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

A whiff of tacos, pesos & Maquiladoras @ CBS!!!

Session on Business & marketing in Mexico at CBS
(As a part of the BRIC & N11 Series Sessions in the International Marketing Course)

It’s a small world !!! It is said that the continents are getting closer everyday due to tectonic shifts. This phenomenon is not quite evident physically but people level exchanges from these places make us believe that they occur in reality. Exchange programmes between countries is a testimony to this fact .These programs not only bring people from various parts of the world close to one another but in a way show that though people are different across the world ,they all belong to one big single human family.

Ok, now why am I suddenly taking up the role of a United Nations spokesperson?:)

The idea is to drive home the point that CBS was witness to one such event . As a part of Rotary International ’s initiative to encourage exchange programmes between countries , a team of Rotary friends from Mexico got an opportunity to visit Chennai . And as I have always maintained, We being the lucky few from CBS ,as a part of our International Marketing course requirement, got an opportunity to interact with them as they presided over to our campus in Chennai.

The team included Mr. Guillermo Antonio Lopez Portillo Gerardo (General Director, SDM Group) , Mr. Jose Luis Andrade R (Graphic Designer & Marketing Consultant) ,Ms. Sabina Perez Hernandez (Business Administrator) ,Ms. Silvia Araceli Garcia Carbrera (Software Engineer) and Ms. Cynthia Baustista (Psychology Counsellor) , ably guided by Mr.George Cherian, Chairman , GSE Programme (07-08). They are people from diverse backgrounds , each one being an achiever in his/her field.

Like India, Mexico is a place with rich cultural past of Aztec, Mayan & Inca civilizations. Knowing to do business in Mexico is all the more important as the country finds the no.1 place in the Goldman sachs N-11 Economies, next to BRIC.

The session started off on a high ,with our presentations on Indian Business and Economy to them.Then came our turn to talk on the Growth of IT and services industry in India and the way it has changed the world’s outlook towards India as an emerging economic superpower. The icing on the cake was when we gave them a glimpse of Indian Culture , which was very well taken and appreciated by them. Further they were so touched by the "Hamara Bajaj" campaign that reflected the "modern in outlook with feet firm on traditional values" trend among Indian youth.
It was quite enchanting and enlightening to see what they had to offer to us in terms of their culture and values. They were extremely proud of the fact that after having won independence from the Spanish ,they stood strong in the world economically and were on the right path of growth and development.

The highly inspirational part of the session was delivered by Mr.Guillermo , when he spoke about the way he started off his business in a modest way and there on only by sheer determination and the tenacity to accept risk with open arms, went on to become one of the most successful entrepreneurs of Mexico. He emphasised on the point that without risk one would not scale heights as an entrepreneur.In a way he encouraged all of us to go ahead and take on the world with sole belief & confidence in oneself and his/her capabilities.

There were some interesting moments in the session when we discovered the fact that there was a book-store called ‘Gandhi’ in Mexico , yes named after our very own father of the nation. And the Mexicans knew enough about the man whom we call ‘Baapu’. The OOH advertising case presented by Mr.Jose about this enterprise was pretty interesting and cheeky. We had a glimpse of their continuous campaign through highway hoardings...like our Amul hoardings.
Apart from being nearness to the equator, another common factor that I discovered between Mexico and Tamil Nadu was the sport , Bull-Fight .It is considered an art in their country , just like the way JalliKattu(a bull taming sport played in Madurai, city of Tamil Nadu) is a rave in the rural parts of Tamil Nadu.

Knowing about doing business in a different culture apart, it’s really pleasant to meet people like this from across the world, who share the same ideas and thoughts . Like the upanishads proclaim, "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam", after all, 'the entire world is one family'. Other such family members from Korea, Brazil, Russia and China will soon be visiting us ; watch out this space.

By Pradeep ,Marcom Varsity,CBS

This Movie is Worth a Watch!!!

Session by Mr.V. Vishwakiran, Senior Manager- Alliances & Partnerships, HCL Technologies

Camera ...Lights ..Action...!!!The curtains went up and as the camera started rolling , we went through the journey of new product development along with Mr Vishwakiran.

Wondering Why terms like camera and curtains find a place in this blog???Well, this was a session with a difference.Different because Mr.Vishwakiran took us through the idea of new product development in the form of a movie , starting with the development stage in the first reel to the decline stage in the ultimate reel.

The stages involving the growth and maturity of a product life cycle were also a part of the movie , or rather session.There were innumerable instances of technology playing a role in the life cycle of a product development.This cannot be kept away as Mr. Vishwakiran comes from a technological background.:).But this was the best part of the session too as we got a glimpse of how much the world around us has changed due to technological innovations and what role has India played in this...

The rate at which every new product developed is being outdone by a better version sums up the importance of technology’s role in future.’Obsoloscence’ is the word loved by people in the field of Information Technology , as it gives them the opportunity to strive more and eventually give the world a better product.Well, this again need not be restricted to information technology, as anything in the world today finds itself out of the race if it ceases to innovate.

Now, this word ‘Innovation’ drives me close to another aspect of his session.No marks for guessing, given the entire setting of this blog one must have guessed what I am talking about. If not , this is for the weak minds, it was ‘Apple’. Yes, Steve Jobs found a prominent place throughout his session. An avid admirer of Mr Jobs, Mr Vishwakiran told us about how this genius took the world by storm with his Innovations and still thrives on doing things differently. Anybody would have easily given up looking at the hurdles that Jobs had to cross, but given the fire to perform and the zeal to reach the zenith ,Jobs kept delivering and swore by his Innovations.Today the result can be seen when the whole world keeps waiting eagerly to his products.

This way he took us thro several other interesting technological advances which only keeps getting better by the day.The Nintendo video game station formed the closing point of the session, the level to which innovation has reached today was aptly seen with the way this game station is used.Phenomenal, is the word that lingered in my mind at the end of the session.

Once the movie ends and as we walk out of the theatre , we leave behind the thoughts of the movie and carry on with life. But this was one movie whose content, we'll take it for life

By Pradeep, Marcom Varsity, CBS

Retail Assortment Planning – Simply Complex!!

Session @ CBS by Mr.K. Radhakrishnan, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Retail(Hyper)

"Retailing is simple, but it aint easy". A statement that has defied the test of times, be it the Wal-Marts of the world or the next door Kirana wala. This very fact emerged even more realistic as Mr. Radhakrishnan, CEO, Reliance Retail (Hyper), took us through a real time journey in to the world of Assortment Planning. A session that took us beyond the realms of detailed theory to experience the real world approach to one of the most important pillars of efficient customer Response (ECR). i.e., Efficient Assortment.

A well planned assortment in a retail store is one of the critical factors that drive customers, as it defines the real value to the customer. Value!! A tricky word that is, had always been yet another "low price tag-low value" funda. This myth got shattered as Mr. .Radhakrishnan made us realize that low price doesn't always translate into low value. It is nothing but a game of price and other attributes that establish a product's perceived value to the customer; at the same time ensure that the game is a "win-win-win" proposition for the customer, retailer and the manufacturer. A statement that yet again redefined that retail isn't an easy game after all, a game played in and with the minds of the customer!!

We got an insight into the years of experience and practical learning that weaved various success stories in the retail arena, as he introduced us to an important tool which helps the merchandiser to strike a trade off between retailer productivity and customer satisfaction. The Category role matrix helps the retailer classify merchandise bricks based on the level of gross margin and sales volume on a high/low scale. This helps in various assortments level decisions that form the crux of merchandising.
Understanding merchandise hierarchy made us realize that planning is that thin line that rules a game well played and won

Every game has its own set of rules, so does merchandise assortment planning, rules that can redefine a category. We, the future retailers were exposed to five rules to get a high five with a merchandise category!! However, science is always not the solution, but an aid. It all boils down to common sense when a merchandiser takes deletion decisions. For example, deleting range building SKUs can have a suicidal effect on the customer's needs.

If science is one block in the big retail puzzle, we realized other bodies of knowledge such as economics, marketing, psychology also make up the retail pie. Brand Equity and Elasticity of demand are some concepts that can turn the tables around for retailers.

"Its all in the mind", How true!! Planograming using the technique of mind mapping re-enforced the statement .To sum up the session in few words is as difficult as retail, yet as fun and challenging as the same. It proved to be a highly informative and down-to-earth session.

Contributed by Binoj, Kunaal & Ramya of Retail Varsity CBS-Main Campus