IIPM FACULTY: December 2011

Thursday, December 29, 2011

SHINEY’S “MICROMAX BAI” INVITES MACRO TROUBLE!

4Ps B&M’s Consulting editor Monojit Lahiri does a dipstick on the latest controversy gripping Adville

How much is too much and how far is going too far in needling the status quo regarding what is right and wrong in the world of advertising? Engaged in the business of educating, informing, persuading and selling goods and services in an interesting and consumer-friendly manner, are some players “crossing the line” in their anxiety to attract attention of the wrong kind? Should “creative licence” be milked dry in a manner that encroaches and invades personal space and disturbs reputation, tantamount to mocking, ridiculing, and even indulging in character assassination?

The facts. Micromax Mobile has come out with a TVC – Micromax Bai – which shows two young girls discovering how the first girl’s boyfriend bought both of them new Micromax phones. The situation takes a flip when they discover that he has gifted a new Micromax phone to the Bai (the housemaid) as well – all to increase his chances of winning a Hayabusa motorbike, a special Diwali offering by Micromax! In the real world, screaming headlines of “Shiney doesn’t buy the ad” greeted the Lowe-created TVC followed by the tainted actor serving the mobile company with a legal notice. Shiney is clearly not amused at his name being used, nor at the sly dig involving a housemaid. [For late entrants, the actor was sentenced to seven years in jail for allegedly raping his maid, and later, released on bail. The maid has already retracted her accusatory statement]

While the agency chose to remain silent, viewers are categorically vocal! Noted ad guru and Chief Consultant of Planman Marcom Alyque Padamsee is first off the blocks, doing a thumbs-down for the ad created by his old agency. “Freedom of speech, expression and thought is fine and totally acceptable but not when it indulges in maligning well-known personalities. That’s poor form!” Padamsee tells 4Ps B&M. Even the acclaimed and flamboyant champion of irreverence ad film-maker Prahlad Kakkar seems to do a freeze-frame when he says, “Smut is cool but never at the expense of housekeepers, women or public figures going through a downer.” He may have a point there.

But petite, Santiniketan-trained and Paris-based graphic designer Piya Sen takes a categorically opposite view and appears totally zapped. “Indian society continues to be paranoid and has this huge problem of being conveniently sanctimonious, and forever taking everything too seriously! Come on, it’s just a light-hearted aside on an issue that’s dead and buried. The man is out and living with his family. Why so desperately touchy? This hoo-haa has revived interest and attention of the public and on cue, a dumbed-down media has played it up big time to convert it to a headliner. I suspect no one would have connected it with the Bai controversy had not the actor got all heated up and taken legal action. I think in the year 2011, one has to be a little more chilled out about these things. Coming from this great financial super-power in the making, it’s really weird!” she says.

Youngistaan too chips in, hot n’ heavy. Young assistant film director Sneha Shreyasi completely vetoes the ad’s approach. She insists that this is “not done because, firstly, these are watched with family and this kind of nudge-wink jhatkas are in bad taste. Secondly, the adwallahs must think of Shiney’s family members and their feelings before they create such ads!”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

The 7-points leadership style

He received the “Marketing Professional of the Year” award at the 2011 CMO Asia Awards ceremony in Singapore. And now, he enters the 4Ps B&M Hall of Fame 2011 with full honours

After his MBA in Marketing from IISWBM, Kolkata, Abhra Banerjee started his career with O&M, which he joined in April 1995. Two years later, he switched to ICI Paints, where he spent 10 years, rising from being a sales manager to Channel Marketing Controller, handling the company’s entire South East Asia affairs. Today, he spearheads Century Plyboards (I) Ltd. as its Executive Business Head. His goal, as he shared with anirudh raheja of 4PsB&M, is to make brand CenturyPly a billion dollar brand over the next two to three years.

Innovation has often been cited as the reason that CenturyPly has progressed. What do you innovate?
CenturyPly is a respected brand today, only because it offers innovation along with great quality of products and designs. It is arguably the most innovative wood panel industry brand in the country. Some of the innovations which are worth mentioning are GLP (Glue Line Protection) which kills borers and termites from within. This is an innovation, which the market has not yet been able to replicate. The company has also employed a battery of designers who bring out the latest design trends to India in Laminates and Veneers, faster than our competitors do.

Talking about innovation, you seem to have acquired the best manufacturing technologies available in your line of business...
We have achieved this due to our strong partnerships and linkages with manufacturing companies from whom we have acquired the technical know-how. Our senior management team comprising representatives from technical, production and marketing fields, attend all the major wood exhibitions of the world and are constantly on the look-out for the latest winning technologies. So we always keep our eyes open and make the quick, first move to stay ahead each time.

You deal with a natural resource, which is also a raw material for your business – wood. Does this very fact pose any challenge to CenturyPly?
Yes. We need to constantly look out for newer sources of raw materials. Wood is a scarce commodity and we are always on the lookout for newer avenues to source the same.

In July this year, you were felicitated with the ‘CMO Asia Award’ in the category of ‘Marketing Professional of the Year’ for ‘Excellence in Branding & Marketing’. What do you do to ensure that each employee at CenturyPly in the marketing and sales functions lives up to your high standards?
Every business exists for its consumers. The consumers agree to part with their hard-earned money by paying for the goods or services rendered by a business. Hence the company comes into existence. The marketing team of each company therefore helps to identify the proverbial ‘need-gaps’ within the target consumer segment, which the business unit can strive to fulfil and hence continue in its line of business. In our organisation, this ‘Marketing Focus’ or in other words, this ‘Consumer Focus’ is drilled into every member of the sales and marketing team and they are trained to listen to the ‘voice of the consumer’. This voice is then echoed across the length and breadth of the organisation so that the entire business evolves into a consumer-focused business unit.