 It is now time to move on to our first session. Well, up next is our keynote speaker, ladies and gentlemen, and this is going to be an incredible special session. Well, kicking off the summit is a brand that leads with a tagline of innovation and you. And that has truly disrupted consumer lives across multiple sectors. Well, if you take a look around your living space, Phillips products wouldn't be hard to find. Our speaker is a veteran in the consumer durables industry. Well, we have with us the MD and CEO Phillips domestic appliances, India subcontinent Gulbahaar Torani, who shall share his insights on the topic need of the are capitalizing on consumer insights. Well, with this, I'd like to welcome Mr. Torani for our special address now on the stage and screen. Thank you so much, Mr. Torani, for your valuable time and being a part of our summit today. It's great to have you. How are you doing today? Absolutely fine. Thank you, Bhavna. And thank you, Dr. Bhattra. I think very good insights at the beginning of the session and the brand conclave. And really agree with some of the things Dr. Bhattra and on some, we will have a chat in terms of how do I feel about some of the insights that you shared. But just talking about change, change is the only constant. And if there were few who didn't believe in this, last two years are more than enough to convert the strongest people who didn't believe in it to be in agreement that change is the only constant. The climate is changing. Geopolitical policies are changing. Consumer is changing. Food habits are changing. Society is changing. Everything is changing. And in this ever-evolving complex changing world, branch and organization have not only adapted the changes, but they have to thrive and actually leverage the changes. So you must be saying all this, you all know, this is known, you knew. Isn't it? That's great. I am not here also to talk about this because this is general knowledge. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am Gul Bahar Tarani. I lead Philips Domestic Appliances for India's subcontinent. And I am here to talk to you today about how in this evolving ever complex dynamic world, few of the basic fundamentals still remain constant. And also I will share few of the tips and tricks that have actually helped me leverage and prepare to be successful in this ever-evolving dynamic world. Now let's come to the point. Why do business exist? Is it for creating value for our stakeholders or taking the humanity forward? Well, I believe businesses exist for fulfilling consumer needs. So consumer needs, whether stated or latent, keep organizations and brand relevant and thriving. So in this evolving world, there is even more requirement for all of us to get obsessed with identifying the consumer requirements. And Taylor made our propositions around it rather than sharing with them or providing them what we want to. So it is important that we really, really get obsessed with figuring out the consumer needs, the consumer insights and then Taylor made all our propositions around it. It is very important in this evolving world. And it is very often seen when the businesses grow, then consumer insighting or consumer data and anything related to consumer and customers is relegated to marketing. Well, I believe it is not the job of marketing only, but every aspect and every function, every person in any of the organizations or brand has to keep an eye on all the evolving trends on the consumer needs and the changing customer needs. It is important and why I say so is because there are a few examples which will tell us that organizations who didn't keep pace, who didn't invested in terms of figuring out what's happening in and around, couldn't find their feet in this evolving dynamic world. Example, I would say we all know that there were brands in the phone industry who were doing absolutely fantastic, but they couldn't anticipate the change of a smartphone and look where they are today. At the same time, we have certain examples where small changes, small innovations, basis the consumer requirement, have allowed brands to grow, leaps and frocks. And for example, all of you must be aware and now it's a phenomenon of HMB karma. Now, in this industry where it was difficult to sell CDs, tapes and all because streaming was very much easily available, everything was available and cheap and so why, what was the needs? But looking at a niche segment where there was a need for all the great music that has been created in the past so many years and then positioning it as a gifting tool, look at what HMB karma has been able to do. If I go by reports as per Hindu business line, they have musical licensing revenue increase by 25%, that's phenomenal. Now, if I look at some of the examples like that, one of the changes we see is in communication also and I'm talking about Amazon. Now, when Amazon saw that there is a consumer and there is a big relationship of that consumer with the retailers, all the neighborhood retailers, then there was a need in terms of what do we stand for, what is so different about it. If you go deep into the consumer psychology, you will understand that the Indian consumer visits many shops before deciding even for a small piece of clothes and I think that's what Amazon picked up and they came up with a communication saying, are they how? And this almost gave them a traffic increase of three to five times and this is quoted by one of the web agencies called Digital Vidya. Now, there are so many examples where we will see that brands who have been closer to the consumer, they know exactly what the consumer wants. They have been able to overcome challenges, changes and they have kept themselves relevant and also these are the brands who have actually utilized these changing times as an opportunity to grow faster because not everyone is able to adapt to these changes. One of the examples which is very close to my heart and this is what we do in and out every day in Phillips because we have this promise of bringing meaningful innovations which can improve your lives and innovation is the core of everything that we do at Phillips. But we are very mindful that the innovations that we are bringing to the table are meaningful and has an impact as adds value to the consumers and you all must be aware of a category called mixer grinders. It is very popular, very common. I don't think there is any urban household which is without a mixer grinder. So the penetration is also very, very high. There was a need that what we can do differently. What can we offer to the consumers which will compel them to replace their existing mixer grinder with a new one and not only that, it will add value or will solve some of the problems that they are facing with the existing rage. Now for that, we have to stay very close to the consumer and why I say so, because if you were not close to the consumer, whatever consumer was saying would have not been audible to us because there is a girl noise in all the mixer grinders that you see in the market. And that is why I always say to my team that we have to stay closer because otherwise you will not be able to listen what the consumer is saying because the mixer grinder makes that much of noise. And that's when we realize that the requirement of the consumer is to have a mixer grinder which is silent, right? It's very obvious, but sometimes we take obvious things as has come because the consumer doesn't state it. Consumer says, yeah, this is what is mixer grind and this is how it functions. While they don't know it, we have to sometimes decode and bring about the innovation. I'm very happy that we were able to decode this consumer inside and not only that, we were able to convert it into a meaningful innovation and launch the first silent mixer grinder in India. And the response to that proposition is fantastic because it is bang on on an insight that I can't survive without my mixer grinder but it makes so much of noise that I have to stop everything else and only perform that activity. Although the activity is small in terms of duration. So you can live with it but still if you can provide a silent solution to the consumer, the consumer is more than happy and is willing to pay for the additional feature. And that's why my firm belief is if we hold on to this entire consumer inciting basic concepts and get obsessed about knowing what the consumer wants, I think we will be able to deliver meaningful innovations and thrive over this ever evolving complex changing environment. Now, not only consumer insights are important for making an innovation or something like that but it is important for our day-to-day decision making also. Look at if you are launching a new campaign. It is important that you should be aware of the consumer and the consumer needs because then only you will be able to decide which platforms to go for, what type of content, what should be your media mix whether you want to be an Instagram forward or a share chat forward. All those things only come once you are aware and closer to the consumer. So it is important for our day-to-day activities also that we are closer to our consumers and we know our consumers very well. Now, the biggest question is how to decode these consumer insights and first of all, that is in my humble opinion, that's an art and you need to learn that art. And second, even when you have decoded one of the consumer insights, what to do with those insights. Now, here are four points that I always keep reminding myself and sharing it with my team that we should always remember while we are looking for consumer insights. The first thing is consumer insights are not consumer research and why I say so. So I'm not against any of the consumer research that we that do, but I'm saying, consumer research normally are broader in nature and they are homogeneous. They are done to remove the oddities or the outliers while my firm belief is the actual insight lies in the outliers. So the hard work at a shop floor or at a store, observing the consumer, observing the customer, observing the shopper cannot replace a consumer research. Now, both are important, but both deliver different things to the brand. And that is why it is important that when we are after consumer insights, we should always remember consumer insights are not equivalent to consumer research. The consumer research that we do serves a different, different purpose, but if you really want to know your consumer, you cannot skip or you cannot, you know, just get it by consumer research. You have to put in that hard work. You have to be at the gamba. You need to observe the shopper, the customer, the consumer, and then only you will able to appreciate what the consumer wants and decode what they actually want. So that's the first thing. The second thing that I always say is, you know, consumer insights are not always related to a new product launch. So normally we say innovation is all about a new product launch. In current scenario, if you will see, innovation is in every spare of our business. So whether that is go-to-market, whether that is, you know, reaching out to the consumers in a, through different channels or even innovations in our supply chain or the way we keep our books. So everything, there are innovations across. So it is not related to only a new product launch. Case in point, we at Philips, you know, we are a brand which is available at almost all the channels that are available for the consumer to go and shop the products from. But still we realize during this pandemic that consumer wants an end to end journey for them on a Philips website. And that's when we realize that we need to empower our website and ensure that the consumers are able to purchase from our website itself. So it's direct to consumer. Now it's an innovation, but it is not related to product, but it is the way you reach out to the consumer or it is the way to facilitate the consumer to buy your products. So that's why it is important to remember that consumer insights are not always related to a new product launch. Thirdly, and which is my favorite one is like consumer insights are not limited to marketing. So it is not only a marketing or marketing team's job. I think everyone in the organization can bring relevant insights because everyone have different touch points with customers and consumers. So it is important that, you know, organization should be possessed, obsessed about the consumer insight and every function, every person in an organization should be working to decode those. And finally, this is a thought, you know, which if you guys believe that it is relevant for your work, I personally believe for all of us to stay relevant and succeed, it is important that we have a new consumer insight every day. Now, that doesn't mean that all the insights are converted into meaningful innovations or some disruption or something, but it is always important to keep that ask in front of us because then what it does is that keeps us closer. Now, we may choose what to take forward and what not to take forward, but it is important that if we keep an ass of one consumer insight every day, that is going to help us. You know, Steve Jobs very famously said, get closer than ever before to your consumers. So close that you can tell them what they need before they realize what they want. It is so true in today's time that, you know, we need to get closer to our consumers to ensure that we, our business and our brands remain relevant and we are able to tide over all the changes and the complexity that the new scenarios are bringing in. So that was in short, what I wanted to share with you and over to Bhavna and Dr. Bhattra, if there are any questions. Absolutely, thank you so much. I believe Dr. Bhattra is facing a technical issue in terms of the internet. I'll just go ahead and with the kind permission of the team ask you a certain questions. So firstly, Mr. Tarani, I have to say one thing that it was a pleasure hearing from you because of the experience you carry. Every word you spoke was a peril of wisdom. So we got to really thank you from the on behalf of Exchange for Media. So thank you once again for that. Well, Mr. Tarani, moving on now, we've got a couple of questions. So first up, I just like to ask you in terms of innovation, you know, anything which you could highlight from Philip's brand, which you would like to highlight in terms of innovation, which is going to be a short term, you know, three to six months down the line, anything you'd like the consumers to know more about. We are looking forward to that. And of course, we'd love to know more about the consumer trends as well, Mr. Tarani. So these two pointers first, and then I'll go ahead and ask the others. Sure, so Bhavna, all our innovations are for consumers only. But we share them with the consumer at appropriate times when we are ready with them. However, you know, consumers can expect more and more innovations from us in these spaces that we are working. And especially in healthy cooking, because I think health is one of the important, you know, I would say aspects of our life. So we are growing conscious about what is the importance of our health. You know, we used to take it, at least I used to take it for granted. But last two years have taught us that, you know, health is the most important. And that's why we at Philips are working very hard to ensure that we provide more and more innovations to our consumers, which help them eat healthy and tasty. Air Fryer is one of the innovations that we introduced a few years back. But on the same lines, there are a few innovations that the consumers will witness this year. And I hope that they like it and we are able to add some value to that. Now, looking at, you know, what else we are doing, you know, we have quite a bit of a diverse portfolio and, you know, every space is something that is related to, you know, some of the other innovations. But I think health would be the one aspect which we will be running after in the coming days. Right, so it's exciting to hear especially Simran from our team definitely loves it and, you know, the Air Fryer. So I'm sure there'd be a lot of consumers out there who'd, you know, appreciate what Philips is doing. Also another question, Mr. Torani, just an interest of time, I'm gonna be asking you another one. The category you are operating in is very competitive. How has the legacy of the brand, you know, helped the brand in the last two years? So, you know, being so competitive in the industry, tell us more about how you maintain the legacy of the brand, you know, in the future. I'm sure it's going to be a good one. Allow me a moment, Mr. Torani. I'd just like to thank our participant. Yes, please, go ahead. So from a legacy point of view, you know, the last two years especially have been, you know, quite hard on everyone. And that's the time when people were looking for more and more trust. And Philips is a very, very trusted household name. So that's where, you know, that's the benefit that we all have because we have been, you know, we have been working in this industry for 130 years. And in this 130 years, we have developed a credibility for the brand and that has been very, very helpful. And, you know, secondly, as I shared, what was important for us is just not rely on the legacy but look at how and what the consumer is saying to us. You know, actually listen to them and then use those insights to ensure that we create propositions which are not only helpful for them, but they also are, you know, helpful in terms of taking the trends forward. Okay, it is important that sometimes we have to stay ahead of the market. You know, sometimes this is a typical question in a marketer's head. The market is ready for a particular launch or an innovation or something like that. At Phillips, we believe that if there is an innovation which we believe has value for the consumer, you know, let's go out and launch it and try to create market for it rather than waiting for the market to get created and then go and participate in it. And at Phillips, we have been, you know, credited with creating so many categories. So whether that's an air fryer, whether that's a garment steamer, whether that are trimmers, even for that matter, many of the beauty gadgets and so forth and so on. So that's the idea. The idea is that we have the legacy of trust. That's what, you know, we all have. And what can we do to stay closer to the consumers so that we understand their needs and sing meaningful innovations? Either what the market needs or even sometimes before the market is ready for that and create market for that space. Right, absolutely. So Mr. Tharani, I would love to ask you more questions, but just the final question, you know, in interest of time, as a leader, your biggest learning over the last two years. Now, I know that this question is gonna be definitely asked by a lot of the consumers and the viewers, the leaders who are looking up to you today. We'd love to know your learnings over the past two years. So I think the biggest learning that I have in the past two years is, you know, stay closer to your team. It is important that as teams, we actually care for each other because last two years were some of, you know, I would say the most difficult time at least I have seen in my lifetime. And it was important for all of us to stay closer as one team and also stay close to our consumers because the consumer also wanted avenues to speak to you and interact with you. You will see that in the last two years, the digital platforms have gained a lot of relevance. Why? Because it's a two-way communication where, you know, you can speak to the consumer and the consumer can speak to you. So my biggest learning is stay closer to your teams and have conversation instead of one-site communication. So conversations have been the most important learning for me in the last two years. It really helps. It gives you a lot of insights and it also helps you convey your messaging to the consumers and to the teams. So well, with this, Mr. Durrani, I'd really like to thank you and thank you for the conversation. And I hope the conversations stay more and more alive and thank you for being a part of the India Brighton Conflate. Once again, a big thank you. Thank you, Bhavna. It was a pleasure. Great having you.