangladesh vs Ireland match! My books catered to this audience with extensive references from the cricket field and related it to the world of marketing, branding and communication. It worked I thought.

Kanchan has realised that India is evolving. Its youngsters are no longer unidimensional in their viewing.

They are watching a variety of sport from across the world. They are equally familiar with football, tennis and basketball (the NBA), unlike my audience.

Their exploits are firmly entrenched in viewers’ hearts. Hence Lessons from the Playground is perhaps extremely relevant to today’s sport-loving audience which is spending time at the corporate work place.

I have nothing but admiration for the author who seems to have followed every game under the sun. Where would he have had time for anything else!

On a more serious note I found the book comprehensive, well-researched and addressing the modern Indian viewer who watches NBA, the English Premier League, and Wimbledon in addition to the inevitable cricket, unlike my generation who were fixated on just one sport.

On strategy

As a management teacher, I tend to be really annoyed at the indiscriminate and ill-advised use of this word ‘strategy’ today.

Thankfully, the book addresses this sensibly with examples and speaks of innovations in sport like the switch hit which have become an integral part of modern cricket.

The author urges corporates to think out of the box and reinvent themselves the way sports and sportsmen have done. While there are many parts of the book worth talking about I will stay with one as it struck a chord.

Indian hockey has lost its lustre over the years. In many ways it is like a brand that was once dominant and which is now struggling for visibility and recognition.

What can we learn from this trend? How do we ensure that our company or brand does not tread the same tortuous path? This is a question we might wish to ask ourselves.

Food for thought

To sum up, Lessons from the Playground is an interesting if somewhat long read (434 pages). It has examples from multiple sports to cater to readers with diverse interests. Read it if you love sports and are working.

From my side, I learnt a lot about sports other than cricket, even if I had the niggling thought that some of the greatest sportsmen such as (former West Indies cricketer) Viv Richards were naturals reared on the “see ball, hit ball” principle and that, to my mind, could well be the difference between sport and business.

Sport values natural ability while business might be a little more mundane.

Meet the author

Vinay R Kanchan is a Mumbai-based brand ideation consultant and trainer. A former advertising professional, he has worked with Lowe Lintas, Mudra, Rediffusion, Everest, Triton and Network. Kanchan is the author of The Madness Starts at 9. An electronics engineering graduate from Mumbai University, he holds an MBA from NMIMS

How good is your execution?

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Small wonder or big challenge?

For all the excitement surrounding what was meant to be a Rs 1-lakh marvel, the Nano hasn't been having a smooth ride..

Whatever is happening to the Tata Nano? The brand which was touted as the greatest thing to happen to the Indian automotive industry and promised to transform the life of the middle-class consumer in India suddenly seems to have hit a speed breaker. Let us just go back a little in time to the pre-launch and the announcement of the Rs 1 lakh car which was actually made by Ratan Tata in March 2003 at the Geneva Motor Show. It was hailed as a triumph of Indian innovation and showed the disbelieving Western world as to how India was able to tap the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid and how India had leapfrogged to the forefront with its dramatic new offering. The media went to town. Airport book stalls were full of books on the car and its amazing journey — Small wonder — the making of the Nano was just one of the titles.

Along with the Corus and Jaguar takeovers, this announcement and consequent hype really put India on the global map and projected the Tatas as a name to reckon with in the international business arena. Then a few things went wrong. The company could not go ahead with its original plans of having a plant in Singur, thanks to a few well-meaning politicians, which set the project back quite a bit in time. Neither were they able to hold to the original price promise of Rs 1 lakh, which to my mind is a far bigger problem than it seems. To further compound the brand's woes, a few cars caught fire, leading to nasty jokes from the competition as to how the car is the first to have an external combustion engine! The demand tanked. If media reports are to be believed, there is an inventory of nearly 20,000 Nano vehicles and a very worrying order book position. The opposition secretly gloated, much as the rest of the cricketing world is gloating at Australia's current misery.

The company too seems worried as it must be. What exactly is the problem? Is it a case of hype overtaking the brand? Is it a case of an inferior product that does not meet the safety requirements of Indian conditions and weather? Is it a case of poor positioning as the much-touted people's car can easily be seen as a cheap car? Who is actually buying that car, is it an affluent Indian buying his third car that he had read about in the business press and could talk about it in his cocktail circuit or a middle-class Indian wishing to upgrade from his current two-wheeler? Neither Andrew Hilditch nor I have a solution to Australia's current cricketing problems, but I do have some thoughts on the Nano and what it can possibly do, so let's stay with the car that started to make history and yet seems to be going speedily downhill.

The great Indian consumer

Sometimes we get caught up in the power of our own rhetoric. We believe that we know everything about the consumer; after all we have built brands and businesses. While that may be true we sometimes miss ‘the blinding flash of the obvious' as Tom Peters would say perhaps when it comes to customers. Way back in 1987 (hope you were born then) I bought my first car. It was a second-hand Premier Padmini (23 years later and 15 cars later I still remember the number of the car). That was a special day in my life and if I may add, in the lives of my neighbours. Suddenly I was somebody. A hitherto unknown individual who zipped around in a TVS Suzuki with his child in the front seat, had grown in front of their very eyes, simply because a car had entered a middle-class home. It was a manifestation of my success in life. I know how proud my parents were of me that day.

Now here is my disconnect with the Nano: Has all the hype created in stereotyping the brand as synonymous with “cheap” devalued respect for the brand? As an expert asked me, “Who would want to be owner of el cheapo?” Let's spend a moment understanding the ‘social currency' of a car in our lives. It is about status, prestige, recognition and authority. Does the Nano, the way it is perceived now, deliver on these? I wonder.

Who is the customer?

The lowest priced car has certain advantages and certain disadvantages as well. The advantage is the price (even though it is not Rs 1 lakh) is affordable to a whole lot of Indians. I know a number of affluent Indians too who have bought it as their third car! Are they the core target audience? Or is it someone who is currently riding his two-wheeler in the dust and grime, breathing in the exhaust of the bus in front of him, who wishes to graduate to the safety and comfort of a four-wheeler, however small? This actually leads me to the next concern and that is the concern, or is the right word obsession, with space. Indians live in cramped conditions and dream of more space. They want more spacious houses, space for their children to play and space to park their commodious luggage in the boot. Have you seen any Indian travel light? While the Nano seems fine for two, how many families have two members and even if they are “dinks” (double income no kids) they would find another similar family to travel with. Consumers often do not state the way they actually feel and brands can get into trouble by ignoring what the consumer is not saying overtly. In many ways one wonders if the design of the car, though excellent, is anchored in Indian needs and will address our concerns.

Public relations and the brand

I am a great believer in public relations and have seen that a disciplined, strategic approach builds credibility and image. The media coverage for the Nano has been phenomenal; I am sure running into several hundred crores, if one were to do an analysis. But what has the coverage been about? It has been in the business press about innovation, Indian ingenuity, the people's car … A lot of this is corporate PR and coverage which has limited if any, relevance to the consumer, if he happens to be a middle-class Indian currently zipping around on a scooter with aims and hopes of buying a car. And the challenge of the cars bursting into flames or smoke has not been addressed adequately by PR. PR can handle crises, soften the blow and even shift the focus to actual consumer experience. I am sure there are enough satisfied customers of the Nano. How come I have not heard about their experiences while the accidents have been blown out of proportion?

Positioning — biggest opportunity,

greatest challenge

The biggest challenge, in my view, at least, is that the brand has not been positioned clearly. The corporate position of “innovation”, “affordable car”, have all been milked. Different people have formed their own opinions of what the car is and unfortunately many of these have not been helping the brand. In the early stages the brand did very little advertising as it probably believed that it had a healthy order book and a waiting period. But advertising clearly helps define and answer some key questions — who is the car for? What is the “reward” for the consumer and what is the “support” for what we are claiming? The problem has just gotten a little more complex now, but nothing that sharp strategy and smart execution cannot handle.

It's the consumer, silly!

I too wanted to buy a Nano when I saw all the hype and my family asked me a simple question that they often do, “Are you mad?”, and I promptly desisted. How many such conversations are happening all over India? Often companies forget that business is not so much about innovation, hype and media coverage but about listening to the consumer. What do people who have bought the car have to say about the Nano? Who is not buying the Nano and why? Is there some mental block? I also think there has been a serious breach of confidence in the inability of the company to deliver a car at Rs 1 lakh. I really do not know how that is going to be bridged. And there are some practical issues that need to be ironed out, such as finance. Car finance is more difficult and messier than two-wheeler finance and the company must address this problem if it wants the numbers.

In the final analysis, the Nano seems to be an excellent product poorly marketed and even more confusingly branded. It is in the interests of the Tatas to ensure that they do not end up with egg on their face and in my view, the problems of the Nano can be handled. “The small wonder” is going through a big challenge. But it is not insurmountable.

Ramanujam Sridhar, CEO, brand – comm.
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Your employee is your brand

Do companies spend even a fraction of training budgets on employees who are the face of the organisation?.

Branding is not a magical destination but is about people. And employees are an integral partfuelling the people process. _ K. RAMESH BABU

Do you remember our conversation last fortnight when we spoke about the human side of the brand and the need to look at things beyond advertising, media coverage, identity and colours in building brands? We spoke about how critical the first impression for a brand can be, how companies, under the guise of outsourcing, outsource their very brand to people who do not realise its value – such as security guards, for instance. We also spoke about how the telephone and the manner in which it is answered (or not) actually has the potential to take the brand's image downhill, how companies (CEOs included) fail to respond to people who get in touch with them and about how companies can hurt their own image badly by handling interviews and the process of interviewing poorly.

As one of the respondents to my blog said, “It is easier to preach than to practise!”While I will respond to that comment a little later in my piece, I will continue to talk about what companies can do right and what they often do wrong without perhaps realising or even caring about the consequences of their sins of omission and commission.

A small gesture

While it is perhaps easy to get disillusioned with the way companies are acting or not acting and get pessimistic and cynical, I shall strive to be balanced, however difficult that may seem to be in the light of what I had written earlier. Several years ago, I used to teach brand management at IIM, Kozhikode in its early days. It was term VI and the students were understandably a bit nervous, as it was placement time after all. I asked the class what their favourite company was and while the class reeled out the list of India's biggest and best, one of the students said, “MindTree”.

I was surprised as it was a very new company then. The reason was not difficult to see: The company had come to campus, made an offer to one of my students and as a gesture given him a company T-shirt on his acceptance of the offer. A simple gesture, you say. Absolutely! But to a student about to join a company on his first job, with all the anxieties that placement time bestows so easily, it had scored disproportionately with a young impressionable mind which he probably carried for the rest of his life. Here was a first impression of a different kind!

Mind you, I am willing to accept that things might have changed over the last decade or so and that today's management graduates may be more cynical about such gestures. I have also heard people speak with great pride about getting a prompt response from N.R. Narayana Murthy to some letter or mail and so the story goes on … Like individuals, companies too do things right and on occasions also do some things that are wrong for the brand. All of these have some impact on the brand, which leads me to the obvious question: How does your brand's ledger look in terms of debits and credits?

Money, money, money

Let's move on to things that are perhaps not so pleasant. Both you and I know that the subject of money need not be pleasant, especially when you don't get it and particularly when it is overdue. Let me start with my true life experience with a once prominent company that has now become completely obscure. It had this dubious reputation with advertising agencies when it came to payment. I remember the early days, when the company had the money, but used to set aside agency payments, as the attitude of the senior management of the company was, “Well, they need our business, they can wait.”

I know that we went through hell as did the other agencies servicing this client. Later, the client grew in business and in billings, but became so highly leveraged and so strapped for cash that the company soon became a “has been” and a credit risk. I am not referring to companies going through an occasional cash crunch, for several do at some point or the other, but of how accountants can be poor ambassadors of the brand, and often are. How often have we heard these: “Signatories not available” (usually for days on end); “We have misplaced your bills”; “Your bills have not been approved by marketing” and some more ingenious ones as well.

I know that many companies went through a tough time in the recession, but their track record of the past stood them in good stead. They took pains to explain to the affected parties and what stood them in good stead was their credibility. Actually, branding is less about words and more about actions and the sooner companies realise this, the better it will be for them.

Your employees are your brand

Traditionally companies have looked at their consumer and consciously attempted to improve her experiences and engagement with the brand. In the early Eighties, brands were hurt by dealers who had a limited concept and appreciation of customer service. Customers often blamed the company for their poor service, without realising that it was the dealer. Companies have become savvier over the years and invested in service and training of personnel and today brands such as Maruti have built a substantial franchise primarily on their service quality.

Yet, do companies, which spend so much time, effort and money on dealers and their development, spend even a fraction of their training budgets on employees who are constantly dealing with the world at large, whether it is their accountants, clerical staff or even employees from different functional areas such as human relations and finance? Traditional wisdom focuses on the revenue generator as someone who has to be trained as he brings in the moolah. This was perhaps understandable and acceptable in the days gone by, but today's world has new problems, thrown up by the Net and the increasing activism of consumers and the world at large. Yesterday's strategies may not work today in an increasingly dynamic and complex work place.

What does the future hold?

Sometimes the answers to the future may lie in the past. Let's analyse successful companies. What have they been doing? They have done things first and done them differently. Tomorrow's successful companies are going to be led by CEOs who will show the way in responsiveness. They will show the way by ensuring that their employees are taught the value of empathy. It is common knowledge that the people who are successful in sales have put themselves in their consumer's shoes. This is that rare quality called empathy. Now, there is a need for any employee who has any sort of interface with the world at large to be empathetic – to vendors and their problems, the general public who may come into contact with the company. Consider the insensitive statement by the CEO of British Petroleum who wanted his “life back” after 11 people were dead and the impact and ripples that it created through the world. If that is the case with CEOs who are trained, coached and mentored, imagine the plight of the poor employee and the ripple effect that thoughtless or insensitive behaviour can cause.

Branding a process, not a destination

While branding is often seen as a magical destination or a sort of Holy Grail, it rarely ever is. It is a process, with unremitting, often boring, attention to detail in everything that the company says or does. It needs direction from the top and the commitment of the CEO or the brand custodian. It needs constant monitoring and investment in training. It needs the humility to listen to criticism that is often harsh, at times unfair and now in the public domain. I realised this as I got an angry response from one of my readers about my ‘tepid' response to his query and my organisation's inability to respond to his need in a manner that was acceptable or satisfactory.

We keep getting knocks. The trick, though, is to learn and move on. The solution is not so much focus, but attention to detail on every single thing that the company is doing. It is about processes. It is about people. It is about passion to do the things that we set out to do. And most importantly, it is about everyone in the organisation and not only marketing as we have traditionally believe.

(Ramanujam Sridhar is CEO, brand-comm, and the author of Googly: Branding on Indian Turf.)

A new, improved Satyam?

Ramanujam Sridhar
The brand must make an effort to show it has changed for the better..

When I was young (Oh God, there I go again!) a movie running for 100 days was a significant achievement. (Today however, I see posters heralding a triumphant ten-day-run of movies.) Aradhana, the Hindi movie with immortal music byS. D. Burman ran for 100 weeks in Tamil-speaking Madras, when I was just finishing school. But sadly, this is not about movies or music or even about my schooling, but about another significant achievement that has happened in the last 100 days. I refer to the takeover of Satyam by Tech Mahindra, which will fork out a small sum of Rs 2,889 crore to gain a controlling 51 per cent equity in the company whose troubles started 100 days ago, in the media at least, on January 7 with Ramalinga Raju’s confessions.

How quickly things have moved since that fateful day! No one must be more relieved than the 53,000 beleaguered employees of the company. These 100 days have also seen a tremendous achievement by the newly constituted board of Satyam to get its act together and get the interest of the corporate world in a brand which had come under a phenomenal cloud. It is also a significant achievement for India and Indian business when globally, larger, higher profile brands have bitten the dust and others are still out begging bowl in hand. But let’s return home and to our own concerns.

What does this takeover and change mean for brand Satyam? Will it regain its former glory? What must the company do? Let me hazard a few guesses as it is always easier to make predictions in turbulent times like these, as one can always take refuge under the unpredictability of the times that we live in, should the predictions turn out to be horribly off the mark!

Takeover - who wins, who loses?

Of the four who were serious bidders, maybe Cognizant was best suited from a technology and business fit perspective, but that was not to be. L&T too did the rumour rounds, having already had a presence on the board and showing its interest in no uncertain terms to all who cared to listen, media included. Now that the deal is done, it is pertinent to observe that perhaps the deal might benefit Tech Mahindra more than it might benefit Satyam, as it immediately catapults the combined entity into the elite stable of Indian software.

However, one must quickly add that though the Mahindras are not dominant players in the technology space (they are in the telecom space in technology) they are most certainly a respected name in the Indian industry, with a track record of success in business and the acknowledged ability to launch successful brands across categories. The troubled Satyam brand will certainly benefit from the solidity that the mere name implies and the consistency in management that the earlier leadership sorely lacked. Having said that, it might perhaps be better to concentrate on the road ahead and the challenges that lie in store than focus on the immediate past. For it seems apparent to even the casual observer that the road ahead is going to be reminiscent of the challenges and frustrations that the Indian industry faced in the times of the Licence Raj, full of unexpected road blocks and with hardly a dull moment!

The name of the game

Individuals do not have control over their names, by and large as parents and astrologers (in India, at least) determine how one is called. As my favourite author would say: “Imagine going through life with a name like this!” Brands, fortunately, have some leeway. They can even change names midway through their lives should the need present itself. And if ever there ever was a need for Satyam to change its name, it most certainly needs to do so in the present.

During my youth I made some feeble and ill-directed attempts to leave the country. Thankfully, I was unsuccessful. As part of those ill-fated attempts I wrote the GRE. (If you do not ask me my score, I promise you I won’t lie to you!) But back to that exam, which had a section on antonyms, where the student had to find the word that meant exactly the opposite to the word in question from the choices available. The word Satyam reminds me exactly of this, because the company has certainly stood for everything except truth which is really what Satyam means. So, is it a “no brainer” to change the name?

Well, sometimes research throws up answers that we already know, something that we realise much later, after spending considerable amounts of money. Doing research on the efficacy and relevance of the Satyam brand name in this case, might in my opinion, throw up the same result. While certain companies have built and refined their brand names from the past, such as Sasken, which was earlier known as SAS, I feel that the company ought to now make a clear break from the past. So that is one strategic brand decision out of the way. What next?

The essence of the brand

Ideally brands have an essence that defines their very being. Their raison d’etre. Too often these are tributes to the dexterity in word play of the brand consultant or advertising agency and not anchored in reality. Satyam or the new brand, as the case may be, will not have this luxury the second time around. Its mission and vision statements must be anchored in reality and not mere feel-good statements that adorn the walls of corporate boardrooms and that no one reads barring the office attendant who has the unfortunate job of dusting it occasionally!
Staying on the subject of brands, a successful brand is relevant to its publics and different from its competitors. There is no doubt that Satyam will continue to be relevant to most of its customers and to several thousand of its existing employees. (I must confess my cowardice in not addressing the relevance of the brand to investors at this point in time.) It must, in its new avatar, too be different. Not so much from its competition, but from the way it was, or has been perceived to be recently. In fact, this is the greatest challenge, particularly for existing employees. How do they keep demonstrating that they are “new & improved” in every aspect of their customer service and delivery? This is something that is easier to talk about than deliver, but the very success of the new venture, as I choose to call it, will hinge on this important difference.

Communication is in

Troubled times call for extensive and continuous internal communication. In this case, it is not only the environment but the company too that is under stress. Never has there been a greater time to communicate. The company should resist the temptation to talk to an ever eager media and focus internally on its most important target, its own people. An audience that has lived on the edge, fed by rumours and threatened by fears, some of them justified and who are now seeing a change of ownership. The company has to focus on retaining talent as that will be crucial in ensuring stability for its customers who have stood by it by during turbulent times. Communication of stability and a reassurance to existing employees will have to be punctuated with a clear articulation of a new set of values and a new direction that will be the basis of the company’s functioning.

I am sure the Mahindras are shrewd businessmen and know what they are getting into. They might do well to remember what Hector Liang, Chairman of United Biscuits, said: “Buildings age and become dilapidated. Machines wear out. Cars rust. People die. But what lives on are the brands.”

May the new brand that is being formed out of this acquisition live on!

(Ramanujam Sridhar is CEO, brand-comm, and the author of One Land, One Billion Minds)