Nikhil

Marketing - The Neglected Child Recently, Coca Cola decided on scrapping the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) role after the incumbent retired. Also, the same day, I read some interesting finding that rarely do CMOs become CEOs. That got me pondering. So folks, will you answer me? What do you think of the Marketing team in your company? More often than not, ‘marketing’ is viewed as the glamour function with visions of various media, celebrity models, graphics, creatives and all sorts of brouhaha associated with it. However, from where I see it, I would beg to differ. There is a general lack of respect for marketers. That’s why, I’d go on and like to call Marketing as the neglected child. Especially in the B2B enterprise services industry, it’s probably one of the necessary evils that an organization needs. So why is it that marketing is looked down upon? For starters, marketing is one department that always seeks money. Most of this is for branding, advertising, creating assets,...

Why Sport Thrills It was 30 March, 2011. A Wednesday evening. It was a regular working day with no holiday or a long weekend. In fact, it was a day close to the end of the fiscal year (in India). But the streets were quite vacant. Lot of office goers were huddled up in their homes, either having taken an off, a half day or working from home. Malls, restaurants & cinemas wore a deserted look. The smaller proprietary shops had even shut down. Even a large number of VIPs & celebrities had taken a break from their otherwise busy schedules. It was definitely not a war situation. Was there a strike? Or a natural calamity? Or something else? What was it that had brought a nation to a standstill? To answer it simply, it was just a game of a sport called cricket. But from an Indian perspective, it was the game of cricket. Precisely, the Cricket World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan. Need I say anything more? I am myself a huge fan of the game and had returned early ...