Ahmedabad: The world of marketing has turned upside down in a changed political, social, and economic environment, and marketers need to unlearn everything they have learnt over the past several decades, brand guru Harish Bijoor has said.
The noted marketer said that top brands such as Tanishq, Sabyasachi, Dabur, Fabindia, and Vim had burnt their fingers in the past year due to their marketing campaigns in the changed environment.
“Stop dividing your audiences. Over the years, marketers have been guilty of dividing the audiences into rich versus poor, English versus Hindi, Hindi versus vernacular, and north Indian versus south Indian. My advice does not touch religion, politics, and society,” Mr. Bijoor said at a session on “Marketing Oolatupalat for the Alpha Generation Ahead” at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) on Thursday.
The brand guru acknowledged that everything in marketing is getting redefined, and every item marketers used in the recipe in the past has changed.
“Society has changed. The distribution systems, the generation of consumers, the items consumed, societal more, advertising, everything has changed in the past few years. The whole concept of marketing has gone ulta-pulta, i.e. upside down. As we have seen and learnt over the decades, marketing has to be unlearnt,” he said.
During the talk, Mr. Bijoor mentioned how brands like Tulsi Tea and Sheetal Ice cream, despite coming from a small place like Amreli, have grown into big and established players in their respective segments.
Stressing the importance of data, the brand expert said that tech-led marketers will thrive in today’s age of information and communication.
“Everything is firstly data-led. Data is not the new oil, as many brand experts have been saying. In my opinion, data is the new alcohol,” he said.