Events

The Art of Observation: Uncovering Stories from Hidden Worlds

with Maitreyee Patki

Maitreyee Patki, Senior UX Researcher at Rakuten Viki, and ex-market researcher with almost a decade’s worth of experience, will talk about – ‘The Art of Observation: Uncovering Stories from Hidden Worlds’. In this talk she will cover why observation skills are critical to uncover powerful insights, how to develop these, and challenges to anticipate and overcome.

Maitreyee’s perspective will throw light on:
1. Going beyond what people ‘say’ to what people ‘say + do + think’
2. Observation: levels, role and significance for various research contexts
3. Typical challenges, and watch outs
4. Tips and hacks to get started

Maitreyee is a research practitioner with a social psychological focus. She pursues her curiosity about why people behave the way they do, professionally, by decoding social structures and role of culture in influence behaviour and helping businesses and brands understand better the people they design for products, services and experiences for.

Date/ Time

29 May 2021, 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM SGT

Unchanging Principles to Getting Brand Strategy Right

with Prem Narayan

Prem Narayan, Chief Strategy Officer, Ogilvy, India will talk about – ‘Unchanging Principles to Getting Brand Strategy Right.’ He will talk through his experiences working with brands of all kinds, sizes and industries to bring alive the essential principles that remain unchanged.

He will also throw light on some of the following:
1. Understanding marketing strategy versus brand strategy versus communication strategy
2. What goes into a good client brief
3. How strategists can work with clients for better briefs
4. What are the unchanging steps in the brand strategy and communication process - startups, CPG, anything else
5. If that remains constant, then what is it that does change, if at all
6. For those building their own brands, what process should they follow

Prem, has been with Ogilvy since 2004. He has been part of the team that pioneered the planning function in the agency. He has worked on many clients during this journey- Asian Paints, Unilever, Bajaj, Castrol, Ceat, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Sky, Amazon, Kellogg’s to name a few. He has partnered creative to generate great work with brands like Brooke Bond Red Label, Hamam, Clinic Plus, Bajaj Platina and Pulsar, Unilever – Start a Little Good, Asian Paints and Ceat.

Date/ Time

22 May 2021, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM SGT

Success Secrets From the World’s Greatest Influencers

with Michael F. Schein

We all know people who can get anything they want for themselves and their organizations simply on the strength of their ability to influence others. What if there were a blueprint you could follow to do this for yourself regardless of your natural inclinations or temperament?

Marketing guru Michael F. Schein has laid out this blueprint in his recent book The Hype Handbook: 12 Indispensable Success Secrets From the World’s Greatest Propagandists, Self-Promoters, Cult Leader, Mischief Makers, and Boundary Breakers (McGraw Hill).

In this presentation, Schein will teach you ways to:
1. Attract attention from people that matter
2. Create a community of disciples to further your cause
3. Create an atmosphere of curiosity and intrigue
4. Sell your message with the skill of a master

Date/ Time

15 May 2021, 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM SGT

The Art and Science of Successful New Product Launches

with Sandeep Nair

Sandeep Nair, ex P&G and Reckitt Marketing Manager, will talk about ‘The Art and Science of Successful New Product Launches’. In this talk he will compare and contrast how FMCG companies and tech start-ups approach new product launches. What does it take to launch a successful product? Are there fundamental differences in how traditional FMCG players and new age consumer tech start-ups launch products?

This practitioner’s perspective will throw light on:
1. Keeping the consumer front and centre, irrespective of the type of launch
2. Why PMF is important, irrespective of what you call it
3. Cannibalization and how it can be reduced

Sandeep has close to a decade of experience in brand management across multiple FMCG categories like haircare, hygiene and food & beverages. He has lived and worked in Singapore, the UK and India, working with multiple billion $ brands like Head & Shoulders and Dettol as well as with new age food tech start-ups like Swiggy.

Date/ Time

1 May 2021, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM SGT

Using Controlled Disruption™ to Solve Innovation Challenges

with Mário Braz de Matos

Mário Braz de Matos, Founder & CEO at Flying Fish Lab will talk about ‘Using Controlled Disruption™ to Solve Innovation Challenges’. In this discussion he will explain why you need to nurture your “Intelligent Naivety” in order to reframe your challenges and how an Outside-in perspective is central to stimulating any Cross-Functional co-creation efforts to solve them. Last but not least, the thing that is often overlooked, the importance of stress testing our potential solutions in Silo, before moving forward.

During this talk, Mário will cover the following points:
1. How best practice creates a “sea of sameness” that can lead to consumer apathy
2. What is Intelligent Naivety and why do we need to constantly nurture it
3. Controlled Disruption™: overlaying Intelligent Naivety to the company’s Category Expertise
4. How Controlled Disruption™ is delivered: Outside-in, Cross-Function and Silo
5. Different kinds of innovation challenges: from NPD to Productivity
6. Bring this to life in a real-life case study

Mario has over a decade of corporate experience in Marketing with Unilever, followed by Nokia, across a combination of local and regional roles, as well as Innovation Center roles. He left corporate in 2009 to launch his first start-up in the US and hasn’t looked back. His global exposure comes from having lived in 11 countries and worked in over 70 countries across every continent.

Date/ Time

24 Apr 2021, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM SGT

Distribution Lessons I Learnt Over a Decade, the Hard Way

with Amit Monteiro

Amit Monteiro, Head of Non Alcoholic Beverages at AB InBev India will  share his learnings across category launches, the basics of distribution when it comes to an FMCG product and the pitfalls to avoid when launching a product innovation in market. Some areas that he will dip into during this sharing session are:

1. The rarely taught Distribution basics I learnt the hard way
2. Distribution – how to get going (problems of larger companies vs smaller companies)
3. The sins to avoid when it comes to getting distribution right
4. What Marketers who handle the most important P in the mix must know
5. The first 1000 day guide when you launch a product – measuring what’s important and ignoring the noise

Amit currently works as Head of Business for the Non Alcoholic Beverage vertical at ABINBev India, a vertical he set up for the India operations from scratch a couple of years ago. As part of the key launches, he introduced a new category of Non-Alcoholic Beers in India, which also saw the company enter new retail channels like Ecommerce and General Trade for the first time.

Date/ Time

17 Apr 2021, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM SGT

Future of Packaging & Its Impact on Sustainable Strategies for Brands

with Maya Madhusoodan

Maya Madhusoodan, Managing Director at Space Doctors in APAC will share some key principles from the emergent codes in sustainable packaging to show how it has implications on product experience and branding. 

These findings can help marketers:
1. Plan for the future (innovation in rapidly changing world)
2. Grow via better narratives (nuanced communications that authentic)
3. Provide better experiences (activation, user experience)

Maya spent early exploratory years dabbling across various media platforms like journalism, advertising and radio. She stumbled into the world of consumer insights which led to decades of exploration of what people think, act and feel. Since joining Space Doctors, she’s pivoted consulting businesses about the importance of tracking meaning in culture using semiotics. Culture is the hidden influence and makes consumers think, act and feel in a certain way. Maya is now passionate about helping brands staying relevant to culture in order to create a positive impact to consumers and the environment

Date/ Time

10 Apr 2021, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM SGT

Pricing to Influence, Sell, and Satisfy

with Utpal Dholakia

In this livestream brought to you by Business of Marketing and Decode Strategy Labs, Utpal Dholakia, George R. Brown Professor of Marketing at Rice University will talk about ‘Pricing to Influence, Sell & Satisfy’. In this talk, Utpal will share examples and cases from his academic research on behavioral economics and his consulting experiences on using psychological pricing principles to make pricing decisions. He will introduce you to seven dramatically different psychological roles of price, from symbolic value and conveying self-identity to helping on-the-fly value construction. Understanding these roles of price provides entrepreneurs and managers with relatively simple and inexpensive ways to price that can generate outsized financial results.

Utpal Dholakia holds the George R. Brown Chair of Marketing at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He has taught marketing and pricing strategy to MBA students in the US (mainly), the UK, South Korea, China, Germany, and Switzerland for over two decades. He conducts research to advance our understanding of marketing strategy & consumer behavior. He has published over 50 articles in the top marketing and management academic journals and written two popular books on how to price products and services. His research has been cited over 20,000 times and counting. Utpal’s long-running blog on Psychology Today is called The Science Behind Behavior.

Date/ Time

3 Apr 2021, 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM SGT

Inspiring Strategy & Innovation through Cultural Insights

with Adri Reksodipoetro

In this livestream brought to you by Business of Marketing and Decode Strategy Labs, Adri Reksodipoetro, Managing Director of Nation will talk about ‘Inspiring Strategy & Innovation through Cultural Insights’. In this talk he will outline the key principles that Nation has implemented to break away from old practices in commercial research, in order to make insights sing in their clients’ organisations.

This practitioners perspective will throw light on the importance of:
1. Looking deep but also broad for cultural insights
2. Incorporating narrative into insights reports
3. Bringing to life research vividly

Adri has over 15 years of experience in cultural insight. Prior to founding Nation, he worked and lived in Paris, Sydney and Singapore for agencies like Kantar, Hall & Partners, and more recently running Flamingo’s offices in Singapore and Jakarta. He has a Masters in Marketing & Communications Strategies from the Université Paris-Sorbonne.

Date/ Time

27 Mar 2021, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM SGT

Solving Business Problems, the Human-Centered Way

with Dilip Shankar

Dilip Shankar, Partner at Centre of Gravity Consulting will talk about – ‘Solving Business Problems, the Human-Centered Way’. In this talk he will share a case-study and distil principles of the human-centered approach in crafting sustainable growth strategies. This practitioners perspective will throw light on the importance of:

1. Identifying and diagnosing problems
2. Empathising with customers as humans
3. Making trade-offs
4. Thinking outside the box
5. Narrating a powerful story

Dilip is a practitioner and student of human-centered thinking. After apprenticing in the area of brand and marketing strategy for over a decade, he started Centre of Gravity with a few colleagues, friends and co-believers in the idea of human-centered thinking. With over 150 projects, Centre of Gravity has applied the idea of keeping human beings at the heart of inquiry, to solve complex business issues. Over the years, this simple but powerful thinking process, has proven to be hugely successful across clients, sectors, and geographies in finding powerful sustainable solutions.

Date/ Time

13 Mar 2021, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM SGT

Must-know Marketing Frameworks

with Dan White

In this livestream, Dan White, the author of The Smart Marketing Book - The Definitive Guide to Effective Marketing Strategies, will explain the Must-know Marketing Frameworks. These are frameworks that every marketer should be familiar with whether they’re leading an established brand or working with a start-up. He will share his famous ‘framework illustration’, explain their importance and also talk through what one needs to keep in mind while applying them. 

Dan White is a marketing and insights innovator. His contribution to the industry includes identifying what makes global advertising effective, scrutinizing the potential for viral, search and ’depth’ marketing, and championing innovative marketing measurement techniques. His frameworks and visualisations have influenced generations of marketers and are built into the world’s leading brand measurement, media evaluation and copy-testing systems. Dan’s career includes a decade as a marketing analyst, another as a brand and communications consultant and a third as a Chief Marketing Officer. This unique blend of expertise ensures that every piece of advice offered in The Smart Marketing Book is based on robust evidence and a wealth of practical experience.

Date/ Time

6 Mar 2021, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM SGT

The Gaming Cheat Code for Non-Gaming Marketers

with Sashi Nair

In this livestream, Sashi Nair, Senior Strategy Manager with Havas Sports & Entertainment, New York will take us through his famous – ‘The Gaming Cheat Code for Non-Gaming Marketers’. He will break down some deeply-entrenched myths that exist about gamers, explain what the real opportunity is currently for brands and also show how brands, who’re not endemic to gaming, become a part of its culture.

Sashi is an award-winning, multi-disciplinary strategist based in New York City. He has spent the last decade working with some of the biggest brands that include Coca-Cola, Courvoisier, P&G, HSBC, Qatar Airways, Philips and Volkswagen across markets like North America and Asia Pacific. He believes in creating meaningful connections between brands and fans through their passions. He draws inspiration from a wide range of interests - advertising, marketing, creativity, music, sports, gaming, movies, to level-up his expertise in delivering vision and solutions based on today’s popular culture.

Date/ Time

27 Feb 2021, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM SGT

Brand building mistakes I made, I wish nobody else repeats

with Avik Chattopadhyay

In this livestream, Avik Chattopadhyay, Co-Creator at Expereal, will talk us through the brand-building mistakes he made, he wishes nobody else does.’ He will share his personal experiences working on and with some of the biggest brands in India.

Avik invested 22 years in the automotive and oil & gas industries – Maruti Suzuki, Caltex, ExxonMobil, Apollo Tyres, PSA Peugeot Citroen and Volkswagen and headed a global brand consulting firm called Saffron Brand Consultants in India & South Asia for a year. In 2014, he co-founded a brand strategy consultancy, "Expereal”. He transforms brands to transform businesses, and likes to sketch, follow trivia, listen music, and write on subjects from automotive to brand strategy to socio-economic issues.

Date/ Time

20 Feb 2021, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM SGT

Brand Purpose Done Right

with Yousuf Rangoonwala

Yousuf Rangoonwala, Founder of Kakkoii and a Brand Strategist, explains the concept of Brand Purpose, declutters the confusion around it, shares his personal experience helping brands define their purpose along with a few best cases throughout the world. He also provides easy template that can be used to define any brand's purpose.

Yousuf is one of India's most awarded brand and advertising strategists at the age of 37. He has worked in the advertising and brand strategy business in India, Indonesia and Singapore for 16 years.

During this time, he has won 8 Effies, 3 APPIES Golds, an APPIES Silver medal, 2 APPIES Best Presenter Awards, and 2 WARC Highly Commended Strategy recognitions. He was shortlisted, as South Asia Strategist of The Year, at Campaign AOTY Awards 2019, too.

Yousuf has worked on brands such as Burger King, Axe, 7Rivers, Nokia, Budweiser, Haier, Land Rover, Bajaj Automobiles, Amazon Prime Video, Supr Daily, Omidyar Network India, Dalda, Star Bharat, Men of Platinum, HP Lubes, Marico Ltd, Nescafe, Acer, and Danone amidst several others.

Date/ Time

17 December 2020, 8:30 - 9:30 PM SGT