Making a pass from an advertising and marketing function to a greater commercial enterprise-orientated role like Managing Director isn’t always a primary for any enterprise. From an area sales supervisor at an FMCG predominant like Dabur to being eventually extended because the managing director on the French dairy giant Danone, Himanshu Bakshi has had quite an exciting journey in his over 18-yr-vintage adventure so far. Last week, we pronounced that Bakshi’s new appointment could be effective from 1st April.
During his 5 year stint with food and beverage large PepsiCo, Bakshi labored as a sales manager and taken care of the Frito-Lay account. Prior to joining Danone, Bakshi spent over 5 years at customer healthcare group Reckitt Benckiser(RB) wherein he labored as a brand manager with Dettol Antiseptic Liquid and Lizol and become finally promoted as the senior category manager for Dettol Soaps. He joined Danone India in August 2013 as director, advertising – nutrients. In June 2015, he became promoted to the location of the director, advertising and marketing and commercial operations. In August 2017, he moved as much as the position of director – advertising, earlier than being multiplied to period in-between MD at Danone.
Dairy and toddler-nutrients employer Danone, started out its vitamins enterprise in India in 2012 with the purchase of Wockhardt’s vitamins portfolio that comprised manufacturers like Dexolac, Farex, and Protinex. The vitamins industry in India is around Rs 6000 crore (Nielsen, March 2019) even as the grownup vitamins segment, wherein Protinex operates, is around Rs four hundred crores.
It’s a logical step. When you’re a marketer, you do plenty of things that are focused on the customer; it’s in reality approximately getting your emblem vision right.
Now, as MD, I must understand how the macro environment is doing – what the upcoming traits are and how the financial system is faring. It entails constructing a strategic framework and planning beforehand. Interpersonal connections come in on hand.
One main distinction is that now, I’m answerable for the human beings within the agency. As MD, any choice you are taking is going to have an effect on extra than a thousand families. At the stop of the day, I’m chargeable for each worker.
From a non-public point of view, the latest shift of responsibilities is greater like taking a step returned, because, in a marketing function, you do numerous micromanagement. As MD, you need to permit pass off a whole lot of ideas and critiques that you could have had as advertising and marketing director. That, for me, become a larger mission on a personal degree and changed into something I needed to work on to start with.
I ought to keep reminding myself approximately my newly donned avatar several instances a day. I now make a conscious selection to maintain myself at a slight distance in mission conferences and so forth. Because you do not want your teammates to feel like you’re barging in on their freedom in any way. They view you in quite a one of a kind way now.
It’s not smooth, for sure. But it’s a possibility; I’m getting to know how to address the assignment. All of a surprise you need to start thinking from a company point of view.
There are certain company agendas that we have. As MD, there are several things I need to absorb – being a company of choice, making a nice impact on human beings and society, safeguarding the surroundings, and focusing on sustainability. These are the important thing areas past my previous marketing role that I’m planning to work on inside the coming months.
There are many lessons you could leverage from ‘the marketing position’ just like the strategic planning part. Secondly, it genuinely enables having been a marketer due to the fact you’ve got already labored very carefully with all capabilities. Marketers are not imagined to work in a silo. For any challenge, entrepreneurs ought to paintings with finance, sales, law, and legal groups, or even police officers. That experience has given me plenty of angles.
Thirdly, advertising and marketing taught me a way to pay attention to consumers’ comments and understand customer insights. The entire technique of listening, learning and engaging as a marketer has helped make me geared up to take on this bigger role.
On marketplace trends, the zero sugar version of Protinex Lite and Danone’s pledge to lessen brought sugar in its Protinex portfolio by way of 20 percent via 2020…
Firstly, digital disruption is taking place all across. Secondly, there’s a ‘premiumization’ fashion across verticals.
Sugar turned into never a threat approximately 5 or ten years back. Today, it has come to be the sort of talking factor. We attempt to meet the wishes of Indians via fitness-focused product offerings responding to the meals traits of today and tomorrow. The launch of products like Protinex Lite answers to purchasers’ wishes. It has a compelling, differentiated proposition – 0 sugar and excessive protein.
