Category: Blog

By Minal D’Rozario and Mayur Milan, Directors

If you have been living under a rock or do not have access to social media, you may have missed the discussion on what matters and what does not. But the social commentary currently on, made us sit up and think about what truly matters at work?

As entrepreneurs it brought us to re-think; how we could have or may have missed the ‘small things’ during the pursuit of achieving the business goals and aligned it with overcoming responsibilities. The need for ‘conscious listening and observing’ as leaders has become a compelling trait as it matters to all connected. Having built a company from scratch, this episode gave us a sense of Deja vu and probed us to relive and evaluate our experiences and find out what truly matters at an organizational level.

Demonstration Matters: The current pandemic has made us realize that words with no demonstration of ‘things’ said to guide and inspire, become inconsequential. To bring a cultural change in organizations, as leaders if you are not playing a pivotal role of participation it does not translate to the people who are your most important brand advocates. From small lunch discussions to taking care of them after work and remembering things they like, these are all a small part of the grand vision, but they are so valuable.  

Acceptance Matters: Hardships in business scenarios take a toll on a lot of entrepreneurs. But if we as leaders do not accept the gaps and mistakes that we have committed, it creates a visible cultural gap which people would avoid being part of. It is human to make mistakes and it is also human to accept them. This does not imply to the leaders alone but applies to everyone in the organization. Acceptance should build great relationships, not bring upon judgments. 

Consistency Matters: We are running an engine towards a destination, and it needs regular fuel and a maintained path to get where it needs to reach. Organizational culture is much like that. It is not about the current needs, but the identification of core values and continuous evolution rather than what written in stone dictates. 

Freedom Matters: Yes, we all agree that failure is the biggest lesson. But more than that, the freedom to take risks and rise from some of those mistakes, should be ingrained in the overall culture. We aspire to build a team with entrepreneurial spirit and ownerships which is not possible with micromanagement and lack of personalization. More so, a suffocating environment where the freedom to demand ratio is skewed leads to a stressful and a toxic environment.

Bottom Line Matters: The correlation of money to culture is always debated with some discomfort. But the objectivity of business and the subjectivity of culture should co-relate on some common attributes as one without the other is possible, but the journey is much harder. A common understanding of this amongst all stakeholders, makes the equation work in some magical ways. 

Communication Matters: It is not a job done until it is communicated clearly and with a level of empathy and authenticity.   Bridging the message to actions is a stepwise process as it gets overwhelming for the receiver. The ability to assess the ‘intent’ and ‘impact’ makes it a good start in understanding the approach to convey a message. 

We surely did not use the word matters as much as we did now, in our journey of 9 years of the company’s cultural focus. Today, we are managing cultural engagement internally, and for some of our customers. If organizations are still oblivious to the areas which are unique to their cultural values and business vision, then they should start bracing themselves as ‘things do matter’ and it ends there.

By Aniruddha Bhagwat, CEO and Co-Founder

Culture Means Business. We have all been exposed to extensive discourses on building a strong work culture within organizational structures. It is important to understand that every culture is different, and the key is consistency in the shared sense of purpose, personality and character an organization showcases. Evaluating an organizational culture has to do more with ensuring an alignment of vision and likeminded professionals than whether it is a good or bad. As with life, culture is not an element to pass judgment upon, but rather identify as boundaries of who gets in and who stays out. 

Culture has to be defined not by taking inspiration from the market, but by looking within, to identify the organizational goals, mission and vision. With this retrospection, it is clear that culture is very closely coupled with business, and while it may be difficult to directly correlate with profitability, it does influencer several levers that enable a strong business bottom line. 

People

It is easy to understand the people are at the core of your culture, and thereby, your business. A consistent, well-defined culture can help companies to attract great talent and more importantly, retain them. It is the basis of employee engagement and job satisfaction. Multiple reports suggest that companies with highly engaged resources consistently perform better than peers lacking regular collaboration. All of these lead to the most important lever for business: Trust. 

Process

Engaged teams not only believe in each other, but they exercise faith in each other’s abilities and can depend on each other. Processes are closely linked with culture, as processes are only as good as their adoption. Culture ensures the organizational strategy is interspersed within the way the organization defines its uniqueness, values, behaviors and attitudes. These processes also build discipline within an organization, and are further fueled by ensuring accountability at an individual, team and organizational level. Discipline and adoption of standardized processes linked with organizational strategy ensure quality of delivery and customer satisfaction. Both of which can be directly correlated with the growth trajectory of a business.

Profits!

While profits are the common scoreboard for any business, it is the revenue efficiency that enables business to grow well and fast together. This leads to a sustained business flight path, and one a company can replicate, enhance and refine as it grows in size. Studies show that great work culture leads to superior employee engagement, and engaged companies have shown operating income increases of 28-30% and earnings growth by close to 20%. Moving past to absolute earnings, well engaged companies have been able to consistently show a 4-5 multiple return over their disengaged peers. 

Our balance sheets reward us for putting people and culture over short-term business opportunities. As business are infinite by definition, it is more important to create an environment for long term, consistent success than just tomorrow’s gains. The impact and efficiency of culture is largely dependent on leadership. Culture is all about showing, and very little about telling. Leaders showing and demonstrating great culture often yield the best results. A 2018 AON report suggests that even a 5-point bump in culture and engagement can impact revenue by 3%. These are the rewards of doing good business, and prove that as businesses continue to fight over sales, revenue and opportunities; it is the people and environments that decide the winner. And that’s why, culture absolutely means business. 

By Minal D’Rozario, Co-Founder and Director

From Gary’s one killing look on plating and assessing efforts to George’s unique set of tweezers and detail for perfection to Matt’s lifetime experience and knowledge of every flavour across the globe. And finally to that breath-taking 5 seconds silence on their feedback on every morsel, were strangely the simplest things that kept you hooked on to the show for 11 straight years. 

What if they weren’t a part of it? Unimaginable right?

Masterchef Australia was not just any other cooking show. It has stirred conversations and discussions for many to dream bigger. Whether it is to start their own cafe, or just to start cooking as a source of healing.  It has enabled cultures to come together and bond over food and flavours, to revisit relationships and learn about food, people and life. These 11 years have not only impacted contestants, but also each one sitting across the screen to initiate their passion for food or any other fields of interest. 

Rationale thinking would suggest that since the judges had been around for so many years, it was time for a change. New faces, fresh perspectives and renewed thinking. But there has been something which has kept these gentlemen glued not only to the show but also to its viewers and the community at large. In my personal opinion, the emotion of a contestant living their life through an entire series was so impacting. Winning was manifested in several ways and it changed how people approached their own lives.

Their recipe for success was made up of a simple formula- Passion, Perseverance and Perfection. The three P’s have helped millions to put things into perspective as suggested by every judge. Any one missing ingredient makes it a one time dish but put all three together and you’re looking at a timeless remembrance.

Passion is the child-like behaviour to embrace the freshness and the new aromas of life. It’s the things that get you excited and curious. It’s the love for building or creating something beautiful and hoping people will love it just as much as you do. This ingredient allows you to champion your vision of your creation. It’s not an easy task since your passions may or may not be unique from the millions that exist.  But it definitely allows you the ability to explore and push you enough to try it out. 

Now here is a hard one- Perseverance. This requires a lot of patience and motivation to keep trying and come close to your vision of what you dreamt or imagined. There are the hard calls, the ability to move forward at times and not being able to be excited every day. But the most important part of this is the right choice of equipment/tools and a lot of learning to strive towards the constant need for perfection. Doubts, confusion and challenges may strike, and most importantly, the choice to achieve perfection. Is it always the right one? 

But during the course of this journey, the people, environment, culture and your past play a huge role to continue working without trying too hard to impress anyone but yourself. 

Perfection is that selfless experience of closure and inching towards a possible result, which can make or break the response or reaction. It’s that stage wherein you take a deep breath and see your final result- whether it is an exact replica of your vision or somewhat close to it. It’s the stage where you question whether you are relevant to the end-user of your product, or if you have done everything in your hands to give your best. To be worthy of a smile and joy to the person who is the consumer of your passion.

The combination of Gary, George and Matt have helped us understand the importance of passion, perseverance and perfection coming together to form a humble yet beautiful dish. Every day, hour and minute, there are millions getting inspired to show you the world from their own perspective. And it all comes down to the 5 seconds and the experience you give or get when you build something you love. 

We will miss every word, learning and experience which you have given us all these years!

Love from millions who dream every day.

Are our festival campaigns truly festive?

 It’s that time again! Colours, flowers, sweets, fun, frolic, and brand campaigns!

Has to be festival-time, right? And world-over, this is the time when audiences are the happiest, and (most crucially) in a mood to celebrate, indulge, and spend!

 With Holi and Ramadan around the corner, this has given a perfect opportunity for brands to bring together two cultures. According to the Indian audience, it is important for brands to advertise them in a story-led format, which is crisp and meaningful. Our audience tends to relate their situations to the advertisements, and they start connecting themselves with messages portrayed via brand advertisements.’

• Arpita Chavan, Region Head

 The potential to leverage emotion, and celebration is massive, especially in a country driven by Bollywood, and community. There is no end to the list of festival campaigns we have created, year on year, season on season, like clockwork, there will be festive ads.

Most recently, came the much-debated Surf Excel ad, which, at its core talks about helping your neighbour. We have empathy, neighbourliness, acceptance, all packaged with the overall “Daag Acche Hain”…

And what did the audience take from it? Offense!

 Are we doing something wrong?

 ‘Representing culture through brands can be slightly tricky. In this digitally led age, it is imperative that we consider how our consumers might react to our campaign messages. Even if the campaign was tied to a simple message, it is easy for people to read tangentially into the message and create a backlash on social media, because freedom of expression!’

• Monica Mantri, Region Head

 One must question why we see these tangential reactions, all this offense, over a simple washing powder ad… And the roots may be in the manifestation of festive campaigns over the past few years.

Ask yourself:

• Are we still talking message, or are we talking sale?
• Are we overestimating the strength of the messages we create?
• Are we listening hard enough, and thinking deep enough?
• Do we know enough about the audience?

 There are really strong examples of brands that have successfully captured & held the attention of their audiences. Brands which have not only successfully grasped the cultural nuances, but also the changing mediums & sensibilities. We are a multi-dimensional nation, and our audiences must be spoken to as specific people, and not a faceless mass.

 ‘When I look back today, there is one campaign that reminds me of home and the festive season – the Shalimar’s Coconut Oil Durga Puja ads. They had been a pioneer in capturing Bengal’s passion and ecstasy centered around the festival, through its memorable Puja Campaigns. During the last decade, Shalimar’s Durga puja jingle has gradually become an anthem of this festival.’

• Rajarshi Bhattacharjee, Region Head

 Food, fun, community, celebration, and happiness… Sounds like the easiest mix to build a successful campaign out of. So, why is it this tricky to hit the bullseye with a festival campaign?

 Simple.

 Festivals are more than a trendy hook. They are built on traditions, people, and emotion; and the stories they represent are much deeper.

 These are the stories on which our cultures are formulated. They have been the pillars for all our diverse personas and beliefs, since centuries.  For the believers, it’s the tales of their Gods & Goddesses, for the non-believers, it’s still a time of all-pervasive celebration. How can a hasty brainstorm, and a quick campaign do justice to such ingrained traditions?

 Are we saying we should not create festival campaigns? Of course not! It’s an undeniably positive time for a brand to communicate with the audience. But we have to be careful to treat the event with the respect it deserves.

 Forget that it’s a ‘topical day’ and let yourself live the celebration! Be human, and not the ‘brand’ for a little while, and you’re sure to find that spark of celebration. It won’t come through a hastily emailed brief, nor a quick conference call. A festival is celebrated at every Indian home with hours, sometimes months of preparation. Your brand is no different.

 Put some heart into it!

By Gulshan Kaur Batra, Consulting Associate

Social media is currently trending the #10yearchallenge. You put up your current picture vis-à-vis your picture 10 years ago and let all be amazed with the drastic change in you. So cute!

Well, wish all challenges were so cute and simple in nature. But real life, especially your professional life will have a platter full of challenges in such tenure, which can leave you lost.

 Let me help explain this with a scenario.

So being a graduate in BMM (Bachelor of Mass Media), I conveniently started my journey into Public Relations 10 years ago happily learning, executing, dealing with challenges and growing at every phase. Changed multiple agencies, worked on clients in different sectors, and Holla! That’s enough for you to be termed as an ‘experienced professional’ in this industry. But never did I realise when this term ‘PR’ turned into ‘Communications’ (#Challenge1); and when did the definition of good media visibility move away from the coverage in the print copies of the Times of India, Economic Times, to Digital (#Challenge2).

The role of public relations professionals was confined to bridging the gap between media and their clients. They acted as mediators, of course meaningful ones, who ensured their clients’ work gets published and garners good media visibility. More the number of impressions, happier were the clients and thus the agencies. However, with the advent of digital media, the mediums grew beyond traditional publications and thus communication evolved. Storytelling was no longer one sided, but enabled two-way conversations, which led to the challenge of dealing with both, overall ‘communication’ as well as ‘digital’ media.

No doubt, digital media played a part in every individual’s life, over the years. But in no time, it started to hold a powerful position in every brand’s life too. Surprisingly, these are the same platforms that once enabled individuals to connect with each other, talk their heart out with random conversations; have suddenly turned thought-driven. Conversations still occur and the number is only rising, but there is a deep meaning and purpose behind every message out there. Such was the case only in very few traditional media, until a few years ago.

Agencies are evolving. Earlier termed as a PR agency, they now have a division for Social Media too. However, more often than not, as seasoned professionals in traditional PR, we tend to do our media bit and leave the latter half for social media experts. Our mind is usually stuck in the same old rat race – how many coverages did we achieve? But never did we try and think beyond – how many lives did we impact? How many conversations did we create? How much value did we achieve for our clients?

So, does that mean traditional media has no value? Definitely, not! It is still equally important. In fact, it is the strongest base of our communication tools. But how can we add relevance to the same old-school process, is what we need to quickly adapt to. And this cannot be achieved in isolation. High time, the industry realizes, the integration of both PR & digital, with a 360-degree approach can only add value to the client’s communication and business objectives.

Until my stint with Ideosphere Consulting, I never realized we can actually think beyond the mediums of communication I first started my journey with. Now working as a part of an integrated agency, who constantly thinks of providing value to clients, beyond coverage, I began to fumble and question myself, ‘what had I been doing for years?’ I realised what I did was just one part of communication and time is now demanding to look beyond. I am facing this challenge, and I am glad I did, before I could have literally felt outdated and irrelevant in the next #5yearchallenge. Today, I am the proud (and slightly lost) owner of my own Instagram account, I know how to #hashtag, and slowly, I find myself thinking about platforms I would have laughed off as silly, a few years ago. The thing is, this is where the people are, and so we must also join them. If you don’t, how can you aim to build meaningful, insight-driven, measurable conversations with them?

So, to all the traditional PR experts out there, it is time we start thinking as ‘consumers first’ to understand how we ourselves connect with a brand through multiple mediums. Similar outlook can help us chalk out effective communication strategies for our clients, helping them stand out in the clutter.

Let our skills not be outdated with time. Let’s embrace this challenge and club the expertise of both, traditional + digital communication, to be termed as real professionals of the communication industry.

And yes, this is not the end of this game. ‘Marketing Communications’ is already opening doors to adapt to a much larger horizon of communication – PR + Digital + Advertising + Marketing. Let us all gear up to meet the new age demands, constantly challenging today for a better and evolved tomorrow.

By Mayur Milan, Director

Religion is in a dire need of PR in India today.

Agreed that the same is true globally, but India has a unique case at hand. Not only are the two largest religions in the country currently facing tough times on sticky wickets, but the one common religion of India has found itself in midst of unnecessary controversy.

Cricket is the undeclared religion that binds India. Much like another religion, it has multiple gods, depending on which generation you come from. It can divide a family, create barriers between friends from different states and still drive the nation into a state of euphoric delirium.

Close on the heels of a scintillating performance that should have heralded the arrival of an all-conquering demigod, came the tragedy that was Koffee With Karan. Separated by some 10000 KM, Indian cricket saw two very different performances. One was a vintage straight drive for a six, while the other was a stumping of a wide ball.

What is unique about this situation is that, possibly for the first time, cricketers have been universally criticized. Almost everyone in their sane mind looked at the incident and called it out. Instantly. And that is the question that bothers us.

How on earth did three PR teams miss the warning signs? Two of them, the host and the broadcaster, are in the business of entertainment and can be forgiven for chasing TRPs. But the third is an upcoming superstar. A Youth Icon who commands a staggering 11 crore price tag in the domestic T20 league. Surely, someone must have seen the footage before it went on air. More likely, someone would have been present during the shoot as well. How did they miss the red flags? One could have been excused if there was an isolated incident. But in this case, it was like a flag march, they just kept coming. And yet, no one noticed it.

The swift action taken by BCCI following the incident and the statement issued by a man who would have surely hurled choicest of words at his teammates, much the way he does on the field, suggests that the other PR team has been forced into damage control mode.

One of the basic principles of PR is to know the target audience and their interest. This is closely followed by knowing your purpose and the desired result. It is ironic that this season of KWC started with a reference to the #MeToo campaign with an aim to cater to the audience and their sentiments. Somewhere along the line, that purpose seems to have been misplaced.

On the cricketer’s side though, the question of knowing the audience, the purpose of the interview and the desired result seems to have not been evaluated at all. In business terminology, it is a spray and pray approach that has been taken. Unfortunately, not only did the spray not hit the target, but it came right back on their face.

This is a good lesson for communication professionals. It is important to have in-depth knowledge/insights about your clients and the audience. Know what are they good at and what can be improved. Being authentic is key, but at the cost of antagonizing a large section of the audience is not prudent. Basis, evaluate the media opportunity at hand, and what the possible return on investment.

But most of all – know the purpose of your effort