AIMA 35th NMC: London Business Schools Nirmalya Kumar, Santosh Desai address on Changing Marketing paradigm

To address the changing marketing paradigm, distinguished speakers like London Business Schools Prof Nirmalya Kumar and Mr Santosh Desai, CEO, Future Brands. The session was chaired by Mr Keki Mistry, Vice Chairman & MD, HDFC Bank.
Leading the discussion, Mr. Mistry said that Marketing always needs to evolve in the dynamic environment. He also stressed on the point that employees of any organization are the best advertisers and the support of word of mouth advertising is the best bet for any advertiser.

Mr. Desai said, A marketing manager should not manage, managing is coping; he should be design thinkers to create value for the brands in this fluid world. Marketing has entered new era of grand story telling, it is the order of the day. People are selling ideas of things they represent, he said.

Desai pointed at four challenges faced by marketing:
1. Component thinking
2. Shallowness of analysis
3. Research working on crutches
4. Static mental approach
This needs to redefine the central purpose of marketing.

He finally made his closing remarks by saying that brands are like rivers with many tributaries and rivulets constantly flowing into it, the brand is changing continuously. A brand is not a lake. Marketing is not monologue, it is a vibrant conversation.
Prof. Kumar said that on the global front the role of marketing is declining, the reason for this decline is for the reasons that the CEOs are interested in discussions which are not tactical in its nature; marketing, most of the times is tactical.

For marketing to attain its importance in any organization, it needs to attract attention of the CEO, who is interested in:
- Strategic dialogue
- Cross functional discussion
- Discussions that are bottom-line oriented

Marketing needs to transform to be a strategic function; which transcends functions and focuses on the bottom line, said Prof Kumar.
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