DMS, IIT Delhi a aConfluencea discusses ‘Marketing in the time of Recession’

The morning session was chaired by the Assistant Professor of Marketing, Prof Harish Chaudhary. In his opening speech he gave the audience a brief introduction to the world of marketing and that there was an urgent need for marketers to get back to basics. The first speaker for the day was Mr Sandeep Vij, Executive Director and Chief Knowledge Officer of Mudra Communication. He discussed how it was time for marketers to woo back consumers as the recent past had seen a recession in relationship between the consumer and the marketer. Mr Vaibhav K Tanwar, Marketing Manager of Godrej Lifespace gave the next presentation, aBack to Schoola. He talked about the basics of marketing and how these were to be applied in this particular recessionary scenario. The next speaker was Mr Arun Tyagi, Vice President, Marketing at IndiaMART InterMESH Ltd (Also an alumni of DMS!). He presented his views on the current market scenario touching upon how it was imperative to minimize clutter i.e. get more marketing space for less and to gain more mindshare.

Up next was Mr Prasad Narasimhan, Chief Marketing Officer at Virgin Mobile India. He centered his position on the proposal that it was time to shift from advertising-led marketing to idea-led marketing; an idea is likened to a sneeze albeit one that is contagious and refreshingly original. The last speaker of the session was Dr KV Damodaran, Joint Advisor at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Dr Damodaran presented his views on how the government implemented regulations such as the National Do Not Call Registry to enforce discipline in the market.

After a short Q&A; session, Confluence broke for lunch after which the panel discussion on aMarketing in the Time of Recessiona was conducted. Prof Rajat K Baisya was the chair for the panel discussion and opened the session, briefly dwelling upon innovative marketing initiatives, alternative marketing models and marketing channels. Ms. Preeti Mehra, Deputy Editor, Business Line, acted as the moderator.

Mr Ajoy Shah, Chief Product Manager shared the story of how JK Tyres was coping with the current economic downtrend. He highlighted how different industries were dependent on each other. He added that though the firm had cut internal costs, such as travel expenses, they had not cut costs that would dilute their presence in the market. Mr Deepak Shetty, Vice President, Domestic Sales and Marketing, MoserBaer India Ltd, said that although the blank CD division was almost recession proof, there was still the impact of changes in consumption patterns with the retail industry seeing a slump worldwide. The Director of Srinathji Ispat Ltd, Mr Gaurav Gupta spoke on the steel industry and the automotive industry, both of which he has businesses in. Emphasizing that there were a lot of budget constraints, he added that this was not the time to stop marketing and that companies should work with what they have. Mr Sandeep Amar, Head of Online Marketing and Business, Simplymarry.com, Times Business Solutions Limited, The Times Group took up from Mr Gupta and reiterated that this was the time for conservatism. A question & answer session followed the panel discussion with the audience asking various questions.