Lessons to learn from Infosys

“Wooing the press is an exercise roughly akin to picnicking with the tiger. You might enjoy the meal but the tiger always eats last.”

_ Maureen Dowd

Let me begin by clarifying that I am great admirer of Infosys, I have worked with them in their early days and have written about how Infosys has been built by PR and not by advertising. In that context, their taking the media to court has put them in the spotlight and I believe that there are lessons that can be learnt from this.

As the baton is passed

Was it the cold shoulder to advertising in their marketing initiatives or the PR strategy that could be faulted? From the days when the company made news thanks to the net worth of Narayan Murthy's driver to the current news items, that are focussed on the state of flux that the leadership is in, I look at what they need to implement to bring back the good old days, in the Hindu Business Line.

If you wish to read the whole story, you can find it here.

Bye Bye Bangalore?

I moved to Bangalore in the early eighties and haven't left since. The weather, the people, there are a lot of things that are agreeable in our city that have aided the migration boom that we've witnessed over the last decade.

But is it still a coveted destination for talent and entrepreneurs? After the Zomato incident, I was approached for my thoughts on where Bangalore stands.

Still preferred?

I believe that in terms of Tech talent and having the right ecosystem, players in the IT space still need to treat Bangalore as a priority. You can read the full piece here.

Lessons from the Narendra Modi Campaign

As the dust settles on a historic election with an unambiguous result after almost three decades, its time to look at the campaign that did it all, and what we can learn with regards to marketing and management.

Was it just a matter of being in the right place at the right time?

Or was it changing the rules of the game, to reposition people's voting decision as a choice between one PM candidate and the other? Almost akin to the Presidential election in the United States.

Modi was given the same prominence by the BJP as Sachin Tendulkar was by the Indian cricket team in one of its more troubling phases.

Remember this ad?

They got the right team in place with a mix of heavy weights and enthusiastic rookies, with "Abki Baar, Modi Sarkar" being coined by Piyush Pandey for the same campaign that witnessed Lawyers, Engineers etc quitting their jobs in Bangalore or Singapore and pitching in.

There are many learnings from the campaign for marketers, and you can read my full piece in The Hindu Business Line, here.

Is your brand recharged?

While a “new look” is important, it is equally important to offer value to the customer either by way of a sharper focus or a clearer position. Recharger Brands have to constantly keep examining and contemporising themselves for consumers, who are constantly looking for newer and smarter options, is what Ramanujam Sridhar, Founder and CEO, Brand Comm has to say about ‘Rechargers’, one of the ten categories of the Pitch Brands 50 –Awards For Excellence in Marketing, presented by ABP News, in partnership with Percept.

According to Sridhar, the recharged brand is one that has rejigged itself and has done changes to it over the years while retaining its original characteristics and properties, making it attractive to an increasingly demanding younger audience.

While more than 25 brands made it to the shortlist after going through investigative –scrutiny of the Pitch’s editorial team, 10 were selected to go to the next level. While the jury has locked five winners, let’s take a quick-peek look at the 12 names that went to the jury.

One of the brands that made it to the shortlisted list of Rechargers is ‘Cinthol’, which revamped its identity with its adventurous -‘Alive is Awesome’ campaign with a new range of soaps, shower gels and deos.

Read more »

Footwear options: Liberty or Versace for Hrithik Roshan?

Daniel J Boorstin has rightly remarked that “A sign of a celebrity is that his name is often worth more than his services”. Marketers have acknowledged this fact and have roped in popular faces to create instant brand awareness, credibility and aspirational value. In a country like India that is celeb crazy, associating with a celebrity makes a substantial impact on the purchasing behaviour. But what if there is a mismatch between the celebrity and the brand, what happens if a celebrity endorses one brand but is spotted using the other?

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Customer for life?

Take care of your clients and there’s a good chance they won't leave you. - M. VEDHAN

A smart marketer will not alienate existing customers in the quest for newer ones.

As I have often said, I spent six years of my life counting other people’s cash and writing other people’s fixed deposit receipts. Even after leaving the banking industry, I still talk about it as I am still a customer of one bank or the other.

Today, I am not merely a customer but someone who perhaps knows a little more about customers than when I was a callow youth in the banking counter hoping for a typhoon or a flood on Saturday morning so that I could leave in time to catch a movie rather than be flooded by customers! One of the first things I have since realised is something called “lifetime value of the customer”, which I knew nothing about or cared even less for in 1973 when I first started working with Grindlays Bank.

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Masterchef Sanjeev Kapoor: A perfect recipe for marketers?

“I personally take all my brand endorsement decisions. I am the first point of contact, not the last one. So it goes without saying that I delve into depth and detail about the brand, product, everything. I would never endorse a brand if I didn’t believe in it” – Masterchef Sanjeev Kapoor.

He came, He cooked and He conquered the hearts of women of all ages and kinds. Sanjeev Kapoor mastered the art of Indian cooking and won both domestic adulation as well as international acclaim for his recipes for a perfect gastronomic delight. He is not just an icon for food connoisseurs, but also the marketing world’s favourite chef since his Khaana Khazana days on Indian television. He has been associated with many brands such as Natura Diet Sugar by Sugar Free, edible oil brand, Sweekar, Sapat Tea, and the recently announced association with Tata i-Shakti range of pulses.

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