SHRIRAM PROP OPTS FOR BIG BANG MARKETING

ARP Raman, Global Mktg Head

"We are now the elephant in the room"

In the last few months, Shriram Properties has, to use an athletic metaphor, “Bolt”(ed) ahead of the pack, with a new logo, new look, new feel, new vision and new ambition. The prime mover behind this change is Mr ARP Raman, Global Marketing Head, who has set a scorching pace, within a few months of his joining Shriram Group.  

Mr Raman has oodles of experience in mass marketing with MNCs AGFA GEVAERT, KONICA and in the real estate industry. During his stewardship in Adarsh Grop and Alliance Group, he ushered in new perspectives and Best Practices in reaching a global audience.  

An English literature graduate with a post graduate degree management, he was conferred with the Rashtriya Ekta Award for his outstanding services and contribution to marketing.  
“In these topsy-turvy times, marketing is more often than not a make-or-break corporate competency,” he says in this interview with Shriram Surabhi, dwelling at length on the sweeping changes he has inspired in the company.  

• You are credited with the idea of a new logo for Shriram Properties. The next question suggests itself, why the change?
 Shriram Properties has come a long way from 1995. Initially, we grew along with the market, the market influenced our growth. Today, we aspire to grow the market, we would like to influence its growth. In the beginning, we concentrated basically on meeting the people’s demands for homes. Today, we are building SEZs, industrial parks, condominiums, townships, shopping malls and corporate hubs.  Today, we add a lot of bandwidth to the market, influence its size and cater to a wide cross-section of consumer segments. In terms of balance sheet, bottom line, business model, size, and stature, we have upgraded. So upgrading and retooling the company’s logo so as to reflect its current status was an idea which was blowing in the wind.

It was at this time that I shared my rudimentary thoughts with Mr Murali, the MD of Shriram Properties. In fact, he visualized the idea of a change that was overdue, he saw the thing coming, so to say, and I only happened to be the catalyst that gave the idea shape. 
Having said that, the change didn’t happen overnight as it may apparently look like. Mr Murali and me brainstormed a number of times incubating the idea from concept to completion, till we were very clear about what had to change, why, and how.
Viewing it from another perspective, it is also true that it is difficult to mentor any dramatic change in a company from the inside. As a person who had just joined the company, I was perhaps the right man in the right place to take the change forward and give it a critical momentum.  

• When you floated this idea first, did you meet with any resistance?
Naturally, it’s not easy to break tradition! More so, when you are new to the company and the first thing you do is tinker with the company’s brand and the people’s sentiments! I had to be at my persuasive best to convince everyone across the board. Luckily, we are a company that is not subject to any corner-office diktats, we don’t have any conspiracies happening around the water cooler! This was a big boost to me, I didn’t have to look back for evidence of any bruised egos and could concentrate wholly on selling my idea. Plus, when you have the company head backing your idea, it is a huge confidence builder! 

• In brief, what did you tell the people? That you were due for a change? That the existing logo was well, conventional.
 Due for a change, yes, but I didn’t sit on judgment over the existing logo. Change doesn’t have to be a trade-off against heritage and cherished values. In any case, I was talking about the need for change arising from the changed circumstances, per se. I reasoned that Shriram Properties was now a much bigger player in the market, and our logo had to reflect our brand and add strength to our brand equity.  We are an elephant in the room, and you better get ready to get noticed, ok? 

• Moving ahead, what are the other changes you envisage in the way Shriram Prop will market itself?
 I tell my people that we are now playing a much bigger game on a much wider scale, the terms of engagement with the market have totally changed. Today, our marketing has to be commensurate with our vision for the future.. We have to ‘shout’ our product, not just speak for it. We need to make a big bang, to add more bang to our buck as well as our customer’s. Let the message go loud and clear that Shriram Prop is like a low-hanging fruit – within reach, AND high-yielding as well.  

• You have wide experience in devising strategies for marketing brands and products. How would you describe the changes that have taken place in this arena in recent times?
In earlier times – even now, in some cases - companies were sales driven. The focus was on changing the customer’s mind to fit the product, the protagonists of the “any color as long as it’s black” school of marketing. Now, the market dictates that we be consumer-driven, that we customize the product to meet the customer’s needs, and follow the “tell us what color you want” school of marketing.  

• How do you propose to follow this latest marketing model in Shriram Prop?
 We stay close to our customer and learn what he likes, wants, aspires for, and how we can serve him better. We listen in to our customers, not through jargon-rich surveys and stuff, but by knowing what our customers tell their friends about us, for instance, about how investing in us has changed their lives, how we can improve our product, how we can make our brand more meaningful, etc.  

• How sure are you that your aggressive style of marketing will pay off?
 Through dirty hands and passionate conversations, and not just through pontifications from the pulpit! We are developing a core marketing team who will share our passions and believe 100% that if they do not deliver, it is not because of the strategy. The idea is to take the guesswork and uncertainty out of our marketing arsenal, so that we are insulated against any unpleasant surprise or shocks.  

• How do you ensure your people down the line share your confidence and are as much enthusiastic as you?
 I often remind them that we have to constantly innovate on-the-go, if we have to succeed in our goals. Google has devised a rule that is simply called 70/20/10 meaning, an employee spends 70% of his time on his own job, 20% on continuous innovation within that job and 10% on discontinuous innovation in any other area. It’s a breakthrough idea which we have adapted in our own way in our company. We need to find out for ourselves how to gain a competitive edge, keep it sharp and employ it in our pursuits.