Giving the keynote at the virtual conference \u2018Inside Marketing 2021\u2019 organised by the IFMR Graduate School of Business (IFMR GSB), Krea University, management thinker and Group Executive President, Corporate Strategy & Business Development at Aditya Birla Group, Shiv Shivakumar said, \u201cMarketing, thanks to digital, has moved from being brand-led to category-led. In the past, I went looking for a brand. Today, when I search on the net, I look for the category. For instance \u2013 earlier, if I wanted to buy an SUV, it is quite likely that I would have looked for an SUV in the brand\u2019s outlet. Today, I type \u2018SUV\u2019 in the search engine. I type the category and not the brand. That\u2019s a fundamental shift in marketing. Once I get a category\u2019s full-list, then I say \u2013 \u2018can you share brands in the INR 5-12 lakh category?\u2019 and add other filters and look at reputation, what my friends have to say, recommendations, price, service and convenience.\u201d He further added that good marketing content today is audiovisual\u2014video in most cases\u2014and is in vernacular languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shiv Shivakumar asked the hundreds of faculty and students in attendance, \u201cWhen was the last time a serious academic came up with something new in the world of management? Not for the last 25 years. Practising managers are bringing the concepts to the table by experimenting with their companies.\u201d He exhorted academics to lead the way and not to follow. He also urged academics and universities to ensure that more real-world examples and interdisciplinary thinking be brought to learning as innovation is happening at the intersection of disciplines of study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conclave featured some illustrious marketing professionals, entrepreneurs and leaders from a gamut of industries, shedding light on some of the recent trends that have changed the way marketers look at products, markets, distribution channels, consumers and user experience. The three panels for the day were\u2014\u201cMarketing in the Age of Millennials\u201d with Hrishikesh Shende, Business Director, Adidas for Emerging Markets and David Appasamy, Head of Brand and Strategy at Social Beat; \u201cMarketing in the Age of AI\u201d with Janani Dwarakanath, Head of Product Marketing at Freshworks and Girish Ramdas, Co-Founder and CEO of Magzter; and \u201cMarketing during Crisis\u201d with Mudit Mathur, General Manager for India and South Asia at Dole Foods and LV Navaneeth, CEO of The Hindu Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conference concluded with an exclusive power talk for the students of Krea, delivered by Chetan Gore, Vice President and Business Head of Reliance Retail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Giving the keynote at the virtual conference \u2018Inside Marketing 2021\u2019 organised by the IFMR Graduate School of Business (IFMR GSB), Krea University, management thinker and Group Executive President, Corporate Strategy & Business Development at Aditya Birla Group, Shiv Shivakumar said, \u201cMarketing, thanks to digital, has moved from being brand-led to category-led. In the past, I … <\/p>\n