Marketers have a direct role in shaping the strategic direction of an organisation by taking a holistic view of the external environment. Hence they track not just marketing-only news but also the larger national-level issues that shook the country, and the lessons it holds for them.
Here is a shortlist, exclusively shared with cat.a.lyst , of what made news this last year, curated from inputs provided by experts from the Marketing Buzzar Community. Those who shared their views are Ruma Biswas, Ranjan Malik, Anisha Motwani, Babita Baruah, Shilpi Dubey Pathak, Priyadarshini Narendra, Narayan Devanathan, B Harish, Ashwani Singla and JP Singh.
Elections step-changed this year. Was it the man in the middle of it all or was it his 360° orchestration of the media? Was it the power of human groundswell or was it technology? Perhaps it was all of it that made the elections look, sound and feel different. The elections felt more like a giant reality show on speed. Complete with characters that provided drama almost on cue. Whatever it was, it was uniquely Indian — multihued and full of splendour.
Marketing Question: How do you orchestrate a groundswell? Half the budget, double the impact.
Humbled Human Arrogance
‘Where’s MH370?’ remained a big unanswered question. But the bigger question was ‘Where’s the famed human ingenuity’? With an amazing number of satellites buzzing around the world that has hyper crowd-sourcing abilities, we had begun to feel pretty omniscient. This was a serious dent on our sense of self.
Marketing Question: What new challenge will push you into a place where you will have more questions than answers? That’s where entrepreneurs usually live.
Swagger of the Aggregators
The market aggregators truly arrived this year. And their arrival predictably caused disruption. The old guard is nervous. And they better be. Uber and AirBnb achieved unheard of valuations at an unheard of pace. Asian start-ups like Alibaba, FlipKart and Snapdeal did the same here. Love them or hate them, you have to admire their chutzpah. They are altering their ecosystems irreversibly and without much effort. They all solve problems the world had long given up on, so elegantly that in spite of their misdemeanours they continue to remain compelling and are growing with a swagger.
Marketing Question: What are your industry’s current blind spots? High-leverage opportunity where a small shift could lead to a disproportionate impact? Opportunity areas that would be breathtakingly obvious in hindsight?
Suddenly ISIS
The organisation and its idea emerged too suddenly for the world to come to terms with it. It doesn’t easily fit into our current schema — Medieval sensibilities suddenly and a modern form factor. Attracting followers from unusual quarters. Is it for real or just a fluffed up virtual organisation? 2015 hopefully holds the answer.
Marketing Question: What compelling thought could potentially spread like a virus? With zero advertising support.
A Sock that shook Cricket
The world cricket establishment shook because its most influential member shook. The member shook because its highly influential leader shook. Cricket also shook because other sports began challenging its dominance — soccer’s continued rise, repackaging of tennis and surprise resurgence of kabaddi.
Marketing Question: What are your unassailable aspects? Challenge them before an upstart does.