Author: Dr Bhaskar Das

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Q: This is also the season for a variety of opinion polls. How much should we trust them? Do you

A: I wish the methodology would also be informed to the audience. With different methodologies of each poll, it is very difficult to know which prediction is correct. Luckily most of the opinion polls, as of now, are convergent in their prediction (research after all!) in spite of different methodologies. Quite often, there are variances from the actual results. That is rarely discussed later. Public memory is poor, as they say. By the same token, actually the outcome of the general election is out as I saw in some leading channel.

Trust is a matter of choice of individuals or Groups. In the dance of Democracy, enjoy the festival.

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Q: Your views on the cricket this edition of the IPL? And the various ads that you’ve seen thus far

A: It’s too early to decode any trend with only a few matches being played as of now. But the unpredictability of cricket in general and T20 in particular continues to be there. In fact the fortune of all the matches (especially KKR and Sunrisers and GT and MI ) were against the run of play. And that’s what acts as a hook for viewers. But the initial matches are no indication of who would be amongst the last four…

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Q: Lent and Ramzan are months of abstinence. If there’s one thing that you think the A&M trade should abstain from, what would it be?

A: Abstain from acting merely as an agency for communication needs, but as a business partner to make contribution to the business goals of clients/companies. Needless to say, A&M stakeholders need to acquire requisite skills to earn that position.

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Q: When Mumbai Indians loses its first few matches in an IPL, would you say it’s a good omen?

A: Let me share some IPL gyaan with you:

a. the intrinsic nature of T20 is unpredictability

b. it is impossible to extrapolate last season’s pattern of performance of a team or last match’s performance of a team for the next match. One is as good as the last match. The next match is another game and another unpredictable performance of individuals or team.

Given the above premise, I can’t say that a losing streak is a good or bad omen. A team must play each game as a new game and a new dynamic strategy. Let the best team win a game on merit.

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Q: Your sentiments on Day 2 of the new fiscal year?

A: On the basis of two days of the new financial year, I can’t predict the trend of 363 days of the year. Apart from a poor sample size, the operating environment of every business has become so volatile, macro or micro, that it’s well-nigh impossible to predict a deterministic pattern of business growth or decline. Besides, there is a possibility of election-led volatilities and/ or global developments including existing geo- political stress points, which could make every prediction a hazardous guess.

I anticipate some significant technology-led disruptions mainly Generative AI which could reconfigure the nature of work per se in various sectors. Consequent to all the above mentioned changes, I anticipate a challenging 2024-25 for business. The fittest guys would continue to thrive though.

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Q: Who according to you is a better actor in ads: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli or M S Dhoni?

A: MSD, Virat and Rohit… in that order. My personal preference, of course. MSD is a natural and his acting prowess scores vis-a-vis the other two. But then acting capability has nothing to do with the core skill as a cricketer…

Btw, even after retirement, MSD endorses 20-odd brands. Virat endorses 24. In terms of records, both Virat and Rohit are miles ahead of Dhoni.

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Q: The A&M fraternity is divided on working full-time from the workplace. What do you think works best for efficiencies of an organisation and individual: WFO, WFH or hybrid?

A: The answer to your question can’t be binary – either black or white. Every organisation has its own priorities and operating imperatives. So it’s not possible to predict what is good for an organisation as a generic prescription and not taking into account specific circumstances.

It’s a fact that presence in the workplace improves cross-pollination of ideas, camaraderie and teamwork , in general. Someone can argue that one may achieve the same virtually and this can improve work life balance better. The jury is still out on the subject.

It’s a given perception that human beings are a gregarious breed of animals and they like active social interactions (not through social media) in a world of collective aloneness.

Given the above, let me try to propose a thought: if you divide corporate functions by existing paradigm, there are combinations of line and staff functions. The line functions are mostly customer-facing and require active engagement with multiple functions within the organisation and with customers outside (in a platform and  creator universe this is all the more critical). Hence a hybrid approach—staggered schedule for staff function (may be once a week) and five-day week for line functions might be a viable option. Needless to say, a prior discussion with HODs of various functions keeping in mind customers’ interests and corporate priorities would facilitate smooth execution.

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Q: A few days back, I received an image (a graph actually) titled ‘Probability of Getting Fooled’. Against April Fool’s Day, the level was very low (say at 5), and for Election Day, it was at 65-odd. Is this what the perception of politics and politicians is today?

A: I have seen too the same graph. In fact in today’s day and age everyone is a distributor through a thumb.

The message is CLEAR: the alleged growing voter apathy towards ruling class, whichever party they belong to.

But the above assertion could be vacuous  if read as a headline. Let’s dissect my own comment, as given above. As a business strategist, I need to first decide which addressable market I am referring to. There may be the following classifications of economic strata in India: Super Rich, Rich, Upper Middle Class, Lower Middle Class, Poor, Destitute. This is my classification on the basis of empirical observations. There may be other classifications by experts but broadly my classifications would tally.

Now, the first three categories are not affected much by governments, though they have pay tax as part of their  success fees. The rest of the classes have developed cynicism about change of rulers and change of their fortune. Ironically, these groups are swayed by demagogues and prevaricators of reality.

The former categories are in a minority when it comes to influencing outcomes of any votes. They are consequential for the Economy but inconsequential, perhaps for elections. The latter forms the majority but they are gullible, fatalist and aren’t exposed to calibrated usage of their voting power once in five years.

At the end, I may mention that the graph doesn’t represent emotions of India in totality in the context of elections in this case.

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Q: What are the one or two or three things that a mid-career marketer must do to ensure that AI, tech and the vagaries of business render her/him irrelevant?

A: Mid-career in any industry could be under pressure due to sectoral reasons, specific corporate arthritis and individual inertia towards upskilling. Any individual who wants to remain relevant in the job market must alter her/his mindset towards the unfolding world order. This is applicable for any organisation that wants to be at the cutting edge of technology and competition.

While the approaches would be different for individuals and corporations, the meta approach have to be the same. The individual has to strategise at a personal level (eg upskilling, continuous learning, align resumes to job, and highlighting sector specific skills etc). The corporations have to address the transformation at every aspect of organisational management. What would work well for both the affected parties is to plan a future backwards strategy and be ready (read nimble enough) for multiple eventualities that could threaten thriving in the future. There is no one specific approach that can be applied in both the cases as an off the shelf approach. It has to be a customised approach keeping specific challenges in mind.

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Q: The media economy is said to be in the doldrums. What according to you can be done it to ensure the ‘achche din’ happen?

A: Are you referring to media economics or media economy? The answer would be a tad different for either of the options. For example, media economics would differ by format and specific company approach. Whereas, media economy would encompass larger areas of probing and explanation.

Having said that let me try to give answers to both in bullet points and you may pick whatever you meant.

1. Media Economics:

1. The volatility of tech-led and altered consumption habits of audiences have been affecting media economics continuously.

2. The altered competitive disruptions, both intra and inter, demand strategy alterations on the go. Innovations at both demand and supply side of the business are the need of the hour for business viability.

3. In view of the above reality (altered and emergent), organisations have to rejig their operations across all functions to maintain their competitive advantage.

B. Media Economies:

A lot of things that I mentioned above are also relevant for this aspect of your question. For example, both demand and supply side of each format of delivery needs to be innovated in sync with the changing tastes and preferences of the consumers and possible migration of audiences to altered and improved formats. There is no one size fits all readymade solution for such eventualities.

Innovative thinking is no longer a choice for survival for organisations. Organisation-wide and altered wind and belief system have to happen for  shared destiny.

In short,  the BANI syndrome* of the M&E sector are more pronounced than most of the sectors. Hence strategic agility and flawless execution could save the day for the players to maintain their continued dominance. Continued success can never be taken for granted.

*BANI is short for brittle, anxious, non-linear, and incomprehensible

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Q: Facebook and Google corner most of the digital adspends in India. What do you think can our homegrown giants do to capture some of those revenues?

A: To my mind it would be a wild goose chase to even aspire to get some share or % of their revenue in the near- or medium-term. But in the first place, why does one aspire for so?

Instead isn’t it a better idea to focus on one’s core and unique niche to serve one’s addressable market and monetise that. Because of the advantage of one-to-one interactive marketspace, it is possible to showcase the quality and quantity of engagement with the audience and justify the ROI of partner involvements. I am sure the cost structure of these niche players would be far less than the tech giants and the personalised and exploratory partnership would be preferred by clients.

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Q: Your view on the advertising of the various political parties that you have seen so far?

A: I have seen some ads but can’t claim to have seen them all. I feel creative articulation of the communication is a subsequent action post the unique value proposition of a product (read party). Having said that, the fundamentals that guide advertising for all consumer products are applicable for political ads as well. For instance do the ads from various parties/leaders communicate the USP of their unique offerings or do they just highlight the inadequacies of the other parties? What I would like to see happening is the resolve to to mitigate the unarticulated expectations of the teeming millions and not necessarily of the top 5% of the economic strata. The communications should deliver the promise to positively change the current state of affairs during the next five years.