What this BrandMasters episode teaches about brand purpose

Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 11 of Brand Studio Live. I am Rameet Arora and I have a brand new set of Brand Masters with me today. I am joined by Ht Brand Studio and DMA Asia. Brand Studio Live brings together the country's best marketeers to talk about the hottest topics in marketing. Episode 11 is a continuation of the Mumbai chapter of Brand Studio Live Season 1 where we have moved out of the Ht newsroom to almost the haloed grounds of BSC,

formerly known as the Bombay Stock Exchange, where we are sitting today is the old trading hall. This is where lots of brands and companies actually built and created their fortunes and their futures. Rich history. Very rich history. Without further delay, let's start with today's episode. Content is king. It's cliched, it's a phrase we've heard a million times, but it holds truer today than ever before, at least in the history of marketing.

According to Gartner, the term content marketing will actually be defunct by 2021, surprise surprise, because all marketing content will automatically sort of rise to the expectations of an attention limited audience. The challenge is how do new age marketeers create content that people care about and that's why we've got all of you together today.

My first guest is Manav Sethi, Group Chief Marketing Officer of Eros International PLC. As Group CMO, Manav looks after Eros Now and the studio business. In his earlier role, he was a founder CMO for Alt Palaji, India's first SVOD OTT platform which broke the notion that it was a Indians don't pay for content. Talk to us a little bit about your content. How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content? How do you think about your content?

How do you think about your content? Agnelo Dias is Chief Creative Officer and Founder Taproot Dentsu. We all know him as Aggie. Agnelo ranks among the most influential figures in the Indian advertising industry. In 2007, he made history at Cannes by winning India's first ever Grand Prix. He is also the only Indian advertising person to be listed among the world's 100 most creative people in business by the US-based Fast Company magazine. You've always said that the idea is the product, is the real product that creative people bring to the table.

And what should connect? Everything that a brand does is the idea, not a photo or a visual or a snippet of a 30-second commercial. Is this more true than ever? Are our creative directors now actually curators who take ideas and sort of find place for those ideas in our lives, not just a 30-second commercial? Or are they still artists and specialized in what they do? Has their role changed? Has their life changed? It's changing but they are being dragged, kicking and clawing every step of the way.

And it comes from many years actually of the advertising industry kind of blurring the lines between art and craft. So just to take a theoretical step back, when there is a creative force or energy or idea within us, just like when we normally talk we speak in English, Hindi, Tamil, whatever. Similarly creative has languages, literature, music, sculpture, painting, music. All of these are languages for creative to be expressed. But there are crafts in which creative is best expressed.

So an idea that's best written in words may not always be best expressed through a sculpture. Just like a turn of phrase may best be expressed in Punjabi but may be translated in English and you can understand it. But you don't identify with it as much as it would have in its native language. So most of the creative people joining the industry would be asked to have a craft as a backup. Can you write? Can you draw? Because in case you don't have a thought or you don't have ideas you can at least help us craft out or write.

And that was your backup kind of remuneration plan for the agency. Because when money comes into the agency it's coming for ideas and then the execution of ideas. Traditionally for 80 years or 90 years all the execution was in print. So it became natural for generation after generation to have writers. Because there was no other way of pushing out your message to the world except through a newspaper or through a holding. Then came TV and they said okay can you have film writers because now there is a third way of expressing this.

But now in the last 25 years because there is 25 other ways of expressing it and even the so called big word called digital is many 14 or 15 different ways. Now it becomes very difficult to create a human resource plan in an agency because the old system of using craft to judge, evaluate and probably even reward people is breaking down. But I am going to ask you this directly because as marketeers sitting here is the marketing brief changing?

The format of a marketing brief is still you know a long paragraph at least 60% of it describes this woman or this man whom you are talking to. Because I guess it's easier to describe that person you can get it off the internet. But the actual brief that is to be said which is the insight or what you are trying to approach. And I don't even know many people who know the true definition of an insight. An insight is you know it should be one single line so whatever fits in one line becomes the insight.

You know for example mothers love their children could be an insight on a brief. But they have to change that format as well. And I think briefs will soon have to be evolved as a process rather than be handed down as a verdict. And Jyoti is here so let me ask you that question. Is it also now time for the creative director and the media planner to start working together far more aggressively? I have a favorite thing I always say the last time I entered the media department I came out married. We know that.

I don't I mean I have never really understood why bundling started. But unbundling started. Maybe because I was too young at that time and not in the sections of the agency that were making the decisions. So I don't know why it how it started or why it started. But till today it's always a question to which people continue to give smart witty answers than really logical answer. So nobody really knows why it started. There must be some reactions and some questions. Yes I can see lots of hands. No I just want to ask this.

So I quite agree with what Egy spoke about the fact that briefs are written like those long paragraphs and you know that one insight is missing. Right. I think where the marketer is stuck and I think that's where the creative partner has to step in. Is basically at the root cause of the insight, root cause of the issue and not wait actually for a brief to come in. So I as a marketer for example when I meet my creative partner I tell them here's the issue I have. Can you tell me how to solve this.

Because there's no point of me writing one page of brief honestly on something which I am not able to understand what to do with. So do you believe in that kind of working together. Do you believe that's going to solve lot of these sending out briefs that are garbage in and garbage out kind of a story.

I am not sure it will work because and this may be a touchy sensitive issue to discuss on the show but I think advertising agencies may have had to tighten the processes at which by which they approach a brief because of the tightening screws and remuneration. And I say this because I remember when I started out in advertising there used to be strategic planners who actually went out for two months on the field and visited along with the product brand managers shops or stores or you know places where they used to do business and came back.

Now an agency can't afford to pay him for two months because the money he is getting from that same client has gone down by that much. So now because it's become becoming a fast food processor game you know it's like fast food. So the agency tends to hold back on that and therefore they are not in a position to guess an issue or to start at which at the point at which the issue starts and that issue comes from the client.

But there used to be a time when the issues with the brand used to be sought out and may be spotted by the agency earlier in the client. Because there was probably a group of people who were actually following that category. Those group of people following that category are now rare in advertising and probably exist only for the large multinationals or those kind of brands because they have a business model that allows for it to be paid and existed.

Most of the others they are okay if you actually put this question on say are you okay that we work at this cost but we don't have all this for you we just give you creative. There are a lot of marketers who will say yes today and are saying yes. Thank you Aggie. That was lovely as always. I'd like to introduce my next guest Jyothi Kumar Bansal CEO PhD India. Welcome Jyothi. Jyothi has worked across various traditional and digital media organizations in a career spanning 23 years. Under her leadership PhD India is today a 300 million dollar plus agency.

Jyothi quickly getting to the crux of today's discussion. This is the attention economy. And if you win attention you keep the market. So talk to us a little bit about that about the immediacy of content about being relevant being contextual being there. Jyothi Kumar Bansal CEO PhD India is a very important part of the market. While as marketeers, as advertisers, as media people we always our core job has been to be able to grab the attention of the consumer. I think it's become even more difficult now because of the complexity in which we now operate.

What is still important and still relevant is that we have to tell amazing stories. We have to tell them in a context and in a tone that sort of resonates with our consumers. And I think that is something that does not really change whether we are creating audio visual content, we are creating an advertising format, 30 second TVC, masthead, whatever. So that is where I think our core understanding that we have of how we connect with this consumer is where we are all sort of learning and evolving.

The only thing that I would like to put a little different perspective to on this is that in our sort of perspective right now, whenever we say content or we say share of attention, the first thing that we sort of tend to visualize in our mind is an audio visual. Whether it is a TVC or whether it is a branded content that we produce or a product placement in a traditional or non-traditional, whatever way that we choose to do it.

The way things are changing, I think it's very important for us to understand that everything that we use to connect or touch our consumer is content. Every asset is actually content, right? So whether the consumer is browsing, whether he is searching, whether she is engaging, any piece that touches him or her is content. And therefore we need to sort of free our mind a little bit from content as just being a piece of video

or a product that we place into a show that the consumer is watching. And therefore it is very critical that we sort of tailor our thinking around how we are reaching out to the consumer in this journey that he or she is traversing. So if they are browsing, which is the most common thing that I think all of us do now with our, with, you know, phones at our fingertips, are we telling engaging stories? Are we telling a story which makes him or her stop to see what the story is all about?

When they start engaging, are we ready to give them the information which is needed for them to really want to try out our brand? If they are in an active search mode, are we giving them the information which will then make them brand loyal or make them want to connect more with our brand? Wonderful. We will take one question. Agi has a question. So do you think that this new form of content sponsored by a brand is actually just a fashionable way of saying brand placement?

Because while saving a baby, if I pick up a thumbs up bottle, it's a thumbs up pad. And while saving a baby, if I wear a watch, it's a titan ad. When we say branded content in our country, a lot of times we just sort of visualize in our mind an audio visual show or whatever format it is where we have placed our brand or where we've, you know, maybe if we are a little more evolved, we've tried to build it around maybe one of the brand values that we embody.

I think it's a, it's a sort of like an intermediary. We will eventually get to where we will be far more evolved and sensible about how we do it. All right. Thank you so much. That was wonderful. Thank you. Thank you for coming. My next guest is Rajshree Bakshi, Senior Vice President, Marketing Reliance Industries Limited. She's an experienced marketing professional with over 21 years of customer brand and marketing insights. In 2017, she was recognized as one of the top 50 marketing leaders by CMO Asia.

In her current role, Rajshree is responsible for launching and developing the Jio World Center. Talk to us a little bit about that and tell us how you hope data and context will actually lead to better content or better creative work. So let me start by saying that, you know, content is the buzzword and I think that's the reason why we are all sitting here today. But it's an important nuance that all of us need to understand that it is not only about a beautiful creative.

I heard a lot of people say here today that, you know, today it's loosely being interpreted as a great audio visual or a great film. It can be short, it could be long. Actually, there is a huge amount of science which goes behind. And let me start by narrating the story, which I think all of us can relate to is when Netflix started. They started off by just being a storehouse of content which was created all over. And the reason why they actually started off with this model was because they were really trying to understand the consumer behavior.

Over a period of time, one of their series, which is now, you know, not such a great name to take, but House of Cards was actually created very, very scientifically. It had understood what the customers are looking for. It had everything possible which was created. The twists and turns that we saw in House of Cards was actually keeping the entire data analytics which they had done behind the scene. Today, there is just too much of content which is happening to all of us. Am I being able to serve something to you which is absolutely of your interest?

And, you know, we have campaigns where we have studied the patterns of what you would have, you know, maybe done in the past, consumed in the past, traveled in the past. You know, you have airlines which do a damn good job of ensuring that, you know, I browse and I say a trip to Morocco. And the next thing that you have is a company which is serving you some information about a hotel in Morocco. And I think that's where the entire story of contextual content is. Reactions, questions? We can take a couple of questions.

What are your thoughts on Google Vogue On which is all about contextual advertising? Do you believe in it or do you just believe that it's just about massacring your creative and, you know, putting it out there? What do you think, really? So, I think, well, you know, different models work. So, I definitely think that's a model which works. You know, content is quite interesting. It has to rally around one North Star, right? That North Star could be a psychological motive. It could be a social motive. We have seen a lot of things which has happened.

I think all of us remember that one jewelry brand as a woman where she was going into a second marriage and she had the kid come and join her in the Mandap. I think we all resonated and we after a point even forgot which that brand was, but we resonated as women. So, what I'm only trying to say is that as long as your content is following one North Star, whether it is a societal, psychological, emotive North Star, I think it's a great content out there.

Unless brands take control of marketing strategy, I don't know if we'll be able to create a strong connect with customers. And at some point of time, just saying that the customer is now in charge is maybe abdicating the responsibility for taking control in a new world. That's just my view. On that note, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us on episode 11 of Brand Studio Live co-hosted by HD Brand Studio and DMA Asia. A very special thanks to DMA Asia and Vatsal for powering this wonderful event.

A big thank you to Fever FM who evangelizes us and to BSC for hosting us today. Thank you for tuning in. We look forward to another episode.