 You know Speaker, Mr. Ranga takes immense pride in being a part of this category and says there is no bathroom, only periwet. You must have guessed the brand by now. A speaker works closely on creating new strategies and opportunities to drive growth and further consolidate the company's leadership position. Well, he strongly believes in creating sustainable brand value to all concern through innovative actions. But what is it like to continue doing so and building brand love in an era that is constantly being driven by digital channels? I'm very honored to welcome a man who's got a wisdom that only talks about great heights. Please welcome the managing director of Roka Pariwet, who will be talking about building brand love in the digital era. And the ones who have just joined us from the team want to come to everybody and welcome to the PIT Summit 2021 Delhi edition. Sir, over to you, sir. Thank you. Within Upadhyaya, right? So very good evening and namaskar to all the people on this forum. I hope all of you are remaining safe in this pandemic time and the best way to get connected is through the digital media. I'm here to share some thoughts on the brand love part of it also in terms of how we attempt to do that in a digital context, right? And I don't think I need to introduce our category because in between programs, all of you make sure that you visit our category called the loo break. But whereas here, I would say that the next 30 minutes is a loo break. So you're going to witness only something concerned with the loo and something interesting, I would make sure that you don't feel tired of being inside the bathroom because I am inside the bathroom for the last about 20 years. So you can imagine my plight then. So let me share with you a short presentation here and I hope you're able to see something on the screen now. Are you able to see on the screen? I guess, you know? Yes, yes. Great, great. So let me quickly run through. I have, I think 10 to 15 minutes. So maybe we can have a chat after that. So what am I doing? All of you know I'm loving my party business for the last about 20, 25 years. Welcome to bathroom because this is the only place now left at home where you can have some privacy and also try to kind of reinvent yourself every day. Because in a stressful world today, when you take a shower, all your stress gets flushed out. So this is the concept on which we are living in this today's unfortunate pandemic world but we are trying to rejuvenate ourselves in a nice place called the bathroom. And we belong to Roca Group from the global number one Spanish group and we operate with the lovely brands like Armani Roca, Laofen, Roca, Pariwa and Johnson Pedder. Believe me, you will never forget us because every day morning when you wake up, the first brand that comes into contact with you in a day, of course there are millions of brands you come across but the first brand will always be a party because when you get up, you first head to the bathroom, either you brush looking at your basin or you use the closet, right? So that way, next movement onwards, I'm sure all of you on this platform, whenever you go to the loop, you will keep looking at the brand and say, hey, that guy was talking about Pariwa or Roca. Let me see what brand is this, right? So we are going to, to some extent, we are going to spoil you in terms of looking for brands in a party. So talking about this brand Laofen, I think this is the new mantra of building brands, in this decade, everybody talks about Laofen. So maybe a quick understanding as to why this is becoming so popular. This is the new wave, believe me, marketers are world over looking at creating a brand Laofen, which is what is going to take them to the next level. Emotion is the in thing today's part. The consumer is being emotionally attaching himself or herself to the brands now. No more logical reasoning saying that, this product must meet my requirement. These are all given things, right? So how to, this is a very invisible thing. Emotion is always an invisible thing. So we need to be very, very careful how do we touch the emotion of the consumer? And believe me, love is sustainable and it makes one forgive when there is a error. For example, I love my wife so much that every day I keep forgiving her because there are so many mistakes that do happen, no? So this is a long-term journey and that's what brand pandits are saying that once you develop a love between a consumer and a brand, the consumer tends to forgive you whenever there is a small problem, right? And then brand love obviously leads to a lot of loyalty and the storytelling is very easy when you try to build a brand story, right? For example, there are many brands which keeps talking about consumer stories and word of mouth, like a viral, it keeps spreading. So this is how brands are getting connected to the consumer today as well and what better locking tool rather than a love today? So we are very clear, brand love is here for the foreseeable future. Now, you may be wondering who is buying bathrooms, right? Because we need to know the consumers so that we'll be able to understand their preferences and then connect ourselves. So look at the consumer basket in our radar. There are four kinds of consumers of bathrooms in today's world. The tiny thoughts are the young ones, I would say the best of power or the kids, you know? I normally say kids not only buy toys, they also buy toilets. You'll be surprised in our showrooms across the country, there are people who are coming with the family and the kids select what kind of color, what kind of toilet, what kind of products they want to buy. And you'll be surprised, there is a complete range of kids' toilets itself which we have introduced very recently successfully. So along with the toys, toilets are also bought by kids. Then the biggest segment called the young and dynamic. The young and dynamic is between age 20 and 30, 35 and they are the bulk consumers in today's world for our kind of products. Because when you arrive in your life, the first thing you buy is a mobile phone when you get your job or even before you get your job and then you buy your two-wheeler, then you buy your car and then you land on your beautiful home. And then the third category is very interestingly called accomplished. Those who are in life will be in 40 and 60. Those who have achieved something in life who have really feel that there is a time where they have to spend their money and justifying that they need to lead a better life. And then finally, you have those young at heart who are 60 and above. So these kinds of customers, you'll be surprised there are many customers. Today, the young and dynamic buy products for the young at heart at home, I buy products for my mom. So, but still the decisions are driven by my mother in terms of what kind of product she wants, how in a bathroom you should be anti-skid, how the height of the toilet should be there, how the handrail should be placed. So this is our understanding of our consumer. Now, look at this digital penetration in India with a population of 1.4 billion almost now, you've got almost active mobile social media users, 445 million people who are using mobile now. And active internet users, whether through computer or whatever it is, is 624, which is almost 50% of India is now surfing on the digital canvas, right? And obviously mobile is the largest device in terms of 77%. So clearly India is leading the world on the digital revolution and we have another half of the population to join this crowd. Then you can imagine how powerful in terms of the network. And then if you really look at which age group is probably kind of spending more time, you can clearly see the age between 20 and 30 is the bulk user here. And average time spent on online is almost three hours. Imagine in a day when you are awake for around 12 hours or 13, 15 hours, almost three hours people are surfing, surfing, surfing. And in a pandemic now, this has even skyrocketed, perhaps there should be at least five hours, I would say. So having understood the importance of brand love and also growing the digital influence on the consumers, let's see how we are able to connect with the consumer and create something called a brand love affair. Talking about our category, a bathroom, the biggest worry for a customer is what happens if my leaky tap is irritated? What happens if my basin is clogging or a closet is clogging, water is not going, right? So that's when I get damn irritated and I don't know how to call the plumber and where to go for shopping. So that's where we created a beautiful campaign in the digital medium called tap to pot, which is a very interesting concept in terms of connecting with the consumer through the digital medium and flushing their worries out. So we created lovely films like this. I'll play one or two for you to understand. And this perhaps across the social media and across all the digital platforms in the last one and a half months or so has already reached 15 million people. And if you really look at the engagement part of it, it's almost 1.2 million, which is such a short span, we are able to achieve this. Let's take a look at one example here. Potting bathroom worries is much easier and safer than potting this. Just tap to www.barryware.in and explore all our products, outlets and technicians to pot all your bathroom worries. So just tap to pot. So here we are able to relate a funny incidents where it is so worrying for you to deal with a situation which is more happening in a day-to-day life, but quickly telling the consumer when it comes to bathroom worries, you don't need to worry. Just go to the Google type www.barryware.in. You will see a very, very interesting safe buy platform which is available for you. So similarly, a couple of films like this example. Out of the pool chamber. Potting bathroom worries is much easier and safer than potting this. Just tap to www.barryware.in and explore all our products, outlets and technicians to pot all your bathroom worries. So just tap to pot. So in making these films, we kept the curiosity portion very high because that is where you engage with the consumer. Whenever I see this on the mobile, I'm curious to know where it is all leading. So obviously, we know that when you place a pool table again, obviously the ball is going to hit somewhere or something. So that's where we create that excitement. So we doubled it up across all the digital platform. Wherever the consumer is going, we know the kind of consumer sector which is going into Google searches or into any other digital platform, whether it is YouTube or Instagram, we are always there, Facebook. So this is what is perhaps something called a corporate bombing where we are able to connect with the consumer and build a love quotient and that is what our job is. Then interestingly, we did this video which is a very simple COVID times. People always look forward to what can be better life. Now bathrooms, we don't need to tell them you have to be careful in a bathroom because everybody is now aware of the issues in the bathroom. So this is much more information oriented to the consumer saying that, look, there is something waiting to happen in your bathroom because there is so much of bacteria and if you don't manage it better, you have a problem and that's where you have a solution in the form of antimicrobial system covers and products like that. And then very interestingly, we started connecting because the love happens only when you are relevant to me. And imagine in today's world, people are bored with the product, product, product. So we need to find a way to connect and that's when this Diwali campaign helps quite a bit. So a brand which is more young, dynamic, youthful, always in fashion, needs to connect and create a love in this manner and that is what we work with our agency, Denso and created these wonderful meeting points. And then if you really look at the topical, awkward moments, this is a very much celebrated day, thing happens around March or something, where people are aware now if this young population is aware about awkward moments. So then we create something interesting for them. Similarly, holy celebration, international nurse day, everywhere you will find something very, very interesting and very relevant to them. So I'm not going into the details of all this, obviously you will find them in the YouTube and other channels. And of course, in between, we also play some product clear benefits of a product in the form of a short videos like this. And then facts around the bathroom, this is something which was very interestingly done, talking about how you have to be careful in terms of employing uncertified plumbers, then how a service oriented plumbers support from that brand and always help you to be very careful in terms of handling the bathroom. Coming to the super premium brand called Roka, which is a Spanish brand and very popular in the Europe, Europe's number one brand, obviously global number one. And in India, we have to create something exciting on the platform where architects are the people who are nowadays engaging themselves much more with a super premium brand like Roka, along with the high net worth individual. And that's where we created a nice campaign called the International Design Context where we have jumped the gap, is a global program where the architects participate with a design development context. And here you'll find almost 10 million reach in terms of reaching out to the target audience. Similarly, you'll find the safety tips, which is another important way of contributing to the customer experience. You know what, sometimes when somebody tells us something interesting about a bathroom, then you sit up and take a notice in terms of some learning opportunity. And in a COVID time, people are much, much aware about these kinds of hygiene aspects. And then we bring something really beautiful in terms of global standards on new design capabilities. This is a fantastic product called Otake Basins, which is developed in the Brazil with an architect called Rui Otake. This is a masterpiece in many sense in terms of the product. So this creates, again, love from an architect community or from a high net worth individual community. To try and say, what is this amazing piece which I should be able to buy? So that is where we create the connect. So these are some of the products for. Similarly, like Fireware, you have this Earth Day, World Health Day, Valentine's Day. Let's see how Valentine's Day we are able to create something around here. So we create these kinds of campaigns with the intention that the consumer is able to connect very clearly. Similarly, as a global brand, a responsible brand, we have a foundation called VR Water Foundation, which is a corporate social arm of our group. And we do quite a lot of social development by developing the sanitation, by developing the water bodies. And this is something which we take pride in doing it. And this is, nowadays, the consumer is able to connect very clearly with a brand, which is not just trying to sell a product, but whether it is a relevant brand in a society context is what consumers are looking at. Johnson Peder is a very, very budget brand. So here we work only at the ground level in terms of celebrations, in terms of New Year messages. So this is something which I wanted to share with you. And I hope you are able to understand how we create a beautiful connect between a consumer who's looking for a toilet brand and then how we are able to bring this love portion so that they're able to constantly keep engaging with the brand for a period of time. Thank you, thank you so very much, sir. Very, very exciting presentation of the whole thought process. I love the starting slide. Now that just makes anyone dive into the fortunes of the organization and very motivating as well. But quickly in a chat with you, I wanna welcome somebody who's gonna have a lot of conversation with you. So please welcome our very own Dr. Bhattra. Dr. Bhattra. Thank you so much, Mr. Ranganathan Nandri. Thank you for that presentation in the evening. It was full of energy and you illustrated your brand journey and how you're creating brand love. And the only thing I differed from you is you write in the bright up front, you said you forgive your wife. The reason you are doing so well is because your wife forgives you. I just wanna grasp everything you said was good. That's the only thing I correct you. I hope you agree with it and if you don't, we have a recording, we'll possibly get it to where it needs to go. Correct. And lockdown, in a lockdown situation, I have to agree. Yes. Now let me get back to brand love. You know, you took us through the journey of Roka, the various segments, various routes of communication, instances of chairs. And you talked about the fact that early in the morning, we interact with this brand. The last 15 months have shown that consumers, like us, has spent much more time at home than we ever were done. So homes have become much more important than they ever were. Correct. We're going to the washroom in our home much more, you know, to wash our hands more, spending more time at home, you know, last 31 days, I have been at home, not stepped out of home, forget traveling, right? So clearly, every facet of the home has been upgraded. Now, tell us what is the impact it has had on your categories in that sense? I know construction on the other hand, slowed down in the last few weeks, at least temporary, I would like to believe. But tell us how it's been balanced by upgradation, because the consumer is at home, so clearly they are trying to upgrade. Every person I know is trying to make their home more livable, more comfortable, and hence upgrading his or her home. See, if you really look at the consumption where the bathroom is going, there are three routes through which the consumption happens. One is the new construction, other is renovation, where people are, the product is working, but I want to upgrade myself, as you said. And third is the replacement, where it breaks. For example, my grandson broke the base in the other day, so I have to buy a base, right? So if you really look at in a lockdown kind of a situation, construction sites were initially affected obviously because the workmen all went back to their native place. So really there was a slowdown in that segment. The replacement demand started coming in once people realized that long-term, they are going to be inside the house. Initially people thought last year, April, May, that everything will come to an end within a month or so. But now people are saying that it will take another couple of years, right? So now people understand that I have to be inside my home for some more time. So now people are started, as you rightly said, renovating the bathrooms. In terms of replacement, where I have to change my toilet, and that is continuously happening because that is a phenomenon. And with children being more at home, obviously the wear and tear is much higher. And during this lockdown period, the plumbing community could not move around freely to buy the product and replace it. And that's why we created the SafePy platform. And you'll be surprised digitally. Now people are entering the website, choosing the retail outlet, choosing the product, choosing the plumbing technician. Everything comes together to get the job done. So if you really look at our own business in the last year, calendar year 2020, the first quarter was really booming because January, March, we were really going at 15, 18th percent. April, May, June was survival because everything was closed in April, but we were able to survive. And July, August, September, we started reviving. And October, November, December, we came back to growth. And this year coming last January onwards in the five months, we had done a helicopter takeoff in some sense because the business is booming. Why? Because it's not that everybody is enjoying the same boom. So unless the brand is very, very sensitive and very, very strategy oriented, this benefit you don't get. So we work in the market, we work with the architects, the consumer, the retailers and the dealers, make everybody love us because the brand love is not only for consumer, by the way, the brand love is for your trade partners. The brand love is for your influencer. They have to love your brand. Then only you will be able to see the China factions going around. So we created a strong consumer pull, a trade oriented approach. And thanks to all our trade partners who are able to rebound much, much quicker, that way we are able to kind of record highest ever revenue, highest ever market share and all those. So in a sense, I would say the COVID wave 2.4, which hit us in May, is a small dampener. It's like a speed break. So we are going on a highway, we are going at a good speed. There is a gate, there is a speed breaker. Only thing is, it is going to be a rumble strip. So it's not going to be one where we can negotiate and then take immediate speed. So maybe it'll be up and down, up and down, up and down like that for next couple of months. And then perhaps if all goes well, when cases come down, we'll be able to open all the doors. So that way, I think we are lucky in many sense to, on a business side, we are okay in many sense. Fantastic. Now let me ask you, again, your category you shared with us that you enable purchasing through a digital experience and a digital selection. But even in your category, touch and feel is very, very important, right? You know, the store experience when you visit, experience the product and you see the display, that does play a big role in purchase. You think technology, especially AR, we are, has started to be used in a deeper, wider way to be able to at least substitute in some way for the touch and feel of past. I think in a bathroom, there are a few products which you can buy from Amazon and Flipkart. Even today we sell in Amazon and Flipkart like the health faucet, shower, one or two taps like that. Yeah, they're easy to fit and they're not custom made. They're standardized. Yes, there are, do it yourself, kits are available. But more importantly in a bathroom, you need a plumber if you're going to fix a closet. You cannot fix by yourselves. Similarly, the basins, you cannot fix by yourself. You need the bolts and then you need to, there are a lot of things coming up along with the basin to make sure the water goes out in a proper manner. So easy to do products in a very small way people are buying, but nobody buys commodes and basins in a website because when it lands here, it is broken first of all because it's a ceramic piece, it's very fragile. Second, I don't know how to fix it and my plumber will say, sir, you should have bought the B-trap instead of S-trap. So these are all very plumbing oriented things. Then I go nightmare in terms of returning the piece. Thankfully, it is still a touch and feel. This is not only in India, but even in the United States, this is the same situation. There are home depots where people go in large number by these kind of products. So nobody buys in Amazon. Fantastic. My last question, which is professional and then I'll ask you one personal question. My last business question is, see as a leader, when you create brand love, it follows down from your values, from your philosophy, from what you do on a daily basis. As a leader, what has changed in your wiring over the last few weeks or the last months? Of course, some of the eternal values of leadership stay constant, leading by example, having empathy, doing the listening, having compassion, being authentic, being even vulnerable. Saying, I don't know because for the first time, we all leaders felt that there were a lot of things we could do, but there was a lot we couldn't do. It was beyond our control. Literally for the first time, we felt that we were insignificant. So what is the change in your leadership outlook? Yeah, I think obviously ever since the pandemic started, we have kind of realized that we need to be more compassionate to our people. Just not only the employees, I'm talking about our ecosystem itself. Yes. Then how do we help each other? Because obviously brands always have this headway, as they say, this brand is a Dadaagiri brand. This brand has got huge monopoly. So those things, I think, fortunately, we belong to a global group, which are very grounded down there. We have been here for the last 102 years from 1917. So our plan is to look at next to 100 years, how the consumers are looking at bathrooms. So as a long-term player, our attitude has to be much more to a sustainable environment, a sustainable practices, and also trying to help each other, not looking at a business outcome, but more looking at a survival outcome for them. So during this period, we have helped all of our trade partners in every way possible and made sure that, but I think we have to do more. I realized that in the last couple of months, after the COVID-19, actually we are not prepared. In the next two weeks, we are setting up emergency five beds in our factories, with oxygen. So this we should have done in the first wave itself, looking at the future, right? But unfortunately, we didn't do that. But now we have realized and we are doing it. I think the welfare measures and the way we work on the safety of our people, we have global standards, of course, no doubt. I think a little bit more on the preventive mechanism is what we need to spend more time on. Fantastic. You're absolutely right. As a leader, I felt that and I identify with what you are saying. We have to accept our human fidelity that we are not super hero. My last question and the person question, you know, today in the era of brand love, we're not just Mr. Ranganathar was the managing director of Roka in India. You're also a grandfather, father or a husband. You're somebody who learned flute three years back. Yeah. So, you know, how is the personal journey been impacted in these times? All of us, because we spend much more time at home. You've lived our lives fully for the first time. We're not on a plane. We're not hurried through things. So tell us, you learned flute three years back. I don't want to give you a rate, but you're very experienced. You also tell your grandson, so for a grandfather, you're very young, you're 60. You learned it when you were 57. And so tell us, in terms of personal growth, what has the last 15 months meant to you in terms of your hobbies, in terms of spiritual growth, emotional growth, you know, you love playing the flute. So give us a sense of how has that engulfed your life? No, I think this is a very, very personal. Of course, every one of us have our own experiences in life. And I'm thanking God that three years back, I started this flute because I wanted to learn something, even though I'm retiring or nearing the retirement age. I thought I should learn something which will help me to take my life for next 20, 25 years. And that's when I landed on this. Me and my wife went on every Saturdays and days we used to go for classes. And very interestingly, in these flute classes, I came across another senior student. I'm a student, right? At the age of 57, I'm a student. I have a senior student whose age is only seven years, younger than my grandson. So she's senior to me. And my guru used to tell me, hey, why don't you listen to her? How beautifully she's playing. The way you manage the air, which is going out of the flute, with the finish, he's what producing the beautiful sound. So he used to tell me, next to class, you're going to learn from her. So that brings you down with a lot of humility. Takes away the ego. Yes. Takes away the preconditioning. And that is amazing in terms of, and I used to be afraid because my guru used to conduct examination once in a quarter. And I need to go prepared. I need to make sure that I don't slip upon on the swaras or the way you play. And I tell you that made me realize that everybody starts at ground zero whenever there is a skill which you try to acquire. So you may be an expert in business strategy, but when it's playing flute, I'm so poor compared to her. So that realization makes me feel that I need to learn. I need to learn. I need to kind of be realistic to the reality of life. And then thankfully during the lockdown, I had to be at home for a few months because I tried to go to my office, which is very next door. But I had time to learn my own passion of few songs, right? Hindi songs or Tamil songs. So when you start creating your own music, there are no end to that beautiful creator, right? Of course, those who listen may say that, no, no, no, there are a lot of errors, but we are not here to play for others. We play for ourselves, right? And that motivation is what everyone need to have. In life, you need to have a motivation because if every one of us going to say that, I've earned money, I lived my life, I got all my promotion, then we had to go and write. But we need to look forward to the next day, how we can motivate ourselves. So I think for all of us, the lockdown must have created psychological disturbances. So I used to freely walk around in my terrace, breathe some fresh air, look at the nature, look at the birds going back in the evening. These are all I've never seen at all, right? And we used to keep taking three, four flights in a week, but we are fully grounded. And now when the economy started reviving, I started helping people financially and even otherwise because the giving part of us for all of us, I think it went up because of the pandemic, right? So in our own way, we started around us. So thanks to the pandemic in many sense, better you do not concentrate too much on COVID news, COVID news, maybe five minutes in a day, but try to stick to your routine. I have an office in my house, I'm able to kind of continue my routine, look forward to the weekend in terms of learning new songs and others, create some motivation within us and then start helping more people in the system. I'm sure we'll be able to lead a much, much better life than getting worried about COVID, COVID, COVID. Thank you so much. I think it's a pleasure chatting with you. At the end of the day, I feel that we all are interns in every phase of our life, we are learning new things. And I said in the morning within, when I was talking to a young gaming guy that I, we live in the process of reverse mentoring, younger people teaching us new skills that we don't know. Clearly, you gave a beautiful example of a flute class and clearly if we need to compete in a technology-led era and stay intrusive and serious while having a routine, we need to spend time with younger people. We need to observe what they do. We need to make them our mentors. And brand love is a lot about understanding what does your target group loves and then incorporating that in your product as well as in the communication. So clearly these experiences would have made you richer in terms of knowledge about what your TG wants and we've gone into your products and brand experience. So thank you, Nandri. Thank you, Mr. Ranganathan. Go forward to have more interactions as exchange media and pitch. And hopefully next time we can get you to play a flute at our show. So maybe we'll do that next time. Thank you once again. God bless you back. I'm the Chief Entertaining Officer. Good. Chief Entertaining Officer is always good. It saves you outside entertainment fees and it can be diverted if there's something there. I used to always call it Chief Excited Officer, Chief Empathetic Officer, but you added a Chief Entertainment Officer to that. So I'm actually a Chief Entertainment Officer. Very good. Very cheap, you know, I come up very cheap. So but on a serious note back to Mithin, thank you. We take ourselves too seriously. Sometimes it's good not to take ourselves too seriously. So thank you so much. On a serious note, great presentation on Roka and Cherni. And thank you for the conversation. Look forward to more conversations. This must have been the longest to loop break for all of you. No, it was lovely. And also audio visuals break them on how to make music sound. So it's a combination of it both. Otherwise it's just a dialogue and monologue. It can be a little fatigue, but thank you for doing that. And we're grateful at Exchange for Media that you did that. Thank you so much.