Marketing Plays Prime Role In Organisation’s Growth, Says Rajesh Ramakrishnan, Perfetti van Melle India

In the marketing world, apart from selling and advertising, marketing activities include a much broader set of functions, including product development, packaging, pricing, distribution, and customer service. And the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of the organisation plays the primary role in it. 

While discussing the what and how of being a CMO, Rajesh  Ramakrishnan, Managing Director, Perfetti van Melle India, said, “Marketing is all about leadership and the challenge in the context of a Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) organisation is "How does it drive growth for any organisation?"

For the growth of an organisation, the use of technology is very important. It needs to work on predictive analysis with the help of data because consumers are looking for constant innovation and delight.

Ramakrishnan said that to provide deeper and meaningful experiences to consumers, optimising social media is extremely important. It’s a deep ocean, so make sure to navigate it well to get the benefits we would like out of it.

According to the Managing Director, a great marketer has the ability to grow a mindset. It actually allows us to explore possibilities and be collaborative with teams to see how we can make it happen.

Ramakrishnan emphasised upon the diversity in a team and raised the question as CMO "Am I having a team that has people with different cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds? Are we able to make sure that we get perspectives from different people? and that makes the quality of decision-making much better. "

At the end, he presented the three-step leadership model, which is: setting the agenda, taking others with you, and doing it the right way. Firstly he talks about visioning and creating a burning platform for others. Secondly, he adds that taking others as a leader means being collaborative and authentic in your leadership. Being able to get a team to rally around your vision and take the people with you and third, he talks about having the right system in the processes, the right values, and the ethics of work.