What Mandar Natekar teaches about brand purpose

If you are able to tell the story of a brand in a fun, engaging way, kids will absorb it. The philosophy for Kidzania is experiential learning. How do you break this up further in terms of essential or new learning for children? Kidzania is a very important part of any child's development through many things. One is motor skills, imagination, social skills. Today's kids don't play, so it's important to come and play. So, whilst we are an experiential learning brand, a lot of learning happens through doing it.

So, for example, touch, feel, make, create. There are many, many activities in Kidzania, where kids get to do and create things. I think that's a great impetus for children to learn. And that's how Kidzania helps in that. Is the Kidzania experience in India different from other markets like the other countries? Kidzania is a global brand, so a large part of it is standardized. So, the experience of visiting a Kidzania in Mumbai or Delhi or Singapore or Abu Dhabi or Japan would be the same. It's the same construct,

it's the same quality, it's the same level of experiences. What changes is the brands with whom we do it. Right. So, whilst we have a lot of global brands who partner with us worldwide, but there are also brands which are very unique to the country. So, in a way, the experiences changes there. Most of our early learning today happens in formal schools. Do you think the school education system is missing on practical experiences? See, there is only that much that schools can really do. And this is what we believe that Kidzania is an extension

of a child's learning outside of school. So, whilst all the academic constructs happen in the school, but there are many, many things today, you know, social skills is very important. Right. The ability to be able to do things with their own hands, very important. The ability to just play, very important. And all of that really extends itself outside of the school's curriculum into Kidzania. So, that is why we have so many schools all over the country who visit Kidzania so that the kids can get

that out of school learning in a very, very experiential way. A lot of brands are using experiential marketing these days, but Kidzania has taken it to a different level altogether. What kind of results, you know, does this deliver for you? When brands work with Kidzania, they are really finding a very, very effective way to narrate the story of their brand, the values and purpose of their brand in a 365-day format. We are not a campaign that comes and goes. When you

are in Kidzania, you are there with Kidzania, anchored inside Kidzania for 365 days into five years. That really allows you to build deep engagements with your consumers and at the same time, narrate a very unique story of a brand. That's how Kidzania helps brands to connect with consumers. Also, I must share a very interesting insight. I read it somewhere. Aspiration starts young. So, this is an environment where your young consumers are there. Opportunity to make them aspire for your

brand, your story. And that is how Kidzania really helps. So, if you are asking me what is ROI, I wouldn't call it ROI. I would like to rephrase it as return on engagement. There are several challenges, you know, when you are marketing to kids. How do you view that? I would say that, you know, for kids, it's all about enjoyment. It's all about fun. So, if you are able to tell the story of a brand in a fun, engaging way, kids will absorb it, make the engagement a lot of fun.

So, for example, there is a furniture studio run by Pepper Fry. Making furniture is fun. Creating a Parleji biscuit is fun. But as marketers, what should you not do when you are marketing to kids? Should we make it boring? That's it. Don't make it boring. You are also passionate about storytelling and you have your own blog which is Soccer Dadret. Does that help you professionally as well? Yeah, it does because, see, all our job is around storytelling. We are trying to narrate

the story of our brand to our partners on why they should be in Kidzania. We are also trying to tell the story of a brand to our parents on why they should get their children to Kidzania. And as we move ahead, you know, it's only about what you have to say and how well can you say it. So, one part is just saying something out of a textbook. Another part is you bring your own excitement, enthusiasm. And, you know, somewhere I read that, you know, what really is partnership building or what really is

sales? It's the ability to transfer enthusiasm from yourself to the other person. So, if I am able to build that enthusiasm through storytelling, you will be more engaged with me, you will want to listen to me more, you will want to meet me again. And that really helps me in my professional life too, to have an engaging conversation with your partners.