The bests from all the worlds descend here...!! - Day 2

Speaker 1 - Mr. Sridhar S, Director Marketing, Dell

Mr Sridhar S is Director, Marketing at Dell India Pvt Ltd. He has over 15 years experience in the technology sector and has worked with some of the best organizations in the industry. Prior to joining Dell, he was the GM, Midmarket and Alternate Channels Business at ITS India / SA at IBM India Pvt Ltd and the Country Marketing Manager, GTS at IBM India Pvt Ltd. Mr Sridhar is an esteemed alumni of the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.

Speaker 2 - Mr. Satish Kumar, Senior Manager, Consumer Goods Practice, Cognizant Technology Solutions

Mr. Satish is Senior Manager, Consumer Goods Practice at Cognizant Technology Solutions. He has 14 years experience in Business functions, technology and general management. Satish started his career post management education, with Hindustan Unilever Ltd, where he joined as a Management trainee and worked in commercial function for nearly 5 years. During his stint at the organization, he was a key member of the integration efforts of 2 Unilever majors in India, i.e. Brooke Bond Lipton and Hindustan Lever Ltd.

The bests from all the worlds descend here...!! - Day 1

Speaker 1 - Mr. Ramesh Kumar, Vice President - Strategy Planning at Ogilvy

Mr. Ramesh Kumar is Vice President, Strategy Planning at Ogilvy Bangalore. His career spans advertising and market research, with stints in organizations like Enterprise Nexus, McCann Erickson, TNS and now Ogilvy. He is a multiple winner at the Effies - the gold standard awards for effectiveness of communication. He is deeply interested in the consumers of the moment, the youth, and has authored white papers on 'Emerging values of a Young India' and 'Project Femme - An Understanding of Modern Young Women'.

Speaker 2 - Mr. Ramanan, Marketing Manager, Lenovo India

Mr. Ramanan is the marketing manager at Lenovo, India. He has done his MBA from SCMHRD, Pune. Following his passion to marketing, Ramanan has scaled great heights before reaching his current position.

Speaker 3 - Ms. Sudha Mani, Co Founder and Chief Operating Officer SmartLearn Telcomp Pvt Ltd

A social entrepreneur (Co Founder and Chief Operating Officer SmartLearn Telcomp Pvt Ltd ), she drives follows her passion, working for the cause of education. She brings with her a blend of rich experience in customer service, people management and operational excellence acquired over 16 years of her career spanning different industries such as Supply Chain, Financial Services, and ITES. An Alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and a Six Sigma Black belt, she has worked with organizations like Hewlett Packard, Franklin Templeton and Airfreight!

Speaker 4 - Mr. Sudarshan Mazumdar, Director-Marketing, Fortis Healthcare Ltd

Mr Sudarshan Mazumdar is the Director, Marketing at Fortis Healthcare Ltd. He completed his M.Sc (Physics) from St. Stephen's college and MBA from Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) - University of Delhi and has over 20 years of rich experience in the marketing and advertising sector. Prior to joining Fortis, Mr Sudarshan was working as VP, Sales and Marketing at Rasna and as Vice President at Lowe Lintas India. He was involved in shaping the equities for some of the leading brands like Clinic, Lifebuoy, Breeze, Liril, Rexona, AT&T, LML, Rasna, etc.

http://www.iimk-synapse.com/

Which is the game-changer – Reality or Perception?

I might not even know a two-stroke engine from a four-stroke engine, but does that deter me from elevating a Japanese car brand riding on Japanese engineering, way above an American one? The answer is no, or rather: the answer is ‘everybody knows’ - Everybody knows that Japanese vehicles are superior to American vehicles.
What is this? Reality; or Perception; or is it Perception based on Reality?
Management deals in facts and figures; “Getting to the bottom of the situation” is the goal. In short, management deals in reality. Marketing, on the contrary, deals in perception. What matters to marketing people are not the “facts” of a situation, but what’s in the minds of consumers? Is what in the mind of consumers real, who cares?
The importance of perception is not lost on the management even. So then, why this conundrum; where are the fault lines?
Management believes perception is a mirror. It’s just a reflection of reality. Change the reality and you change the perception. Marketing people disagree. Changing reality is easy. But changing perception is among the most difficult jobs in the universe – almost impossible.
So - who’s winning or does there have to be a winner? Why not hear what the champions of either side have to say………
www.iimk-synapse.com

How to beat competition? How to displace a market leader in a product category?

History suggests that leaders rarely lose their leadership. If one wants to compete with an established leader, how or what does one do – better things or different things?
Would a ‘better’ Cola ever be able to displace Coke, or can it just be a ‘different’ Cola which has the potential to do the trick? What does a company go for – ‘better’ products or ‘different’ products?
What if at all is the solution to this ubiquitous tussle between left-brain and right-brain strategists. Let us hear from the best right and left brainers at … SYNAPSE 2009, IIMK DECEMBER 12-13, 2009

So what exactly is Synapse 2009?

The annual marketing summit at IIMK, SYNAPSE is organized by the on-campus marketing interest group mPower. Over the last few years, Synapse has emerged to be one of the most popular events in campus, one that is awaited with the utmost excitement. It enjoys high media coverage as well. This year’s theme revolves around the often asked question “Is Left the Right way?”

This distinction in right-brained and left-brained individuals and their mindsets has for ages spilled into corporate boardrooms. It might take logical and analytical thinking to run a corporation, but it also takes intuitive and holistic thinking to run the marketing program for the same corporation. Although this boardroom tussle is age-old with the ‘analytical’ management at loggerheads with ‘creative’ marketing teams, the most successful enterprises are the ones where this gulf is not insurmountable and there is space and respect for both schools of thought to co-exist in a symbiotic fashion for the common betterment of the organization. These are the boardrooms where the diversity adds colour to the panorama and where most effective marketing strategies are formulated.

New strategies are cultivated and new weapons are drawn, and we fight on…….thankfully it’s not bloodshed that results!

The dilemma continues....

I have a product......
The profits don't look good...

Do I increase the price and cut my costs.......
OR
Do I changed the look and strike the market with a new ad campaign.....

Do I go left or Do I go right????!!!!

Maybe I should go to the place where I'll find all the answers.....

SYNAPSE 2009, IIMK
DECEMBER 12-13,2009