Corporate professionals share valuable insights at Marketing Symposium

Senior corporate marketing professionals drawing from their rich experience shared practical insights about marketing in various fields from film making to consumer products. Ads and Hands-on experience workshop by Roshni Chandra, film-maker at Primary Colours familiarised the students with direction of TV commercials and films. The session brought out insights about the importance and relevance of advertisements in the present times. She briefed the gathering about ancient advertisements and the dramatic change it has seen in recent times to appeal to Gen Z. The students were split into teams and were asked to come up with ideas for promoting Sambar Powder through commercials. The students of the marketing department brainstormed and came up with interesting ideas and showcased their skills by enacting and narrating the ads. Jayashankar Narayanankutty, Group Director at Cadence Design Systems highlighted the Equilibrium of a Sale, speaking about the fundamental aspects of sales and marketing and value-cost relationship. He outlined the ranges in the component of the transaction related to seller, product, and buyer, where transactions may happen at the same level or across levels. He observed, "equilibrium is not a perspective tool but it's a guiding principle" Prasanna Rai, VP and CMO at Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting spoke about The Story of Consistency: Concept-Code-Consistency. Mr. Rai elaborated on the evolution of Santoor as a brand over time. He narrated the changes in the positioning of the brand Santoor. He emphasized leveraging celebrity endorsement and gave instances on how it could impact a product's positioning among its audience. He explained and modelled the positioning flow as Concept-Code-Consistency where each of them has different dimensions and importance. He felt that, "as time changes, it changes need and it is necessary to tweak the proposition of the product maintaining the brand value”. Anjou Joseph, Managing Partner at Quantum Consumer Solutions spoke on Human-centric Approach and Brand Building. Mrs. Anju Joseph talked about the socio-economic issues and problems of the underprivileged and solutions that are successful in various markets. She outlined the different epicentres for an action, being product-centric and human-centric. She gave examples about solutions for the problem of mosquitoes faced by the people in Indonesia and the impact of lucky iron fish on people's health in Cambodia. She spoke about the Titan Raga ad and explained how a human-centric approach can position a brand as part of people's lives. She introduced the 12 archetypes to the audience, through which the meaning of the brand can be understood at the deepest level. Mrs. Anju Josep asked entrepreneurs and startups to build a fan base, as customers need to be lured whereas fans come on their own. Mr. Ashis Majumdar BU Head at Albert Davis gave students an overview of the Indian pharma sector and mentioned India's positions and achievements. He also pointed out that India stands second in number in USFDA certified manufacturing facilities after the USA. He familiarised the students about the sales process in the pharma sector where customers are more knowledgeable and how it poses a challenge to the sales process. He explained price and value differentiation, and the dimensions for a brand to succeed: uniqueness and importance. He highlighted the problems faced with a new product for CKD patients and how the learning is inculcated and reflected in the other products achieving success. The panel discussion featured Ashis Majumdar, BU Head at Albert David, Bhuvana Subramanyan, CMO at Randstand India, Shuvadip Banerjee, VP at ITC Ltd and Prem Kumar, Marketing Director at ANSR. The topics touched upon pre and post-pandemic situations and business management. The symposium proved to be enriching learning experience and preparing them with practical skill sets for career opportunities. The symposium was conducted on Nov 25 and 26 at the RR campus.