In the sprawling ballroom at Taj West End in the heart of Bengaluru, chief marketing officers from across diverse brands and industries gathered to celebrate the leading minds in the industry and each other. There were brands that sold vehicles, brands that sold single malts, brands that sold biscuits, brands that sold malabar paratha and of course there were the tech geniuses too. They were all there to celebrate a new kind of marketing – one driven by purpose. Storyboard18’s Bangalore Chapter of Visionaries had brought together the city’s brightest marketing minds, echoing the success of its Delhi debut in 2023.
Varun Berry, Managing Director, Britannia Industries shares his leadership lessons that he learnt over the past 39 years of working at the Bangalore chapter of Storyboard18 Visionaries. Read on…
1. The first thing that all of you youngsters have to be very clear about is to set an ambition for yourself. It it all starts with ambition. If you don’t have that, you will not move forward in the direction that you anticipated for yourself. And many times, we get constrained to have an ambition, which is not bold enough. So, make sure that you make it bold.
2. The second lesson is to learn to stick to the basics. We work in a very humble company, which sells very humble products to very humble people. We sell bakery products to everyone in this country and beyond. So, what we think about is, how do we create the right brands? How do we create the right products? How do we fulfill the needs that are required by the consumers? And how do we then get our products as hands reach of the consumers, right?
Marketers should make sure that that is something that you make a principle for yourself. So if you look at what’s happened in the last few years, there’s been almost a seismic shift in the way consumers interact, the way consumers look at our products and interact with our communications.
3. The third lesson is the most important lesson – the growth mindset. You are marketers who are setting out to market your product. You got to ask yourself, whatever I’m doing today, will it help me sell one more product? I think that mindset is what will hold you in good stead. As you move forward, Ii’s all about business, you’ve got to remember that there is no fancy footwork in business, you will not get anywhere. If you just win awards, you do work which is spectacular. Finally, it’s about selling the product. So think that and make that a part of your life.
4. The fourth lesson is about change. I don’t think I’ve seen the kind of change that I’ve seen in the last two years in the last 35 years of my work life. Things are changing very rapidly. And adapting to change is very critical for all of us as marketers, right.
5. The fifth lesson is all about people. You are as strong as your team and your agency’s people that you interact with. Make sure that you, motivate, cultivate, and build these things so that together, you can succeed.
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