Curiosity will stand me in good stead as a marketer: Harish Bhat
FODDER FOR THE MIND Harish Bhat, chairman of Tata Global Beverages Ltd says curiosity is important because it can lead to new ideas, provide clarity and deep insight into what works with the consumer
As a person, Harish Bhat, chairman of Tata Global Beverages Ltd and brand custodian of Tata Sons Ltd, displays a childlike curiosity in day-today events. Bhat, who is also a Mint columnist, is curious about the places he visits, the food he eats, his wine and the people he interacts with. .However, he is aware that the flipside of being curious is being intrusive.
Bhat’s second book, is a product of his observations. It draws upon his nearly three decades of experience within the Tata Group where he has worked with diverse companies. “The book is the product of two things—my own curiosity and my own interest and passion for marketing. It sits at the junction of the two,” says Bhat. Edited excerpts: brand colours. I have used some of that curiosity on what colour to use with what brand in my own career as a marketer. For instance, many years ago, I was part of the team that launched Agni tea and we used the colour red because of the connotations that red stood for and we wanted to depict a strong tea. Similarly, I have spoken about the festivals in India. I think in my career as a retailer I have leveraged so many of these festivals to create a special shopping and purchase occasion for our customers. The reason why curiosity is important is that it can lead to new ideas. Curiosity can also provide clarity and deep insight into what works with the consumer. If you are really curious then with your imagination you can not only invent new days, you can also invent a new product or a new service. Curiosity can also help you make continuous improvements in your product. It can help you to introduce the next big day, the next promotional campaign. Most importantly, it keeps the marketers mind engaged. Curiosity is intellectually engaging. Curiosity is both a left brained and a right brained trait. It is the logic of what consumers do and why they do it. It is also about reflecting on those observations with some imagination and saying where it can lead me to. While I am a curious person, I don’t really look at what are the immediate applications. At some stage in my life the dots will connect. It could be 40 years later or two years later. I don’t ever box curiosity into an operational discipline. It has to be expressed free of that. For instance, in one of the chapters I have spoken about wild life and animals. There are so many brands that use animals for inspiration—Jaguar, Puma and Lacoste. When we launched Tata Cliq we did it with camels. Curiosity did trigger something inside me and I was happy that the team came up with the camel as its brand ambassador. I think you should just let your curiosity flow. Those ideas which are sitting in your mind, the mind keeps processing those ideas and reflections. At some stage as a marketer they will come as useful as you look at how to fashion your brands. As the brand custodian of the Tata Group I should be very curious. I should be very curious about all the stakeholders of the brand. How they perceive the brand. How we want to shape the brand in the future. The first and foremost lesson is that curiosity will stand me in very good stead as a marketer— whatever be the brand that I am shaping or marketing. The second set of lessons is that how do I inject that curiosity into myself. I have highlighted sixseven steps that I will try to use and have used in my own life.