My Continuous Endeavor Is To Challenge The Team To Be Contemporary: Hemant Malik, ITC

A great deal has changed in marketing ever since the internet arrived. Decades ago, marketing was perhaps limited to paper flyers, posters, word of mouth to spread the news. Then came a time when businesses started relying on the internet: social media, e-invites, websites and online advertising to help fulfill their objectives. Needless to say, technology has been the cornerstone to each industry’s transformation and marketing has been no different. It has certainly remodeled the way we communicate and access, share and disseminate information.

Reminiscing his first marketing campaign for Aashirvaad Atta about two decades back, Hemant Malik, Divisional Chief Executive - Food Business, ITC shares how his then CEO put him in a spot. The latter, who wasn't from a marketing function, asked Malik about the sales lift that this campaign would garner and the effective tactic behind it “It was difficult to answer what part of my mix is going to make a difference to the sales that happen. Over the years, as marketers, we can now give a better answer to this, as to which part will work. This is what is modern marketing all about for me,” confesses Malik, who has been an active leader in developing brands and business in the company.  

Technology's Role In Reshaping Marketing

Technology has indeed given a new face to modern marketing. It has transformed marketing by making it more engaging, immersive, personalised, along with creating an integrated ecosystem for the marketers. 

On the consumer front, new technology or digital adoption by them is all-pervasive. Malik here asserts, “You look at the consumer journey of discovering, engaging with, buying brands is becoming increasingly fluid and driven by micro-moments, which actually form web footprints across channels and leaving behind trails of rich data in the bargain. And it's pertinent to marketers to wake up to this reality of chalking out strategies that are connected, and in real-time.”

This whole change is also making a difference to the evolution, in terms of the consumer insighting process. “Concerned coonsumers are more available to you, you can follow their behavior, speak with them, etc. This has an impact in terms of new product developments, fairly quick feedbacks, opportunities to learn, etc."

He further adds that new forms of advertising, such as performance marketing, are deeply supporting planning and analytics. “Covid has brought together ecommerce, where data analytics is possible. Similarly, in the FMCG sector, new channels of distribution are coming up. For legacy companies, where strength is about reach and distribution, that particular strength is getting democratized because of ecommerce today.”

He is in all agreement that these changes have been made possible with the use of technology and that technology is the cornerstone of everything. 

Leadership's Role In Creating Stay At The Top Of Modern Marketing

Owing to his experience, Malik believes that the most important role of a leader is that of an evangelist- by being chief the sponsor of this change. “This same thing was observed a few years back. When there were questions on investing in digital, possibly due to lack of knowledge, evangelists such as Facebook & Google stepped forward. 

At ITC, we learned from them, created joint business plans, worked to create digital creatives, fulfilled customised advertising needs and eventually moved towards creating digital day- exposing the team to the larger ecosystem,” he says on upping their game.

The FMCG giant further worked on the organisation’s digital language. It aimed at developing and following one common language of marketing, which was not just restricted to the younger employees. For this, each of the employees went through programs, across businesses, to come on the same page.

As a leader, Malik admits that there was a time when the company realised that all the skills were not available in-house. “We hired people who crafted this digital journey for us. 

When you deal with smart youngsters, you may have to highlight sometimes that you are not as smart. This may be a big motivator for them,” he advocates.

Malik also maintains that the largest onus remains in investing in technology, i.e. investing ahead of the curve. “We have believed that technology is going to be the way forward. It is one tool that will deliver ROI in the long term. Investment in technology today is critical. Marketers’ vision must be clear, ensuring that technology is as seamless,” he advised. 

Note: The speaker's comments have been taken from a recent industry forum