BOOK REVIEW: Ride The Change

Sanjay Badhe

Ride The Change: A Perspective On The Changing Indian Consumer, Market And Marketing
By M.G. Parameswaran; Tata McGraw-Hill;
Pages: 192; Price: Rs 250

BUY BORROW AVOID

In a strange way, M.G. Parameswaran’s (‘Ambi‘ to a fair number of us who know him for many years) new book, Ride The Change, is a bit of déjà vu for me. No, it’s not that I have read the book before, nor all the articles before. But it really derives from the fact that I have heard Ambi on some advertising, branding and marketing issues before in various fora, as well as individually over many cups of coffee. And the book — a compendium of articles that have appeared in various publications — does reflect on what drives Ambi: as a bringer of light on many areas that impact on advertising and branding and the consumer.
 
The background to the book is the experience that he author has had in the world of marketing and advertising. I remember him well in his many avatars: as a young account executive at the then advertising hothouse of Rediffusion, spouting ideas; as a serious marketing professional at Boots, steering ‘Coldarin’ and ‘Strepsils’ through the stormy waters of a controlled economy, short on resources; and finally, for the past few years as a seer of sorts on how advertising is emerging, as Executive Director at DraftFCB ULKA, where he has provided advice and guidance on a number of times, on a myriad of areas often looking at the bigger picture. And it is the essence of all of these experiences that he has distilled to put this book together.
 
So, when Ambi writes a book, it makes sense for anyone interested in the business of marketing, branding and advertising to read it.  The areas that Ambi looks at are varied: the future of Indian branding (How the branded atta market developed and then collapsed; how brands develop over time), how to select and build a relationship with your advertising agency (simple advice: celebrate successes – send a big cake), the Indian consumer (segmenting as seen by him) and trends in understanding the consumer.
 
Some of the articles also talk about new insights in marketing and advertising that have come about internationally: in short everything that a contemporary manager in marketing and advertising would need advice, insight and thought on. And so he quotes John Paul Jones, Herbert Krugman, Jagdish Seth and shows how some of their theories can be used in an Indian context. He also uses a lot of research, both Indian and international to illustrate his points.
 
My favourite articles: the one on innovation, (‘Innovative networking for better net results’) where he asks for using an external network to build innovation in organisations and scans the horizon for possible external sources – research institutions, educational institutions, consumers, vendors, etc. All with examples drawn from the Indian experience and how organisations in India could do this to their benefit. And the other one on how an organisational logo or symbol can become the ‘flypaper’ for associations that organisations have. So the symbol (or logo) gains values (good or bad) and how perceptions develop on these.
 
Given the structure of the book some of the more relevant (and interesting) articles are those in which the author discusses the change in the Indian consumer – his references to the past (and that too just 15 to 20 years ago) and the present. And Ambi also puts in some ‘nuggets’ on how to handle clients (or agencies), using the right brief, etc.
 
Are there any drawbacks? Well the publishers could have improved the print quality (unless it was just the copy I got). And for a book on marketing what is surprisingly lacking are illustrations, charts, or even just plain and simple drawings that can make it more lucid, while improving its readability and overall appeal. And perhaps some tighter editing would have helped – rather than just a collection of articles , if these had been arranged by a more congruent theme it would have held together better (Ambi has attempted to do so, but it appears as if he has done it to ‘fit’ the articles). And the smaller articles on the practical, ‘how to’ side (Eight steps to eight seconds; Looking for the right ad agency; Managing advertising through economic turbulence, etc.) certainly deserve a section (or a book) of their own.  

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Sanjay Badhe is Chief Executive Officer  of Trexa ADMC Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture of Trent Ltd. ( the Tata retail venture ) , and has worked in retail and marketing in India and the Middle East.