Tag: Bhaskar Das

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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: 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.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: There are fears of increase of misinformation and fake news during election period. But are we in the media fussing too much about it, and do the masses really care?

A: I agree with your observation that disinformation/ misinformation mixing with claims and counter-claims of various competing political parties. Besides, active citizens are also content creators now, thanks to technology and more often than not, they give vent to their opinions on the basis of their polarised perspective. WhatsApp University is a great institution to add to the cacophony. Even passive consumers of such content act trigger-happy (read ‘forward’) such misinformation to their group adding to the prevailing ‘Noise’.

The challenge of media is that they have surfeit of information and in their keenness to break stories, as part of so-called strategy of competitive edge, have no time to sift out facts from fiction. Besides, each media format has its ideological preferences, perhaps, apart from generating content.

Do the masses really care? I think they care, though they might be in a minority when compared with the teeming masses. But the cumulative noise level drowns the rational/ silent masses to subconsciously align one way or the other. There are voter apathies also which affect participation in the voting process but they are inconsequential in the context of noise generation.

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Q: How much ∂o you think can advertising campaigns influence voting decisions?

A: I can’t predict the efficacy of an advertising campaign during an election as India as a Nation has multitude of diversity by language, by regional uniqueness, by religion, by caste, etc. In other words, there are many imponderables and for one unique proposition across the country and across media platforms is a challenging task for any creative person.

Having said that, a campaign can at best be a claim by a party, but it’s the ground-level actual work which would make the real difference. A party in power would have an edge over competitors as they would have empirical evidence to support their claims. A voter can’t check all facts claimed by each party and the complexity for voters to decide get compounded due to manufactured facts. In today’s pervasive media noise (including deepfakes), it’s difficult to sift facts from fiction. And to that extent, I feel an advertising campaign would have minimal impact, given the challenges in India. So kya mumkin hai or not, can’t be easy to predict. No advertising can deterministically influence voters’ behaviour.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q: The general elections have been announced. On June 4, we will know who will helm the country for the next five years. Your view on the event as a marketer? How does the advertising strategy differ for political parties during Indian general elections compared to other types of marketing campaigns, considering the diverse demographics and regional nuances of the country?

A: Yes, the general elections in India, held every five years, is like a festival. We (the citizens/ voters) will have the next two months available for evaluating from a cacophony of claims and counter-claims of each brand’s (read candidate’s) competitive advantage over others across various media platforms and individual interactions. As voters, we would exert enormous power, supposedly, due to our right to vote. Very important for a democratic nation.

During this time, every communication is purported to be part of a communication drive— that’s what advertising is all about. Those parties who can bond better than others electorally would have an edge over other candidates/ parties. Obviously, the competitive claims would be different/ unique (unique value proposition), yet no one knows who would be ultimately win the race. All parties would be at their creative best to persuade the voters and that would be a fun to watch.

Of course every party claims that ‘Ab ki baar’, they would win, but any prediction would be a hazardous guess. Let’s enjoy the dance of democracy and enjoy the tune 🎵 once in five years.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q: The Hindu’s head of digital recently spoke at a WAN-IFRA event that for digital, media companies need to invest on editorial in a big way to stay ahead. What’s your view?

A: You may recall my conviction of investment in content over commerce, in terms of sequence, is still relevant. Saraswati has to be worshipped along with Laxmi. They needn’t be mutually exclusive. This is true for any enterprise of any sector including so-called ‘digital’. For an established legacy media format, one may alter the sequence for some time. In one-to-many format of delivery, the passive nature of consumption might delude an entrepreneur in believing that a change in the sequence would have no backlash from the audience. In case of interactive one-to-one medium like digital, fortune can change overnight as a digital audience could be unforgiving.  One could ignore the sequence, as mentioned before at one’s peril.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q: Hypothetically, if a certain political party were to advertise on my platform, will I be required to be soft towards it and not be critical…?

A: Pretty Hobson’s Choice in the prevailing context, to say the least. But knowing you as a bootstrap entrepreneur (read courageous and principled), you have nothing to lose beyond a few dollars. Besides, your passion for No time to Die gets you Bonded to the freedom of Licence to Kill the craze for a Goldfinger.