 And with that, it's time for the first session of the evening, and it's going to be by Mr. Vijay J. Mansookhani, who is the co-producer of Merck Electronics and is also its managing director. He has been associated with Merck since its inception in 1981. As the key member in devising and implementing corporate growth strategy for Merck, he is also involved in the telecom sector. He's the managing director of Adino Telecom Limited, a joint venture with in-care telecommunications India Limited. Mr. Mansookhani is also on the board of several companies. Ladies and gentlemen, now I would request Mr. Vijay Mansookhani, managing director of Onida, to kindly please come and join me on the stage, and he will be giving a special address on reinventing an iconic brand, the Onida Story. A very warm welcome to you, sir. First of all, let me thank Exchange for Media for inviting me to speak at this pitch CMO conference. But let me tell you, I'm not a marketing guy. Each of you can teach me a lot about marketing. I'm an entrepreneur, and I started with nothing. So I had learned it the hard way. So along the way, I learned about marketing, finance, and everything, like from production to purchase to everything. But let me tell you very briefly about my life, which would be relevant to you. And why I'm saying relevant to you, what I really realize in my life is to recognize opportunities. I was from a very middle-class family. I was no big shot. My father expired when I was young, and my mother was just a housewife. So whatever I did was my first-generation business here. I started my life as a marine engineer on the shipping corporation of India, and there I was. That was my first job at the age of 20. When I went to Australia, I found that the Australian guys were earning three times my salary. So I said, no, why should they earn three times when I should earn one? I left shipping companies and joined Australia. Because I was fully qualified, and I was what he called, passed all my exams, they wouldn't make me the boss of the company, I mean, of the ships there. Because he said, you're much too young. I said, okay, if I'm much too young, and I'm not white enough. So I said, I left. I went to Iran. The Shah of Iran was there. And the Shah of Iran was paying double what Australia was paying. So here I was. I recognized the opportunities. And I'm saying this only because I'm recognizing opportunities. And I joined Iran, and I was earning six times of my colleagues. And I told my colleagues, what the hell are you working for? One, and I'm working for six. Anyway, that was their problem. I came down to India. I mean, I have to get leave from the ships. And when I came down, I met a partner of mine, Mr. Michandani, and he had a license for making televisions. And we took cassette recorders. And I recognized that as an opportunity. I said, oh my god, India doesn't have color TVs. We used to watch black and white TVs. So I recognized that as an opportunity, and so we tied up. My money, his license. And we said, here we go. And to make things better, Indira Gandhi announced the Asian Games in Delhi. So she opened the gates to importing televisions. So here I was. That's the end of my shipping career at the age of 28. I was in Hong Kong buying TVs from all the places wherever I could. And I was making a 40% margin. And of course, I love to meet people, socialize and network and everything. And you know how it is with Sindhi's in Hong Kong. The whole lot of Sindhi's out there, they do a lot of financing. So one of those guys very condescendingly asked me in Sindhi, what do you do for your financing? And I said, I have none. So he said, would you like me to do financing? I said, yeah, sure, I'll do confirming for you. I said, I didn't know the name. I didn't know what confirming was. I knew but it was something good. It was actually open letter of credit. So he gave me open letter of credit of $200,000. Now $200,000 in those days, a lot of money. And I was turning them around twice in a month. I'm making a 40% margin. Now wow, that was something. And till I went again, I met a Chinese guy and he said, I've never seen a bigger idiot than you. I said, yeah, what happened here? So he said, you're paying 4%. You know what he's doing? 4%. But I was making 50% if I paid 4% big deal. And I was turning it around twice. So I was making 100% out of which I was giving him 8%. But he said, you're giving him 96% in a year. I said, yeah, what will you do? I'll give you 2%. So I recognized this opportunity. I said, you know about something? He gives me a million dollars. He said, what? I said, just look at my face on his guy. He said, you got it, million dollars, 2%. Wow. I was turning a million dollars twice over in a month. You know, making 40% paying 2% commission. That was it. So now, suddenly, Asian Game got over. The gates got shut. Indira Gandhi said, sorry, no more imports. I said, oh my God, now what? Now we have to manufacture. So on my way to Hong Kong once, I was just waiting. And there was a Japanese guy sitting there. And we got talking. And I saw his boarding pass. It was blue color. I looked at my boarding pass. It was green color. He was in business class. I was in the economy. And I said, what do you do? So he said, I'm with JVC. I said, oh, wow. Now that's the girl you want to marry, you know? Company. I went to the Swiss Air person. Then I said, hey guys, I want to change my ticket. He said, what? You've passed the immigration. You're going to be boarding the plane now. So I said, no, no. But I want to upgrade to business class. I said, how are you going to do that? I said, I mean, I'll pay by credit card the same way I bought the ticket. That's the head. She says, she asked the Swiss Air girl, can we take this guy into business class? So she asked me, how will you pay a credit card? She said, yeah. So there I was. I sat next to the Japanese guy. And of course, this girl took my credit card. She swiped it. And she swiped it. And she swiped it. And she couldn't get anything. Because in those days, credit cards were valid only in India and Nepal. I'm talking about 40 years back. So here I got a free upgrade. I sat next to the Japanese guy. I said, what are you doing in India? He said, man, I can't understand. Suddenly the floodgates opened up. The whole world is coming to India. Because of the Asian Games, the plane loads of TVs were coming. And that opportunity I did not miss. I did not miss that opportunity. Now I sat next to this guy. So I said, what's the plan? He said, I'm coming in 10 days time with all the team. I've done the reconnaissance. And I'm bringing all the bosses here. So I said, do you mind? I mean, he said, yeah, yeah, of course, of course and all that. I was quite surprised. I said, you're coming in. I'm not even on the list. Thank God I sat next to him. Thank God I met him. And thank God I talked to him. I said, I would never have known that the JVC guys were coming. We went to the airport after 10 days. Every Tom Dickon, Harry was there with flowers in the hand. I said, what the hell are you guys doing here? JVC, JVC, JVC, JVC. And there was Crown, Western, Dianora, Salora. You must be knowing all the older people and other young girls here. But everybody was wrong. I didn't get enough flowers in my hand, you know. But my friend at a Mercedes-Benz car actually requested that. I said, please, please, please. Only this one. I want to borrow your car. So he said, yeah, sure, sure. So the Mercedes-Benz came to the airport. And of course, India had only a Mercedes-Benz Fiat. I mean, none of you all, I mean, I'm much too old for you. But in those days, there was only two cars, Fiat and a Mercedes. But Japanese guys came. Of course, all the Indians looked the same to them, you know. So what they recognized the car, you know. And they sat in that car. They must say, ah, they got damn upset, all the other guys. You know, I said, hey, listen, man, give it a touch. Yeah, yeah, touch, touch, touch. Everybody rang to the touch. We took them home. By the end of the evening, Onira was born here. So that is the story of how Onira was born. And then, of course, JVC was, of course, one of the best companies in Japan. And we asked them that, let's do something new. I have to recognize opportunities of one channel. The whole world used to watch on Sunday morning at 9 o'clock Ramayana. You know, the whole India used to come to a stop. The whole India used to come to a stop from 9 o'clock to 10 o'clock Ramayana. And, of course, one channel, three hours in the morning, three hours in the evening after that, nothing, you know. So, since we had a license to make VCRs and TVs, we started importing VCRs and started getting nine system TVs, you know. Nine system, because nowadays you won't understand the nine system. Because India uses only PAL, but Europe uses CCAM and America uses NTSC. All our televisions of PAL seek out NTSC and everybody used to get cassettes from abroad because they had no content, you know. So they used to watch the content on VCRs. And, my God, we took off, you know. We were the only company selling nine system TVs. So irrespective of whether the cassette came from America or from New York, I mean from Europe, you could watch it on our TVs. Those were the heady days, great days. We were making money fist over here and laughing all the way to the bank, you know. And then, suddenly, when it got shut, we had to start manufacturing. So we started manufacturing with JVC and JVC was doing a damn good job. Now everybody started manufacturing. So we said, now we've got to do some advertising. We went to all the advertising agency and said, what's your budget? I said, what's the meaning of a budget? You know, I really didn't know what, how much budget to put and all that. I said, I just want to advertise. You can't just advertise. Anyway, we met these three guys who were starting and they showed us this mascot of the devil and they had this word, Neighbors, Envy, Owners, Pride, because we told them that our TVs are undoubtedly the best, you know. So it was absolutely matching our product and advertising and also our culture of the company. When we said Neighbors, Envy, Owners, Pride, we meant it. That was the ethos of the company. This thing was Neighbors, Envy, Owners, Pride and we realized that with a diverse country like India, east, west, north, south, everybody can equate. Not with that guy, show this here. Show this green. Oh, yeah, this guy. He won't equate with this guy, but he can equate with this guy, you know. So east, west, north, south, whole of India recognized this guy and he was arrogant, he was lovable and he was aspirational, you know. So the baby bloomers could equate with them. Of course, even now, after we resurrected this guy, even what I wouldn't say, the baby bloomer, the baby bloomer have become old now and now we have millions, but even they can, what do you call, equate with this guy. So that's how it all started and here we are, we had this devil and then, while all this was going on, you know, the Japanese were ruling but the Koreans were very fast followers. So they were starting to make televisions just like the Japanese were. The Chinese were mass marketers, so they were building massive factories, you know, all across and they were the mass marketers, those were the fast followers and here India was living in a licensed raj. Everything was licensed, licensed, they were nationalizing, nationalizing and this is how India was and this is how the others were and suddenly India went broke. India was on its knees. We were asked to miss a meal. I don't know, you girls, you're young kids out here will never realize those days but we were asked to miss a meal on Thursday night so that India had no food to eat. So that was the time when India was down and out, absolutely. So when we had no reserves, nothing, when we had to miss a meal also, things are extremely bad. The Prime Minister had nothing to do but to open the gates and wham, here came the multinationals with the big brand and the deep pockets and we were children, you know, like compared and here these are the big boys and we had to compete with them, you know and we were swamped, we were swamped and we got killed, you know. So when you say that was a decline, it was not really the decline, it was the bad government policies, you know. And to add insult to injury, each state gave sales tax advantage, income tax advantage, excise advantage, they were what rubbish, you know. You have to set up 20 factories, everybody had 20 factories in India, one in Delhi, one in Noida, because there were two different states, one in Uttar Pradesh, I mean one in, every state we had a factory, 20 factories for each manufacturer, you know. I mean it was ridiculous, how do I compete with somebody who doesn't pay 18% sales tax? So anyway, and of course these guys with the deep pockets, the multinationals, they swamped everybody and all, out of the 50 factories that were there in 1985, there was only one alive, us. All because of the fact that we said that we will stay on the quality and we will, you know, keep our body called quality absolutely up to date and innovation up to date. So things are really, really bad, but now came Mr Modi and suddenly the whole world changed for us. He introduced GST and it became a level playing field. When it became a level playing field, no benefits for anybody, it's all on the level and suddenly Onida got resurrected. Onida got resurrected and here we started making profits. We started making profits and now for the last six quarters we've been making excellent profits, you know. And this is how it all went, but Modi promoted the brand, India and all the multinationals are going to be coming in with the big brands and the Chinese are going to come in with the cheap products that's squeezed in between. Now here comes the job of the marketing people. You, you'll have to now take a very good stance on lobbying. Lobbying not only that when you market you market not only just the products you better market your company also. Modi is marketing the country and all of you who are marketing people will have to market your company and lobby with the government that here you open up the floodgates and not only that, you are allowing and you are putting a 28% GST on us and a 10% custom duty on us with a 40% and yet you want to compete with all the guys from all the people who are coming into the world. I don't think India will get squeezed. Now when India gets squeezed you have to accept it. Whatever happens in life you have to accept and move on. Now I say when this happens when the big guys come all the small guys come. The ease of doing business very good in India, you know. When all these guys will come to India they'll get besooked, you know. How to do business in India. Now that's where you come in. There will be lots of mergers and acquisitions there will be lots of marriages and there will be lots of divorces within the corporate world and it is your job as a marketing people to recognize opportunity when they come. So anyway, so that's how it is and there will be great opportunity and I'm going to show you the next slide is about a book which I thought is on an open mind. So in the open mind you'll see what he called here this will make it big, master opportunities. Opportunities will come your way and you'll have to find opportunities which the competitors cannot find or won't find. If you do that you are going to succeed. So the role of marketing is going to expand exponentially to all you guys you have to understand one thing you have to now merge marketing with R&D. You have to give the consumer something with R&D was giving now marketing has to give. You'll have to even look at strategy and strategy is doing something else what I mean is doing not just operational excellence most of you all are going to be into operational excellence but operational excellence is not going to get you anywhere strategy will get you everywhere strategy is to doing something which you haven't done up to now and maybe not doing something which you're already doing so you have to be looking and I can tell you all of you have to be fanatics to find opportunities because you don't find and this is a book written by Richard Rockman about opportunities how to recognize opportunities I don't know what he saw in me but I'm also there with all the industrialists of India so maybe if any of you read this book you'll find how to recognize opportunities and how to leverage these opportunities because I would like to say that you guys are all very familiar with this thing of the awards that took place you know just now recently and what did you see in that all the companies that won the awards are market capitalization so you guys also have to be finance people you'll also have to see that while my earlier products are selling the market capitalization of your company is also going up so that is also as important to be done you know and you'll have to like create opportunity like this is your company you have to create baby bells baby bells to mix with all the foreigners who are coming don't let them take over your company but create a step down company and merge with all this and then grow sometimes these baby bells in America are worth more than a mother bell so anyway so you'll have to create wealth for your company because I can tell you if you are over the age of 45 that's the age of retirement nowadays nobody will hire you age of 45 we are looking for younger and younger people for us we have separated the ownership from the management I may be the owner of the company but I don't run the company this is my corporate social responsibility the initiative that I am doing that I am talking to you here today my company is run by young people and they are doing a fantastic job even better than how I can do unfortunately India like the west has a very hierarchical culture than my consensus and the people on top and it's not an individualistic culture like in the west where young kids take all the decisions so the seniors are very troubled to take these tough decisions you will have to help them because the seniors would rather be the head of the chicken and not the tail of the tiger but I tell you there is more value in the tail of the tiger so I have only 2 minutes more to speak I want to just say that our aim in life is to make Indians proud of the made in India level that's our goal and you as marketing people will play a key role in whatever happens and you will have to play a key role in the destiny of your company because all of you have to ask yourself what is the legacy that you will be leaving behind so that your company not only survives but also prospers under these very very tough conditions I leave you with that thought and I will tell you about the last slide which I wanted to put on can you please it is something which is very relevant that every morning in Africa a deer wakes up it knows it has to run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed next one every morning in Africa a lion wakes up it knows it must run faster than the slowest deer it will start to death next one it doesn't matter if you are a lion or a deer when the sun comes up you drive well if you run it