Every Challenge Brings An Opportunity: Kartik Gangwani
Kartik Gangwani, Head of Marketing Services, Jio-bp, brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the marketing industry. As a visionary marketer, he keeps a keen eye on the ever-evolving marketing landscape and trends, constantly seeking ways to stay ahead of the curve.
In our 'Marketing Maestros' series, Gangwani shared his remarkable journey from confusion to clarity, and his passion for purpose-driven advertising.
Excerpts:
When did you realise that the marketing industry was the space you wanted to pursue your career in?
I think I was a little confused till the time I started my engineering, I was still in two minds that whether I should have gone for a course in advertising or say, in engineering. By the time I was completing my first year of engineering, I was very sure that marketing is meant for me. And I was very clear from day one, of MBA a on what I want to do in life and I'm happy that I'm moving towards that path.
What are your thoughts on the growing emphasis on sustainability in marketing? How do you view brands' approaches toward green messaging and the potential issue of greenwashing in their efforts to stay competitive in the market?
I feel that brands have become very responsible these days and sustainability is taken very seriously. I think the organisations wherein I have worked and especially if you see last five to eight years, I think sustainability is something which is a top-down approach, from the CEO or the management. I feel happy about it because you see a lot of things which are sustainable, right from packaging to even POS at the stores to developing products and using materials that are environment friendly. While I think greenwashing was there in the initial few years, and a lot of brands were trying to play around with this and they were trying to greenwash by doing some to overshadow non sustainable practices but now brands are taking these goals very seriously. I see some brands doing it a little better ,.. It's very important to create a balance and to keep your consumers aware of what you exactly want or what you exactly expect from them. I think in India, in the last 5-10 years, the way we are moving on UNGCC goals, it looks like we are quite progressive. I think we are taking our overall goals also very seriously. So right from Prime Minister, the message is very clear Earlier we used to debate that why are sustainability goals on us? We will require to move ahead of others and for that, we'll require to do something extra and hence emit more, but now, there are alternatives. Hence, I think it's good that we are moving towards a very good future for us. It’s a long way ahead, but we're moving in the right direction is what I feel.
How do you envision generative AI's potential to enhance content creation and storytelling strategies?
I'll go to the Metaverse story. Why I'm going to Metaverse is that it was exaggerated . A lot of people overestimated its capabilities. People thought that this is the new normal, events will happen virtually, and everything will happen virtually. even before the third wave hit us, the industries which grew the most were travel and tourism and this was not just because of pent-up demand of the lost two years but people wanting to be with people more than ever. If you see, these industries are much higher today than what they were in 2019 levels. The overall MICE, industry events, everything again shifted back to normal. People wanted to meet people and hence I think human interaction is very critical.. As a marketer, I think the most important thing is empathy and I feel that the generative AI lacks that. While you can program, a lot of things that you can use to utilise to a other areas of marketing. But, when it comes to intuition and empathy, I think these are two things a
machine doesn't have, which is very critical for content creation. Hence, I feel that generative AI lacks both intuition and empathy which is required to create certain tools and storytelling. While it helps marketers, with a lot of tools in terms of media buying, wherever science is required, it can help us track things well. When it comes to storytelling, intuition, or to understanding consumers, it is very templatised Hence because intuition and empathy, these two things are restricted to humans and I feel it will take a lot of time for generative AI to come to content creation.
How do you ensure authenticity and transparency in purpose-driven marketing, particularly while addressing sensitive issues?
I feel purpose-driven advertising can't be something in grey, it has to be black and white. That's the first thing. If you are mentioning a purpose, you need to talk to them with 100 per cent facts. Secondly, what they are expecting out of your brand, say if there are disclaimers attached to it, they again need to be in black and white so that you're telling people what you are standing for. It can be tricky at times because you have to contradict the space or category you are presenting in.
It's also important to define your brand identity because this is what my brand is doing. Having said that, for this purpose, this is what my brand is doing. That's also purpose-driven marketing in a way wherein some brands might have exaggerated their claims or some brands might have come out in public and said that this is possible, that is possible. It is critical to have a black-and-white distinction instead of talking grey or preach-hood in cases such as greenwashing. Today the youth, are very smart. Consumers understand everything and ultimately you can't hide behind these tactics. So it's critical that whatever your point is, you can express it in a very transparent way.
What opportunities and challenges do you anticipate in the future of social media marketing and how do you plan to navigate them to stay ahead in the ever-changing landscape?
I think the world is changing quite fast at a speed with which we are growing is crazy. As a marketeer you have to keep a tab on trends, you have to keep a tab on everything what's happening. It's very critical to unlearn and learn. I also feel that while the platforms change or things change, affinity towards those platforms does change; nothing is permanent, but affinity towards a brand is something that is constant. All the iconic brands, despite change from say, TV to Orkut to Facebook to Instagram to Snapchat to more are still same in terms of what they want to tell their customers. So that's very critical. For example, we are seeing a good decline in terms of Facebook usage right now, consumers have shifted to other platforms; LinkedIn is seeing a very different kind of posting these days from people. It is becoming not only a professional network, it has also become a little different these days in terms of personal posts etc; Twitter is X, it changed a few days ago, so no one knows what is going to happen. Things will keep on changing. What remains constant is the brand message and how you communicate it. I think that this is an opportunity more of a challenge. I think every challenge brings an opportunity. I think measurability is something that you can check like never before or the effectiveness of your campaign. These funnels and media matrices help you to track the psyche of your consumer. That's critical because earlier we were in days of mass media wherein to assess pulse it used to take some time, but now everything is there in front of you.
How do you balance creative freedom for influencers and maintaining brand guidelines to maintain brand consistency and messaging alignment?
I feel that influencers should always operate on minimal brand guidelines. The reason is that as a marketeer, I would want that content to look completely nonscripted and it should be completely free-flowing. In the end, if an influencer is endorsing your brand, it should look like non-sponsored content. It should look like something is coming within from that person and they are endorsing your brand because they like it. For that, if I try to complicate it with say brand colors or if you tell them to highlight the brand multiple times, it could look like very sponsored content or cooked content. So I, as a person would believe in the capability of the influencer and will give a complete free hand with very minimal brand guidelines. Influencers are experts at content creation and some of them can surprise you when the final output comes.
Which marketing veterans or leaders do you admire and find inspiration from in your professional journey?
I think I learn a lot of new things every day and that's very critical for me. So I call myself a marketing geek because that's something which is an ever-evolving process. I drive inspiration from a lot of creative people. I would say Prahlad Kakkar to Piyush Pandey to R. Balki, are the best of the people whom this industry has seen. I think they would be an inspiration for me. Also, working in companies and organizations, a lot of CEOs, entrepreneurs, and MDs, I believe these guys are true marketers, and I've been lucky to work in some of these companies to date. I've seen their razor-sharp focus on marketing and that's very inspiring to me. Mr. Rajiv Bajaj, for instance, if you hear him, his views on positioning it's so crystal clear on how do you segment the market, to say, Mr. Pawan Munjal, when you work with him, you realize that the nitty-gritty of communications.
To my current organisation, wherein I take inspiration from, say, Shri Dhirubai Ambani, Shri Mukesh Ambani, Akash Ambani, and Isha Ambani. All of them whom I'm talking about are universities in themselves. And maybe my bosses, everyone whom I've worked with, the CMOs to date I’ve worked with, they have also given a lot of inspiration. So it's been an ever learning process and it's still in that overall thing wherein you're learning yourself.
How would you describe your entire marketing journey in one word or one sentence?
I think I have been inspired, and I want to inspire.
