Tag: Dr Bhaskar Das

What’s your thinking on the question we’ve asked? Well, read the response by Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 31 edition of Das ka Dum and form your view. Read on…

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 last month of the first half of the year starts tomorrow. Anything you would like to see happening to give H1 a better look-and-feel?

A. I am getting a mixed signal: while World Bank update notes that although significant challenges remain in the global environment, India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. So, overall performance of the economy may be better than other parts of the world, but there are multiple headwinds for many sectors, including M&E, and many specific organisations, for sustaining demand growth consistently. The need of the hour is focused attention to macro and micro environments so that irrational exuberance emanating from the performance of one quarter need not flow to the next. While a growth mindset is a must, one needs to be alert of possible challenges that can torpedo future plans any time. So, conservation of resources and reduction of wasteful practices in an organisation are key.

Whattamatch! Even if we were done with the last of the post-match interiews and presentations around 3am. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das’s response to our question in the May 30 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

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. Would you say CSK was a worthy winner of IPL 2023? A word on GT: So near, but yet so far?!

A. Your first question when IPL started regarding which team I would be backing. I specifically mentioned CSK. I knew it was an emotional aspiration. Over a period of two months, that emotional expectation got converted into a conviction for many reasons: strategic and focused leadership, all team members knew what role they were expected to play, combination of experience and youth (experience: important for crunch situation, power and audacity for the youth), confidence in the team even when the team lost matches as MSD never changed the team. During the IPL, the team has not had any caps/ distinctions, yet they went ahead with their task (individual milestones were less in priority than team achievements).

Having said that, I must mention that there is no doubt that GT was one the best, if not the best teams in the tournament in terms of consistency, aggression and exemplary leadership. May be luck didn’t favour them in the final hour. Finally, here is a trivia: CSK won in Gujarat where a Chennai player rocked and the winning shot for CSK was delivered by a Gujarati. This is our India and this is the distinct mosaic of IPL.

We were debating whether we should ask this question or one on the IPL final. Mother Nature helped us make the choice. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das’s response to our question in the May 29 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

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. We missed you at the Goafest and the Abby. What’s the buzz around the twin events that has been reaching you?

A. I am touched that you missed me at Goafest. Whenever I hear about the so-called buzz (read whisper), I get reminded of a quote of Lord John Russell: It is impossible that the whisper of a faction should prevail against the voice of a nation. How is it connected? Simple. The journalistic secret desire of a so-called whisper didn’t reach me. What reached me are facts that can be equated with the voice of the M&A industry.

Look at the facts:

number of entries, partners who were excited to be part of the annual mega festival, inspite of a tepid sentiment of advertising market, the size of the number of delegates at the festival, great speakers (there is, of course, always scope for improvement for improving the quality of fertiliser to increase cognitive nutrition), the presence of both legacy players and new age tech-enabled players, the presence of FTA channels who generally used to shun Goafest (going by facts, and not perception) in the past, May heat was a challenge but it could not dampen the spirit of the participants from the annual celebration, etc etc. Nothing else reached me worth mentioning.

Net-net Goafest rocked and the two industry bodies demonstrated exemplary camaraderie to execute the mother-of-all industry events in a befitting manner.

What’s your view on the issue? Well, read the response by Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 26 edition of Das ka Dum and form your view. Read on…

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. On Day 2 of the Goafest & Abby, Leo Burnett was Digital Specialist Agency of the Year, FCB was PR specialist agency, Mindshare Technology Agency of the Year. Would you say, the days of the specialist agency are over, or is it that the Big Boys are also going truly 360 degree?

A. As they say, when everything changes, nothing changes. The circle ⭕️is conserved. I loved the focus on specialised capabilities of different agencies and they have won distinctions in their space. But that doesn’t mean that the other areas of an agency services are redundant or ignored. From that point of view, your last observation is true. Increasingly, marketers are looking at new age capabilities that encompass their business in a holistic manner (read 360 degrees) to access different cohorts of audience as per their tastes and preferences. In an exploded and imploded media landscape, an omnichannel understanding is more relevant than a unidimensional approach, unless a specific situation demands so.

An unfair thing to put our Wizard with Words on the spot, but we thought we’ll ask it nevertheless. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 25 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

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. Goafest and the Abby One Show have kickstarted. Any words of advice to those agencies who have stayed away from the awards?

A. In a democratic culture (as is in India), individual/ collective choices have to be respected, as long as they are not infringing on national interests. Hence those agencies who have not sent their entries must have a legitimate reason and I am not privy to the same.

Incidentally, I don’t have any database who haven’t sent their entries. Let’s talk facts: both for Media Abby and Creative Abby, the number of entries has gone up this year. Let’s celebrate that, rather than wondering who all haven’t sent their entries. Goafest is rocking and would continue to rock.

Having spent over three decades with The Times of India group, our Wizard with Words was decidedly one of the best persons to be asked this question as well. Without any further ado, here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 24 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

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. If your advice was sought by the new Times of India print management, what would it your top counsel?

A. I can’t match the wisdom of the entrepreneurs of The Times of India group. So I don’t have the audacity of counselling them or for that matter any entrepreneur. Otherwise, I would have been a publisher by now.

Having said that, I may put forward a few macro thoughts on the subject::

1. the topography of media landscape has gone through significant shifts. And it’s not yet over if one takes into account many inter-category black swans and grey rhinos which could significantly upend many assumptions. Hence, it is better to reframe the classical management question: what business we are in? Is it a newspaper business or a news business? The answer to this question would determine how would the future trajectory of business would move.

2. a future-backwards multiple scenario-building exercise would enable experimentation of alternatives that would cater to a ‘growth mindset’ as opposed to a ‘fixed mindset’.

3. the classical business model of print media needs to be recalibrated as that’s the elephant in the room. Over-dependence on one element of the monetisation need to be morphed into multiple monetisation routes.

4. the skill for an established legacy business is to balance business process continuity and change.

5. investment in consumer and ethnographic research, even if it’s proprietary as the print industry is in no hurry to create a new currency of audience measurement and extent of immersion in various content in the paper. These would give confidence to the advertisers to take a renewed interest in print medium, rather than using the medium dominantly for tactical purposes.

6. in the age of data and analytics, it is important that every function in an enterprise (including the print media) use data-led insight (complemented by market realities and instinct) for impacting business outcome and consumer experience across the value chain of business. Consequently, every function need to upgrade their legacy capabilities to the new realities.

7. consequent to the previous point, the human resources department has to reassess the capabilities existing in each function and upskill them depending on the capability levels and invest in hiring new talents with state of the art capabilities. In the same way, HR has to constantly find out the need for learning and development for all departments to enable the organisation stay ahead of the curve

8. finally, all the departments must work in tandem to take forward the super-ordinate growth hacking ambition of the organisation.

Having spent over three decades with The Times of India group, our Wizard with Words was decidedly one of the best persons to be asked this question. Without any further ado, here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 23 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

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. Your views on the Times group split between Messrs Samir and Vineet Jain? As someone who has worked with both very closely, did you see this coming? And what is the impact you see happening in the media in general and Times of India specifically?

A. Division of business/ wealth is a usual practice in owner-driven companies, be it by business or amongst the next generation of owners. I doubt if the media landscape will get impacted dramatically in the medium- or short-term. A development in an individual company generally doesn’t deeply impact an industry landscape. Of course over a period of time, innovation through disruptive technologies and business practices might alter competitive positions in the industry.

So far as the concerned group is concerned, I can’t extrapolate my acquired wisdom (till 2012) to the new imperatives of running a media business and of course the way the concerned entrepreneurs would focus and drive their business. Having said that, I would hasten to add that the concerned entrepreneurs have been demonstrating cutting edge  initiatives and strategy to maintain dominant market position / perception. I presume the divided entities would continue the same trend either to deeper focus on respective businesses or through a symbiotic partnership, in sync with market expectations. These are early days of the new entities and one can’t predict their future direction deterministically, now.

An unfair question to ask on a platform like this, you may say, but the answer we were looking at is from the prism of a marketer. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 19 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

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. Any brand and marketing tips you would like to offer political parties given that the next 18 months will see some high profile elections (and a mother-of-all one as well)?

A. The basic principles of marketing are the same, even for political parties:

1. Know one’s core customers, both in demographic and psychographic parameters

2. What is one’s key product proposition in sync with the segment one wants to serve/appeal to

3. How is the positioning of the concerned product superior to other competitive offerings (read pre-election promises)

4. What should be the key planks of the communication and in which medium

5. What is the social media strategy to communicate with one’s key stakeholders, 24×7

6. The communication has to be different by national and hyper-local priorities.

The above strategy needs to be customised depending on whether the party is a defender of the current market leadership position or challenging an incumbent leader.

We thought it would be good to check on the views of our Wizard with Words on this issue. So here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 17 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

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. We have not produced marketers for Bharat, Nestle India chief Suresh Narayanan has said in an interview. Do you agree?

A. I agree largely with the observation. There might be exceptions but the present pedagogical format in management schools for managers/ marketers has a certain elitism or dependence on western case studies. More often than not, it is difficult to expose students for all unique cultural mores of india which change after every 150 km (even if it’s perceived to be a stretched imagination). It can be learnt only by walking the path of Tier 2/3/4 cities and get ethnographically en-cultured in specific market characteristics and consumer behaviour.

We thought it would be interesting to ask this question. So here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 16 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

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. A report we read noted that older marketers in the 55-64 feel discriminated against in the US workforce. Would you say this is also the case in India?

A. I have no first-hand experience of discrimination in the job market of the US, though I have heard about it. But my sample is not statistically significant to buttress your observation.

So far as India is concerned, there have been experiences of individuals at some point of their professional experience, overtly or covertly, on grounds of either personal biases, gender or age or for not being part of a coterie etc. These discriminations are not an institutionalised behaviour but I feel it affects most of the societies, all over the world.

Given the newsbreak on MxM on Saturday, we thought it would be good to ask this question. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the May 15 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

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. Lowe Lintas at the Abby. We hadn’t thought it would happen in our lifetime. What’s your view

A. The Abby One Show awards at Goafest has been experiencing significant traction due to a continuous process evolution with changing realities in the ecosystem and thanks to new leadership in the stakeholders’ communities Besides, the Ad Club’s President along with Mancom members have been engaged with the stakeholders continuously to take their valuable viewpoints.

The awards are for the industry and the partnership with One Show has further reinforced the aspirational quality of Abby awards further. Hence more and more entries and participation are happening. We are happy as Ad Club has always been a cheerleader of excellence in creativity in communications.

We thought give a provocative response, but it’s not easy to provoke our Wizard with Words. Here’s Dr Bhaskar Das with a response on an IPL 2023 question in the May 12 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

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. Is Mother’s Day as a concept cashing in on a personal emotion? Or would you say that one should change with the times, and accept modern interpretations of relationships?

A. Mother’s Day celebration to honour and pay respects to mothers is now an established social more. The role of a mother in the lives of her children can’t be over-emphasised. Children have a special bond that begins the day they see their mothers for the first time and lasts forever. This is a quintessential emotion.

From this point of view, everyday needs to be celebrated for acknowledging it. If not anything,  it has to be practiced on a daily basis.

Earmarking a special day gives an opportunity to express gratitude formally but must not stop at that. Time can’t change it. The relationship needn’t be reinterpreted with changing society’s value system. I know that with geographical mobility and rise of nuclear families (love for independence and growing up without mother as a guiding force) have perhaps eroded joint family values but the emotion attached to the ‘MOTHER’ can never change. It’s my personal opinion, of course.