Memoirs of a Fresher

This story has a brilliant mentor, a big fmcg company, some travelling conveyance, crazy heat, barking dogs, chasing security guards and walks on endless roads. My journey began with a great opportunity to work with the branding team of an FMCG company just to realize later that whatever Mr Philip Kotler said was easier to read in a book sitting on my couch than to face in reality.

My mentors first words (Eagerly waiting for the guru to share his gyaan, drops of gold for a fresher like me who was interacting with the CMO* of one of the biggest brands in the country for the first time) “Did you understand the essence of the project”. “Yes sir completely, I need to design a marketing plan to understand the unarticulated needs and the satisfaction gap ...blah blah…” Mentor – “Ok so you neither understood the head nor the tail of the project”. There it goes…

First lesson learnt from my mentor on pragmatism that day and all I could make out of it was that my project involved repositioning of an existing product and developing the communication strategy. I had no idea about this product category and hence took the first brave initiative and requested my mentor to tag me to a TSI** for a day to understand the market. Thus began the journey of a young market researcher. Everything learnt in the market research class made sense all of a sudden, right from preparing the research design to submitting my research proposal to my mentor. The words of my brand manager are still echoing in my head “Focus on the qualitative front than coming up with unique ways of showing simple data in a complex format by using SPSS***, do not complicate but simplify”

At the end of it what do you have? A 23 year old newbie armed with his deadliest weapon called a Survey Questionnaire roaming on the roads trying to find his next victim to fill that dreaded survey.

Hence the saga began with Mumbai as the first location of my project followed by Ahmedabad. The 1st month encompassed covering the length and breadth of Mumbai from Churchgate to Karjat in every mode of transport ever used by a Mumbaikar – Bus, train, taxi, auto, lifts from random bikers and cars. The field study in Mumbai led to the unlearning phase. It started with unique ways of getting the dealers, stockists and contractor to open up to me and generate qualitative insights to develop a blueprint for my product category development.

Ahmedabad (15th May) : Day 1 - Left my hotel room dressed like a bond in crisp white shirt and black trousers, with a little snobbish grin on my face when the hotel attendant saluted me on my way out of the hotel. Little did I know that when I would return in the evening this attendant would have the laugh of his life. I returned 8.30 pm, my face showing signs of freshly burnt skin, weary body, dehydrated look and the same crisp shirt looked like it needed some washing and the same attendant staring at my face. Then I realized why the hotel attendant had grinned at me in the morning when I asked him which was the tap for hot water.

For the next two weeks everyday my bag used to be loaded with a tube of sunscreen lotion, 2 water bottles and an extra pair of shirt. Walking miles in a dry heat of 43 Degrees was not something I was used to in Mumbai.


Myth 1
Branding is supposed to be glitzy and swanky - If you have an image that branding team would be full of jazz then you cannot be more incorrect. A lot of the quality brand management comes from plain consumer research and study of the behaviour. Many a times these are just simple people having a marketing bent of mind always knowing where there is an opportunity to fill gaps. During my stint of 2 months I met many marketing guys and almost half of them did not look like they could be a part of the branding team but they were bonds in managing their brands

Myth 2
Kotler is the bible of marketing - No book teaches you marketing. No concept of Marketing can be generalized. There are always always always exceptions which need to be taken into account for different regions, cultures and businesses. There is no bible for marketing not even Kotler. Kotler does give you a perspective which may hold true in 80-90% of the cases but god forbid if you get into a job which fits in the remaining 10-20% then you need to learn on the job and adapt. Not just adapt but adapt at a fast pace. When you have your boss sitting with the Targets pistol on your head no concept comes to your rescue, you have to devise your own plan.

Myth 3
Marketing is only for those who are super creative - This is the funniest statement made by people which I can never associate with. Yes innovation is important but if you are someone who has an eye for detail marketing is the place to be for you. My entire final strategy was not some creative thought that popped in my mind but developed from the insights generated post the interaction with my Target Audience.

Myth 4
Marketing Strategy is about brainstorming in boardroom - Jim Stengel (CMO of P&G)-If you want to understand how a lion hunts don't go to the zoo go to the jungle. My work involved a fair bit of an ethnographic study wherein I had to stay with my target audience for days at a stretch to understand their working pattern and behaviour. This study was later used to devise the right communication plan.

1. Opportunity to work with the CMO and brand manager of a product which is the market leader in Asia
2. Numbers are not always important (Yes even in such a top fmcg some decisions are taken based on gut instinct and past experience)
3. An opportunity to present to the top management including the CEO, CMO, Senior presidents and brand managers of my company.
4. Once your into it only your skills and your talent matters – No one cares whether you’re from some sri sri sri vidyalaya institute of management studies (SSSVIMS) or some Ivy league B-school. Your work does the talking and not the brand image.
5. Amazing insights gained by hours of discussion with the Branding team

Highlight of the project is when your suggestions are accepted and it takes you directly to the state of nirvana and dreams of becoming a Brand Guru. Just to realize minutes later that you have your final presentation in some hours wherein the top management is all set to rip you apart. All in all it was one heck of an experience living the life of a Sales man, Sales manager and Brand manager within a period of 2 months.

P.S
*CMO – Chief Marketing Officer [The man who has done it all with a stature that makes a pro look like a rookie and my project mentor]
**TSI – Territory Sales In-charge [A snazzy name for one of the toughest jobs in the FMCG industry – Respect]
***SPSS – Statistical Package for Social Sciences [Every B-school grad must have used this software atleast once for sure, a delight for Market researchers and statisticians]