Purpose Is The Core Of Any Business: Sunil Narula

Sunil Narula, Senior Vice President – Sales & Marketing at Panasonic Life Solutions India, a professional with extensive expertise in the field of marketing spoke to BW Marketing World for its exclusive series, 'Marketing Maestros'.

Narula shared insights into the world of marketing, the importance of sustainability, and the transformative role of AI in content creation and storytelling. He also delves into the challenges and opportunities of social media marketing and the importance of authenticity and transparency in purpose-driven marketing.

Excerpts:

What caught your attention to the world of marketing?  

Marketing is a very broad field. People confuse marketing with only advertising and branding. I look at marketing as the pivot for the growth of any organisation. I think it's the marketers who can make or break the organisation. Right from emphasising what kind of products are required for the brand, what is the TG (Target Group) that we are looking forward to positioning ourselves? What should be the right tonality of addressing your communication? Where do you want to see yourself in the next 5-10 years horizon? I think some of these things caught my attention early in my professional life and I could see that a huge amount of contribution can come in from marketing. 

Which moment has significantly impacted your career in the marketing industry?

I will not say one particular moment, but it is a phase. Working at Morpheus Richards was a turning point in my life, in terms of realising that marketing is something that has brought me where I wanted to be. It was a small organisation taking baby steps when it started and I was heading the marketing, starting in 2006. As an organisation, it was too small in terms of revenue, and awareness and the consideration for the products of that brand were limited. I think from that level for the next seven to eight years, the role I performed, the environment which I got, in terms of putting my learning and experiences into use, and again, learning from them has been the turning point in my career. 

With sustainability becoming a prominent focus in marketing, what are your thoughts on brands adopting green messaging genuinely versus resorting to greenwashing to remain competitive in the market? 

Sustainability is a very important subject of discussion and it is not only for the brands which are primarily dealing with products or categories which are contributing directly to the benefit of the planet or mankind at large. It is also for organisations that are helping in some or the other way in terms of ensuring that they are not contributing to the pollution of the planet, but significantly moving towards a space where they can contribute to the betterment of the planet. So green messaging is definitely important. If you look at Panasonic as an organisation, at a larger level, it is driven by this entire philosophy of going green, by ensuring that we are carbon neutral by a certain period of time. Greenwashing is not something which I would recommend. There are multiple ways in which a brand can contribute to the betterment of the planet, whether it is ensuring the use of the right packaging material, or the manufacturing set-ups. I am conscious of the kind of work I am doing to ensure that I am not polluting the environment. 

In what ways do you foresee Generative AI's capacity to elevate content creation and storytelling approaches?

Before getting on to the Generative AI part, I think the way digital technology has transformed the way marketers think or organisations think in terms of communication, and connecting with people and influencers has changed the way we look at the entire piece of communication. Moving on to the AI bit, while the entire AI story at times seems to be very scary, where you feel that you are being taken over by the machines. I think it's an important thing that any organization cannot miss at this point in time. It improves in getting the efficiencies in place. I think the amount of data that is available through the AI route for marketers on hand is immense. It can be effectively used in terms of creating better communication for your product lines, and understanding your target audience in an easier and better way rather than spending millions and billions on research. I think AI can be very helpful in really getting onto the right kind of information coming from open sources concerning how consumers are looking at things and how things are changing in that environment. Any organization today, without building in the competencies of AI amongst their employees would be very difficult for them to survive in the next couple of years. 

How do you ensure authenticity and transparency in purpose-driven marketing, when dealing with sensitive issues?

I think purpose becomes the core of any business you do, whether it is for sustainability or it is for ensuring that you are a brand which is available to your set of consumers at the right time, at the right place. When you look at the way the brand Panasonic, it has grown over the last 100 years across the globe. The product lines that have come in through, the reach which the brand has across multiple countries in the world, I think it is driven by the sole purpose of being available to consumers. It is one of the very important areas before we bring in any kind of product or before we decide on pricing or before we decide on any positioning for the brand Panasonic

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? 

Digital is changing by the day with the social media space expanding. I think it is posing a challenge to brands, every day. The attention span of consumers has gone down and the amount of time we spend on a screen has gone up. I think one of the biggest challenges for any brand is to ensure that it catches the attention of the consumer and keeps them engaged. In the digital world, what is becoming increasingly difficult or challenging for brands is to ensure that they are able to communicate with the consumer in the shortest possible time. I think the challenge today is to tell the story in the shortest time of 7, 10, or 15 seconds. So, that is becoming increasingly difficult for marketers in this entire changing landscape of digital media to ensure that they are relevant to their audience and they are able to catch their attention at a given point in time. 

How do you strike a balance between granting creative freedom to influencers and adhering to brand guidelines to ensure consistency and alignment in messaging?

We have a very different kind of influencer community. In the products which we are selling today, one of our biggest influencers is the electrician in this entire environment. Getting the attention and ensuring that that electrician remains loyal to my brand and helps in promoting the brand, I think we have done a good amount of things in the pre and post-pandemic era. In fact, things have improved significantly there. We have created a mobile app on which we onboard these electricians. There is a proper KYC process that takes place. This type of collaboration has seen a huge amount of impetus in the Covid time when a lot of these people were involved in promoting certain activities. We are also looking at using social media to ensure that these people are engaged with us. We are conducting multiple training programs and upskilling these electricians to ensure that they remain relevant to their work. So a lot of work is happening with respect to influencer marketing, and I think it has benefited the brand to a very large extent. 

Which marketing veterans or leaders do you admire and find inspiration from in your professional journey?

I think in the advertising world, if I have to be very specific, the advertising guru, Piyush Pandey has been one of the great influencers with respect to messaging, and communication. His knack for understanding consumers, and his belief in whatever he's creating or communicating is admirable. I think the way the communication in his commercials is created, they will be there for ages to come. It is an advertiser's or a marketer's dream to probably emulate whatever work he has done in that field. 

How would you like to describe your marketing journey in one word or one sentence?  

In a nutshell, I would say it has been very interesting and productive.