21st Century Branding: Mr. Charles Wright, MD, Wolff Olins

23rd October 2012 saw the World’s #1 Brand Consultancy firm, Wolff Olins, mark its presence at IIML. None other than the MD, Mr. Charles Wright, addressed the inquisitive students and shared his insights on 21st century branding. The talk was organized by the Industry Interaction Cell in collaboration with the Placement Committee. Representatives from leading media houses thronged to cover the event. The venue was a packed house!

Mr. Wright is a CA by profession. He worked with Accenture before joining Wolff Olins as CFO. He has worked throughout Europe, China and India. Some of his international clients include the London 2012 Olympics, Tate, GE, Unilever, Sony Ericsson, (RED), New York City, Mercedez-Benz, AOL, PWC, Asian Art Museum, and Orange. In India, he has worked for the Adani Group, Hero Moto Corp, Tata Docomo and the Tata Group.
Mr. Wright owned the stage right from the start and instantly built rapport with the audience through his humor and poised disposition. His talk was very well structured and he presented as if the audience was his client. He started off with an overview and history of Wolff Olins, after which he spoke on his recent key achievement, the branding of London Olympics, and his experiences in building its brand and logo. He then took up 3 clients from his extensive client list and presented his work on them one by one. These included TATA Docomo, the Adani Group and (RED).
On the TATA Docomo front, it was about competition and how to stand out in the plethora of mobile carriers by branding. Docomo’s identity was retained and the brand was positioned as playful and unconventional. Mr. Wright pointed out that the size and color of the letters in the logo were different in order to signify playfulness, a key attribute of the brand. Among Wolff Olins’s key suggestions was per second billing, the service innovation that disrupted the Indian market and allowed Tata Docomo to build a substantial base in spite of being a late entrant. This chimed in with Wolff Olins’s philosophy of not just building a better image for the firm, but a better reality.
Mr. Wright spoke of how he helped change the view of the Adani Group both within and outside the firm. Earlier, the Group viewed itself as a ‘behemoth’ spread across twenty plus businesses. Wolff Olins helped structure these businesses and helped the Adani Group view itself as an integrated business with a presence that stretched from the sourcing of raw materials, through the logistics involved in transporting them, down to the production of energy from these raw materials.
(RED) leveraged the core insight that charity must not rely on guilt but on the pleasure of consumption to raise its money. Based on Wolff Olins’s suggestion, (RED) affiliated itself with the top brands of the world, including Apple, Nike, Starbucks and Volkswagen among others, and created (RED) products made by each of them. The strategy was termed ‘ethical consumerism’ by pundits, and created a massive amount of buzz around itself.
Mr. Wright spoke on various other aspects of branding, stressing that branding is all about storytelling in a creative and concise manner. He then explained that Brand Consultancy is a healthy mix of strategy and creativity and, as a result, faces competition from both management consultants and advertising agencies. Mr. Wright also spoke of how each function, including operations, HR, marketing and finance, are looked into in order to formulate a holistic brand strategy. Branding is a step wise approach; it first converts hostility to acceptance, then to liking and finally creates love for the brand. He cited the example of Skype.
Mr. Wright ended the talk by planting a question in the minds of the audience: “Why can’t India do for marketing what it has done for IT?” Many tried to answer this question which eventually quickly turned into a
good discussion. After that it was the question-answer round with questions ranging from his personal experiences to his views on Indian brands.

Mr. Wright was really delighted with the enthusiasm of the listeners, and IIM Lucknow was happy to host such a vibrant thinker on campus.

P&G Unplugged: A Talk by Mr. Damon Frost

The Industry Interaction Cell brought to IIM Lucknow its first offering of what is going to be an exciting year - “P&G Unplugged:  The Strategic Role of Technology in P&G”

On the 28th of June, IIM Lucknow hosted Mr. Damon Frost, Associate Director, P&G Global Business Services. As the Global Business Services leader, Mr. Frost drives the strategic use of technology by Proctor & Gamble’s 127,000 employees in more than 80 countries worldwide. With over a decade of senior management experience at P&G, Mr. Frost has been instrumental in leading the company’s Communication and Collaboration services globally and formulating its digital strategy, along with the development of the next generation of Business Intelligence tools within the firm’s business units.

Mr. Frost’s arrival on campus gave all of us a privileged insider’s view of how a huge corporation like P&G is using technology to win in the FMCG sector. For instance, the integration of the entire value chain using technology has yielded rich insights into consumption patterns. These insights are very specific, local, and enable rapid managerial response to fluctuations in consumption.

Additionally, Mr. Frost spoke of the innovative ‘Virtual Stores’ concept, that enables quick, and potentially automated changes in layouts to influence sales.

Over and above his interaction with the students of PGP27 and PGP28, Mr. Frost also agreed to collaborate with Professors from IIM Lucknow for the creation of Case Studies on P&G’s IT function.

Anjuman 2012

Anjuman – The Annual Leader’s Corporate Luncheon stands unique in its aim to bring together students and industry leaders for an informal interaction over a sumptuous Nawabi Lunch. Anjuman 2012, structured along the same lines as its predecessors, brought together renowned industry leaders as keynote speakers and provided an ideal platform for corporate heads, IIM Lucknow faculty and a select set of students to learn from each other.

Organized around the theme ‘ Innovate, Implement and Inspire: Build a Legacy’, Anjuman sought to celebrate the business houses, leaders and institutions who have through their continuous and consistent show of brilliance shaped the county.

 The Keynote Speakers for this year’s event were:

·        

·         Mr. S D Latkar  (CFO, Computational Research Laboratories)

·         Mr. Jayant Krishna (CSI Lucknow Chairman & Principal Consultant, TCS)

·         Mr. Chaitanya Kalbag (Editor, Business Today)

·         Mr. Sheshadri Rajaram (CEO,  Erhardt + Leimer India Pvt. Ltd)

·         Mr. Santosh Nair (Editor, moneycontrol.com)

The event was flagged off by a keynote address by Dr. Devi Singh (Director, IIM Lucknow) who set the theme of the discussion by expressing how legacy stemmed from the fact that some were brave enough to think beyond the obvious, employ successfully ideas which no one else would dare to employ and then persistently work on those ideas to make a substantial difference to the lives of all those it touched. He pointed out that most of us Indians believe that we are creative but it is our failure to take those ideas to conclusion that threatens our quest to establish India as a global power in the next two decades.

Mr. S D Latkar (CFO, Computational Research Laboratories) shared his long experience with the Tata Group, narrating to the audience not only various innovations he had seen but also the work done in developing Computational Research Laboratories

Mr. Jayant Krishna (CSI Lucknow Chairman & Principal Consultant, TCS) sought, through examples to explain how an enterprise builds its legacy. Narrating anecdotes highlighting the rise of the Tata Group, he illustrated how at times through innovation, how at times choosing to focus on strengths and how sometimes through the sheer desire to change the way you want the world to see you can inspire a company to rise from humble beginnings to become one of the most respected names of the world.

 Mr. Chaitanya Kalbag (Editor, Business Today), the first Asian to rise to one of the most senior positions at Reuters, shared with the audience his views on how Indian culture and work ethics are different with in relation to innovation, from that of its western counterparts. He put before the house that perhaps we as Indians should detach ourselves from our culture in order to innovate and build India as an economic powerhouse. He did concede however that countries such as Japan and Korea have managed to embrace innovation as a part of their culture and grow economically while holding steadfast to their traditional values.

Mr. Sheshadri Rajaram (CEO,  Erhardt + Leimer India Pvt. Ltd) stated that perhaps it is easier to innovate when you are in charge of a smaller organization than when you are involved in a large company and hindered by countless processes. He used his own experience as an example of how being hindered in a big company before his business education, he chose to work for a smaller firm post MBA and how the satisfaction of being able to innovate as he chooses stops him from even thinking of swapping organizations

Mr. Santosh Nair  (Editor, moneycontrol.com) bought to the table his technical insights from moneycontrol.com, impressing upon the audience the need for innovation for a nascent idea to grow and eventually establish itself in the wider scheme of things.  

Following the keynote addresses and an insightful Q&A session with the audience, the event concluded with a sumptuous lunch which presented the lighter side of the leaders, as they opened up to informal discussion with the attendees. Speaking about the event, Rishikesh Tripathy, a second year student of IIM Lucknow remarked, “Events such as Anjuman help the students in viewing the regular course work at IIM through the lens of Industry people. These interactions truly are an invaluable part of an IIM experience.”

SAMVIT 2011

Samvit 2011 - The Annual Leadership Summit of IIM Lucknow was held on December 3, 2011. Samvit 2011 witnessed the congregation of some of India’s most brilliant and potent minds who ideated on “The Sinking World Economy and its Implications for Indian businesses”. The focus was on how India should face the stormy headwinds seeking to derail the progress of its fledgling industries and emerge stronger and surer of her place as one of the vanguards of global economy. This year’s panel consisted of corporate leaders and banking-stalwarts. The eminent speakers included Mr. Aditya Puri, MD HDFC Bank, Mr. KR Kamath, CMD Punjab National Bank, Mr. Roopen Roy, MD, Deloitte Consulting, India, Mr. Srinivasan Iyengar, MD-Strategy, Standard Chartered Bank, Mr. Dharmakirti Joshi, Chief Economist, CRISIL, Mr. Naresh Kothari, President & Co-Head, Edelweiss Financial Services and Mr. Sonjoy Mohanty, CEO, Educomp Supplemental Business. Mr. Sharat Pradhan, eminent journalist, donned the role of Master of Ceremonies.

Leader's Panel at SAMVIT 2011

Opening the round of discussions, Mr Aditya Puri set the tone for the evening with the idea that Indian economy has a bright future. He spoke about the Indian economy being structurally resilient with sound banking fundamentals. He added that India’s economic model is quite different from that of the US and most of the European countries. Further, he expressed optimism for India’s future saying that there will not be a huge impact of current global crisis on India and that 7% growth in GDP is still magnificent. He expressed confidence in the Indian banks and commented that they are safe and secure to run. However, he was circumspect about the surge in commodity prices and proffered that this trend can lead to a drop in growth rate to below 8%. Elaborating on the issue Mr Puri quipped “This is not the only for problem for us, government needs to take supply side measures for a sustainable growth rate in the long term.”

Taking the cue from Mr Puri, Mr. Kamath enlightened the audience with several anecdotes and explained that Indian banks had the capabilities to handle the growing non-performing assets (NPAs) which comprise only a small percentage of the bank’s total portfolio. He laid stress on protecting the weakest links of the economy such as the consumer, Non-Banking Financial Corporations (NBFCs) etc. However he too expressed optimism for the long term growth of the country and stressed on reaping the strong demographic dividends and intellectual property that is inherent to India. He explained that a lot of pessimism has been created about India’s future by the media and philosophically predicted that “The only way ahead is to prepare for challenges and be patient”.

Mr. Roopen Roy presented an optimistic view to the discussion with the idea that we as a country are more global than we think. Taking cue from Edward Lorenz’s famous Chaos theory and the butterfly effect, Mr. Roy explained how a small disturbance in a place like Lucknow can result into a tornado in Los Angeles. Justifying his stance, Mr Roy said “We should not ignore the small things that happen globally.” Further, he mentioned that looking at the economy only from the GDP and stakeholders’ perspective narrows down the vision. To broaden our view, we should include the needs of the people in rural areas. A more realistic view on our economy is the need of the hour, appreciating what is good but at the same time keeping our eyes open for the impending challenges. On the global crisis, Mr. Roy said that Europe is likely to witness supervised fiscal union with poor countries being brought under the surveillance of European Union, especially Germany.

Mr. Dharmakirti Joshi painted a grim scenario of the future ahead and warned the students of painful times ahead as he suggested that the internal and external firepower to make the necessary changes in policy and governance is missing. He remarked “It will be difficult for us to offset any future downturn without a fiscal muscle power. In 2008, India managed to escape the global crisis mainly because of the policy measures that had already been embedded in the economy such as the increase in the public sector wages, farm loan waiver and NREGA.” He also talked about the growing interaction of Indian industries with the world in that currently around 25% of the revenues for top 50 corporations in India come from outside the country. He also mentioned how economic cycles of India and western countries are synchronised. He said “Even though the long term growth trajectory may be different from the OECD countries but in short term a downturn in western countries leads to a downturn in India.”

Mr Iyenger described the Indian economy as interdependent and said that we should have the resolve to turn around the situation considering what we have done it in the past. He compared the Indian economy with a swarm of bees indicating that the directionality towards growth of India is clear and we are marching ahead but the pace of this growth is in question. He also talked about doing things right and doing the right things. Stressing that the solution to the present scenario is well within our hands, Mr. Iyenger quipped “we are well positioned to take the advantage of the opportunities that shift of power from west to east will bring.” He concluded with the point that there is supporting infrastructure to foster reverse brain drain in the country and that sinking world economy is a big opportunity for us.

Mr Kothari sounded a word of caution “Although Indian economy is insulated at its core with a domestic consumption of close to 70% of GDP and low dependence on the global debt. He felt that India can grow at 6-7% on its own but to grow beyond 8-9%, it has to depend on its global trading partners to perform well.” He explained further “This is mainly because Indian is well integrated in the global economy.” He expressed disappointment that lately there has not been much policy making but only policy tinkering.

Mr Mohanty, an alumnus of the first batch of IIM Lucknow, explained how things have changed over the years. He famously remarked that “We looked to the west for everything but now the west looks to the east. India brings unparalleled innovation to the world.” He urged the youth to be more entrepreneurial in their endeavours. Talking about our adaptability and using the vast reserves of knowledge that we have, Mr. Mohanty said sinking world provides a lot opportunities for the country.

In its 4^th edition, Samvit 2011 lived up to its reputation as the Annual Leadership Summit of IIM Lucknow. The excited student crowd, mingled freely with the leaders in the informal high tea session, which marked the closure of the event. Speaking jubilantly and reminiscing about his favourite moment of the summit, Vamshidar Bandi, a 2^nd year student of IIM Lucknow said “It was an eye opener of sorts for me. Mr. Aditya Puri’s and Mr Kamath’s age old adages make a B-school student wonder what exactly he should be aiming for in his life?” His dreamy smiles however suggested that he had actually found his answer.

Gurcharan Das on Dharma-based Management

IIM Lucknow added a new flavour to its Leadership Talk Series – Prodigies through a guest lecture by one of the most revered authors of current times Mr. Gurcharan Das. Mr. Das is the author of the bestsellers such as India Unbound and The Difficulty of Being Good.  Before becoming a full-time writer, he was Managing Director of Proctor & Gamble Worldwide and CEO of Proctor & Gamble India.  

 

Mr. Gurcharan Das delivering lecture on learnings from Mahabharata

Mr. Gurcharan Das discussed how contemporary leaders can learn some of the important lessons of leadership from one of the greatest Indian epic Mahabharata. He said that intelligence is overrated in today’s world and the three essential qualities a leader should have are – determination or will power, humility but not lack of ambition and integrity. Leadership is all about inspiring others through high energy, strong will power and most importantly through integrity. Leaders face moral dilemma throughout their career and what they choose and the motivation behind their decision defines their character.

IIM Lucknow students learning Management Mantras from Mr. Gurcharan Das

He drew examples of courage, dharma or doing what one ought to, loyalty or righteousness and compassion from Mahabharata. When Draupadi was humiliated in front of everyone she asked Bhisma why was he silent. Dharma says half the punishment should be given to the person committing the crime, quarter to the allies and the remaining quarter should be borne by those who remain silent. Mr. Das opined that today this is the biggest problem of our society - our leaders remain silent such as our respected Prime Minister when the entire nation is full of anger on so many issues.

Further, he talked about one of the greatest warriors (Kshatriyas) from Mahabharata – Karna. Karna despite being enormously talented and ambitious was not treated as a Kshatriya but a Soodputra (someone of lower caste). Krishna realized that Karna was the only person who could lead to Pandavas’ defeat. Krishna approaches Karna to entice him and make him switch sides by offering him entire kingdom, status of elder brother of Pandavas and Draupadi as his wife. But Karna denies saying a mother is not someone who gives birth but who raises you. This thought reflects on our caste ridden society and shows a sense of value, a sense of loyalty of Karna towards Duryodhna and a sense of right and wrong.

Finally, Mr. Das talked about compassion of Yudhistra towards a stray dog who accompanies him in his journey to heaven. Eventually, Yudhistra sacrifices heaven because Indra does not allow a dog to enter heaven, suggesting that one should help someone who comes for refuge to you.

 Mr. Gurcharan Das signing copies of his latest book

 'The Difficulty of Being Good' for the students

Mr. Das ended his talk with a note that message of Dharma is act of goodness and how his latest book ‘The Difficulty of being Good’ describes this in further detail.

Overall, it was a great learning experience for the students. The insights helped to understand that corporate life and life in general is not just about achieving success but also about making the decisions that are fair and hold moral high ground.

Article in HT: http://www.hindustantimes.com/Dharma-based-management-Lessons-from-Mahabharat-for-IIM-L-students/Article1-751163.aspx