 Well on that note let's also now introduce our keynote speaker who in fact is the president of corporate strategy and business development of the Aditya Billa group with businesses in telecommunications cement chemicals mining textiles financial services Retail and e-commerce amongst the others in 36 countries In fact formerly he's also been the chairman and CEO of PepsiCo India And he's also had stints with Nokia Hindustan Unilever limited and Philips in the coast of his career Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together to welcome on stage Mr. D. Shivakumar So good evening ladies and gentlemen the house is full as Vicky said Right before the start. Thank you Sam for inviting me here I'm here only because you called me and I felt that I had to do it for you. I've never you know ever done Keynote for you. Also lovely to see a number of friends here. There's Ashok. There's Sudhanshu. There's Vicky There's Pratik. Now lots of guys whom I've worked with and I owe a lot to over the course of my career Okay, so Sam called me and said choose your topic and the topic I chose was Chief marketing officer or chief growth officer. Okay, this is the debate. What's happening a few companies have renorm and created the chief marketing as officer as chief growth officer So I said, okay, let's take a look at this and where does this go and where will this lead? Okay? So the CMO or CGO as I call it. Is it old wine in a new bottle? I have India's leading CMOs right through my slides. Okay, hopefully they'll pay me something for it Okay, I haven't asked them for permission. So there's Anuradha from Mariko They're Shashi from idea. They said that from Vodafone and there's Priya and I are from Unilever. Okay, each of them a big CEO in their own right Okay, let's look at marketing language to look at this and say is this a restage or a relaunch of the CMO? Okay, is this a restage or a relaunch? So you've seen all of them. A restage simply means that packaging has changed Okay, so we've just changed the packaging of these four people and added a new funky hairstyle and said, okay Is the role being restaged? Which means absolutely no change except packaging Okay, so that's one argument. Okay. Now, let's look at the next question Which is is this a relaunch and that's the crux of our argument a relaunch means a complete makeover Formula needs to change packaging needs to change claim needs to change and the whole package needs to come together To communicate with consumers is the CMO there right now as you start calling him a chief growth officer So let's see how this argument and logic goes forward. Okay First question. Why is this change happening? I think that's very important for all of us to understand. So my hypothesis Why is this change happening? So clearly? Marketing is not getting its growth message That's one reason it could be happening Second marketing protected protecting its own asset saying I need 100 crores. I will only be evaluated on brand power score Nothing else. I will be you know evaluated on affinity. I will be evaluated on top of mind some such thing So marketing protecting its own turf and saying I'm oblivious to business realities. That's the reason it could be happening Pressure on results and people see a huge chunk of marketing money and no effectiveness That's the other reason it could be happy and the fourth is it's likely that the profile or the background of the CEO is Driving the CMO in this direction Okay, so let's look at each of these hypothesis and see what happens What's important to know is that there is never one pattern to grow There's never one pattern to grow growth is a series of things which happen. There's never one pattern So just designating it's something and expecting growth to happen in my book doesn't work. Okay, so In a digital world, it's very easy to get conversations. It's very easy to get feedback So I asked autumn to do me two word clouds the first word cloud on chief marketing officer The second word cloud on chief growth officer. Okay, this is what comes up. These are word clouds for the last three months Chief marketing officer if you look at this word cloud, we saw 23,000 conversations in the last quarter on chief marketing officer Okay, if you look at the words here, the sign the size of the word determines the strength of the conversation Okay, the dominant theme here is technology and digital There is accountability somewhere one word somewhere there, okay I also want you to notice that neither the consumer know the brand appears significantly. They only appear once each I Assume people subsumed that the chief CMO does something to do with brands and something to do with the consumer I'm assuming that if that is not so then market years are in trouble serious trouble Okay, because the basic job is being challenged. Okay, so I assume that and hopefully we'll be assured on that Okay, now that's chief marketing officer essentially digital a lot of the commentary around what are you doing on digital? Okay, now let's look at chief growth officer While chief marketing officer had 23,000 conversations the chief growth officer has only 2000 so clearly as a concept It's not worthy of debate So whoever whichever company or whichever leader is saying I want to go CGO route Okay, he doesn't have much taker. Okay only 2000 conversations now if you look at it here It is a necessity. It is about business. It is about growth. That's what they say Okay, so people are saying I can understand why the chief growth officer concept is needed It's a necessity for business results and to get growth. You need to do this But in sheer scale terms CMO wins 23,000 to CGO, which is just 2,000. Okay, so that's where we are right now Now let's look at the last point I made in that slide saying is The background or profile of the CEO the reason why we are having a redesignation to CGO So let's look at CEO profiles globally First point if you look at the academic backgrounds of the top CEOs Here's something you'll notice of European CEOs one fourth of European CEOs have a PhD One third of Chinese CEOs have a PhD. I Never realized this Thanks, Sam for opening my eyes by doing this session, you know, it's amazing very rarely does this happen But this is the trend right now look at India India has the highest number of masters degrees of CEOs highest now to just think in the 1930s Just before just after the you know recession, etc. The New York Times ran an article with said Educated people must rise to the top of the organization Just 85 years ago At that point of time there was very little education and everybody in business was home grown Starting from the mail desk or security desk or whatever you want to call it today. You see a very different pattern okay so a fourth dimension next of Half the CEOs have a minimum masters degree Okay, that's the second thing I want you to think about okay Only a fourth of the CEOs have an MBA degree So think about the three data points are put for you. So very clearly a lot of the CEOs are from other functions Unlike India in some cases. So obviously the CEO is saying I need a much more focus on business and results and just not marketing So there is some you know merit merit to that argument. Okay, I talked of the relaunch being an overall Okay, and When you do a relaunch, this is what you typically do It needs a new formula needs new packaging needs a new claim Okay, all three going to making an effective relaunch. Okay, is there a precedent to name change? I Look back at business over the last 15 years. They have been present and let's look at what's happened with them We always look at last practice for best practice or next practice. Whatever you want to call it depending on the consultant you've used Okay, we've changed the name of market research to consumer and market insight We've changed the name of HR manager to people officer and we've changed the name of logistics manager to supply chain manager Having seen Indian business for a long time. I would submit we haven't seen more either quality or quantity insights as a result of this name change We have not seen better people orientation from anybody in HR Okay, anybody in HR as a result of this name change and Trucks are not moving faster because you've called somebody supply chain manager Okay, so names are around titles are around. Okay, and I believe the CGO could well be in the same this thing However, let's look at what's what could be the positives of this move. I Believe the positives of making the CMO the chief growth officer could be focus on the output Next I think Sam had one of those advices number two more aligned to business needs Fair enough number three type of company is very important If you're a single brand single category company like Nirma was many years ago like Colgate is even today Okay, then everybody up and down the chain is chief marketing officer or chief growth officer Because the company lives and dies by the category and the brand But if you're a multi-product company a multi-brand company, then the game is very different Okay, and of course The type of CEO profile. These are the inner positives, okay What are the downsides of this change? Okay, first question. We should truly ask wasn't growth a priority before for market years I really be surprised If nine out of ten market is put up their hand and said I was not focused on growth I don't think so growth is a fix which all of us want irrespective of the job we do Okay, second huge danger of being tactical vis-a-vis strategy Why you can run a brand to the ground with promotions? So tomorrow you want growth can put lots of promotions in you can do lots of trades scheming, etc You can do a lot of it. Okay, you can launch meaningless variants and in my career. I've seen all of them happen I have a colleague here from Unilever Pratik Organics did a one plus one in 1997 Pratik We tried reviving the brand in 1998 between me and Pratik great work by the agency, etc Brand was still born. It had just been overpromoted to death Okay, the best work could not pull it back So when you focus a marketing person surely on growth My concern is he'll over promote. He'll over trade and that's not smart Okay, next growth needs other variables to it needs innovation. It needs execution It's not gonna happen just because you know this marketing and growth link in a title Okay, does it take away the focus from the most important asset called the brand? David Ogilvy said it many years ago. He said advertising must sell Great brands built over time get your trust get you growth get you, you know the ecosystem Okay, all three happen What happens to other CXO's? If I am the head of you know, let's take supply chain if I'm the head of Information if I'm the CFO does it mean that I don't contribute to growth Why this pecking order which is slightly different and finally how different is this from in some companies a chief operating officer? Sales and marketing have always been two sides of the growth point Sales has been focused on B to B marketing has been focused on B to C But in a digital world the consumer journey digitally both of them are owning it today Okay, that's what's really changed So Marketing today has many many dimensions many more dimensions in the last 30 years Then we've seen the role of marketing and brand management team and marketing managers 25 years ago was Only so much today is just broad communication media digital even sponsorship product development the list goes on and More will be added. Okay. So are we expecting too much from a chief marketing officer? I Really want you to think about that poor guy. Are we truly expecting too much? So in the future the kind of CMO we want is this He has to be tech savvy business savvy data savvy. Okay, so Mandrake plus Superman plus, you know phantom rolled into one Zanadoo plus then Cali plus America. Is it possible? I don't think so. I Honestly don't think so Okay, because the skill set required for this and the grooming and the education required for this is very different It's not gonna happen tomorrow morning. Just because I say it here Okay, it's very very different. So are we expecting too much from one guy? I think so, okay It's virtually as if we expect the market here to be in a completely differently Okay, I agree that we need a completely new skill set. I do agree, but it'll take time Okay, the adaptability for market. Yes is we see a digital consumer pre digital by and large the average market here was ahead of the average consumer post digital the average consumer is ahead of the average market here So the average market is chasing and trying to catch up today. That's the first gap. You need to bridge The digital world is a very different world with its consumer Second, we have very different clock speeds today. Very very different You almost have to react by the hour by the minute if you want to be successful Okay, you need dramatic fast cycle innovation Old innovation patterns don't work Okay, you need to operate on the fly and really make it work business models and profitability consistently changing thanks to digital In every industry digital has had a serious impact on business model Serious impact some people realize it faster. Some people don't realize and finally You need to build ecosystem partnership because the days of independent growth are over FMCG is to be extremely arrogant 20 years ago saying I don't need modern trade I don't need this etc. I would challenge any FMCG marketed He needs mirai sitting here from big basket the FMCG market here needs Somebody from big buzz are the FMCG marketer needs him or her so today is the era of dependent growth You cannot grow on your own That lesson needs to come through to market Okay, so this are the challenges which we see today so in summary What would I say arose by any other name? I don't think smells the same first point chief marketing officer chief growth officer, okay You have much more to do than just a title change. Okay Growth is everyone's responsibility Okay growth for every company is a generic strategy Just like focus is everybody tells you focus. It's not that you are unfocused It's what do you do after you focus your portfolio to whatever you want it to be It's what you do after that which is important Okay, and all growth comes when you invest in current product services and geographies when you create new products New geographies new services and when you get efficiency out of where you are operating The first and the last account for 55 to 60 percent of growth Okay, they are not in the you know basket right now of any single function So that's what I would say Next it is not about the title but the skills needed for it and the skills needed are very different for a future market here, okay Where will the talent come from for this I'm not so sure okay Growth comes in a company when you have a collective mindset at the top number one reason number two You have a good brand and a good experience and number two number three resource allocation Just calling the market here a chief growth officer two of the variables. He does not have control over Okay, so I would argue that I think it's not feasible To nominate him as chief growth officer and then expect sales to happen. Okay, where will we get the talent? I don't know I want to end with giving you a sense of what could other changes be MBA the master of business administration has been a degree which has been around for 100 years Very few MBAs do anything to do with administration today The degree continues you don't need to nominate the MBA or something else The job is pretty obvious what you need to do in any company that you are in Okay Every job will have one or two dimensions which are absolutely critical for it Would we nominate the governor of the reserve bank as the governor of inflation? Would we nominate the governor of reserve bank as the governor of foreign exchange? Sure both are important, but that doesn't mean you take only one variable and put it there And that's where I believe the collect my collective mindset needs to come so I believe that Titles and job descriptions exist for a purpose but if you take it too long and too far and put in a word and expect the whole department the Individual and the company to pivot to growth tomorrow just because you've designated marketing as growth That's very wishful thinking I'd like you to think about that. Thank you, Sam again. I'm two minutes ahead of my time all the best ladies in general