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Jasleen Kaur Gumber, Benetton Group

In this episode, we talk to Jasleen Kaur Gumber from the Benetton Group about what it takes to market to the most elusive bunch of audiences ever – youth!  

Transcript :

Saurabh:  Hey, this is the marketing connect podcast, a show where we get up close and personal with some of the most celebrated marketeers in the country. We talked to them and discovered the Art and Science of marketing after all. We are the show for marketeers by listening in. 

In this episode we have Jasleen kaur from Benetton. She talks to us about what it takes to Market to this ever-evolving ever-changing and ever some mysterious youth of today. Listen in they have a really really interesting guest with me on the podcast though. I have Jasleen with me and apart from the fact that just you and I went to the same College. What is also interesting is that both of us have a hobby of writing as well. So while I had people who had murdered crime fiction and other things Jasleen writes something completed, you want to talk about what you write?

Jasleen:  Hi! Hi saurabh , first of all, thank you so much for having me. And yes, I am from MDI the same college Saurabh is from and I actually love to write poetry. I do write short stories to start writing a novel but one book that I already have is around poetry and that’s why ginger and honey. 

Saurabh:  So what we will do is I just learned we will drop the link of the book in the show notes. I mean tsp ground by we can do that of and who even wants can buy and the royalties mine. What are you writing in a novel I didn’t know?

Jasleen:  The Si-Fi novel but it’s got a philosophical angle to it. It’s about the situation where one individual faces a crisis on the earth and how that individual kind of cooks up with it. So, yeah, it’s a very American sci-fi kind of an hour, but it’s got a really deep and philosophically take on it. 

Saurabh:  I think whatever gets love interacting with you. You have been among the most philosophy people 

Jasleen:  I know I think the different and those impressionable days and that’s a very impressionable age that you have. So I think getting exposed to a lot of psychology and philosophy that I’m reading you built it in ways over the years. It’s just grown.

Saurabh:  So funny thing is I am writing to be a screenwriter for screens for TV and film and a couple of days back. I attended a class on psychology 101. So the gentleman took us through your entire School of Psychology that we would Freud. I don’t know how to pronounce his name after I have spoken. Let’s talk about what your career was about from the first job? 

Jasleen:  And so I have to win to be in marketing. I feel it’s a little limiting but he has that swea The Courier has panned out for me. So I started with a publishing house where I was in the seals and communication Department. I was just there for any year. I kind of tasted the DN. Okay, dude, sales is not for me. So I have to get out of it. My second job was in Canon. I spent about little more than four years in Canyon. two different departments extensively managed advertising, BTL and public relations. And then I have come on to Benetton United Colors of Benetton where I have already crossed the five-year Mark being a very very interesting student with Benetton learned a lot here did a lot here contributed a lot your and the fashion Landscapes ever-changing. So, you know, it’s never the same. You’re the next year and work on so, yeah, and it’s been very Dynamic most of the The early Trends I see come and Retail come in fashion. So to say so yeah, I’ve also been an adopter of the early Trends in the market and I think great about it.

Saurabh:  Tell me what is a typical day like for a marketer at a fashion brand that will be cheaper faster?

Jasleen:  I’ll kind of start from the very basics. We tried mostly to club fashion in one umbrella, but that’s not really the case when you try to talk about fashion. That is a big demarcation between fast fashion. And between a mass brand between a mass premium brand between a bridge to a luxury brand between a luxury brand. So there are deals with a very strong Arenas where each brand operates and it’s important trust me. Everyone has a different ball game altogether for a fast fashion brand, for example, you know, their priorities might not be so much to you know, highlight an advertising campaign as much it would be to do an influencer marketing campaign you much depends on where you are if I really do. Talk about my particular day. I think about 50 to 60 percent of my day is meeting with vendors and seeing meetings because there is a lot in the fashion industry that you have to Outsource. So right from your social agency is to your public relations agencies to also there is this huge space that passion has entered which is strategic alliances. So, you know, you can kind of try to find brands that have the same DNA as you when you want to create a society. 

Imagery and then there’s a lot that’s happening on the digital front whether it is. Marketing or it is digital conversions of customers or an online to an offline getting people to the brick and mortar store setting a big chunk goes into doing all of these meetings and staying updated with what is happening in the market and I think one other big chunk of your day really goes into getting all internal updates. You know, what is the progress on the next collection? What is happening on the next to next collection ideation because fashion industry really works way in advance on internal front and then comes your market research your comes your market visits team alignment you basically see what’s happening out there in the market not just on Instagram, but you go out and see what stores are what else what is competition really talking like so any particular day is like a mix of all of these things.

Saurabh:  And you still find time to write poetry? 

Jasleen:  That’s all of them. That is post office hours when I really have to like to relax. That’s mostly that time. There is no scope of any poetry whatsoever. When I’m doing work.

Saurabh:  Apart from copy writing in stinkers to people who haven’t given them?

Jasleen:  Miss their deadline. Yes. 

Saurabh:  when you are in some marketing problem then who do you reach out to? 

Jasleen:  You know, sometimes when you are heading a department, there are pros and cons of it. Sometimes getting an immediate help can be your task because what happens is when you are heading a particular region a local region, you pretty much have to figure out things and I kind of have realized one thing that whenever I’ve been stuck and I’m a little old school when I see that what has really helped me is going to Academia, you know, probably You looking up for some case studies looking upward culture note. So I am a really big fan of culture notes. I don’t know how many more videos really use that but I feel as a marketing person and definitely I am of the opinion that marketing is not science. It’s an art. So you need to understand people because ultimately your consumer is the artist or is it really the resource or not. The artist is at the receiving end of the art so understanding how the millennial population talks and walks with the culture is what their likes are. I have mostly seen that. Those are where the answers lie, you know any question that you have on marketing just resort to the Poncho and you’ll get the answer. 

Saurabh:  So this brings you so 1 is assumed Karo. I am a student at MBI and you go back to college and you’re supposed to introduce this entire culture. Then when they come in it is fine to talk to me about that. That is questionable and question number two. They even to experience Consumers you must be you must be finding them somewhere, right? I will go to markets to observe them do stand in your stores. You have younger cousins who consume your products or what is your sample set? And how do you build a chance and power of consumers? 

Jasleen:  Okay, very technical questions. So I will go to the first question first and I’ll take you back almost one or two decades to answer that question. Do you know we eat cheese? Like, you know, even the processed cheese the Amul are the Mother Dairy cheese. 

It was introduced in the market. It was a big failure in Indian market even knowing how to eat it, you know? Okay. So if you go back and see some of the early cheese campaigns those campaigns were talking about how you can pop it up on your piranhas how you can top it up on your bread and you really make a bread sandwich with cheese. See it sounds so simple, but the answer really wasn’t the culture. There is a certain way you will have breakfast and you want to remove cheese from them. So you’ll need to find that one me. Meal where you can very easily fit in these key utility, you know so distinctly I kind of feel that’s a grave great culture example, and this is not this with cheese, you know, it’s also when you try and talk about like most of the utility campaigns are around culture you talk about Veet as a product, you know, you talk about women having to go to salon to get their hair removed so they try on and how you don’t have time and how this is not gonna hurt you and whatever. What it was so they really take a peek inside. What is the culture of a person? What do they really do with a routine as life of the light but you cannot lie. So I had been culture is a very broad term for all of that as the first part of your question and second part of your question is very very difficult to answer on a podcast if I am able to answer that. 

Saurabh:  so let me make it simple for you? I am up for an ability to tell me so don’t give me scientific numbers in terms of X log upended. Yeah. Create a new brand of Health products for example and just clean examples. I went to observe ki duniya mai chal Kya raha hai been chunky right one way is that I commissioned and research agency and give them those questionnaires and hypothesis and they will validate and come back with inside second is I can just sit at a you know a gym for example, umm, so yeah, it should that is a good starting point for the item go to a McDonald’s and observe, you know, how do they consume fast food. For example, Yeah, it is me. How do you keep a track on those kinds of.

Jasleen:  I feel that? You know when you talk about the market research you are or we have to understand and we have to be very sure of this fact that we are talking about large numbers. We are not talking about a niche segment or what is happening in one local area because I’ll tell you there are certain markets. There are certain smaller pockets in a particular big Market which will always show deviation that will have exceptional acronyms here. Oh, yeah. So I think basing your big decisions on just observations of one or two or three people is never a great idea because none

One who loves a certain kind of a body cream, but just that one person loving the body cream doesn’t make me in for that that body cream is the best so I will be old school when I answer this question that market research agencies are a big big winner here the kind of reached they have the kind of moderation they can do on the content is a big value add because they talk about city is they talk about a certain demography. They try to keep your error rates low. So yes. If you’re genuinely thinking of Investments, their money is involved in decisions involved. You have to talk to a Market Research company. Nonetheless. I am not going to deny the fact that some of the greatest start-up ideas in the world have come from one peak one person’s observation, you know one Mark Zuckerberg thought there was no social network, you know, that man has observation and that worked out right, but I feel in a corporate very working for a brand and you have to base your decisions. I think a one person’s observation if it’s very strong enough should be corroborated with the market research, but putting oil bats on. Just observation to me doesn’t sound like a great idea until now let’s happen. It’s very intuitive and it’s like a route right out there on your face. 

Saurabh:  So easy question for you. Tell me when they finally said ki pizza ke upar pineapple dalna hai was it an individual or was it a research agency and you don’t get it. In some sort of bad. 

Jasleen:  Sometimes people who have been at the helm of things. I’ve taken it very strongly as you know, if I talk about Starbucks man or Schwarz, you know, he’s taken some of the biggest decisions in self. If I talk about Dunkin Donuts, there would be this one man and he will say listen. I want to get rid of donuts. For example, there was a time when it was condemned. So what I’m saying is that yes sometimes decisions would come from one man think the things in their control, but you know, 

Those people are at the helm of things, you know, either are the founders of co founders of people who’ve had various years of experience and you didn’t know the industry in and out those kind of people are and gurus are Byron’s so when you talk about that one man is form equivalent to a million research researchers, but also putting things are putting pineapple on the pizza is again a very traditional culture. If you go back to some of the Continental Cuisines that combination has existed. Ever since it is just that they have even one proven concept of pineapple and another proven concept of pizza and got it married. So yes that in some strategies that they’ve put I think probably it’s just going to be some great chef’s idea I’m not sure it’s market research and just enjoy moving you right!

Saurabh:  I mean, I know you apart from this podcast as well trained and you are a fairly vocal advocate of your mental health and stuff. So you want to talk to our young marketeers and tell them that you know, what is your opinion on that? 

Jasleen:  Absolutely as absolutely as you know, there is one example that I keep quoting to everyone and this one example, I heard in my master’s class when I was doing psychology. I was doing a Masters in English and there was a psychology class and the psychology professor said one thing of his own. He was giving us a situation and he told us how one tenant committed suicide and he said Tenon committed suicide because he had fight with the landlord in the morning. The reason that he committed suicide is not that he had the fight with the landlord in the morning the reason underlying reasons, but that fight in the morning became a trigger for him to take his life. So I just feel right, you know, there is so much that goes out on social media where everybody says that be kind, be kind and I can’t see. Enough how important it is to be kind to everyone because at that time what they are thinking in their mind could be anything and probably one instigator of or one trigger word from you can really upset things. So I think we just have to be very very careful with our words and it’s thin not just what I see cyber bullying is at an all-time high. I mean, I don’t know but why do people have problems with the way anybody else is living their lives? I think we need to stop. Judging we need to be a little easy on other people and we really need to be kind without words correctly. 

Saurabh:  The next question is tell me the information that you did that you seek out on a daily basis that you know, what are your sources, what newspaper you read? What blogs do you access? You said that you would listen to our podcast. So just give me a few things that you make on the activity. 

Jasleen:  See my day really starts with Google news. That is something I just can’t live without and I would really want to say this. That I have not subscribed to a physical paper physical newspaper in my home. So I have to rely a lot on the digital news. So for my world news for my India news, I think Google news is definitely one thing that I definitely like to read and I love to read the New York Times opinion section. That’s also because if you know, like I say that for me understanding culture is very important because culture is that precursor of giving you the trends that are going to come to the market so Indian it has some fabulous writers than their content is very top notch so that’s one that I subscribe to. I also love to hear a few of these podcasts like this podcast called rabbit hole. That’s Again by New York podcast called business goals my God that’s like an addictive podcast. So they become two giant companies and they do this entire analysis on what really how the war and the duel between those two Brands started and how the brand was doing. So I listened to that then there is a BBC podcast which is a global news update there is Mark’s gospel fact as fiction, which is by dr. Sanjay Gupta. That’s again. I mean, I’m hearing it a lot during the coronavirus times and last but not the least Instagram is a big source of news for me, especially especially in the fashion domain because I’ve kind of very nicely followed the accounts which are like the voices in fashion. So, you know that editors are pure some of the very big designers so when we put up their work, For the product like traveling or what they’re doing it gives you a sense of where the world is moving in the fashion industry leading bag and he’s like my knowledge bank. 

Saurabh:  So Jasleen a bit of a question that you will have to move from Benetton for whatever reasons personal professional whatever and you have to find a replacement for yourself could be that person to have that replaces you? 

Jasleen:  Considering it’s a huge hypothetical question, answer it. I think, you know, in my role I feel creativity. That is non-negotiable because the wave I think when it is structured in India, we are independent when it comes to our social media, you know to curate our content ourselves we have to do our campaigns ourselves and literally every bit of front end that goes out is thought in house. So I think creativity would be non-negotiable to begin with. I’m kind of taking it as a rider that rests on the skills of anyone who is going to be a market. That Europe would be there but I think again I would n’t stress it enough that creativity is something that has to be on a top-notch and high level. 

Saurabh:  So are you just touched on the fact that Benetton India had been things in out that is a questionable lot of people wanted us to ask you that, you know, if you manage an international brand in India, and it obviously we have one of your own and you an example with the tons of other brands in India that are international in their origin. So, how does it work there? Let’s see if the international brand teams and the local one says in terms of you know, how do you marry the do what is it and Benetton? Now? How do you get it? 

Jasleen:  Okay, so I think first to begin with I know a lot of friends who work in a similar setup and are working for a local region and you know, they have an international team. See it’s very very subjective to how deanery the brand really wants to position. Each region I also know of certain brands that have zero interference policies if they do. Video marketing deck you are blindly supposed to just replicated because I’m very very concerned about the global imagery. But if you really talk about Benetton and in the past few years when it has created a local dialogue with customers of Iran are united by series and indicted by series. We really try to address topics that are India related and are not Global the essence of everything that we do realize allies in the global Health page. So, you know, we always need society to be social , which has been the brand DNA. I’m gonna think I think that they can’t be like one answer to this question because each brand is very very unique and how they want to position it. But yeah for Benetton since last about five years we’ve started doing a lot of local content. 

Saurabh:  So let’s talk of the hottest thing that is around us right now. Coronavirus covid. What do you think the consumer would change as an impact of covid and being how do you think the business of communication changes?

Jasleen:  The business the way we were headed towards digital? All adoption. I think we are heading in the same direction. It’s just that these LeapFrog decades maybe what had to happen a decade from now and started happening because people are locked down and the only way that you can be connected is digitally Brands who had a contribution of a certain percentage X and Y split between digital and traditional. Of course for the time being traditional has been dominant over the rest of the traditional media, which I feel eventually we will equate out. It’s just a sudden change till the time the vaccine doesn’t come up. What design sentiment is not leveled up but communication overall I feel you know, this has been a big reset and I reboot in a lot of ways and people have started questioning a lot of Brands existence their responsibility because the word sustainability angle attached with covid has been has been everywhere, you know, people are talking about pollution people are talking about climate change people are talking about sustainability. People are talking about responsible Brands title in future the Brand’s who have probably not paid attention to the so Have it on for their money. Brandon is going to become more responsible when they communicate, able to become kind in the community. Please ask you to change the right force in the future and find any whining.

Saurabh:  While here at this tell me some interesting campaigns that you’ve seen from other brands they may or may not be competitors. But what have you seen on the internet that you know, some of the branch level students have done interesting work around covid.

Jasleen:  See I kind of feel that there is not immediately. The thing that comes to my mind because I feel that has actually been an effort by a lot of Brands to do a lot of things. So there is this bank vault delivery. So you Delhivery it was I chanced upon this login form where if you enter your details your name, your address and whatever they send you a care package. Yeah. Okay, and I remember I earned my husband and I was sitting in the just filled it up randomly. Okay, because we bought it from the same industry and were a lot curious about Brands for a few days. Later, we’ll see the package and then have a bottle of sanitizer. It had a few masks and it had a pair of gloves and I was wrapped in surprised and they get it free of cost the basement trying to help people who did because you know, if you remember the start of covid in India, just when the lockdown was announced every drug shop every chemist shop had run out of these stuff. So people are finding it very difficult to get their hands on some types of masks and I think Yeah, and I think a brand logistical brand which is not even a b2c brand like delivering primarily operates in a B2B expire but for them to do something unpaid for for people who are in need. I thought I was a great gesture

Saurabh:  Funny thing. Now I’m thinking about it. I don’t think that Delhiveryhas anything to sell things?

Jasleen:  Right if it was done by say exactly that operate in a b2c set up. Great move by that. 

Saurabh: Hey, so yeah, no one told me this so that’s interesting. Are in Delhi gurgaon in the pandemic.

Jasleen:  I’m not too sure about it. But I mean, I guess it’s safe to assume that it was in Delhi. NCR guy.  I tell people that I don’t at least at least.

Saurabh:  So tell me what opportunities do you see getting created as an aftermath? Like if I told you you are coconut business school now you want to be an entrepreneur. So what opportunities do you see happening around us? 

Jasleen:  See, I do feel that people have still a lot of interest in their health and in the last two months people have tried talking about topics like nutrition. Like II and I have a nutrition freak. I have this huge do’s and don’ts list that I have given out my family. They’re not supposed to drink water after the meal and I kind of feel that you know, those are not baseless. Some of those things are very very scientific. It’s just that people don’t really know the science behind it. So, I see you in India specifically. We do not have a lot of nutrition schools. We do not have a lot of fun focus on nutrition, which I feel would eventually come around because see at the end of the day they say that covid getting covid recovering from covid is an immunity game. You don’t have medicines, you have a vaccine so people have to invest in immunity and there are ways you can invest in immunity. The first way is that you change your lifestyle and eat good food and a lot of people don’t even know about them be Basic macros and micros at you getting in the food nutrition as a space is really

Saurabh:  Young went for the phenomena of the late Kings the consumer behavior from the Galaxy.

Jasleen:  I can tell you for a fact that people in the rural segment it more nutritious food than people in the oven segment again people in the rural segments are not going to binge on your chips and pizzas and they would eventually just eat Dal Roti rice, which is way more healthy than what urban people need and I also feel that the whole Um, because C vitamin E will need knowledge. You basically need knowledge when you have a choice and talk is only exist in the urban phenomenon like a rural that person doesn’t have a choice if I can eat fast-food  or should I eat a healthy food homemade flea has to arrive the choices in the humble guy and the urban guy has to decide do I need to go to a McDonald’s or do I need to go to Pizza Hut or should I could you be at my home.

Saurabh:  People are going to go to work from home and do three four interesting things more than you do. My shorter than theme is going to be bound. Office who’s interested in technology and tools are getting ready to do that. 

Jasleen:  I am not someone who has done virtual coffee dates with my team at all. You know, I kind of feel that that’s a compulsion right? We all are doing dishes. We are vacuuming her figured speaking food. I think I think my team is a me and my team and I. We are enough bonded to survive this and I have actually given them a lot of time to create a good bond and good relationship between us because I feel one person under a lot of stress. You know, we’re not just working from home. We are working for the home also. So actually coincidentally I have not tried to do any team bonding activity. In fact, whatever little time I feel is spear. I’ve just let them be where they are and give their time to family or whatever housework their first. 

Saurabh:  That’s it. That’s it. That’s a unique one because nobody else has sort of given me this answer.

Jasleen:  Yeah I thought is this answer correct or not because they are both young and I know that with their family so they would have a lot of work to do so which is why I like giving them time to be on their own. 

Saurabh:  So tell me or what makes me feel very very hard for marketing professionals to interview in the times to come?

Jasleen:  Events events events. That’s the hardest thing because I do not personally speak. I do not think that virtual events can replace physical events. I really don’t think no because the fact when you enter into a set and how you experience an installation and not sure if you can replicate It would surely everything else in my head as an alternative but not events as such you know, so I definitely feel that that experience how consumers experience brand how media experiences our brand. I’m not really sure how that’s going to shape up. 

Saurabh:  So what and what about Marketeers? Let’s say for example, if I’m passing out of college this year what skills do I need to have apart from core marketing knowledge to be able to impress a boss, impress clients and get things done. 

Jasleen:  I See I added mostly don’t even don’t think that you know, any short-term skill is ever of importance. I do feel that and I go back to the point where I started and maybe I’m overusing it, but I think it’s just knowing the culture more knowing and understanding what’s happening around you more but when something happens is sometimes some very normal things common things. We just ignore them, but they need to be registered like you need to take note of these so I feel as marketers. You just need to know where the world is headed? Dude, for example, I can tell you for now. I’m hearing and it’s not a very personal opinion that I give you but I know a lot of people who have never in their life heard a podcast or heard a podcast. Yeah, so I see that has increased and who wear not found off OTD content and started subscribing to Netflix and I think these are the little things you need to capture and pay attention to doing your marketing strategies and marketing analytics you just need to make sure where the world has headed too.

Saurabh:   OK I’m going to ask you some controversial questions that we have what are the most used and cring contents that you have come across?

Jasleen:  I think the biggest jargon that I come across that is integrated marketing and a lot of way really pisses me off to an extent because I know a lot of people who would have an argument that integrated marketing is required you know even a unique channel marketing can do I think you need to be very very unique about what the object will be and I know some of the campaign that have happened only on instagram but everyone knows about them I feel at a point consumer demographic was demanded and I feel is the time were we have very clear cut filters so the overlap should be reduced and the expenses gets reduced and I’m very certain that marketeer there can be unique marketing strategy and again it is very very personal opinion yeah yeah.

Saurabh:  so disclaimers to disclaimer to all the people listening to this conversation we are talking Jasleen the individual and not as a marketing manager 

So tell me what is your opinion on things like er and ER and she merging technology that apparently makes the life Market is easier.

Jasleen: I have mixed opinions both good and bad. I feel something’s have an alternate and I feel something’s don’t have an alternate when we’re talking about a virtual reality. Yes. It can come in very handy when you’re trying to say do A virtual shopping tour, but if you try and get up and close with a particular product or if you’re trying to see a fit and a style of virtual reality might not even be close to the reality the real reality. So it’s a mixed bag right now because I think this whole era is in the nest nascent stage of both AR and VR, but I do feel if you really ask me my best. I put my bed on your NVR because I do think this is going to be the future of so seen your finger. 

Saurabh:  So in your opinion which will lose the battle without we do nothing or code inside sled marketing that is depended on for creativity. 

Jasleen:  See I think I would like to answer it in a way that when you’re talking about FMCG products. I think data is always going to win because it’s working on a very very big scale. But I think when you’re talking about more value-added products like more value proposition products, I think the insides are going to win because see what happens is when you talking about, okay? Okay, I’ll give a very very hypothetical example when you’re talking about something like a Mercedes-Benz, you know, we’re talking about experience and experience comes for with some of these luxury Brands some of these premium Brands. That’s what I think sites. We are huge role because it’s hiya buck that the consumers but with FMCG because it’s a huge scale and economies are high seas data will add more value adding. I like to understand. 

Saurabh:  So what is your take on these girls in boys next door becoming influencers on these platforms like Tik Tok lately and the Instagram the world is a what is your take on them? 

Jasleen:  See I will give you an and this is one thing that I’ve been doing since last it is seven years of my career. I see it till the time influencer is a Content Factory. It is great, right? I mean if I talked about and I would take a name if I talk about someone like a Prajakta kholi If I talk about someone like a Sejall Kumar these influencers are working hard on their content, you know, and when you see that content everything every time it’s something fresh, you know, you like to watch but if you’re talking about another influencer who does a video on how the skincare routine will give me a Flawless skin. That’s number one. So I think influences going to stay which is not something that I thought five years back, but I see this today I influencer marketing is going To stay but it completely depends on the content creator, you know, the content has to be much more than the product the content has to has a story and everything like that goes on your feet needs to tell your personality. I think it was things those ingredients. Alright influencer marketing Professionals in terms of

Saurabh:  So what happens is only printed piece lot of these agencies that you created begin to imagine a disease will go to a client and see that you have for your particular business problem. Here is a young girl who has in kind of a 5M following and here is an idea that’s married to an get her to be a mouthpiece for our idea for our communication. There’s approach a approach is a brand like yours approaches in increments of directly and say is that you know, you are a young person who understands technology contained with community and the audience. Well, what do you think should be the idea for us to go ahead with these are the two approaches do you think about you better? Believe see? 

Jasleen:  How can you I know you will say that I do. You diplomatic answers, but you know, maybe one we did definitely might be wondering tell you why I think of it as a marriage between a boy and a girl. Yeah, the boy has to like the girl and the girl has to like the boy answered kindly one-way Street the case we enter into the influencers audience, right you are entering into the influencers audience. Nobody knows that audience more than the influenza. Yeah, and if you’re talking about the brain And that the influenza has to endorse Nobody Knows the brand. And the branches so I definitely see that and in fact there has to be a very fruitful and productive communication between both the parties because there are two personalities coming together. There are two images coming together. So it has two men. There is no other hand.

Saurabh:  If I were to ask you to pick between the celebrity influencers gets a film stars and cricketers versus these people next to the ones that we spoke about which one would you prefer and or is it again both ways? 

Jasleen:  No this is not both ways. It’s according to your strategy. If you have Deep Pockets to invest into celebrities, you take celebrities, of course, you can’t beat celebrities on reach but the fact is that I know some of the brand you have never taken celebrities, but they have consistently taken that influencers spread out their budget evenly through the year and body great results. So I think it’s there. These are two functions one is function of a consistency because whether you’re once you do a carpet bong bing miming event and then you surrender and might not work a lot of fans, you know, they keep threatening that push through the year. So for that portion to make your budget more sustainable you try to get on influences and celebrities. So I think it completely depends on what your budgets really look like three children facilities that you know of.

Saurabh: My next question is so, what is your take on surveyed marketing, you know get a lot of categories that can’t really use Main Line communication channels even digital channels to promote themselves, so they are Often this clean cards and they come up with funny things to promote themselves. So what is your take on this see?

Jasleen:  I feel at the end of the day. It’s all about branding and if you are able to establish the recall without getting into a cannibalization or you know thought cannibalization like I’ll give you an example of vadilal ice-cream Many times I read this somewhere and I’ll just also research that I’m not quoting it wrong. But why didn’t our which is an ice cream company young also has petrol pumps. Yeah, exactly. So the and he had petrol pumps earlier than the ice creams. Okay, my ice creams from them only adds growth and yield to your existing and Main category of Cash Cow Brands all good, it increases your brand recall books for you, but it should not be something that is very counter to what you mean like. 

Saurabh:  What are your favorite gadgets and what should the market is acquaintances?

Jasleen:  I actually I think the biggest not the biggest I would say but the most prominent investment and the recent investment. I did on my Airpods. We have made my life easier than anything in the world because I’m like, I’m surrounded by Airpods. I don’t even care about the wire and I’m taking my calls day in day out we can see I as a marketeer and I am I’m very sure I speak on behalf of all the marketers. You have a plethora of calls in a day and I think you’ve survived them phones. Yeah, so I think it’s very important for you to also like I am sure I’m walking when I’m not sitting on Monday. So are you working right now? See this is as a marketeer. One thing that’s really is my productivity. 

Her husband and bones, and I’m ending this will be got the Sun. 

Saurabh:  So yeah. Yeah. So now this question on Twitter somebody in Assam degrees here are so passionate return. It said what was that fun purchased under 10,000 of these that you need that beat your life significantly better and you’ll be surprised that 80% people said Airpods.

Jasleen:  I’m not surprised because I’m you know, a sort of I was never the person who could have headphones on in my ears like these beer bars in my Here. I know. I think I have funny ears. Okay, is that the table structures on who headphone really grips very well and we keep falling off. So I always had a terrible time to time. Somebody told me that you should try airpods. I got my age could be the same thing. What big deal I’m like no, this is something about them and these fit in my ear like of gloves. I was like, oh my God, I’m never had anything but in my you’re so well, so I am not surprised. I’m a big fan of them. 

Saurabh:  If you want to give a couple of books things , tools, ideas to your team each member of your team. What do you think? 

Jasleen:  I think I am a dentist hbr series Volume of books. That’s by strategy Innovation. This is book called mindfulness and I’m going to either give them an edge be our membership or I’m actually going to buy a couple of HB books and movie. Am I I have a huge feat on all the Harvard researchers and I some of their articles have really been like the people to you. So now I’m going to give that to my team but it’s

Saurabh:  So Jasleen time for the last three four questions that I asked you to tell me if I sing about you to understand who you are before a class in questions. I realize that you’re super super active on LinkedIn that is active, you know, pointing at write articles need to find You know opportunities in these times. So so if I wanted to give you wanted you to give me a crash course on LinkedIn, what are the three or four steps that I can take My Little Pony Lincoln has been very intuitive.

Jasleen:  And I think that’s where I I have an edge. We have tried to incorporate my LinkedIn post. Take inspiration of my lingering post from whatever happens in my day-to-day life and they didn’t really have any set strategy. I think the only strategy is that whatever happens through my day. Is any students that stands out I think and it’s professional. I think that’s also one thing I do not do not on my LinkedIn ever try to put out any personal content. That’s that’s a big big rules. But I think intuitively if there’s anything professionally that I feel strongly about that goes on my link tonight haven’t really given a big brain.

Saurabh:  To perform the role is and if I were to if you would have asked me a question?

 Jasleen:  what’s that do one thing? What’s that common thing? That you found interviewing all them.

Saurabh:  Interesting because I don’t want in life something that they would look for in people. So for example, somebody has changed five jobs, for example, they would not want to First and it has stayed in the same industry for years, but they look at various experiences as a person as a wow exploring the ability to learn Casino see is what I think most people have come back yours is obviously week one creativity is getting your business requires a lot of that, but for other people it was.

Jasleen:  I actually like that perspective because I also know age-old HR practices would really want to gauge you on how loyal you go to a company and how long do you spend on a country setting that’s very refreshing perspective what you say? 

Saurabh:  I think that is chain because because most people that I’ve spoken to their absolute if you spent two years with 5 companies over here of tables you want to talk about a time when you failed miserably at a project. It could be a dependent on how it could be. I apologize for that. 

Jasleen:  This topic is I’ll be honored. It’s taken me a long while to come to terms with this and I think it’s important now to happens is when you’re at a leadership position, everybody thinks that you’ve been doing things perfectly ever since, you know, you know everything you’ve never failed and and I think that some dead such a big misconception because I did my first ever event and that wasn’t buying I’m not going to give you any more details, but I read the worst job of the worst. Our job of it. I can’t even tell you the kind of failures. I had in that event and I just thought that I’m never going to be able to show my face to anyone after this and I and that day I thought that you know marketing is not I should quit because I’m normally pretty feisty. It took me a lot of years and I think it’s probably after some eight years and I’m talking about it’s also taken a lot of strength to come to terms with it that you know, if you feel once it doesn’t mean that you will fail every time and you will not be able to rise up and actually I want to say this to everyone out there that will fail. Please do not hang on to that bevery. I mean, hang onto the lessons of that memory, but do not hang onto the embarrassment of that memory because you will always see do a better job of it in the times to come because you’ve learned out of so yeah I literally miserably failed and one very very big event in my life a physical event where they if they were people who flew from India to Sabayon. It was a disaster event. They go to be many such videos coming your way. Way and that’s the truth. I’m not sure putting it with that is the truth because you learn as you go. I think the fact that I’ve taken so long to come to terms with it also speaks of the volumes that how much judgment there is in the industry in a workplace and they will always so I think we just need to be strong enough to find our own path our resources and our own ways of getting over it. But ER everybody wants analyzed time it was once lifetime does encounter that big failure that you know becomes then go to memory which is fine and you just need to 

get out.

Saurabh:  I have two more questions. One is an easy one one is tough one. Is it up? And I’m going to ask the tough one first. What is it that you hate about the professional marketing is anything.

Jasleen:  I don’t think I hate anything in my job except the fact that I know some of my peers marketing fears have to sell products that they will Levy find that a little bit. It of Catch-22 situation because you’re doing that as a profession but you might never consume those products yourself and there. 

Saurabh:  Last question does the organs if you were to throw open marketing challenge to other stores. These could be students. This would be mid-level marketeers is what kind of what would you want them to work on? 

Jasleen:  Yeah. I have a very interesting question and I will be very upfront with you. That’s like my mental exercise. So what I have what I think of is I think of these situations where there is random Northern position that’s happened. Okay, come to think of it. For example, what if tomorrow you hear our Netflix has been acquired by Google. What do you think Netflix is going to do? Okay, I think when you try will marry some of these interesting Brands because the rebranding today’s date has a very strong ideology and a personality. I didn’t you just open a creative canvas for you to think how things can possibly be. You know what? What are the larger and Nina venues or talk about ways to talk to Consumer so example that there was a long time and I kept on saying to you is that what is one day when I was at ever back in Canon I used to think about it. You wouldn’t wind a candle is acquired by Google, you know, what will happen What will change because any proof of those hypothetical situations? You just think of the facts that you mostly ignored in your day-to-day life and lost Communications. 

Saurabh:  So I call these things thought experiments and So I try to understand the character jungle because I go toh Kya karega for example.so that helps me to write a book as a marketing perspective 

Jasleen: Try it !

Saurabh: Thank you so much. 

 That was Jasleen from Benetton. Hope you will enjoyed the conversation and please write in to us and tell us how do we improve the marketing correct podcast for you. You just heard the latest episode of the marketing show for marketeers. The show was brought to you by C4E and the podium.

In this episode, we talk to Jasleen Kaur Gumber from the Benetton Group about what it takes to market to the most elusive bunch of audiences ever – youth!  

Transcript :

Saurabh:  Hey, this is the marketing connect podcast, a show where we get up close and personal with some of the most celebrated marketeers in the country. We talked to them and discovered the Art and Science of marketing after all. We are the show for marketeers by listening in. 

In this episode we have Jasleen kaur from Benetton. She talks to us about what it takes to Market to this ever-evolving ever-changing and ever some mysterious youth of today. Listen in they have a really really interesting guest with me on the podcast though. I have Jasleen with me and apart from the fact that just you and I went to the same College. What is also interesting is that both of us have a hobby of writing as well. So while I had people who had murdered crime fiction and other things Jasleen writes something completed, you want to talk about what you write?

Jasleen:  Hi! Hi saurabh , first of all, thank you so much for having me. And yes, I am from MDI the same college Saurabh is from and I actually love to write poetry. I do write short stories to start writing a novel but one book that I already have is around poetry and that’s why ginger and honey. 

Saurabh:  So what we will do is I just learned we will drop the link of the book in the show notes. I mean tsp ground by we can do that of and who even wants can buy and the royalties mine. What are you writing in a novel I didn’t know?

Jasleen:  The Si-Fi novel but it’s got a philosophical angle to it. It’s about the situation where one individual faces a crisis on the earth and how that individual kind of cooks up with it. So, yeah, it’s a very American sci-fi kind of an hour, but it’s got a really deep and philosophically take on it. 

Saurabh:  I think whatever gets love interacting with you. You have been among the most philosophy people 

Jasleen:  I know I think the different and those impressionable days and that’s a very impressionable age that you have. So I think getting exposed to a lot of psychology and philosophy that I’m reading you built it in ways over the years. It’s just grown.

Saurabh:  So funny thing is I am writing to be a screenwriter for screens for TV and film and a couple of days back. I attended a class on psychology 101. So the gentleman took us through your entire School of Psychology that we would Freud. I don’t know how to pronounce his name after I have spoken. Let’s talk about what your career was about from the first job? 

Jasleen:  And so I have to win to be in marketing. I feel it’s a little limiting but he has that swea The Courier has panned out for me. So I started with a publishing house where I was in the seals and communication Department. I was just there for any year. I kind of tasted the DN. Okay, dude, sales is not for me. So I have to get out of it. My second job was in Canon. I spent about little more than four years in Canyon. two different departments extensively managed advertising, BTL and public relations. And then I have come on to Benetton United Colors of Benetton where I have already crossed the five-year Mark being a very very interesting student with Benetton learned a lot here did a lot here contributed a lot your and the fashion Landscapes ever-changing. So, you know, it’s never the same. You’re the next year and work on so, yeah, and it’s been very Dynamic most of the The early Trends I see come and Retail come in fashion. So to say so yeah, I’ve also been an adopter of the early Trends in the market and I think great about it.

Saurabh:  Tell me what is a typical day like for a marketer at a fashion brand that will be cheaper faster?

Jasleen:  I’ll kind of start from the very basics. We tried mostly to club fashion in one umbrella, but that’s not really the case when you try to talk about fashion. That is a big demarcation between fast fashion. And between a mass brand between a mass premium brand between a bridge to a luxury brand between a luxury brand. So there are deals with a very strong Arenas where each brand operates and it’s important trust me. Everyone has a different ball game altogether for a fast fashion brand, for example, you know, their priorities might not be so much to you know, highlight an advertising campaign as much it would be to do an influencer marketing campaign you much depends on where you are if I really do. Talk about my particular day. I think about 50 to 60 percent of my day is meeting with vendors and seeing meetings because there is a lot in the fashion industry that you have to Outsource. So right from your social agency is to your public relations agencies to also there is this huge space that passion has entered which is strategic alliances. So, you know, you can kind of try to find brands that have the same DNA as you when you want to create a society. 

Imagery and then there’s a lot that’s happening on the digital front whether it is. Marketing or it is digital conversions of customers or an online to an offline getting people to the brick and mortar store setting a big chunk goes into doing all of these meetings and staying updated with what is happening in the market and I think one other big chunk of your day really goes into getting all internal updates. You know, what is the progress on the next collection? What is happening on the next to next collection ideation because fashion industry really works way in advance on internal front and then comes your market research your comes your market visits team alignment you basically see what’s happening out there in the market not just on Instagram, but you go out and see what stores are what else what is competition really talking like so any particular day is like a mix of all of these things.

Saurabh:  And you still find time to write poetry? 

Jasleen:  That’s all of them. That is post office hours when I really have to like to relax. That’s mostly that time. There is no scope of any poetry whatsoever. When I’m doing work.

Saurabh:  Apart from copy writing in stinkers to people who haven’t given them?

Jasleen:  Miss their deadline. Yes. 

Saurabh:  when you are in some marketing problem then who do you reach out to? 

Jasleen:  You know, sometimes when you are heading a department, there are pros and cons of it. Sometimes getting an immediate help can be your task because what happens is when you are heading a particular region a local region, you pretty much have to figure out things and I kind of have realized one thing that whenever I’ve been stuck and I’m a little old school when I see that what has really helped me is going to Academia, you know, probably You looking up for some case studies looking upward culture note. So I am a really big fan of culture notes. I don’t know how many more videos really use that but I feel as a marketing person and definitely I am of the opinion that marketing is not science. It’s an art. So you need to understand people because ultimately your consumer is the artist or is it really the resource or not. The artist is at the receiving end of the art so understanding how the millennial population talks and walks with the culture is what their likes are. I have mostly seen that. Those are where the answers lie, you know any question that you have on marketing just resort to the Poncho and you’ll get the answer. 

Saurabh:  So this brings you so 1 is assumed Karo. I am a student at MBI and you go back to college and you’re supposed to introduce this entire culture. Then when they come in it is fine to talk to me about that. That is questionable and question number two. They even to experience Consumers you must be you must be finding them somewhere, right? I will go to markets to observe them do stand in your stores. You have younger cousins who consume your products or what is your sample set? And how do you build a chance and power of consumers? 

Jasleen:  Okay, very technical questions. So I will go to the first question first and I’ll take you back almost one or two decades to answer that question. Do you know we eat cheese? Like, you know, even the processed cheese the Amul are the Mother Dairy cheese. 

It was introduced in the market. It was a big failure in Indian market even knowing how to eat it, you know? Okay. So if you go back and see some of the early cheese campaigns those campaigns were talking about how you can pop it up on your piranhas how you can top it up on your bread and you really make a bread sandwich with cheese. See it sounds so simple, but the answer really wasn’t the culture. There is a certain way you will have breakfast and you want to remove cheese from them. So you’ll need to find that one me. Meal where you can very easily fit in these key utility, you know so distinctly I kind of feel that’s a grave great culture example, and this is not this with cheese, you know, it’s also when you try and talk about like most of the utility campaigns are around culture you talk about Veet as a product, you know, you talk about women having to go to salon to get their hair removed so they try on and how you don’t have time and how this is not gonna hurt you and whatever. What it was so they really take a peek inside. What is the culture of a person? What do they really do with a routine as life of the light but you cannot lie. So I had been culture is a very broad term for all of that as the first part of your question and second part of your question is very very difficult to answer on a podcast if I am able to answer that. 

Saurabh:  so let me make it simple for you? I am up for an ability to tell me so don’t give me scientific numbers in terms of X log upended. Yeah. Create a new brand of Health products for example and just clean examples. I went to observe ki duniya mai chal Kya raha hai been chunky right one way is that I commissioned and research agency and give them those questionnaires and hypothesis and they will validate and come back with inside second is I can just sit at a you know a gym for example, umm, so yeah, it should that is a good starting point for the item go to a McDonald’s and observe, you know, how do they consume fast food. For example, Yeah, it is me. How do you keep a track on those kinds of.

Jasleen:  I feel that? You know when you talk about the market research you are or we have to understand and we have to be very sure of this fact that we are talking about large numbers. We are not talking about a niche segment or what is happening in one local area because I’ll tell you there are certain markets. There are certain smaller pockets in a particular big Market which will always show deviation that will have exceptional acronyms here. Oh, yeah. So I think basing your big decisions on just observations of one or two or three people is never a great idea because none

One who loves a certain kind of a body cream, but just that one person loving the body cream doesn’t make me in for that that body cream is the best so I will be old school when I answer this question that market research agencies are a big big winner here the kind of reached they have the kind of moderation they can do on the content is a big value add because they talk about city is they talk about a certain demography. They try to keep your error rates low. So yes. If you’re genuinely thinking of Investments, their money is involved in decisions involved. You have to talk to a Market Research company. Nonetheless. I am not going to deny the fact that some of the greatest start-up ideas in the world have come from one peak one person’s observation, you know one Mark Zuckerberg thought there was no social network, you know, that man has observation and that worked out right, but I feel in a corporate very working for a brand and you have to base your decisions. I think a one person’s observation if it’s very strong enough should be corroborated with the market research, but putting oil bats on. Just observation to me doesn’t sound like a great idea until now let’s happen. It’s very intuitive and it’s like a route right out there on your face. 

Saurabh:  So easy question for you. Tell me when they finally said ki pizza ke upar pineapple dalna hai was it an individual or was it a research agency and you don’t get it. In some sort of bad. 

Jasleen:  Sometimes people who have been at the helm of things. I’ve taken it very strongly as you know, if I talk about Starbucks man or Schwarz, you know, he’s taken some of the biggest decisions in self. If I talk about Dunkin Donuts, there would be this one man and he will say listen. I want to get rid of donuts. For example, there was a time when it was condemned. So what I’m saying is that yes sometimes decisions would come from one man think the things in their control, but you know, 

Those people are at the helm of things, you know, either are the founders of co founders of people who’ve had various years of experience and you didn’t know the industry in and out those kind of people are and gurus are Byron’s so when you talk about that one man is form equivalent to a million research researchers, but also putting things are putting pineapple on the pizza is again a very traditional culture. If you go back to some of the Continental Cuisines that combination has existed. Ever since it is just that they have even one proven concept of pineapple and another proven concept of pizza and got it married. So yes that in some strategies that they’ve put I think probably it’s just going to be some great chef’s idea I’m not sure it’s market research and just enjoy moving you right!

Saurabh:  I mean, I know you apart from this podcast as well trained and you are a fairly vocal advocate of your mental health and stuff. So you want to talk to our young marketeers and tell them that you know, what is your opinion on that? 

Jasleen:  Absolutely as absolutely as you know, there is one example that I keep quoting to everyone and this one example, I heard in my master’s class when I was doing psychology. I was doing a Masters in English and there was a psychology class and the psychology professor said one thing of his own. He was giving us a situation and he told us how one tenant committed suicide and he said Tenon committed suicide because he had fight with the landlord in the morning. The reason that he committed suicide is not that he had the fight with the landlord in the morning the reason underlying reasons, but that fight in the morning became a trigger for him to take his life. So I just feel right, you know, there is so much that goes out on social media where everybody says that be kind, be kind and I can’t see. Enough how important it is to be kind to everyone because at that time what they are thinking in their mind could be anything and probably one instigator of or one trigger word from you can really upset things. So I think we just have to be very very careful with our words and it’s thin not just what I see cyber bullying is at an all-time high. I mean, I don’t know but why do people have problems with the way anybody else is living their lives? I think we need to stop. Judging we need to be a little easy on other people and we really need to be kind without words correctly. 

Saurabh:  The next question is tell me the information that you did that you seek out on a daily basis that you know, what are your sources, what newspaper you read? What blogs do you access? You said that you would listen to our podcast. So just give me a few things that you make on the activity. 

Jasleen:  See my day really starts with Google news. That is something I just can’t live without and I would really want to say this. That I have not subscribed to a physical paper physical newspaper in my home. So I have to rely a lot on the digital news. So for my world news for my India news, I think Google news is definitely one thing that I definitely like to read and I love to read the New York Times opinion section. That’s also because if you know, like I say that for me understanding culture is very important because culture is that precursor of giving you the trends that are going to come to the market so Indian it has some fabulous writers than their content is very top notch so that’s one that I subscribe to. I also love to hear a few of these podcasts like this podcast called rabbit hole. That’s Again by New York podcast called business goals my God that’s like an addictive podcast. So they become two giant companies and they do this entire analysis on what really how the war and the duel between those two Brands started and how the brand was doing. So I listened to that then there is a BBC podcast which is a global news update there is Mark’s gospel fact as fiction, which is by dr. Sanjay Gupta. That’s again. I mean, I’m hearing it a lot during the coronavirus times and last but not the least Instagram is a big source of news for me, especially especially in the fashion domain because I’ve kind of very nicely followed the accounts which are like the voices in fashion. So, you know that editors are pure some of the very big designers so when we put up their work, For the product like traveling or what they’re doing it gives you a sense of where the world is moving in the fashion industry leading bag and he’s like my knowledge bank. 

Saurabh:  So Jasleen a bit of a question that you will have to move from Benetton for whatever reasons personal professional whatever and you have to find a replacement for yourself could be that person to have that replaces you? 

Jasleen:  Considering it’s a huge hypothetical question, answer it. I think, you know, in my role I feel creativity. That is non-negotiable because the wave I think when it is structured in India, we are independent when it comes to our social media, you know to curate our content ourselves we have to do our campaigns ourselves and literally every bit of front end that goes out is thought in house. So I think creativity would be non-negotiable to begin with. I’m kind of taking it as a rider that rests on the skills of anyone who is going to be a market. That Europe would be there but I think again I would n’t stress it enough that creativity is something that has to be on a top-notch and high level. 

Saurabh:  So are you just touched on the fact that Benetton India had been things in out that is a questionable lot of people wanted us to ask you that, you know, if you manage an international brand in India, and it obviously we have one of your own and you an example with the tons of other brands in India that are international in their origin. So, how does it work there? Let’s see if the international brand teams and the local one says in terms of you know, how do you marry the do what is it and Benetton? Now? How do you get it? 

Jasleen:  Okay, so I think first to begin with I know a lot of friends who work in a similar setup and are working for a local region and you know, they have an international team. See it’s very very subjective to how deanery the brand really wants to position. Each region I also know of certain brands that have zero interference policies if they do. Video marketing deck you are blindly supposed to just replicated because I’m very very concerned about the global imagery. But if you really talk about Benetton and in the past few years when it has created a local dialogue with customers of Iran are united by series and indicted by series. We really try to address topics that are India related and are not Global the essence of everything that we do realize allies in the global Health page. So, you know, we always need society to be social , which has been the brand DNA. I’m gonna think I think that they can’t be like one answer to this question because each brand is very very unique and how they want to position it. But yeah for Benetton since last about five years we’ve started doing a lot of local content. 

Saurabh:  So let’s talk of the hottest thing that is around us right now. Coronavirus covid. What do you think the consumer would change as an impact of covid and being how do you think the business of communication changes?

Jasleen:  The business the way we were headed towards digital? All adoption. I think we are heading in the same direction. It’s just that these LeapFrog decades maybe what had to happen a decade from now and started happening because people are locked down and the only way that you can be connected is digitally Brands who had a contribution of a certain percentage X and Y split between digital and traditional. Of course for the time being traditional has been dominant over the rest of the traditional media, which I feel eventually we will equate out. It’s just a sudden change till the time the vaccine doesn’t come up. What design sentiment is not leveled up but communication overall I feel you know, this has been a big reset and I reboot in a lot of ways and people have started questioning a lot of Brands existence their responsibility because the word sustainability angle attached with covid has been has been everywhere, you know, people are talking about pollution people are talking about climate change people are talking about sustainability. People are talking about responsible Brands title in future the Brand’s who have probably not paid attention to the so Have it on for their money. Brandon is going to become more responsible when they communicate, able to become kind in the community. Please ask you to change the right force in the future and find any whining.

Saurabh:  While here at this tell me some interesting campaigns that you’ve seen from other brands they may or may not be competitors. But what have you seen on the internet that you know, some of the branch level students have done interesting work around covid.

Jasleen:  See I kind of feel that there is not immediately. The thing that comes to my mind because I feel that has actually been an effort by a lot of Brands to do a lot of things. So there is this bank vault delivery. So you Delhivery it was I chanced upon this login form where if you enter your details your name, your address and whatever they send you a care package. Yeah. Okay, and I remember I earned my husband and I was sitting in the just filled it up randomly. Okay, because we bought it from the same industry and were a lot curious about Brands for a few days. Later, we’ll see the package and then have a bottle of sanitizer. It had a few masks and it had a pair of gloves and I was wrapped in surprised and they get it free of cost the basement trying to help people who did because you know, if you remember the start of covid in India, just when the lockdown was announced every drug shop every chemist shop had run out of these stuff. So people are finding it very difficult to get their hands on some types of masks and I think Yeah, and I think a brand logistical brand which is not even a b2c brand like delivering primarily operates in a B2B expire but for them to do something unpaid for for people who are in need. I thought I was a great gesture

Saurabh:  Funny thing. Now I’m thinking about it. I don’t think that Delhiveryhas anything to sell things?

Jasleen:  Right if it was done by say exactly that operate in a b2c set up. Great move by that. 

Saurabh: Hey, so yeah, no one told me this so that’s interesting. Are in Delhi gurgaon in the pandemic.

Jasleen:  I’m not too sure about it. But I mean, I guess it’s safe to assume that it was in Delhi. NCR guy.  I tell people that I don’t at least at least.

Saurabh:  So tell me what opportunities do you see getting created as an aftermath? Like if I told you you are coconut business school now you want to be an entrepreneur. So what opportunities do you see happening around us? 

Jasleen:  See, I do feel that people have still a lot of interest in their health and in the last two months people have tried talking about topics like nutrition. Like II and I have a nutrition freak. I have this huge do’s and don’ts list that I have given out my family. They’re not supposed to drink water after the meal and I kind of feel that you know, those are not baseless. Some of those things are very very scientific. It’s just that people don’t really know the science behind it. So, I see you in India specifically. We do not have a lot of nutrition schools. We do not have a lot of fun focus on nutrition, which I feel would eventually come around because see at the end of the day they say that covid getting covid recovering from covid is an immunity game. You don’t have medicines, you have a vaccine so people have to invest in immunity and there are ways you can invest in immunity. The first way is that you change your lifestyle and eat good food and a lot of people don’t even know about them be Basic macros and micros at you getting in the food nutrition as a space is really

Saurabh:  Young went for the phenomena of the late Kings the consumer behavior from the Galaxy.

Jasleen:  I can tell you for a fact that people in the rural segment it more nutritious food than people in the oven segment again people in the rural segments are not going to binge on your chips and pizzas and they would eventually just eat Dal Roti rice, which is way more healthy than what urban people need and I also feel that the whole Um, because C vitamin E will need knowledge. You basically need knowledge when you have a choice and talk is only exist in the urban phenomenon like a rural that person doesn’t have a choice if I can eat fast-food  or should I eat a healthy food homemade flea has to arrive the choices in the humble guy and the urban guy has to decide do I need to go to a McDonald’s or do I need to go to Pizza Hut or should I could you be at my home.

Saurabh:  People are going to go to work from home and do three four interesting things more than you do. My shorter than theme is going to be bound. Office who’s interested in technology and tools are getting ready to do that. 

Jasleen:  I am not someone who has done virtual coffee dates with my team at all. You know, I kind of feel that that’s a compulsion right? We all are doing dishes. We are vacuuming her figured speaking food. I think I think my team is a me and my team and I. We are enough bonded to survive this and I have actually given them a lot of time to create a good bond and good relationship between us because I feel one person under a lot of stress. You know, we’re not just working from home. We are working for the home also. So actually coincidentally I have not tried to do any team bonding activity. In fact, whatever little time I feel is spear. I’ve just let them be where they are and give their time to family or whatever housework their first. 

Saurabh:  That’s it. That’s it. That’s a unique one because nobody else has sort of given me this answer.

Jasleen:  Yeah I thought is this answer correct or not because they are both young and I know that with their family so they would have a lot of work to do so which is why I like giving them time to be on their own. 

Saurabh:  So tell me or what makes me feel very very hard for marketing professionals to interview in the times to come?

Jasleen:  Events events events. That’s the hardest thing because I do not personally speak. I do not think that virtual events can replace physical events. I really don’t think no because the fact when you enter into a set and how you experience an installation and not sure if you can replicate It would surely everything else in my head as an alternative but not events as such you know, so I definitely feel that that experience how consumers experience brand how media experiences our brand. I’m not really sure how that’s going to shape up. 

Saurabh:  So what and what about Marketeers? Let’s say for example, if I’m passing out of college this year what skills do I need to have apart from core marketing knowledge to be able to impress a boss, impress clients and get things done. 

Jasleen:  I See I added mostly don’t even don’t think that you know, any short-term skill is ever of importance. I do feel that and I go back to the point where I started and maybe I’m overusing it, but I think it’s just knowing the culture more knowing and understanding what’s happening around you more but when something happens is sometimes some very normal things common things. We just ignore them, but they need to be registered like you need to take note of these so I feel as marketers. You just need to know where the world is headed? Dude, for example, I can tell you for now. I’m hearing and it’s not a very personal opinion that I give you but I know a lot of people who have never in their life heard a podcast or heard a podcast. Yeah, so I see that has increased and who wear not found off OTD content and started subscribing to Netflix and I think these are the little things you need to capture and pay attention to doing your marketing strategies and marketing analytics you just need to make sure where the world has headed too.

Saurabh:   OK I’m going to ask you some controversial questions that we have what are the most used and cring contents that you have come across?

Jasleen:  I think the biggest jargon that I come across that is integrated marketing and a lot of way really pisses me off to an extent because I know a lot of people who would have an argument that integrated marketing is required you know even a unique channel marketing can do I think you need to be very very unique about what the object will be and I know some of the campaign that have happened only on instagram but everyone knows about them I feel at a point consumer demographic was demanded and I feel is the time were we have very clear cut filters so the overlap should be reduced and the expenses gets reduced and I’m very certain that marketeer there can be unique marketing strategy and again it is very very personal opinion yeah yeah.

Saurabh:  so disclaimers to disclaimer to all the people listening to this conversation we are talking Jasleen the individual and not as a marketing manager 

So tell me what is your opinion on things like er and ER and she merging technology that apparently makes the life Market is easier.

Jasleen: I have mixed opinions both good and bad. I feel something’s have an alternate and I feel something’s don’t have an alternate when we’re talking about a virtual reality. Yes. It can come in very handy when you’re trying to say do A virtual shopping tour, but if you try and get up and close with a particular product or if you’re trying to see a fit and a style of virtual reality might not even be close to the reality the real reality. So it’s a mixed bag right now because I think this whole era is in the nest nascent stage of both AR and VR, but I do feel if you really ask me my best. I put my bed on your NVR because I do think this is going to be the future of so seen your finger. 

Saurabh:  So in your opinion which will lose the battle without we do nothing or code inside sled marketing that is depended on for creativity. 

Jasleen:  See I think I would like to answer it in a way that when you’re talking about FMCG products. I think data is always going to win because it’s working on a very very big scale. But I think when you’re talking about more value-added products like more value proposition products, I think the insides are going to win because see what happens is when you talking about, okay? Okay, I’ll give a very very hypothetical example when you’re talking about something like a Mercedes-Benz, you know, we’re talking about experience and experience comes for with some of these luxury Brands some of these premium Brands. That’s what I think sites. We are huge role because it’s hiya buck that the consumers but with FMCG because it’s a huge scale and economies are high seas data will add more value adding. I like to understand. 

Saurabh:  So what is your take on these girls in boys next door becoming influencers on these platforms like Tik Tok lately and the Instagram the world is a what is your take on them? 

Jasleen:  See I will give you an and this is one thing that I’ve been doing since last it is seven years of my career. I see it till the time influencer is a Content Factory. It is great, right? I mean if I talked about and I would take a name if I talk about someone like a Prajakta kholi If I talk about someone like a Sejall Kumar these influencers are working hard on their content, you know, and when you see that content everything every time it’s something fresh, you know, you like to watch but if you’re talking about another influencer who does a video on how the skincare routine will give me a Flawless skin. That’s number one. So I think influences going to stay which is not something that I thought five years back, but I see this today I influencer marketing is going To stay but it completely depends on the content creator, you know, the content has to be much more than the product the content has to has a story and everything like that goes on your feet needs to tell your personality. I think it was things those ingredients. Alright influencer marketing Professionals in terms of

Saurabh:  So what happens is only printed piece lot of these agencies that you created begin to imagine a disease will go to a client and see that you have for your particular business problem. Here is a young girl who has in kind of a 5M following and here is an idea that’s married to an get her to be a mouthpiece for our idea for our communication. There’s approach a approach is a brand like yours approaches in increments of directly and say is that you know, you are a young person who understands technology contained with community and the audience. Well, what do you think should be the idea for us to go ahead with these are the two approaches do you think about you better? Believe see? 

Jasleen:  How can you I know you will say that I do. You diplomatic answers, but you know, maybe one we did definitely might be wondering tell you why I think of it as a marriage between a boy and a girl. Yeah, the boy has to like the girl and the girl has to like the boy answered kindly one-way Street the case we enter into the influencers audience, right you are entering into the influencers audience. Nobody knows that audience more than the influenza. Yeah, and if you’re talking about the brain And that the influenza has to endorse Nobody Knows the brand. And the branches so I definitely see that and in fact there has to be a very fruitful and productive communication between both the parties because there are two personalities coming together. There are two images coming together. So it has two men. There is no other hand.

Saurabh:  If I were to ask you to pick between the celebrity influencers gets a film stars and cricketers versus these people next to the ones that we spoke about which one would you prefer and or is it again both ways? 

Jasleen:  No this is not both ways. It’s according to your strategy. If you have Deep Pockets to invest into celebrities, you take celebrities, of course, you can’t beat celebrities on reach but the fact is that I know some of the brand you have never taken celebrities, but they have consistently taken that influencers spread out their budget evenly through the year and body great results. So I think it’s there. These are two functions one is function of a consistency because whether you’re once you do a carpet bong bing miming event and then you surrender and might not work a lot of fans, you know, they keep threatening that push through the year. So for that portion to make your budget more sustainable you try to get on influences and celebrities. So I think it completely depends on what your budgets really look like three children facilities that you know of.

Saurabh: My next question is so, what is your take on surveyed marketing, you know get a lot of categories that can’t really use Main Line communication channels even digital channels to promote themselves, so they are Often this clean cards and they come up with funny things to promote themselves. So what is your take on this see?

Jasleen:  I feel at the end of the day. It’s all about branding and if you are able to establish the recall without getting into a cannibalization or you know thought cannibalization like I’ll give you an example of vadilal ice-cream Many times I read this somewhere and I’ll just also research that I’m not quoting it wrong. But why didn’t our which is an ice cream company young also has petrol pumps. Yeah, exactly. So the and he had petrol pumps earlier than the ice creams. Okay, my ice creams from them only adds growth and yield to your existing and Main category of Cash Cow Brands all good, it increases your brand recall books for you, but it should not be something that is very counter to what you mean like. 

Saurabh:  What are your favorite gadgets and what should the market is acquaintances?

Jasleen:  I actually I think the biggest not the biggest I would say but the most prominent investment and the recent investment. I did on my Airpods. We have made my life easier than anything in the world because I’m like, I’m surrounded by Airpods. I don’t even care about the wire and I’m taking my calls day in day out we can see I as a marketeer and I am I’m very sure I speak on behalf of all the marketers. You have a plethora of calls in a day and I think you’ve survived them phones. Yeah, so I think it’s very important for you to also like I am sure I’m walking when I’m not sitting on Monday. So are you working right now? See this is as a marketeer. One thing that’s really is my productivity. 

Her husband and bones, and I’m ending this will be got the Sun. 

Saurabh:  So yeah. Yeah. So now this question on Twitter somebody in Assam degrees here are so passionate return. It said what was that fun purchased under 10,000 of these that you need that beat your life significantly better and you’ll be surprised that 80% people said Airpods.

Jasleen:  I’m not surprised because I’m you know, a sort of I was never the person who could have headphones on in my ears like these beer bars in my Here. I know. I think I have funny ears. Okay, is that the table structures on who headphone really grips very well and we keep falling off. So I always had a terrible time to time. Somebody told me that you should try airpods. I got my age could be the same thing. What big deal I’m like no, this is something about them and these fit in my ear like of gloves. I was like, oh my God, I’m never had anything but in my you’re so well, so I am not surprised. I’m a big fan of them. 

Saurabh:  If you want to give a couple of books things , tools, ideas to your team each member of your team. What do you think? 

Jasleen:  I think I am a dentist hbr series Volume of books. That’s by strategy Innovation. This is book called mindfulness and I’m going to either give them an edge be our membership or I’m actually going to buy a couple of HB books and movie. Am I I have a huge feat on all the Harvard researchers and I some of their articles have really been like the people to you. So now I’m going to give that to my team but it’s

Saurabh:  So Jasleen time for the last three four questions that I asked you to tell me if I sing about you to understand who you are before a class in questions. I realize that you’re super super active on LinkedIn that is active, you know, pointing at write articles need to find You know opportunities in these times. So so if I wanted to give you wanted you to give me a crash course on LinkedIn, what are the three or four steps that I can take My Little Pony Lincoln has been very intuitive.

Jasleen:  And I think that’s where I I have an edge. We have tried to incorporate my LinkedIn post. Take inspiration of my lingering post from whatever happens in my day-to-day life and they didn’t really have any set strategy. I think the only strategy is that whatever happens through my day. Is any students that stands out I think and it’s professional. I think that’s also one thing I do not do not on my LinkedIn ever try to put out any personal content. That’s that’s a big big rules. But I think intuitively if there’s anything professionally that I feel strongly about that goes on my link tonight haven’t really given a big brain.

Saurabh:  To perform the role is and if I were to if you would have asked me a question?

 Jasleen:  what’s that do one thing? What’s that common thing? That you found interviewing all them.

Saurabh:  Interesting because I don’t want in life something that they would look for in people. So for example, somebody has changed five jobs, for example, they would not want to First and it has stayed in the same industry for years, but they look at various experiences as a person as a wow exploring the ability to learn Casino see is what I think most people have come back yours is obviously week one creativity is getting your business requires a lot of that, but for other people it was.

Jasleen:  I actually like that perspective because I also know age-old HR practices would really want to gauge you on how loyal you go to a company and how long do you spend on a country setting that’s very refreshing perspective what you say? 

Saurabh:  I think that is chain because because most people that I’ve spoken to their absolute if you spent two years with 5 companies over here of tables you want to talk about a time when you failed miserably at a project. It could be a dependent on how it could be. I apologize for that. 

Jasleen:  This topic is I’ll be honored. It’s taken me a long while to come to terms with this and I think it’s important now to happens is when you’re at a leadership position, everybody thinks that you’ve been doing things perfectly ever since, you know, you know everything you’ve never failed and and I think that some dead such a big misconception because I did my first ever event and that wasn’t buying I’m not going to give you any more details, but I read the worst job of the worst. Our job of it. I can’t even tell you the kind of failures. I had in that event and I just thought that I’m never going to be able to show my face to anyone after this and I and that day I thought that you know marketing is not I should quit because I’m normally pretty feisty. It took me a lot of years and I think it’s probably after some eight years and I’m talking about it’s also taken a lot of strength to come to terms with it that you know, if you feel once it doesn’t mean that you will fail every time and you will not be able to rise up and actually I want to say this to everyone out there that will fail. Please do not hang on to that bevery. I mean, hang onto the lessons of that memory, but do not hang onto the embarrassment of that memory because you will always see do a better job of it in the times to come because you’ve learned out of so yeah I literally miserably failed and one very very big event in my life a physical event where they if they were people who flew from India to Sabayon. It was a disaster event. They go to be many such videos coming your way. Way and that’s the truth. I’m not sure putting it with that is the truth because you learn as you go. I think the fact that I’ve taken so long to come to terms with it also speaks of the volumes that how much judgment there is in the industry in a workplace and they will always so I think we just need to be strong enough to find our own path our resources and our own ways of getting over it. But ER everybody wants analyzed time it was once lifetime does encounter that big failure that you know becomes then go to memory which is fine and you just need to 

get out.

Saurabh:  I have two more questions. One is an easy one one is tough one. Is it up? And I’m going to ask the tough one first. What is it that you hate about the professional marketing is anything.

Jasleen:  I don’t think I hate anything in my job except the fact that I know some of my peers marketing fears have to sell products that they will Levy find that a little bit. It of Catch-22 situation because you’re doing that as a profession but you might never consume those products yourself and there. 

Saurabh:  Last question does the organs if you were to throw open marketing challenge to other stores. These could be students. This would be mid-level marketeers is what kind of what would you want them to work on? 

Jasleen:  Yeah. I have a very interesting question and I will be very upfront with you. That’s like my mental exercise. So what I have what I think of is I think of these situations where there is random Northern position that’s happened. Okay, come to think of it. For example, what if tomorrow you hear our Netflix has been acquired by Google. What do you think Netflix is going to do? Okay, I think when you try will marry some of these interesting Brands because the rebranding today’s date has a very strong ideology and a personality. I didn’t you just open a creative canvas for you to think how things can possibly be. You know what? What are the larger and Nina venues or talk about ways to talk to Consumer so example that there was a long time and I kept on saying to you is that what is one day when I was at ever back in Canon I used to think about it. You wouldn’t wind a candle is acquired by Google, you know, what will happen What will change because any proof of those hypothetical situations? You just think of the facts that you mostly ignored in your day-to-day life and lost Communications. 

Saurabh:  So I call these things thought experiments and So I try to understand the character jungle because I go toh Kya karega for example.so that helps me to write a book as a marketing perspective 

Jasleen: Try it !

Saurabh: Thank you so much. 

 That was Jasleen from Benetton. Hope you will enjoyed the conversation and please write in to us and tell us how do we improve the marketing correct podcast for you. You just heard the latest episode of the marketing show for marketeers. The show was brought to you by C4E and the podium.

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In this podcast we get up close and personal with some of the most celebrated marketers in India.
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