 सारसाiced आईगरी शाशा से लिएो थे है, येसी जो भी खंठारे गरती थे यह मुझे on a personal level I remember the thing when I went to my wife's family had a lot of requests but one of the things that were there in the request was कुछ नहीं लाओ तो दिस हर्षीस के चोकलिट तो लियाना तो हर्षीस चोकलिट हैद हैद भीन औन every travellers list or everyone's list whose friends are travelling abroad but thanks to Mr. Harjit Bhalla the game has changed since 2018 with their aggressive marketing strategies and the brand has made its presence felt in India the man behind it for her she's to be available in India you know I was talking to Sivran from BW Bizzleworld she says that उंके दूद वाले के पास भी her she's ke kisses are available so I think kudos to you and kudos to your team Mr. Bhalla he was the then MD for India and now has been elevated to a global leadership position let's welcome Harjit Bhalla the Vice President of India an Asia Pacific Europe Middle East and Africa the Hershey's company today he will be telling us about future proofing your brand post the pandemic Mr. Bhalla welcome thank you so much and that was indeed a very warm welcome I just want to say that where we are today is the result of a fantastic team that I have at Hershey's for all kudos and all hats off to each one of them but first thing thanks to you that you know you have made it so comfortable to all of us you know now we don't now Hershey's is not on the list even Hershey's like it is available in India every nuke and corner so thank you for it thank you ever and in the next break just ensure you run to the nearest shop and buy ourselves some Hershey's kisses I'm going to do that see this is called brand plug-in brand plug-in is extremely important and remember everyone watching us that you're learning from the pros pay attention to that smooth plug-in which is important Mr. Bhalla over to you now thank you Rebhav I'm just going to try and share my screen just let me know when it comes up it's there okay so a very very good afternoon everyone it's a pleasure to be here I'm very excited to be part of the PITCMO summit and amongst all of you brilliant minds from the industry I'm sure all of you are going to agree with me when I say that the ongoing pandemic has taught us so much more than what we bargained for in life for me the last two years have been enriching both in terms of my personal and my professional development when we look at the topic today it is a conundrum that is faced by many industry leaders especially during the pandemic how do we future proof our business now as I start I'm going to start with a quote that I came across by Walt Disney which made a lot of sense to me you may not realize it when it happens but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you and isn't that exactly what happened to us there were so many challenging situations especially in the case of running an organization our usual ways of working and doing business had to be changed in some cases they had to be replaced by alternate processes it provided us with a golden opportunity to adapt and reinvent our ways of building an organization now this is something that all of you know so when we look at the FMCG industry there were lots of trends and a lot of things that really impacted us how we dealt with them is what's important initially we struggled and then we learned to cope and there were some seismic shifts that we've been seeing in how we do business going forward as they say out of adversity comes opportunity firstly the pandemic resulted in a complete disruption of our supply chains we were struggling to get trucks the whole conversation was about having a pass to be able to go out on the street and then we started laying the foundation for a high degree of automation high degree of digitization across our supply chain and our lead times started going down resulting in a fresher stock for our consumers so big benefit secondly this whole change in consumer behavior consumers were staying indoors a lot more the kitchen became the happy connecting place for families now this presented a significant opportunity for us as Hershey with a lot of our consumers taking to baking in a big way we talk a little more about it as we go along the third big thing BFI became the new buzzword from people who never read a label to understanding what all is coming inside the pack and what they can have which is filled with fortification that's going to make them healthier is something that started to go about again a huge opportunity for our plant based protein brand Sofit that was very relevant at this time and finally of course e-commerce I would even say that in the last 2 years we've seen e-commerce shift by almost 10 years that is how significant the impact of the pandemic has been on our retail landscape now we've seen a lot of wonderful learnings during this challenging time but I personally also realized there are significant changes were taking place at a more humane level while we have been brainstorming regarding how else we can future proof our business strategies an extremely integral part of building anything irrespective of which field of expertise you belong to is going to be people who make it all possible and how well we connect with them so for me my mantra to future proof business going forward is all about building deeper connections deeper connections in everything that we do whether it's with our consumers with our customers with our fellow employees with our own family members this is really about securing the future of our business and our organizations especially in these trying times so truly connecting with the right set of audience is going to be important for you to lay the foundation for all upcoming and existing business models and these I'm just going to bring for you guys over three focus areas building deeper connections through marketing building deeper connections with our people and building deeper connections as leaders now when we move on to marketing two key points is what I'm going to share with you it's all going to be about shifting from products to experiences and building brands with purpose I'm going to start with a quote from our founder who said give them quality that's the best kind of advertising in the world and this is even more true today than it has ever been it is all going to be about delivering quality at every step of the way it is not going to be any more about convincing people to buy your brand instead the priority has moved towards providing fantastic consumer and customer experiences that's going to get people to keep coming back for more now I'm going to share with you an example from within as you realize during the pandemic people were home we launched an initiative called how do you make it easy how do you make things accessible and how do you make it convenient so there was this huge program that had celebrity chef curating curating over 100 recipes to make it convenient we had QR codes on our set of bottles so all the consumer had to do was scan it, have access to these recipes and there were a lot of enjoyable family moments that were created inside the home now we even realize that there were different kinds of cooks starter cooks and more advanced level chefs and of course we curated our recipes to cater to all their needs so just one example and there are many more out there of how we can prioritize from product to better experiences the next thing is really about building brands with purpose and again this is not something that you haven't heard but this is something that's becoming even more relevant today as we speak I'm going to share with you an example from my erstwhile organization and one of probably according to me the best brands that bring alive the purpose within and that's life boy you know this was probably the first brand that issued a public service message during the pandemic urging consumers to wash hands with soaps or use sanitizers very very clearly it is so well linked to what the brand stands for and what they bring to the table a brilliant example of how during these challenging times a brand created reliability like no other so those were certain areas in the space of marketing that I wanted to highlight the next key area is all about your people and trust me if your people are happy your business is going to fire and that happiness creates that infectious spirit that's going to bring life and highly engage your entire organization it's going to be important and I know everyone's talking about this now but it's going to be extremely important on how you work about creating a hybrid work model where people your employees are going to feel safe they're going to feel secure and they're going to feel well looked after another example from within is the best of both where we are highlighting the fact that we know it's important for you to have personal flex time we know it's important for you at work to have moments where you can collaborate and moments where you can focus so the best of both is really really aimed at ensuring specific days of the week are blocked for collaborative meetings at work and other days where you can focus in peace from the confines or comfort of your home extremely important and I'm saying this because as things are improving a lot of people are wanting to come back but the reality is life has changed what has gone by is never going to be the same again so it's important that we are sensitive to this as we go along the other thing that we really became important during the pandemic was how we up skill and repurpose our talent something that's going to be important and ensuring that this talent is all set to embrace the future again something that we've always heard your business is only as good as the quality of employees that you have within a lot of organizations are doing great things in this space we at Hershey have started something called stronger and growing together it's a three year program it's all about helping employees with feedback coaching career panels development tips e-learning modules and what not the whole purpose being and as I summarize this the whole purpose being look after your employees and they will look after your business with that I move to the third and my last pillar that I want to bring alive which is how do we evolve as leaders and if there is something that has had to exponentially change over the past two years it is the quality and the kind of leadership agile leaders resilient leaders who are in touch with their surroundings and have the ability and the willingness to adapt are the ones who will grow and are the ones who will survive for me this starts with on-the-go leadership resilient leadership or on-the-go leadership is like free flowing water it teaches us to move with the tide to find pathways to move despite odds and to create ways where they are none now let me tell you this is easier said than done because this is a very uncomfortable space of leadership this is a space where you need to be willing to make changes to your plans in fact at least the theory that I have followed during this time was do not take any strong sharp or long-term impact calls during this time because it is the same way when we go to a restaurant we are very hungry we tend to over order similarly during the case of the pandemic where there was a lot of fear and there was a lot of concern we tend to take certain calls that may not be beneficial for the long run but being comfortable with chaos comfortable with instability and comfortable with confusion that is on-the-go leadership that is going to be extremely relevant in how we future proof our businesses going forward I am going to talk to you about an example of ownership of leadership that that really will pull at your heart strings during the first pandemic we spoke about the fact that consumption was really going up in home our entire range of Hershey spreads syrups, cocoa powder was flying through the roof at this time there was a lockdown that got imposed in Bhopal and our factories in Mandidi district next door everyone our employees live in Bhopal and suddenly no one could go to the factory and at a time where you are probably having the highest demand in history ever now this is when 20 employees volunteered to shift into the factory for 2 weeks trust me that is probably the most humbling thing for us these employees put their lives and their families at risk they put the company first and when I had asked them why do you want to do it they said we are if the company is and that for me is the most classic example of leadership these 20 leaders stayed 2 weeks and they are not a factory that is equipped for accommodation everything was makeshift and they ensured that we got stock as much as our consumers needed during this extremely difficult time now isn't this a testament of ownership resilience and absolutely brilliant leadership at an individual level so hats off to these guys moving on to my last point which is really about leadership beyond business and this is again something that is becoming extremely important you know we need we are reaching a stage where consumers are getting concerned about this we need to inculcate an approach by businesses place equal emphasis on social and environmental implications as it does on financial ones businesses need to take a more empathetic and societal and sustainable approach towards their operations you know we need to start to believe that we can do well by doing good so this is clearly something that is going to be extremely important for us at Hershey I think we take pride in the fact that our entire Coco is completely certified sustainable so globally there has been a lot of focus on Coco sustainability and we are working really hard to be in this space and we are happy and proud this was a big milestone where 100% of our Coco is certified sustainable so I am going to end with a quote from our founder again Milton Hershey where he said that our value of our good is not measured by what it does but by the amount of good it does to the one concerned so bear that in mind with that I am coming to an end of my keynote and I am wishing all of you all the very best as you go about future proofing your businesses and future proofing your brands it was an absolute pleasure being here thank you so much thank you so much what a fabulous stories you shared I think something that really inspired me was your team working out from the Bhopal factory for 2 plus weeks I think that was fabulous I think that would have as a testament to even your leadership right and to the entire leadership of the factory when you first heard that what really went into your mind I am really eager to know that I'd say shock and disbelief and gratitude and humility it is humbling that people are going out and doing that and I think that's been the story because in the last one and a half years the way the people have come together and that's why you heard me the core of businesses is going to be people and it is these deeper connects and I can tell you that the kind of connections that have been made during this time have been really really deep absolutely we have come to see so many sites of different individuals during this time and it is absolutely humbling and I can just be grateful another very interesting thing that you mentioned of the world's disease code because not a lot of people can really digest that and it is so true that we have learned how to evolve and even you very rightly mentioned in terms of not having a very long term plan not making anything that can be a part of the long term vision but right now is the time when you are trying to do make shift arrangements to make sure that so can you tell us any decision that you have taken where that can also be applied in the long term plus extremely effective during the lockdown time that we were going through hey there are lots of examples but in terms of being agile and being nimble since we have a lot of market years today and this is the CMO summit the one thing I can tell you is in the area of media planning most of us in traditional ways of operating will have media plans that are taped up for the year now we had to live with the idea of really discussing media planning on a weekly basis because you need to be in terms of ensuring that you get the right bang for buck your media has to correlate or be linked to your availability now if people are not being able to go outside and people are not being able to even access a new launch that you've probably put in the marketplace then you're going to be burning up cash you know I'm just saying it's just about re-looking at a lot of this and actually there's another example in the midst of the pandemic realize that innovations usually take a long time I come from an organization both at Yerileva and at Hershey where we spend a lot of time doing a lot of research and getting the product right and now there was the need of coming up with innovations that are quick and in fact for the first time ever I think we'd be happy to say that we launched hot chocolate last year in under 3 months that's from an inception of an idea to be in the marketplace that was what you would call a swift innovation so yeah clearly lots of such examples absolutely now from because you mentioned media let's get in a very dear friend of mine actually so busy that at times he doesn't even pick my call but we have Suhail Rameen how you doing Rohil thanks I was very absorbed in the questions that you asked sorry I was just asking audio thank you so much you did quite some pointed questions out there and thank you Mr. Balal I was listening to the presentation quickly since we have 5-7 minutes we have one question that you spoke about placing people in the center of the learning has put the leadership back into thinking about how people are important and how marketing can ensure a deeper connect henceforth at a personal level as well if you could tell me what all changes have happened from a personal standpoint Rohil are you talking about personally what are the personal changes also since it was a stressful time to cope up with it and to it's not resilience only from the brand side from the leadership side just a little bit about it I think couple of things like I said deeper connections I'll give you an example my leadership team and I used to connect for an hour every day 5 days a week which was never the case when in normal times of course we would connect but maybe once or twice a week so we had 5 hurdles a week where we would connect and there was enough importance given to understanding how we get the business up and running and equally enough importance to see how the people are doing we did dipsticks with people to understand how they are doing we were extremely conscious in our ways of working so I'll just give you certain examples and this was important for me as well 1-2 was lunch break you couldn't reach out to people between 1-2 there were no meetings to be officially fixed beyond 6.30 Fridays became flex Fridays where after 1pm no official meetings so that people could do their own thing there were flex during the whole week where you could talk to your line manager and say listen I need to focus on my child's class for 2 hours but I'll put in these 2 hours elsewhere or I'll complete the work that happens so I'm just telling you whatever I'm talking about for people is actually applicable to me as well and it was extremely important because when you're working from home the lines get blurred between when is family time and when is work time and that's something that we as leaders need to drive so at least at Hershey I can tell you no weekends are yours no communication Saturdays Fridays 2nd half you take out time to do your own thing lunches are yours after 6.30 is yours and yes there were a lot of these initiatives that the HR team ran under a Hershey cares program which was talking about physical and mental well being so personally for me I started a lot more focus on physical well being than I probably did in the past we did a lot of seminars on emotional and mental well being because we realized that it does tend to get frustrating where you're looking at a screen the whole day so lots of these examples and of course I think something that every organization did helped with vaccination for people medical insurances for people supplies of oxygen concentrators that whatever we could do during this time I mean it was truly a pandemic right and the first I'll just tell you the first lockdown it was all about ensuring how we can get business up and running the second lockdown was all about ensuring how people have access to medicine so there's been an evolution hopefully we are now a lot better prepared to mean if something else comes up perfect my final question you spoke about building the connect with marketing and the attempt has always been of course the same but the way we approach it I think has changed the sentiment has changed or from a leadership perspective from a brand leader perspective has overall marketing landscape become more people centric than ever will it stand that way as we move on absolutely I think marketing has become more consumer centric than it has ever been and this is coming more from the demands of the consumer as well and how the marketers are also evolving let's see digitization has played a huge huge role we are moving into an environment where the future of retail is largely only channel now if you look at how this is all evolving there is a need for a lot more personalization of the connection with the consumer in the earlier days there used to be a saying get the product on shelf the consumer buy it it's not going to happen anymore the product needs to talk to the consumer it needs to mean something for the consumer and it needs to be able to make that consumers life a lot for meaningful and a lot more convenient for the consumer to reach out so I clearly see an evolution and we are seeing a retail landscape also evolving in line e-commerce has suddenly become the center of it all in the last few years I can speak about for us at Hershey e-commerce now for the average contribution to businesses is roughly about 2% for us at Hershey it contributes to over 10% now that is also allowing us to digitally connect geo target our consumers and engage and also work collaborate together to even create a lot of user generated content so it's the connection now they are talking as people all right I just got a cue that we are out of time but wonderful listening to you and thanks for joining us today Mr. Bala it was a great conversation and a great great learning thank you once again thank you so much Rohil and a pleasure being there wish you all the very best for the rest of the summit thank you thank you