Shop a little !

Session on Shopper Behavior by Mr. Anil Srinivasan, CEO, Recraft

‘lose control,

one more time

lose lose lose control,

Masti ki paathshala,

apni toh paathshala’

Wow what a song! A song that enthralled the entire nation couple of years back…. Song from one of the trend setting movies in the Indian Moviedom, “Rang De Basanti” (RDB) that resonates with most of us even now and there is no doubt in the fact that it will resonate for generations... Hey hang on; it’s not a movie review ….It is about Understanding Shoppers. Who will not love the class if the Professor relates RDB to explain the concept of ‘experience ‘in shopping behavior? The best part of CBS is meeting professors who are following different style of teaching and yet converging at a common point of ‘adding value to our learning’. Mr. Anil Srinivasan is one among them. It was our last session in 1^st trimester but supposed to be one of ‘The best sessions’ that I have attended so far.

 

Anil’s session happened just 3 days before Diwali. When whole of India was merrily spending the diwali week Sunday in making festival purchases, we were busy learning how people buy!!

He started his session with the typical question on our Diwali purchase. Immediate reply from one corner was “Van Heusen shirt”….Anil posed a question at us whether his Van Heusen purchase is rational or an emotional decision... We replied in unison that it’s rational with the pivotal reason, VH being a premium brand with excellent quality…. He again shot a question on our choice if we were to choose one from two identical-in-all-aspect shirts except that one is a Van Heusen and the other is without any label. Supplementary question was on the type of decision one is making in choosing the shirt. The majority answered ‘ Van Heusen ‘ & ‘Rational’…then came Anil’s perspective... he argued that if both the shirts are going to give the same functional benefit and some one is paying premium for a label , how could it be a pure rational decision. He explained that some actions starts rationally but becomes irrational ,which is nothing but the emotional component of a purchase, so buying Van Heusen is not a ‘purely’ rational decision ,but a combination of rational & emotional decision.

 

Then, with a beaming smile Anil turned towards Diwali release movies and asked about our favorite actors. Then came the gyan on formation of rational and irrational thinking based on our responses.

He explained the concepts of personality, experiential shopping, brand, costing to the retail format etc with his unique style and ended up the session with a concept development game of coming up with an experiential idea for promoting a new Shahrukh flick…lot of ideas came from different teams and he picked up the best one …He left us with a note that he will be handling the course on Retail and Luxury branding in the ensuing block… Thanks to CBS for this Diwali Bonanza … Many teach, only few inspire … Anil is one of our greatest inspirations…. Eagerly awaiting the Retail and Luxury Branding course

Contributed by Arun Saravanakumar, Marcom Varsity

A realistic odyssey in to retail world

.
A complete 30-session course on the world of retailing by Prof. Dr. Vijay Kumar Jayaram, Founder & Director – SIMERF, a virtual organization involved in management education and consultancy

My first experience as an exclusive retailer in selling vegetables and fruits was unfathomable. I have reached the place of biggest wholesale vegetable supplier in the town after comparing the price of vegetables with the other suppliers and confirmed that this is the best place to get the deal done. I was little apprehensive as the supplier was encircled by lot of seasoned retailers in busy bargaining. The wholesaler identified immediately that I am new into the business (I wondered where he acquired the skill of face reading) and enquired about my business location before getting into the business … When I quoted my itemized requirements, he calculated and tried to push in bulk with some additional discount… but refused as my inner voice cautioned the wastage cost (perishable) …. After rounds of negotiations, the supplier agreed for my quote with discounts lesser than current market rates and he reasoned out the heavy discount. He said he always encourage new start-ups to avoid monopoly in the market, at the interest of consumers. Wow noble value systems are still in existence … I cursed the cynicisms that values are dead in a fierce competing world ,,,, my heart lauded the supplier for a moment , with a great sense of pride that I have partnered with an honest supplier in the town in my maiden transaction itself.

I moved all the vegetables to my shop and waited for the customers next morning. I was pretty sure that my shop is going to be an instant hit in my location as I managed to get vegetables at a much lower cost from the wholesaler than the other big house retailers. Customers started pouring in. To my dismay many of their faces were little unpleasant after looking at the price tag, and they all ended up with petty purchases. I was confused for a while and enquired a customer about this. A sharp nail hit straight on my forehead “prices are higher than big retail house, so not happy with the store”… I was taken a back. I got the best deal in the town on the day, so mine should be the minimum... how it is possible?? ….I was suspicious at his complaint. I checked the price in other retail shops through my small workforce … yes its true... they are selling at a lower price than my shop for sure!!!! But how is it possible? I came to know that my competing retailers purchased at the goods at a much lower price than me from the same wholesale vendor … I turned mad when I realized that supplier fooled me with his words …. I lost in the game... my neighboring retail stores were doing well… My venture was a total fiasco. I don’t know what to do...

“Time is up guys”, Prof. Vijaykumar shouted at his base voice to break the utter chaos prevailed in the classroom to reach us ….. I came out of my retailer avatar. Yes, the above mentioned retail business was a real time simulation game in the world of retailing course. Supplier roles were played by four students and rest of us have to be a retailers as well as customers …it was a total chaos for whole 1 hour & 30 min… perhaps if any one listened to the conversations alone .. I bet that they would have presumed it to be a koyambedu vegetable market…After an exhausting role play, we all settled down and shared our experiences as a retailer as well as customers…. And also the students who played the role of wholesalers merrily explained the tactics that they have followed to run a profitable business. I was fuming at them as I was one the victim of their conspiring strategy. Professor was stunned when he came to know that group of students formed a cartel during their transaction with suppliers… I looked at my friend who also lost in the game. We exchanged a sigh at each other and shrugged the shoulders as usual.

Once we were done with the feedback about the simulation exercise, professor explained about the retail business by correlating our experiences in the exercise. He explained the different roles that are being played by a retailer, wholesaler and the intricacies involved in it. When we raised our concern that if some more constraints for Wholesaler would have reduced the chaos in the game, we were informed that its simulation is based on “Synetics” , a state where there will be free flow of thought and hence the learning will also be maximum .. Yes that’s sounds true to us from the experiences we gained from the simulation exercise..

Since then I became a fan of professor VKJ for his unique style of teaching and I was looking for his sessions every week. I was in the state of bliss when he announced that we are going to have two more simulation exercise for understanding ‘customer relationship management’ in his next class. In subsequent weeks we got engaged in simulations like ‘Blind fold Game’ and ‘Retail Banking Exercise’ to get the key insights of CRM.

It was totally a pleasant and surprising experience to each one of us in the class in understanding the concepts of such real-world subjects through simulations and role plays. The 30 hour session on retailing by professor VKJ with his power packed pedagogy helped us in a much bigger way to prune ourselves as ‘Industry – Ready’ mangers. His well crafted traps in the game made us to realize the real-world intricacies of retailing, which looks glossy and glamorous from the outside. Truly an amazing learning experience in a new dimension. Thanks a lot professor

Contributed by Arun Saravanakumar, Marcom Varsity
.

Lessons from the Trenches !

.
Session By Mr. Vishwakiran, Senior Manager – Alliances & Partnerships, HCL Technologies

It was an usual Saturday morning at CBS campus for the Marketing, Marketing Communication and Retail varsity Students. But, what made the Saturday special was an almost four hours of informative session on managing career and corporate world by Mr.Vishwakiran.

Mr. Kiran started off the session from the evergreen dream of any MBA student, ‘hands full of job offers’ and the subsequent reality-bites stories in the corporate sector. The entire presentation was about career options, choosing the best career and the best practices for succeeding in the same.

The entire process was covered under 8 different themes; very comprehensive, useful and interesting indeed.

1. Create Your Value System
He asked us to create an own brand for ourself to sell us in an interview. Many a time it is an under current fear factor that spoils a good interview in spite of being knowledgeable. At this phase he quoted the phrase “What are you prepared to do?” from the movie Untouchables to correlate the slide on the topic how to overcome fear. He touched upon being dependable and punctual on creating the value system of a person.

2. Dealing with Others
We gradually moved to the theme of how to handle people and to deal with them. The major concentration on this theme was on making an impact and having a positive influence with people, which will make people feel special and build relationship. And Mr. Kiran had a spot on how we should inspire people while talking to others and always be on others’ shoe before taking a call.

3. Stay on Top of Life
The next theme was on how to think, ask questions, to plan and to execute. Moving further we got some tips on how to prioritize our work and the importance of maintaining a dairy. And whatever it may be, he asked us to take notes for future references. From his personal experience he said he had taken about 8 notebooks of notes on joining HCL within few days. He ended this theme by ‘Sunday reflections’ how a good manager will plan on Sunday what he is supposed to do in the coming week. Surely, we could feel the learning for the real world stuff. Yup, this is what we wanted

4. Create Lasting Impression
‘Differentiate Yourself’ is one point which still rings in my mind when I think on the theme ‘Create Lasting Impression’. He clearly explained us how one can differentiate one from others. And the discussion continued about establishing credibility to a personality and how to position one in a competitive environment.

5. Overcoming Hurdles
To overcoming hurdles, a person should cultivate the following attributes Viz, not being over-confident, knowing your limitations, getting set to learn. He added on about ‘Fix Your Weakness’, where one can know what his negatives are and to practice on how to eliminate. He ended the theme by stating anything can be done to the hurdles with one’s own hope and self belief.

6. Survive at Work
To survive modern work place, one need to be professional in approach and activities and also have an eagle-eye for the finer details. Here popped a brilliant quote “Anything worth doing is difficult” from the movie Patch Adams. We got the information on the importance of paying attention to small things at work place and also how to manage expectations. The theme ended with the twinkling words ‘Praise in Public and Criticise in Private’ which is very important at a work place.

7. The Art of Communication
A simple one but an important aspect of a business life, apart from the well known communicate slowly & clearly, he explained us on how to think analog while communicating and also the art of telling stories while presenting to capture the targeted audience. The mantra was “Always keep to the point, keep it simple and do not get diverted from the topic”.

8. Realising Your Potential
The final theme covered on how to learn from ones own mistake and to master the craft. He also explained us about success which is a long haul. Gradually moved up the ladder, enlightening us on knowing what one want and how to accept and face reality. He ended the theme by quoting “Do what you love, Love what you do”.

The whole presentation was interspersed with lots of quotes from movies such as, Star Wars, The Shawshank Redemption, Patch Adams, Awakening, Platoon, Matrix, Terminator, Aviator, The Godfather, Message in a Bottle, The Rookie, Remember the Titans, Any Given Sunday, Million Dollar Baby, Alexander, Miracle, Wall Street, The War etc. That really drove home the important points clearly and at the same time made the whole session highly enjoyable

I would say this is the best presentation I have ever come across; Mr.Kiran also promised to have a separate session on movies and management. Thanks Sir, really waiting for that session to come alive. With out doubt, it will be another exciting encounter. Surely I will share the same with you all very soon.

Contributed by Uma Shankar Pandian , Marketing Varsity

A life full of logos!

.
Brand Management course by Mr. Satheesh Krishnamurthy, Brand Consultant

It was 5 minutes to 6 in the morning, my Sony Ericsson disturbed my morning sleep with its alarm, hesitantly I woke up and as like any other diehard Chennai fellow, I started my day with a hot cup of Narasus filer kaapi and The Hindu, of course only after finishing my brushing routine with pepsodant....First ad in the paper that grabbed my attention was Globus sale!!!!! Got a plan for weekend …After devoting 20 minutes to The Hindu, I finished my bath with Hamam and grabbed a cup of kellog’s as breakfast since idli bored me a lot , oops…I realized I was running short of time ,,, In a hurry –burry ,,, I let myself inside my levi’s and polo …took possession of my fasttrack and ipod ( No wonder if I owe my entire life to steve jobs!!) ...dropped my acer and Philip Kotler’s Marketing management into my samsonite college bag … tied the lace of nike , kick started my pulsar and reached the college some how on time after negotiating serpentine twists and turns of Volvos and Leylands !

It was the first session on brand management by Prof. Satheesh Krishnamurthy. He started the session with a slide, showing how many brands we come across in a single day !!!! Immediately my mind recollected the brands that I come across since morning,, starting from Sony Ericsson to Pulsar , 16 on first count .. Mind boggling.. Just within 3 hours of the day I have used 16 different brands…my god!!! there is no second thought; definitely I do need sessions on brand management…

Then he continued the session with a question what is a brand and why we need to manage a brand!!!!...different replies came from every nook n corner of the classroom…. Professor absorbed all the answers and gave us the meaning for the term brand in marketing in a much more refined way and also the significance of brand management,, even from his words within first 30 minutes of session, we understood that, invariably behind every successful brand , there is a conscientious brand manager who considers his/her product as their own child and pamper it .. even protect it!!! from all other competing brands!!!!

The next important issue which we were introduced was the Do’s and Don’ts in product/ brand management…He strongly affirmed that a particular brand (established in a particular product category) should not enter market altogether in a different product category with the same name, due to the fact that consumer’s mind will refuse to associate the brand with new product category along with the examples of lot of brands which failed by adopting this wrong model.. We were truly able to appreciate his words when he quoted that Oral-B is from Gillette and argued that Oral-B would be not as successful as now if it would have been entered the market with the name carrying Gillette brush in it!!!! ….

During his course of discussing different issues surrounding brand management like,, what does a brand convey to consumers,, why brands and why brands are critical etc, he came up with loads of examples from both Indian and global markets. A four hour lively session came to an end with the topic “how hard is it to build a brand”…When ever a new brands enter into market, we tend to think it as just one more in the list…but within four hours we realized the intricacies behind that “one more” … Simply a great start for the ensuing brand management sessions … Thank you! Sir!

Contributed by Arun Saravanakumar, Marcom Varsity

*

An Inside view of IT Project Management

.
Session by Mr. Rishi Agarwal, Business unit head of a leading Fortune-500 financial institution

Taj mahal, one of the 7 wonders of the world, built in 1631 AD arguably one of the best pieces of symmetric architecture in the world. An amazing success story when it came to project management. Is building a Taj mahal tougher or completing an IT project a tougher job?

This was the first question put across to us by Mr. Rishi Agarwal. Few hands were up in a jiffy. Someone echoed the thing I had in my mind, “IT Projects were easier Rishi”. Rishi smiled at us and in a composed tone he asked “is that so people?” Most of us nodded our heads. A hand out was passed on to every student present for the session which read “The Standish Report “– Chaos. We were given 30 minutes to go through the report.

On reading the Report, I found the statistics to be staggering. 1995, In the United States more than US$ 250 billion were spent each year on IT application development for approximately 175000 Projects. The Standish group report shows that a staggering 33 % of the projects mentioned above will get cancelled even before they get completed, 52.7 % of the projects will cost 189 % of their original estimates. What a cost over-run ? Staggering isn’t it?

31st minute: Rishi again emphasized on the same question “Is IT project management easier people?” we were confused. This is where we started. We as a group analyzed why Project Taj mahal was successful and concluded that Project Taj had Proper processes put in place and people who worked to build the Taj were reporting to one head, Emperor Shahjahan and the fear of death if the processes were not followed meticulously made the project successful .

Our soul searching on project management with Rishi continued, he put the next question to us “Is software development, engineering or an art?” People in the class room had differences of opinion. We finally arrived at an answer that software is an art, but for that to become engineering, lot of processes has to be put in place. Managing these processes efficiently is actually project management. Rishi also emphasized that from 1995 the situation in handling projects has improved and there are comparatively lesser failures in projects and it is greatly due to proper project management.

With his vast experience, both in India and abroad, Rishi kept churning out different practical situations in project management in an astonishing fashion and emphasized the importance of proper management of projects. Three hours were over and it was a Sunday early morning class. There was never a dull moment. The class was more of a discussion forum with lot of practical inputs rather than just yet another one to many information sharing session.

“Meet you next Sunday, Fellas", Rishi left igniting a vibrant thought process amongst us. We had a great introduction about project management in IT. We enjoyed each and every moment of the session and to have a person of the caliber of Mr. Rishi Agarwal teaching us the whole course on every aspect of IT project management in the coming weeks definitely thrills us. No wonder we call it learning for the real world !

Contributed by R. Raghav Kousik , IT Varsity
.

A maiden journey to the advertising world

.
Session by Mr. Mohan Menon, Former Executive Director, Ogilvy & Mather, Governing Council Member and Chairman – Marketing & Marketing Communications Varsity, Chennai Business School


I used to sit before the television for NDTV‘s nine ‘o’ clock news, as a religious routine, which perhaps gives me a deep sleep with the smug that I am conscious of the world around me (Some times the news stories give sleepless nights, which is another issue!!) !!!! Some months back, Just before the end of the 30-minute news, a simple news item grabbed my attention. A young school boy from Delhi mourning over his loss after his recent encounter with a thief. I was curious in knowing what could have annoyed this little kid; His pug was taken away by two unknown bikers when he was playing with the it outside his home!!!!! … I was amazed to know that lot of pug thefts has been registered since the previous month due to an increasingly huge demand for that dog!!!! …I was frozen for a moment with the fact that it’s because of the HUTCH commercial which is featuring pug!!!

“Wow!!!! How much powerful the ad must have been to create a tremendous awareness, not only for the brand being advertised, but also a craze for a not so beautiful breed of dogs!!! . How it’s been possible to hook the attention of the common man within 15 seconds and register the brand before 60 seconds … How it is possible for some one to bring the metaphor of a dog to a telecommunication network and clip that in the mind of a consumer successfully? ….

To get it from the horse’s mouth, I was waiting for our first session on Marcom, especially advertising, from one of the best creative minds of the Indian advertising industry, Mr. Mohan Menon, Former Executive Director, O&M, who is also the Chairman of Marketing & Marketing Communications Varsity at CBS

Straight away telling us that he is from a world of Out-of-the-Box thinking, he started the session with a question “What are the different teams of an ad agency that are involved in a Television commercial “, starting with our opinions and preliminary knowledge rather than a classic style ‘take-it-from-me” gyan. At once came a shouting reply “Creative team” from all the students in unison … he smiled and questioned us “Then what?..., “client servicing”, a voice from the back desk received the appreciation from him … Again one more smile from him followed by “what else?...”, there was a moment of silence, then we were introduced with Account planning and its significance in creating an ad with consummate knowledge of consumer behavior.

As the session was flowing with various aspects of advertising industry and its work, a question on “celebrity endorsement “ was raised by a student and the next immediate moment the class room become a battle ground and students got polarized into two heavy artillery units firing at each other regarding the pro’s & con’s of celebrity endorsement

Mr. Menon made himself as an unperturbed moderator during the tug of war between the students .After seeing the boundless enthusiasm from students, he intervened and explained the nuance of success and failure of celebrity endorsement, which paved us to understand, what are the phenomenal attributes that needs to be considered when choosing a brand ambassador for a product/service and what are all it’s after-effects on the brand in the market.

After his views on celebrity endorsement and just before his departure, he stunned us with a question “How many of you think you are a brand”… he continued, “We all are projecting ourselves as a brand in life many a times but unknowingly!!!! We brand ourselves with our earnest virtues like sincerity, honesty, diligence, intelligence, creativity etc ...” He left us with the message “we too are brands in this world” … yes, the onus is now on us to brand ourselves, build the positive attributes and manage it well to shine better in the business market ! The whole agency business and the concept of branding was astonishingly given to us in a capsule and that too in a matter of 3 hours… what an incredible afternoon it turned out to be. In the meanwhile, Hutch has become Vodafone and whatever happened to the brand, the pug still follows!!!! Power of creative advertising as they say ….we had a brilliant glimpse of it with the help of Mr. Menon.

Contributed by Arun Saravanakumar, Marcom Varsity
.

Emerging Retail Paradigm

.
Snippets from the Retail Conference Organized by Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) @ Hotel Taj Coromandel, Chennai On September 5th & 6th

Indian Retail is facing the proverbial Chicken and Egg scenario where we are desperately identifying who we need, the Guru or the Pupil. This programme clearly addressed that. For us, the retail students of CBS, these two days at the TAJ on the Emerging Retail Paradigm was an eye opener to various aspects of organized Retail. SICCI has indeed done us a great help by giving a wonderful industry forum to understand the key concepts and terminologies in a matter of two days which might have otherwise taken two or three months of classroom study.

This seminar was a first of its kind to be held at Chennai and we felt really honored to be a part of this bonanza. The Session was kick started by Mr.Bhaskar Bhatt, MD, Titan Industries. He set the right mood for the day as he elucidated on the needs and wants of the customer and how organized retail could help the customer satisfy his needs. He gave us the various ingredients which constitute a so called perfect retail recipe. He being a HR head, closed his session with a note “Celebrate people!!”

Mr. Radhakrishnan,CEO Reliance Retail, then gave the keynote address of the session and he emphasized on the need to focus not on FDI but EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). This would have enormous effect on the supply chain and hence contribute to adding value to the customer. He held us in a stance with his excellent and down-to-earth insights about store management. An amazing session.

The next session was on Visual Merchandising (VM), about the importance of “Looking beyond the obvious ”. Mr. Ranju Mohan , Marketing Head of Henkel delved into the finer aspects of VM and explained how the footfalls could be drastically increased . Positioning and display play the pivotal role in VM. The emphasis on VM was further stressed on by Mr. David Blair, Managing Director- South Asia, Fitch, who has done the design for numerous retail giants across the globe. He charmed the audience with his design strategies and also presented some innovative models of supermarkets of the future.

Post lunch session was delivered by Mr. Venkataramana , Sr. VP- HR from Reliance Retail about the challenges faced in the Retention of employees in the retail sector. He stated with a note on keeping employees happy , as happy employees create happy customers. A very lucid and interesting talk with lot of practical insights. Then the baton was handed over to Mr. Connie Murray , VP- Manufacturing, Coca-Cola . Once again , the limelight was on SCM ( supply chain management). With the words “ Fish , Where the Fishes Are” he had us on the hook. He shared some of the valuable strategies implemented at Coke to achieve world class excellence. His words “ Plan your work and work your plan” are still reverberating in our minds.

The day came to an end with a session by Mr.E. Bobson from TUV Rheinland. He went one step further in SCM by elaborately speaking on “The Information Security System in SCM”. Only after this did we come to know of the various standards related to SCM especially ISO28000-for Security Management Systems.

The next morning began with Ms.Preethi Reddy from Technopak giving us a glimpse of “Managing Market Research”. We learnt about one more incidence of pareto principle in play - that only 20 % of the customers gave 80% of the Sales. She went on to explain how data was effectively used to do a RFM ( recency , frequency , Monetary ) analysis. To further strengthen the views , we had Ms.Tara Prabhakar from Envirosell delving deeply about “ Developing Shopper understanding”. The visuals she played corroborated how even trivial things like a door positioning can affect the consumer’s purchase decision . It was initially hard to believe that customers made 70 percent of their purchase decisions inside the store. But, it’s a researched fact ! That indicated a huge opportunity in the retailer ’s hands to influence the consumer. There is thus an increasing need to understand the consumer before even advertising products. Her closing remark “Bring science into shopping ” gave us a new mantra to work on .

Mr.Sanjay Mishra , VP- Merchandising, Spencer’s Retail commenced the next session on “ Profitable Store Operations”. He stressed that ultimately every transaction boiled down to a measurement of LCM per sq.foot. He started off with the concepts of store operations and how immaculately it has to be planned out. The major expectations of the deliverables of any large chain were spoken of. He concentrated on the various back-end activities needed to run a store and how it is important to bring about a differentiation in service. His precise focus to details was so high that it could have helped any entrepreneur to get inspiration for opening a profitable retail chain.

Finally to complete the circle , we had Mr.Saurav Dalmia , HSBC who pointed out “The need for Electronic Banking in Retail”. With mammoth scale and enormous number of Suppliers and Vendors , it becomes highly mandatory to have an efficient way of dealing with monetary transactions in organized retail chain operations. He pronounced that Electronic Banking(EB) to be the most suitable solution for the current scenario . EB transactions can be carried online and alerts can be sent to the mail or to the mobile. He also spoke vividly on the usage of technology like SAP to provide better banking solutions.

The seminar ended with Mr.Satishkumar, MD, Henkel and also the Convenor of the summit summarizing the two day proceedings. Mr.Balasubramanian,President of SICCI gave the final address. Followed by the retail awards distribution which were given in 3 categories-

Traditional Retail - Nalli Silks (Received by Mr.Nalli Kuppusamy Chetty)
Consumer Durable Retail - Viveks (Received by Mr. Kodandarama Setty)
First generation Entrepreneur - Received by Mr.M. Subramanian, Subiksha

The icing on the cake was the valedictory address by our dearest Mr.Pradipta K Mohapatra, who had the entire audience spell bound with his captivating speech about the international and Indian trends. A very interesting feature of his talk was the comparison of the volume of organized retail trade in India and that of the city of the Bangkok, which showed the long miles to be traveled by us.

Altogether, a great experience for all of us, not only in terms of learning for the real world, but also as an opportunity to brush shoulders and personally interact with the leaders of the industry.

Contributed by Khadeeja Bilquees, Retail Varsity

.

A dose of positive energy – Seven Cups at a time

Session by Dr. TT Srinath, Personal growth and organization consultant

“Look at your poor scores; you are useless”- remark of a disgruntled father!!!
“I don’t like my manager’s attitude, its hell to work with him “ - disparaging charge of an annoying employee,
“I met with only failures, I will never have a good future” - words of a unfortunate businessman,
“I failed to crack my medical entrance, I am not good at any thing in life” - frustrated emotions of a young student,
“I am dying out of work pressure” – common idiom of IT workers
“Life is boring and monotonous “- fuss of almost every BPO employee!!!! …

All these statements have become cliché in our day to day life!!!! Words filled with boredom, hatred, pessimism, cynicism ….. Come on give me a break!!!! Why our complacent life turned too complex today … Where we lost the smile that we have carried with us to this earth, where can we unearth our buried happiness ... where are those DNA‘s or cell’s present in the body that induce negative cues in us !!!!! How can I become as happy as when I was a child!!!!

All these questions that hit hard in my mind got due answers during last week’s guest session on “Seven qualities of self-management”

As we were all waiting for the guest speaker of the day, a gentleman adorned with serene face and green kurtha appeared before us!!!! .. Enthusiastic speaker introduced himself as T.T Srinath, a sensitivity trainer and a business man. All the eyes in the hall lit up and eyebrows went up when he revealed his other facet as a theatre artist with Madras players and his cameo in the movie “Guru”. Yes, the same Dean Shastri of Madras Players’ stage version of five Point Someone.

Thousands of thoughts running across 75 minds stopped for a moment and converged towards the profound words of the speaker when he started his session by affirming that we are co-creator of every single event that we come across in life and we are equally responsible for hatred as much as we are responsible for happiness that we experience in life!!! Sounded whimsical,,, ,,but true “ That businessman would have proceeded with wrong strategy without knowing the pulse of customers unknowingly “,,, even beyond that he desperately shuns himself from the world of opportunities by relying on his past failure ,,

We were all moved when he shared his personal set backs and how he came out of debacle … and inculcated the most important factor which many of us forget consciously or unconsciously “self – appreciation”, at some point in life we failed to look at ourselves proudly and started searching for something else which we don’t have rather than discovering our unique talent. Yup!!! I got the answer for young student, he may be bad in his medical test, it’s just one thing, there are N-1 things in life which he may be good at, and he failed to discover and appreciate his other talents!!!!!

Third quality of self-management that he mentioned was “unconditional acceptance”, we are too dogmatic to accept the fact!!! When we are ready to accept every one with out any condition, we can get rid of some unwanted worries in life…yes the disgruntled father doesn’t want to accept his son with poor grades … and did not want to explore his son’s other potentials.

As we were assimilating Mr. Srinath’s profound ideas in his mesmerizing speech, he also made it lively and enthralled every one with witty anecdotes. We did not notice that we have crossed the time limit … though the speaker was not able cover all the seven important qualities within the time, he summed up with the most important fact that every one should understand in life …“happiness is within us and not an external stimuli “and left us with the message “Be sensitive to others, keep in good cheer and appreciate yourself. You will find the life vibrant and fulfilling”

Divine words. Panacea for all our worries. Thanks a lot sir!!!!!

Contributed by Arun Saravanakumar, Marcom Varsity

Publicity VS Advertising !

Session by Mr.Nytik Joshi, Senior Manager- Marketing(TTHL), Hexaware Technologies

In this digital era of burgeoning media, clutter and noise, there are numerous vehicles through which one can take the product message to the customers. But, when there are serious limitations in such a scenario, Mr. Nytik particularly took up Al Ries’ law of publicity and the law of advertising during a typical Sunday marathon session at CBS.

The Law of Publicity
“Brands are born with publicity and not with advertisement”

The Law of Advertising
“Once born, a brand needs Advertising”

Advertising is something where you involve sizeable monetary investment in order to promote your product or message. Whereas, Publicity is a commercial exercise in which, strictly speaking, there is no money transaction made. Publicity is something free of cost to promote or take your product to the end users. Also, Publicity is an endorsement through a third party which is far more credible than an exercise that blows the own trumpet.

“Unlike advertising which you can decide when you want to put up an Ad
PR takes time to built up and gain momentum”

Not just one or two, we literally ran through the cases of a plethora of brands that include Botox, Volkswagen, Vespa, Red Bull, Harry Potter, Jet Blue, Linux, Starbucks, Google, Palm and The Body Shop

Mr.Joshi buttressed the point that PR is like an Aeroplane take-off, which involves comparatively low risk and high return, whereas, Advertising is like a rocket’s take-off, which involves high risk and high return. It is always better to use the combination of both PR and advertising. Brands should be given birth in the lap of PR and after a certain stage it should play through Ads. A remarkable case was that of Microsoft XBOX. Microsoft created a huge interest through their buzz even before the launch and they didn’t spend a single penny on advertising before the launch and the newspapers had an article on Nov 1, 2001, which was a part of the publicity exercise.

Few more recent brands which has immensely exploited the publicity route are Cisco, Dell, Oracle, Microsoft, Palm, SAP, Sun Microsystems, Ebay, Google andYahoo

He also took us through the reality about the two sides of a PR coin:
Positive power of the positive PR
Negative power of the negative PR

The important aspects discussed during the session were,

Advertising is self serving, what you say about you has little or no credibility. People trust media, the third party effect.

What makes news? Being 1st in a new category makes news. Not being better than your competitors.

Why PR is important? Being 1st in market is worth nothing. Being 1st in mind is worth everything.

Finally the session was wrapped up with some incredible ideas on new age marketing:

· PR is more powerful than Advertising
· Advertising dollars cannot compensate for the lack of favourable PR
· If you can’t be 1st in a category, create a new category for you
· Most Advertising agencies focus on the wrong concept
· If Advertisement is so powerful why don’t Ad agencies advertise?
· There is a consumer reaction against Ads
· PR should take a lead role in Brand Building
· Many established brands don’t spend more money on brand


PR should focus on the new and different, that’s how brands are built.
Advertisement should focus on the old and familiar, that’s how brands are maintained.

When Chennai was having its first ever marathon, we had this engaging marketing marathon at Chennai Business School. Quite an interesting and charming session for continuous 3 hours, full of interesting examples & cases, we even forgot to have a break in between. Thanks a lot Mr. Nytik.

Contributed by Uma Shankar Pandian, Marketing Varsity

A feel of retail !

Special session by Mr.P.K.MOHAPATRA, President & CEO, Technology Business Sector, RPG & Chairman- Retail Varsity & Governing Council Member, CBS


“A feel of Retail” were the words mentioned on the first slide of his presentation, but, the students got much more than a feel of it. For those who believed that there was nothing much to discuss about the Retail world, this session was a pleasant surprise. It was an eye opener for the marketing and the marcom varsity students as well, as they gained useful inputs which would play a crucial part in helping them understand the business world better. The quantum of knowledge that was delivered was fundamental in nature but crucial as it laid a foundation about the retail world in our minds.

He started off by giving us a comprehensive definition of the word Retail and its meaning; “Organized retailing presupposes an ability to influence, or more importantly manage a set of supply chains to be able to deliver value to the customer in a commercially sustainable & viable way”. He stressed more on the ability to influence, delivery of value and the commercial viability, which, as he explained, formulated the crux of any Retail establishment. We were simultaneously subjected to an array of general knowledge questions which covered not only the Indian market but the international scenario as well. We were introduced to the “who’s who” of the retail world, in the process.

Some of the interesting information were:

“10 million retail stores in India alone, making it the largest booming retail hub in the world”

“7/11 being the Largest convenience store in the world”

“Ginza district – Costliest shopping district in Japan” etc.

He then, took us through a journey about big guns of the international Retail market like M&S, NEXT, TESCO, HARRODS etc. and provided a brief overview about the culture, volume of sale and turnover of each of these business giants. The students received every piece of information with awe and utmost interest. The right amount of fuel was required to be injected to illuminate our minds towards the world of Retail and Mr. Mohapatra did just that, with incredible ease. By the time he finished, he had already captured the imagination of all and had ignited many minds with passion for the retail industry.

He then shifted our focus towards the 3 main attributes of a Retail establishment viz. right price, right quality and right time. He explained that with these three elements in place the success of a retail outlet was inevitable, but even if one of them is compromised with it would have a huge impact not only on the business but on the whole supply chain, thus making it very crucial for the very existence of the establishment.

He then introduced us to the various formats in the Retail world, classifying them on the basis of product categories and size. Mr. Mohapatra followed a systematic approach to explain the magnitude of the various businesses like standalone stores, boutiques, general stores, grocery stores, departmental stores, convenience stores, supermarkets category killers, warehouse clubs and hyper markets. Such was the clarity in the information delivered that the students almost immediately related it to the various shops and markets they had either visited or heard about and clarified which segment it belonged to.

He then highlighted that in-depth understanding of the customer’s needs was one of the main pre requisites and some times a tough challenge faced by retail outlets, because at the end of the day it’s the customers who determine the success of the outlet. Efforts need to be taken, unfailingly, to determine the type or strata of customers the outlet will be dealing with, their mindsets, their preferences, their expectations and last but not the least their opinions of feedbacks, which in turn will determine if the outlet will be enjoying customer loyalty in the future.

After emphasizing the importance of customers he explained the virtue cycle which was a shot in the arm for the students. He explained that the virtue cycle was a very important concept as it was based on the very fundamentals of retailing and each of its aspects depended on the proper execution or deliverance of its predecessor. The merchant provides for value for goods with additional service and by offering various other benefits to the customer which in turn leads to customer satisfaction. He concluded by saying that when customer satisfaction is attained it automatically leads to an increase in the volume of sales and an increase in sales means a subsequent increase in margin which in turn leads to more profit and thus forcing the merchant to continue providing value for goods to sustain the growth and look for a probable expansion in business in the future. Numerous interesting cases that were discussed include Brioni suits, Tie-Rack & BodyShop.

Mr.Mohapatra answered our questions in the simplest of ways and made sure none of the numerous questions that we fired at him went unanswered. He showed us only the tip of the ice berg which was by itself taking a long time for us to digest the facts and figures but we were really grateful to Mr. Mohapatra for at the end of the lecture each one of us developed this insatiable thirst for more knowledge which wouldn’t have been possible if not for his inspiring lecture..

From the moment he walked in and till the moment he wrapped up the lecture, we were captivated by his persona, the volume of information and the style of presentation. We were thrilled to know that he was scheduled to take many more sessions on retail in the future. We are looking forward for that day when Mr. Mohapatra hypnotizes us yet again with his insights from the world of retail.

Contributed by Suhas, Marketing Varsity
.

Young Indians @ IIM-A !!!

It was 5 mins past 10 in the night, I was stepping into the Mecca of management education in India, Indian Institute of Management , Ahmedabad..The night was pleasant, with breeze blowing around the place, and people busy with their own daily chores. No one bothered to give us a look, except for the security who enquired our reason to be present there. He led us to the reception lobby where we got the keys to our respective dorms .


Hang on, for a moment, if you thought I was narrating a scene out of some novel being written by an IIM alumnus , describing his life out there, then you are wrong. Whatever I mentioned above were my first few glimpses of IIM A from close quarters, when I got an opportunity to take part in the Young Indians World Leaders Summit that was held in the past week in the campus of IIM Ahmedabad.Ok, let me explain what the last statement meant...


The Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) has its wing called Young Indians(YI), which conducts events related to youth in different parts of the country. Since Chennai Business School , is a part of YI, I got the opportunity to take part in this event. I had to go through a preliminary round of selection, which involved submitting an essay on why I should be a part of this Summit .The summit involved selected people from across the country, from various educational institutions, to represent the Young Leaders community , to take stance and discuss world issues currently hampering the state of affairs in various countries. The objective of this event was to help bring all these world issues on to a forum like this and discuss their pros and cons , in order to arrive at possible solutions .Some of these issues that plagued the progress of various countries in the world ranged from Crisis in Iraq to Israel Palestine peace problems, and Oil depletion to violation of human rights .

This objective was implemented using United Nations as the moderator. What it means is that the 4 days of summit over there was a simulation of the proceedings in United Nations , where representatives from different countries of the world , come forward to discuss major issues that are hampering the functioning of the world in peace and sanity. Hence students who were selected from different parts of the country, were made representatives of a particular country , which was a member of the United Nations. These representatives played the roles of Counsuls and Ambassadors of their country in the summit. Each of these representatives /Delegates from these countries were allotted places in one of the departments of UN, namely General Assembly, Security Council and Economic & Social Council.

The summit functioned , trying to replicate the proceedings in United Nations, in a very interesting manner as every representative had to take stances on the issues being discussed pertaining to the foreign policies of their countries. This was quite a learning experience as it made me understand the foreign policies of various countries of the world and realize how politics plays a major role when it comes to taking decisions on a global platform. I was the counsul of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, ..a country which is surrounded by Albania, Greece and Bosnia. This opportunity of representing a relatively lesser known country on a platform like this , helped me understand the role played by such countries on the global issues. It also helped me realize the fact from close proximity that the world is still governed by the super powers and they call the shots when it comes to issues pertaining to the development of the world. The other countries have limited powers , and their roles are restricted to debating and taking a stance when it comes to consensus on these issues. The big 5 or the P 5(5 Permanent members of Security Council) as they call in the United Nations , decide on whether resolutions are to be passed or they don’t deserve a place in the forum .

The summit also served as a melting pot for people from different parts of the country to meet and exchange ideas and points of views on such issues. This gave me a broad outlook an how difficult it is to discuss an issue of this magnitude, let alone resolving it.

I salute the leaders of this world for the efforts taken by them on one hand but I would request the same leaders on the other hand to keep aside individual country’s interests and work together on a global platform like this to help the growth of each other and thereby make this world a better place to live in for the generations to come.

Contributed by: Pradeep, Batch 2, Marcom varsity

Event’ful Life!!!

The Oscars have always eluded India, the reasons may have been many, let’s not get into that..My point was in terms of the charm associated with such an award function, though the statuette has missed the warmth of many an Indian palms, the award ceremony itself has inspired a lot of us back home. This gave birth to the famous Filmfare awards, and there were many following suite after that. We have always been awe struck by the grandeur and the scale at which these functions are executed .I have always wondered as to how many minds would have worked in tandem to execute such mammoth events .This was answered to a great extent by Mr.Bharath Shankar of IMI Eventz, who shared his experiences of being a part of such events, leading them from the front and finally executing them successfully.

Event management as a topic of discussion has always excited me, for the sole reason that it is not as easy as it looks or sounds. The amount of hardwork that goes into it is tremendous. Right from the planning stage to getting the resources assimilated to perform the event the way it has been designed is no meagre task. It requires immense patience on one’s part while dealing with the resources here.

People are the most important resources in such cases , and hence it becomes even more imperative to maintain a cool head, be assertive and yet concerned. The healthy mix of these attributes in one can take you to great heights in life too, as one would have learnt to handle pressure and come out unperturbed. Mr. Bharath was an epitome of these qualities as it was quite evident from the fact that after having things gone awry during the event for the launch of a vernacular movie, he still managed to pull the strings before the last minute.

Apart from movie launches , he also gave us examples of other activities that he was involved in , right from product promotions to new product launches. Every event had one common string running through it, that was the immense importance given to detailing while planning for the event. This level of getting into the details, helps us understand and analyse the matters from different perspectives, ward off any forecasted mishap and thereby enables smooth functioning of the event.

One such example was the promotional rally of Hero Honda Hulk , a new variant launched by the Hero Honda group. Mr Bharath and his team analysed the nitty gritties of the entire rally. Each one in the team was assigned a particular role and responsibility which they had to consistently maintain till the end of the event. There were preparations in place , in case of any untoward incident also to ensure the smooth functioning of the rally. A pre rally test run was also performed to remove the last minute glitches. These measures enhanced their confidence during the real rally and they could pull off the entire event without any hiccups.

Events are an integral part of our life.Learning the art of managing events is not rocket science , but the science that goes into the brains which handle them successfully is something to be written home about.This one is dedicated to all those eventful minds.:)

Posted by

Pradeep, Batch 2, Marcom Varsity

THE MARVELS OF MERCHANDISING

Special Session by MR. P. K. Mohapatra- President & CEO, Technology Business Sector, RPG
& Chairman- Retail Varsity & Governing Council Member, CBS

Merchandising is a key aspect of modern day multi-product, multi-city, organised retailing. We could hear about it in detail from the horse's mouth when none other than Mr. Mohapatra, the pioneer of modern retailing in India, was giving the students the introductory session to the third module of the retail varsity called THE BRAIN OF RETAIL. The session showed the importance of merchandising in the retail scheme of things. Speaking on the same subject, he added that another main function of merchandising was to integrate the suppliers and customers; which could actually prove critical in the larger business canvas! Identifying the needs of the customer and ensuring that those needs are fulfilled within the defined boundaries has to be the main focus on the retailer's mind. Speaking on defined boundaries, Mr. Mohapatra said that general merchandise items and other products must be given special care and divided into broad categories based on the target customers and the pricing philosophy in the mind of the retailer.

After identifying the needs of the customer the next main step is to organize the sourcing and this involves the critical 'make or buy' decision. In this step, either the retailer decides whether to source the products from the manufacturer or to create private label brands. Again, private labeling is something that needs to be handled with a lot of care and analysis. Every aspect of private labeling- the pricing, branding, market share and most important positioning tends to lend a certain amount of credibility to the brand. Another important thing is that the pricing of the products must be done below than that of the manufacturer's brand. The product must also be placed in the near vicinity of the manufacturer's label. This is done so that the customer sees the products and is aware of their existence! Smart indeed…in this way the retailer is also saved of advertising costs of the products!!!

Branding – another critical aspect of any retail store, comprises of many choices that the retailer needs to make. One- to decide how many brands and subsequently SKUs will he keep in the store and how does he represent them to the consumers at large. Secondly- what would be the order size of the brands in terms of volumes and this would correspond to forecasting of the product and its effectiveness among the consumers. In the entire process of ordering, there would be a MOL- short for Minimum Order Level- which would identify how much the buyer must order with the given amount of quantity that he has. The various ordering cycles money blocked in this chain contribute significantly to the same.

However, Mr. Mohapatra said that this chain that seems so efficient and methodical on paper is not all that easy to execute; especially in the Indian scenario. This is primarily due to the suppliers' inability to constantly supply in India; which is why most of the stores in India face a constant stock out. The stores over order and with the money stuck in the pipeline, realize that the products are not selling well. On the other hand, products that move fast are under ordered and this leads to a lack of judgment and thought in the entire process!!! So, the next time you walk into a retail outlet, and do not find the product that you need… don't get puzzled!!! It may be one of these reasons after all!!!

Having given the students a comprehensive introduction to the world of merchandising and its process, Mr. Mohapatra proceeded to explain the importance of pricing and how it stood as an important driver in a purchase process. Once the retailer sets his mind on the price of the product, he places the order from the suppliers. Subsequently, the goods arrive at the warehouse and are dispatched to the various stores according to their MOLs. It is here that the tricky part of placing the products in the store begins. Deciding the planogram of the store and placing the products in various categories and gondolas, based upon what the retailer feels the customer would find simple and attractive, is an integral part of visual merchandising. Once this is done and the products are ready to be sold, the effect of the pricing on the products and their power over the customers has to be noted. This will give the retailer a significant view of how his products are selling, the effectiveness of the store layout, the inventory turnover and also his future order levels.

Finally to conclude, Mr. Mohapatra with his usual good humor and charisma, told the students that merchandising was not as easy as it seemed!!! A lot of thought and detail goes into the entire process. A single mistake in forecasting and it could result in the magnitude of a six car pile up on the highway!!! Thus analyzing what is to be done and doing it carefully is the most essential part of the entire process. It is correctly said that merchandising is the brain of retailing. It entirely controls the functioning of the store and supply chains and is interlinked to every process in the chain.

Mr. Mohapatra's sessions were always interesting & insightful and this one especially was an eye opener to the backstage of the world of retailing.

Contributed by: Neha Arora, Retail Varsity

In the land of Rio and the Amazania

Session on Business & marketing in Brazil by Mr.Ravichandran, Secretary-General, Indo-Latin American Chamber of Commerce and Honorary Consul for the Dominican Republic

(As a part of the BRIC & N11 Series Sessions in the International Marketing Course)

There are very few people who have the knack of zapping you with the way they converse. This can be in terms of the content they speak or the way they deliver the content or merely the rate at which they go about doing this. The session with Mr. Ravichandran, was a melting pot of all the three attributes of speech that I have mentioned above. As a part of the International marketing course, we have been fortunate enough to interact with people representing the MBRIC countries. This was a session in that direction, where Mr. Ravichandran (Secretary-General, Indo-Latin American Chamber of Commerce and Honorary Consul for the Dominican Republic ) gave us a brief insight into the world of business and trade practised in the Latin American region of the world.

Latin America has always been a dream destination for every travel enthusiast. The beaches of Brazil, beautiful islands of the Caribbean and the sight of mindboggling castles in Mexico can bring alive the thirst glands in every travel maniac. But there is much more to these places apart from their attractive scenic locales. The way countries like Brazil and Argentina have moved up the economic ladder, having started liberalization almost around the same time as India, had enough to write home about.

The economic development of any country depends on the policies of the government put in place in those countries. The government intervention or rather non intervention when it comes to deciding on a few policies pertaining to the direct improvement of the economy of these countries has been really fruitful. It was unimaginable to hear inflation scaling up to 5 digits when the liberalization bug had bitten these countries. After that period, the measures taken by them to control inflation and thereby bring it down to what it is today have been really commendable.

The impact of information technology as an industry and the services provided by this industry has been pretty late when we compare our country with them. But this has also had its positive impact in terms of concentration on other manufacturing industries has been on a high here. The export import business has seen an upward rise delivering all the necessary inputs for the efficient growth of the economy. The purchasing power and the per capita income of the residents of these countries have improved to a great scale. Their import and export revenue on comparison with our country is extremely high; the numbers are breathtakingly tremendous in terms of its contribution to their national economy. Today they have come a long way from being the deprived, exploited nations which were a easy prey to the super powers of the world to being a country which is helping the world’s central bank to survive the credit debacle.Now that’s called coming a full circleJ..

It was awe inspiring to hear when Mr.Ravichandran spoke about the knowledge of the people in Brazil about Mahatma Gandhi and his non violence principle. They in fact believed in his preaching so much that they propagate “Gandhigiri” in their own backyard. Salaam Baapu.!!

Currently they are trying to match in every step taken by any other developing nation when it comes to taking their country on the global platform and letting the world know about the power of Latin America.The welcoming of companies from across the world to set up their factories in their soil and thereby develop their economy are signs of a mature economy. It was very surprising to learn that a group of latin-americans are sweating out in Vellore, and Vaniyambadi to learn the trade of leather tanning. Also Equally interesting cases were the ones about the success of our own Coimbatore bred Elgi tyre re-treading company and CRI pumps in this part of the world. The generic market has paved way for success to our pharma companies too. It was really an amazing afternoon full of interesting information & insights.

At times we get so carried away by looking at the development and the kind of noise made by the economic super powers that the smaller players tend to be overlooked. But the fact remains that every super power today was once a small player. Mr.Ravichandran , the Latin American enthusiast that he is, ended giving a note of caution to every developing country in the world, to look out for the sleeping giants. They are on the rise!!! Its upto us to convert this in to business opportunity. Yes there is much more for us in Brazil than samba, soccer and the carnivals.

Posted by Pradeep,Marcom Varsity ,CBS

The real taste of India - A rural market visit to Santhai @ Acharapakkam, Tamilnadu

Travel forms an essential part of my life. For someone who loves going to different places, interacting with people and getting to discover something new and interesting every time , this was a memorable experience. As a part of our rural marketing course requirement , we got this opportunity to travel to a place called Acharapakkam, near Melmaruvathur, 80km south of Chennai. We were accompanied by Mr.Shivaji Padmanabhan, Audio Visual Executive from Anugrah Madison and Prof.Sathya, Head- Marketing & Marcom Varsity, CBS

This place is known for the ‘Santhai’ that it hosts every weekend. Santhai is a small gathering of people , comprising of buyers and sellers from in and around the place, to create a market environment for goods to be sold and bought by the customers.This place is a common meeting point for 5 villages around that locality. Villagers from these surroundings bring in all their products, which range from Cattle to cosmetics, Fruits and vegetables to Accessories, and Apparels to Edibles, to sell them to the customers around the region.

The first sight on landing at the place was that of cattle, especially bullocks being sold and bought by villagers out there. It was an interesting way of doing business when it came to cattle, as they strike a deal with buyers , holding their hand covered by a piece of cloth. What happens underneath that cloth is a million dollar question!!!!The deal is struck and both the buyer and seller look satisfied. But they weren’t satisfied looking at us initially.But that was bound to happen as they were wondering , what were a group of people wearing school bags and with notes in their hands , doing on their land.

It was interesting to know some insights about the cattle trade !!! Only bullocks and not the cows that come to the market place....well...no gender bias....it's because of a practical reason that the yield of the cow can be known only during the milking time in the mornings and the evenings !! Whereas for the bullocks very intuitive knowledge about the number of teeth, wear and tear in the teeth (!!) and the curve marks are taken into account in arriving at the right price. Here too the middlemen easily make 20% commission !!

We started venturing into the area slowly and had small conversations with the people out there to find out about the nitty gritties of doing business in such an environment. The santhai had myriads of small make-shift stalls selling chicks (Yes, the real ones!), fish, fruits, vegetables, garments, utensils, farming accessories, seeds, consumer goods, footwear, books, plastic toys, house-hold items, catapults, coconuts etc. There were also some interesting stalls with a parrot fortune teller, a herbal dentist (!), palmist etc. An interesting learning that we must have from the people out there is, their cognizance of consumer behaviour and people’s buying pattern. They are extremely well versed in this aspect ,as they are able to sustain their business , week after week, and retain their customer base strongly.

There were people who had been doing this since generations and they seemed to know exactly what the customer wants when he comes to a place like this. They were quite enthralled by the fact that they were being captured by our camera lens, they came ahead and clarified our doubts regarding every aspect of marketing in such a region.

Of course , there were a few people who did not appreciate our indulgence in their day to day business activities, so understandably their response to us was quite cold .But that’s fine, at least we felt the existence of cold this way, amidst such scorching sunlight .Gosh! it did take a toll on some of my colleagues. ..

But the amount of water lost to the quantity of knowledge gained , had a better ratio. So, effort taken never goes for a waste. Here I must quote one of the experiences undergone by a colleague of mine with a Palmist/Astrologer/Don’t know what else he does???

The effort taken by him in trying to interact with the palmist, led to him shelling out 300 bucks(Which I think he would never forget in this lifetime :)) and helped us gain knowledge on what not to do , while dealing with such people in a market..lol...Jokes apart, it was all taken in the right spirit...But every penny of the Rs.300 was worth in understanding the salesman in the palmist...unrufflled, the way he started the deal, confronted the 'small enemies' within his clan (who were sitting in the periphery and discouraging his potential customers!), building up a fear factor and increasing the margin (well....sounds like insurance sale right ??!!) and finally, like a typical management consultant, telling the client what he already knows, well....for a fat professional fee ;-)

This reiterated the idea that marketing “Marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products”. I truly believe in this ideology.

Another important thing was the availability of quite a lot of look-alikes of popular FMCG brands. The most interesting aspect was that several rural consumers buy them clearly knowing that they were fake and went home feeling happier with their own win-win equation of value for money. hmm....Welcome to the strange Indian marketplace !! Now I clearly understand why Ms. Rama Bijapurkar has named her book on consumer India as "We are like that only" !.

Class room sessions can teach us marketing only to an extent. Real learning comes in the form of trips like this, where we get the first hand experience of what is taught. This trip remains high on my travel catalogue as one of those most cherished and compelling journeys .

By Pradeep ,Marcom Varsity ,CBS

Deciphering the Aam Aadmi....

Rural marketing workshop Session by Mr. M.P. Nandakumar, Director, Anugrah Madison Advertising Private Limited

It is fascinating to see how powerful a medium cinema is ....It has a history of creating revolutions in the world and in our own backyard it has been responsible to make or break individuals. People associate themselves with the stars on the silver screen so very well that they end up making them Demi – Gods and literally worshipping them. This was one of the important medium used by Mr Nandakumar, Director, Anugrah Madison and his team from Anugrah Madison to communicate to the rural population in the countryside of Tamil Nadu..

Mr Nandakumar shared with us the challenges involved in communicating to the rural masses , as it is a completely different sets of lifestyle, priority and belief system that they are catering to.

The session with him helped us analyse and understand the complexities involved with developing a communication strategy for people in rural India and the efforts taken to reach out to such a mass.

Understanding a communication and reacting to it depends on the play of the semantics, semiotics & syntactics with the mind of the consumer. Here is where the critical point lies. The mind of an urban consumer is extremely different from that of a rural ‘dimag’. After all , what is responsible for a particular type of perception by a urbanite is not the reason for a person from small town to think that way. This is what makes the job of communicating to the rural mass even more challenging and exciting.

The easy route to the mind of the consumer in the rural areas is things that he relates to easily, one of them being cinema and the cine stars. Hence the communication strategy devised by Mr.Nandakumar and his team had excerpts and catchy one liners ( called 'punch dialogues' in filmy lingo) from various movies of Mr.Rajnikanth, for the rural promotion. This was lapped up by the masses out there and created a buzz among the people regarding the product. So, in this part of the country, Who is telling what is equally important like what is being told !!
The needs and desires of the consumer in rural areas are much different from their urban counterparts. How much would one think of before buying a product like watch in the urban areas? ...Not much, in fact today watches are a lifestyle product in the urban market. But the scenario in the rural market was completely different when Mr .Nandakumar and his team went about promoting Titan Sonata Watches in the interior parts of Tamil Nadu.

Sonata was Titan’s premium brand in the urban market and was also priced accordingly. But the need to bring it to rural TN and create a necessity for such a product was a part of the case study he discussed with us. The way they went about achieving this and successfully positioning Sonata as an affordable ‘must have’ proposition for the success of every family was something to write home about.

The problem they faced in these markets was the absence of a felt need for a product like watch. Hence their campaign included tasks involving make them realise the need for such a product and thereby making it an essential part of every villager’s life. The TVC that they used specific to rural markets also spoke about this idea.

The TV ad they used portrayed a commoner, who doesn’t find the need for a watch, follows his day to day activities, keeping track of time purely on the basis of some events happening everyday in the village, which included a bus reaching the village at a particular time signifying a part of the day. Then using an emotional appeal to strike a chord with the audience they are speaking to , the problems associated with not possessing a watch was conveyed through the villager. This way they brought in the impact of a watch in the life of a common villager.
The impact of such a campaign had placed Titan Sonata in an enviable position in those markets for years to come.

This was one of those sessions which started with a topic which was not so relatable for a person from the metros, but it ended up with these words lingering in my mind about a rural customer-“Jaana Pehchaana , Phir Bhi hai Anjaana”. That’s the ultimate fact of life, we think we know everything about him, yet he remains a stranger to us. Added to that is the complexity of communication in this country where there are atleast 1500 rationalized mother tongues which may include various dialects !! So communicating in a country which writes in many languages and speaks in many more voices is definitely a task in itself. Well, not for experts like Mr.Nandakumar, who speaks atleast 8 languages easily like his mother tongue !!! But more than that, the way he and his team have packaged the whole communication, like an expert master chef, made us to realise that there is much more in rural marketing in terms of engaging the audience and driving the brand elements than a simple understandable communication.

By Pradeep, Marcom Varsity, CBS

Long Long Ago....

PR (Public Relations) Session series @ CBS offered by Mr.Arup Kavan, CEO, WellSpring, An independent brand communication practice

Telling a story is not everybody' cup of tea. I believe it's an art in itself. After all not everyone can have that natural flow of thoughts and coherent sense of relevant meaning to what is being told. You must have it in you, to capture the sense of imagination of your audience and yet connect with their emotions, to strike the right chord. We were awe-struck to see one person who had this in abundance, Mr .Arup Kavan CEO, Wellspring PR.

Vibrant, Whacky, Smart, Witty, Energetic, Sophisticated are a few words that are my Top of the Mind recall currently to describe Arup in a few words. I was really impressed at the beginning of the session looking at the way he handled the idea of telling stories .Stories are an essential part of us. We all love to listen to them and at the same time a few love to narrate them.

This was the important insight that he asked us to work on. By asking us to think about the relevance of any incident that might have occurred with us at any point in our life to help us understand a point, was the essential tool he used to get us close to the concept of Public Relations.

He started off with sharing a story that was close to his heart, the story of the Snooker Table. It basically had the essence of possessing a particular thing which was always a prized possession in one's life, to having seen it getting ruined due to peripheral reasons attached to it. In a way it helped him understand, how important Customer Service is to any shop and how one can spoil all the hard work done in acquiring the good will of a customer within no time.

The lessons to be learnt from every story take us a long way in our life. This helps us look back at things , in a way which we would not have bothered to at some point of time. That's the power of a story.

Everyone has a story to tell, and every story has something to take away.

Arup wanted us to learn the relevance of this exercise and asked us to peep into our lives to resurrect any such incident that enlightened us to a new fact of life. This was the high point of the session, as he was able to get each one of us to reflect back and come up with instances which made us come in close quarters with customer service and its realities. A job neatly done.

Another important aspect that he discussed was the requirement of being specific in life. We always tend to think and act on things without getting into the skin of a matter. This ends up making us superficially, long drawn out, and beaters around the bush. The necessity to be specific and getting to understand the reason behind doing a particular task, always helps us understand it better and makes the person who gave us the task feel more confident about us. Hence , whenever we embark on a new task, the foremost thing to be done is , get to the roots, find out its value and then chart out strategy to accomplish it.

Some sessions leave you, with your jaws dropping in awe, while this one made my mind working, to take a big bow in front of one of those awe inspiring men who have visited our campus. Looking forward to some more exciting stuffs from Mr Arup....what a great start to this 15 session series !!!

By Pradeep,Marcom Varsity,CBS

HR in Retail – The irreplaceable frontier

Session by Mr. B.Venkataramana, Sr Vice President- Human Resources, Reliance Retail Limited

Aldous Huxley once said,” Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him”. This statement made much more sense after the informative session on HR in retail by Mr. B.Venkataramana, Sr Vice President- HR, Reliance Retail. It made us wonder where would have Mr. Huxley been while proclaiming this statement. A Retail store which made him experience the difference?! Not a bad guess, after all, it is the human touch that creates and sustains lifelong experiences at the retail store and only the human resources can make this magic come alive.

If there has been anything that has well evolved with the changing times, its surely be the field of human relations which has seen changing eras from labour relations on one side of the continuum (which limits liabilities and protects downside) to organizational effectiveness(with focus on growth and value)on the other end.

According to Mr.Venkataramana, the HR function has become even more critical in organizations as it is the key change agent and strategic partner in business relations than a support function of just payroll processing and labor relations. However, every critical aspect comes with its own set of challenges, so does HR, in the form of attrition.

Attrition, the big bad 'A' seems to be a threatening factor that spells nightmares across industries, especially retail. The costs associated with attrition i.e. separation costs, hiring costs, training costs, lost productivity, etc will be a huge challenge to encounter. A real time turnaround success story at Brigade Corporation made us realize that HR can only be the thin line of difference for any company, irrespective of how strong the company is in other aspects.

Other challenges that the retail sector is to face in the field of HR are People cost Vs profit margins, Entry of foreign players, Training people to match service needs & technology, Cross cultural adaptability and Employee Engagement. According to him, the Recruitment funnel concept will help managers understand various issues at every level to overcome the problem of right recruitment, right selection and development and right retention. An employer choice score card will also help employers enhance their HR climate.

“Experience is all an HR does; an experience is all that makes the fuss” An enlightening experience, it was, the session made us understand the role every future retailer in us would play is purely that of a HR manager, nothing more, nothing less.!

by Binoj & Ramya, Retail varsity, CBS

RURAL MARKETING WORKSHOP @ CBS

Session on rural media , promotion and below-the-line (BTL) activities
by Mr.R.V.Rajan, Chairman, Anugrah Madison Advertising Pvt. Ltd.
& President, Rural marketing Agencies Association of India (RMAAI)

“Known is a drop, Unknown is an ocean”-Well, why am I making statements like this? No , no, hang on...I am not getting into explaining the meaning of any spiritual aphorism overhere.I just didn’t know how to start sharing with you the essence of a fantastic session with Mr R V Rajan, Chairman, Anugrah Madison , where we got exposed to the real, raw ,rugged and Incredible rural India in its purest form.

Yes, it was quite an eye opening session that taught us the realities of India in its rural form and how marketers are realizing the existence of such a market quite late in the day. Never mind, it’s never too late to begin.

There is enough fortune lying at the bottom of the pyramid, it’s essential for the marketers to realize this and start channelizing their resources in the right way to make optimal use of it. Mr. Rajan, the veteran rural marketing professional, who knows in and out of rural India, started off explaining the importance of marketing in the rural India.

It was really heartening to see that there has been some progress in the rural and once neglected parts of our country, which has enabled in the segmentation of rural population as ‘Rich’ rural, rural middle class and the bottom of the pyramid class. The marketers have also started understanding the fact that products and choices of people hailing from these parts are extremely different and it requires a complete change in the way they are communicated to these people.

Here the role of media and its coverage is very vital. The different forms of media and the impact each one has on them explains the usage of a particular form of communication to reach them .Did you know that the largest circulated vernacular news paper in our country is ”Dainik Jaagran”?..This circulation of this news paper proves beyond point that the level of literacy is increasing in our country and there are more and more people who still believe in the power of a written word.

The session was interspersed with his experiences during the design and successful implementation of an IMC campaign for Philips in the rural parts of Tamil Nadu during the 90’s. It was really enlightening to see the way they had gone about making Philips a brand to reckon with in the parts of Tamil Nadu where earlier it was struggling to get a strong foothold. The integrated marketing communication, weaved as "Enga veetu superstar campaign" (Super star of our house) involved positioning the brand as ‘Super Star’ among the consumer durables available and thereby making it’s Top of Mind recall value high. The film actor Rajini kant is an undisputed superstar in Tamilnadu. The campaign cleverly used this insight but produced great result with out uttering the name Rajini kant even for once.

The campaign became "maa inti megastar" in rural Andhra as the cult figure of Telugu filmdom Chiranjeevi is referred as Megastar by the fans.

The route they took to go about accomplishing this task was through the Opinion Leaders. In the rural sectors, the Opinion Leaders are the people to be targeted .These people have a influential quotient when it comes to the sale of high involvement products. Hence if one is able to convince these people about the product’s superiority, it will go a long way in building the brand image of the product in the consumer’s mind. This campaign was carried out for nearly 6 months , with varied intensities across the region. At the end of it, Philips became the market leader in this segment and attained a immovable place in the consumer’s mind. Such was the power of specialised communication in reaching to the rural masses.

The second day sessions had still more interesting case-studies on ACC Cements, Shriram group, Marico's Parachute etc. We were really thrilled to see the kind of customer involvement brought out by the Anugrah-Madison team in Hubli for a an un-exciting commodity like Cement !!! The video session enlightened us on various ways of engaging the rural audience with games, stage shows etc....not just off the cuff...but cleverly built events around the brand and its promise. Another great case was about bring the rural womenfolk, who are normally aloof , to the front rows for the promotion on Parachute. A simple insight of doing the event by trained women helped in overcoming the first barrier. Rest was followed by meticulously planned activities around the brand.

Very few people have the knack of understanding and doing what is otherwise considered to be impossible. They see the word impossible as i m possible,..that’s the difference., Mr.Rajan personified this positive attitude as far as reaching out to the rural hinterland is concerned. It was really a marketing eye-opener of our own country-side and brethren ! Thank You, Sir.

By Pradeep, Marcom Varsity,CBS

Indelible Impressions!!!

Session on Managing a brand over a period of time by Mr. Vishwadeep Kuila, President, GM Pens International Ltd. ( exclusive licensee of Reynolds, France in India

I’ve always wondered when I hear about the brands that attain ‘Cult’ status as to what is it that makes them live forever..Strange is the word that comes to my mind when you get to hear stories of how big corporations pump in millions and billions of currencies to keep a brand living, while some brands jus make it to that immortal state without much fanfare....Weird, at the same time interesting to know that some of these immortal brands still make eyeballs roll when ever their names are uttered...That’s the power of a brand..

This was the strong point of the session by Mr .Vishwadeep Kuila, where he gave us an insight into the efforts taken to manage brands over a period of time.

With a rich and enlightening background which comprised of stints at advertising agencies, Mr.Vishy was able to give us the real scenario of how the clients went about meticulously planning and executing the various steps involved in improving the image of a brand when it sags and raising it to a different level, preventing it from getting into a low.

Reynolds was the major topic of discussion throughout the session as it is a brand very close to his heart , something with which he has lived for some time , seeing it’s ups and downs. Right from the time Reynolds came to India, it created a flutter of sorts in the writing instruments category. It became such a rage in the market and people lapped it up, going to an extent that pens started becoming synonymous with Reynolds.

But as they say, there was a twist in the tale and the competitors came in with full flow, giving a tough fight to our protagonist. But the brave never budge, Reynolds took up the challenge and went back to the drawing board to devise new strategies to counter the attack from the antagonists. The newly revamped Reynolds took the competition by the scruff of its neck and showed the world that why it is a force to reckon with.

Some brands possess in them the factor to stand out from the clutter , that’s what makes them so special. Those are a result of a brilliant marketing strategy intertwined with exemplary usage of advertising and brand-building skills. Thanks to the complete support of brilliant media coverage ,these days every new brand wants to attain immortality. Mr. Vishy gave us mindboggling facts about brands which never used media or any other gimmick to attain the cult status...Yes, ‘ Harley Davidson’ , doesn’t it ring a bell somewhere?.People are so much in awe of this brand that, the name still evokes the deep down passion among its followers.

At the same time, the world is also a witness to brands which have been built purely due to the usage of the best marketing minds of the world...Coca-Cola and Pepsi are a testimony to this fact...

So the fact remains that managing the brands over a period of time is not only a function of marketing, advertising and brilliant media dynamics, but also an art which marketing masters like Mr.Vishy have perfected.

Some impressions make a lasting impact on the minds, their fragrance remain intact for ages to come..this was one of them...

Posted by Pradeep ,Marcom Varsity ,CBS

Retail is all about detail !!!

“Retail is all about detail”. This statement came to life when Mr. Ashoke Bhaskaran, Vice-president (Hyper), Reliance Retail addressed the students of retail varsity at CBS. Retail is not only about the glitz and glamour that one experiences at a mall but the sheer hard work that makes the experience glamorous. According to him, it’s as simple, as “clean, Stack and Serve” but becomes complex as it deals with the most delicate of the entities, human mind! Product, suppliers and customers are three most critical drivers of any retailer’s success, and customer perceptions of the store can break or make the retail destiny.


Every Retail activity stands strong on four important pillars, namely Merchandising, Store Operations, IT and Supply chain/ logistics. Support functions such as commercial, HR and marketing keep the pillars strong rooted to the base objectives – margins and customer satisfaction. Among the pillars, store operations assume prima face importance as it serves as the pre ultimate point of contact between the retailer and the customer. The entire success plan can go to shackles, if “The Ops guy” fails to execute, even if other support functions paved the way for the same. At the end of the day, making the customer visit the store frequently will do the trick, and operations can play a great role in ensuring the same

Any activity will ultimately depend upon the results it yields, so does retail. Though sales and turnover can be adjudged as safe indicators of success, it can only throw light on the traction of the products, and not the effect in real monetary terms. According to him, the retailer should consider the residual profit value in rupee terms after considering all the expenses incurred in the process.


He stressed on Service as a major differentiator. According to him, Human resource plays a major role in bringing all the pillars together to attain the ultimate objective of retail as price, quality, range, ambience, location advantage and other value added services can be easily replicated by other retailers but it’s the human touch and service that will serve as the thin line of difference and the final frontier for success. From the customer’s point of view, this sets the service level expectations which need to be fulfilled to sustain in this simply complex journey of retail.

By Ramya, Retail Varsity,CBS

A Swashbuckling Inning !!!

Session by Mr.Krishnamachari Srikkanth on Leadership @ CBS

Never give up in life...Keep pushing the envelope till you achieve what you want...These words are still lingering in my mind. Well, wondering who could deliver these lines with so much panache and style right? None other than our own “Cheeka” a.k.a Kris Srikkanth to the entire world. Yes the pioneering pyrotechnic batsman of the 80s & 90s, when the cricketing world was yet to know about the coming of 20-20's and dashing one-day games !!!

It was a memorable and highly inspiring session by the important member of the 1983 cricket world cup winning Indian team that urged the optimist in me to remain hopeful that anything you aspire to become or desire to possess in life will ultimately bow down in front of you. But to get it surrender to you, one must use the weapons in his artillery called hardwork and diligence to the fullest limit.

Typical of his inimitable style of going after the bowling right at the beginning of his innings, he started off with his view on what an individual must possess in order to scale heights in his/her career. The word was “Faith”.This is necessary to any individual to grow in life , as if one doesn’t believe in his/her capability , the last thing he could expect is the world having faith in him.So believe in oneself and believe that this belief will take you places.

Another important factor that differentiates the best from the rest , is the ability to take up responsibility and deliver under testing conditions. This idea was spoken over by him with examples being stated from the 1983 World Cup , which Indians won , even after being considered the underdogs. Kapil Dev , inspired the entire team, which was feeling quite low after having been defeated by the mighty West Indies team in the first league match. It was very easy to give up under those circumstances and just go through the motions for the rest part of the World Cup. But Kapil paaji did not let this happen.. As they say, “ When the going gets tough , the Tough get going” , Kapil took the responsibility over his shoulders and literally bowled through the opposition to win us the World Cup.

Even after having seen so many greats entering and leaving the cricket field, one man according to Srikkanth who still remains on the top of that league of extraordinary gentlemen is Kapil Dev.
Remember what he said a day before the world cup finals ??? " Don't write us off..". His spirit of never-say-die still inspires the rest of the country.

Srikkanth also struck a philosophical chord when he touched upon the idea of being detached from whatever you do in life , which in a way meant that – Never expect too many things from life , take every day as it comes and live every day to the fullest.That was quite spiritual too.!!! ... No wonder it comes from a man who can hook the fast bouncer from Andy Roberts to a six in the high-tension world cup final and still maintain his cool !

Like an excited and thrilled spectator I kept watching the ball going over the fences far too many times, which is a feature of Srikkanth’s innings and before I could realise the damage done to my herd-mindset by the flurry of shots in the form of inspirationally pulled moments and influentially hooked quotes , the match was won.

This was one unforgettable match , where I saw the Chennai Hurricane 'squarely cut'ting off the mindblocks and 'driving' home his points on real leadership....

By Pradeep, Marcom Varsity, CBS