Gurjeet, who runs a not-for-profit organization in Chandigarh, thinks marketing for not-for-profit organizations in emerging markets is an urgent need. Resources are hard to come by, but whenever she talks of generating funds through marketing, many disagree. She came all the way from Chandigarh to attend the 6th Indian Marketing Summit as it openly discussed the hitherto taboo idea of generating revenue through marketing in the not-for-profit sector, better known as the NGO sector in India.

She was happy to see all the speakers and participants believed that in order to survive and be sustainable, not-for-profit organizations should embrace marketing techniques while concentrating on making a social and environmental impact.

“The corporate sector is largely concerned about profit, but not-for profit organizations work for marginalized sections of society. The current global political and economic turmoil highlights the fact that the private sector and governments have, to a large extent, failed to meet the aspirations of the masses. To fill this vacuum, many civil societies have come into existence and the not-for-profit sector is one of them. But, in order to make a bigger impact, the social sector should adopt techniques that would help achieve financial sustainability. Effective marketing can play a key role in achieving this,” says Dr. H. Chaturvedi, Director, BIMTECH.

BIMTECH, living up to its motto – Excellence With Values – organized the 6th Indian Marketing Summit (IMS) on April 27 and 28 at India International Centre, New Delhi. IMS provided an opportunity to bring the best national and international talent together with leading organizations from the not-for-profit sector. This timely summit helped to gain an insight into the challenges being faced by this sector and how effectively incorporating traditional and digital marketing techniques would help maintain positive financial viability.

“You need to be visible and known in order to attract grants and donations. You must make people understand how your efforts can bring about change in society. Be visible. Be known. People must know why they can put their faith in you,” advised Dr. Jagdish Sheth, Founder, AIM.

But, before you go out and ask for support, be sure you know your product well, warned Bill Toliver, Executive Director of The Matale Line. “A good marketing campaign can kill a bad product,”

Trust of the masses in the not-for-profit sector is of utmost importance. “If your efforts are genuine and directed towards the betterment of society, go out and ask for support, generate revenue. When you are financially sound, you can widen your reach and in turn help many more people,” said Cynthia Round, Executive Vice-President, Brand Leadership, United Way Worldwide.
All the speakers stressed on the role of the Internet in providing easy access to the masses. Power of the social media can and must be properly harnessed to make oneself known and instantly reach out to a wider audience.

The two-day summit was divided into five sessions. During the inaugural session Mr. Alok Bharadwaj, Senior Vice-President, Canon India was felicitated. being honoured with the Bimtech Award for “Outstanding Global Mamger” for having contributed substantially to the World’s Best Management Pratices” . The first day also saw the launch of the BIMTECH Journal ‘Business Plus Markets’.

Editor’s Choice, a special session on day one, saw social entrepreneurs sharing their success stories and the challenges they surmount every day in order to remain in business.

Finally, at the end of day two, in response to queries from the audience about what could be done about establishing a permanent forum for exchange of ideas, and actualizing steps to attend to the issues raised in the Summit, Dr Chaturvedi, Director BIMTECH announced  that BIMTECH would take the lead in establishing a Centre for Social Enterprise.

Speakers at the summit included prominent names such as Pradeep Kashyap, Founder, MART; Ian Correa, Hope Foundation; Sankar Dutta, Basix India; Tim Schotman, Chief Global Officer, Sightlife, Anshu Gupta, Goonj, Jessie Paul, CEO, Paul Writer Strategic Services and Saloni Malhotra from Desi Crew.

Jessie believes that although penetration of digital media is limited, the people on its radar are those who matter, and could be a big source of support for the social cause. She is happy that such a summit is being organized in our country. “BIMTECH has done a commendable job by bringing on one platform so many experts from  the Not for Profit sector. This also takes away the taboo factor attached with marketing in the social sector,” adds Jessie.

Speakers were of the opinion that there is a great need to develop human resources in  the social sector to meet the growing demand of professionals for this sector. “More universities and Business schools in India should offer courses in the social sector and social marketing.  India faces myriad social problems and you need a dedicated work force to work and generated resources for this sector,” says Alan R. Andreasen, Professor of Marketing, Georgetown University.  “Social media is a good platform to launch awareness and marketing campaigns. But, just awareness of your cause is not enough. You need to pay a lot more attention to many other factors like supply chain, so that products and services actually reach poor people,” cautions Professor Andreasen..

“If you are not visible, you are out of mind. Nicely brand your product or service and make efforts to reach out to a wider audience. Marketing in the social sector in no longer a taboo, and more and more people are realizing the necessity of Marketing in  the social sector,” says Dr. Jagdish sheth, Founder, AIM.

BIMTECH realized that people all over the world are hoping that the social sector will play a big role in meeting their needs and aspirations. “But the social sector lacks Marketing and Communication skills. So, this year, the summit focused on Marketing for Not for Profit Organisations in emerging markets. Vast global experiences of the speakers have given our social sector an opportunity to introspect and improve,” says Dr. H Chaturvedi, Director, BIMTECH.

However, some speakers were of the opinion that the social sector should not indulge in very aggressive marketing. “ The best social media is word of mouth. If you are doing good work, eventually it will get recognized. True, Social media provides us tools to showcase our work, but for that to happen we have to actually go out and work for the people,” says Anshu Gupta, Founder-Director, GOONJ.

In the current scenario, the trade off in Marketing is between time and money. “If you don’t have money, you must invest time, and your best bet is Digital Media,” Jessie Paul, Managing Director of Paul Writer says. The digital space itself is low cost or no cost. If your idea is powerful, and you word it right, you simply carry it through.

In fact, many people sell ideas, concepts – even designer wear – online and to anybody who pays. If you have the idea, the words and the time to follow up on queries, you have it made. “In India, the penetration of Digital Media is still very low,” Paul says. However, some of the powerful social media to get an NGO’s message across would be, “Facebook – because it is a mix of visual and story. Twitter is good if you have a great story. A video on Youtube would also work if you have a visual appeal, which social causes need to have.”

“The challenges that NGOs face today,” she specified at the BIMTECH Marketing Summit, “is that there are 24,000 NGOs registered today. How does your idea get support and funding? To stand out, you have to be very good at communicating your ideas and getting funding for  them.”

Many NGOs attended the BIMTECH summit. Some of them spoke at it, which provided themgood exposure. The next time they want to sell something, and approach a corporate, they will have a foot in the door thanks to the recognition due to the BIMTECH exposure. “It is the top of mind recall that every NGO should be striving for.” Paul is sure.

If an NGO is able to do something really exciting, like say  set  a Guinness record, or organize a flash mob and get TV, online and offline coverage, “it multiplies their reach and gets through to people who are not on the digital media as yet,” she says, before going on to talk of an example that is on everybody’s mind – and lips – today. The Kolaveri Youtube video that had every TV channel talking about it.

Paul has some more advice: tell your story without the gore. There really is no need for an NGO to show visuals of abject misery. “It makes people uncomfortable and when they are uncomfortable, they are not about to pull out their cheque books and write out a donation,” Paul’s is a first-hand observation. “Instead,” she advises, “They could just calmly tell their story  in an interesting way and  people would listen..” Gore and utter misery makes people feel powerless to help.

There are ways to make your cause interesting. “PETA, for example.They have taken ideas from traditional marketing and aroused interest.”

Paul talked about how if an NGO is into recycled clothing, they could have a fashion show with recycled clothes or get NIFT involved into designing garments using the theme of old clothes.

Jessie Paul is experienced in the business of social marketing. She has ideas for putting messages across in ways that are interesting, unique and memorable. The idea is to fulfil the purpose of creating awareness for the NGO’s cause.

Anshu Gupta’s organization, Goonj has seen the awards pour in, for this man believes that “There are two ways of doing things. One is you talk about the work and the second is that the work talks about you. In our case, after being on this journey for 13 years, the work is talking about us.”

According to him, in this era of tom-tomming your every move on social networking sites, the biggest ‘social media’ is word of mouth. “Yes, Goonj does have its Facebook page, website, etc, but they are tools. When people see, people believe.”

Goonj, that focuses largely on women in rural areas, forced organizations and people to come to their premises. Many thought the Goonj guys were arrogant. But Gupta stood firm. “Only when you come to our premises will you see what we do and believe in us.” They came, they saw and the association began.

One of the biggest problems in rural areas is women’s health hygiene. “One of the hidden thing that we found when we spoke to rural women, is that in many villages even a basic bath does not happen because the women have no clothes to change into,” he says. Today’s villages don’t have the ‘traditional’ privacy that the old hamlets had because water bodies have dried up. The water supply comes through hand pumps  located in convenient public places.

Goonj recycles and distributes old clothes to these women, complete with providing them with clean cloth to use as sanitary napkins. Even great ideas and greater work face stumbling blocks, and Gupta is no exception. “Our biggest challenge is funds. We do not even have a fund raising department, which is the basic defect in the DNA of the organization. We’ve never spoken about money so it becomes really tough to start talking about it now. It is the need right now,” he says.

Gupta, however is very clear about the role of Corporates and NGOs. “Unfortunately, Corporates think they are god ( God?) and NGOs also think they are just that because they have a bit of money. We want to change the language. We don’t think Corporates are donors and NGOs are beneficiaries. NGOs are specialized expert agencies full of committed people who want to do something good.” What people do not understand is that Corporates too need to do something good for society and they require reliable agencies to work with in a mutual relationship.

Another challenge Goonj faces is with donations. Even when they distribute 10,000 leaflets in a community, only 40 or 50 contributions come in. “So far we haven’t found a solution. We do not bug people with sms messages or emails. Right from the beginning we had decided to send only four to five emails in a year,” Gupta reveals. His database of nearly two lakh people looks forward to emails from Goonj, with very few ‘unsubscribe’ clicks.

Knowing him and his resilience, the challenges Goonj faces are problems which present the solutions.  ( Not too sure people will understand this)

Professor of Marketing at the McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University and Executive Director of the Social Marketing Institute, Professor Andreasen has seventeen books as part of his repertoire and has published many articles and conference papers. His experienced opinion is very valued, and he thinks the Social Enterprise sector needs more universities and B-Schools offering SE courses. “It is an important need for countries that have a lot of poor people and a lot of social problems that relevant, well marketed Social Enterprise can help to solve,” he said.

Marketing, though, has to be cost effective. “Unfortunately, a lot of programmes rely only on the communications part of marketing. That is a waste of money and not very effective. The most effective programmes match promotion with other channel issues, making sure products reach the right people,” he said. NGOs with a good product need to know how to get the message across to those that need the product.

“Just communicating is not enough. It is often necessary to get people excited about the issue. Get people to help out,” he added.

Social Media networks are changing so fast. Obviously today, Facebook and Twitter are the most used internet techniques. “Many social programme websites provide places that people can go to and learn what others are doing, learn techniques and ways to approach a problem. Facebook and Twitter are good for raising interest, but it is the websites that provide the tools that people can use,” he clarified.

Non profit groups linking with a corporate partner for marketing campaigns help because these organizations have experience and sophistication in the ways of dealing with behavioural influence problems. That is their job. They have to achieve targets, get people to use their service or products. “On the other hand in many situations there is a power differential, because the corporates are bigger, richer and more experienced, they tend to want to dominate. As a consequence, the NGO often veers off track, so that would be one of the cons. They have to start off on an equal footing,” Andreasen advised.

Advice to Non Profit Organizations for starting a marketing campaign:

Understanding your target audience before you start any marketing programme is the key to at least the potential to success. Ask yourself these questions:

Where they are coming from?

What are they thinking?

What is their response to what you want to do?

What do they see as not just the benefits of what you see is the right behaviour, but what are the costs that they’ve figured are holding them back from doing what you want?

What do they think others want them to do?

Are others against this thing that you are proposing or are they supportive?

Are there any issues that make them think “I really can’t do that. It is just too difficult.”?

Andreasen concluded by saying the conference has created awareness about important issues. This conference could be the launching point for much more activity at BIMTECH. The B-School could play an important role in the area of social impact with a lot of business intelligence or business ideas brought into this important sector.

A very prestigious and unique award, the Global Management Guru Award (GMGA) is something that is akin to the Nobel Prize. That it comes from the Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH) adds to its significance and value in the world of management. “Global Management Guru Award is conferred on a scholar and Thought Leader who has influenced management through worldwide fundamental ways as a teacher, researcher, writer and mentor,” said Mrs. Jayshree Mota, Chairperson Board of Governors, BIMTECH about GMGA.

Mr. B K Birla, Chairman of the B K Birla Group said, “We are committed to build the nation through our humble contributions in economic development, health and education. Since its foundation by Padma Vibushan G D Birla, Birla Group has high sensitivity for society and respect for scholars.” With this idea in mind, and an institution like BIMTECH backed by the Birla Group- with a century in business and industry, instituted GMGA.

In 2011, this very prestigious award was presented to Dr. Jagdish N Sheth who was very surprised and honoured to receive this privilege. His name was chosen after a lot of deliberation by a jury of big names in Management. In all 13 names of Thought Leaders came up time and again throughout the poll conducted by Marketing and Development Research Associates (MDRA). It included top leaders in industry, business, policy making, and academics. From the list of 13, five were selected via a stringent process conducted online and through email.

When Mr. Ratan Tata found out that Dr. Sheth won GMGA, he said, “It is befitting that the maiden Global Management Guru Award of your institute is to be conferred on Professor Jagdish Sheth. Professor Sheth has contributed to the growth of the pool of business knowledge in the theory and practice of marketing, in particular relationship marketing, through his sharp insights into consumer behaviour.”

The polling for the first Management Guru Award witnessed a massive online campaign which ranked the 13 Thought Leaders. 15,000 participants from across the world selected them. The Thought Leaders were named in no particular order. Face to face interviews followed.

Interestingly, Dr. Sheth was number one on the list of 84% of the overseas respondents, while their Indian counterparts selected Michael Porter.

“This award is both a surprise and an honour,” Dr. Sheth said on winning GMGA. “It is a privilege for me to be among the list of nominated people, they are all world class. Also because the recognition comes from both Indian and global audience, this recognition is a milestone to a journey that is forever. One needs to take a pause once in a while to reflect on what one has achieved, what impact it has had in the world, and also celebrate.”

GMGA comes with a global recognition and includes a cash prize of Rs. 500,000.

The second instalment of GMGA has eminent names of the management industry vying for the top honours. John Kotter, Harvard Business School while acknowledging his nomination stated- “The world in my opinion, needs many more people who are willing to take the time and effort to identify and recognize good work. That you are providing some leadership here serves society well.” GMGA would also see personalities like Lynda Gratton, London Business School, Michael Porter, Harvard Business School, Vijay Govindarajan, Tuck School of Business, Pankaj Ghemawat, IESE Business School, Linda Scott, Said Business School, Rakesh Khurana, Harvard Business School, Jim Collins, Ex Stanford University and Practitioner,  and many other top notch management experts come together at the GMGA.

Vibhor Mehta, a Chandigarh boy chose to do his MBA in Retail Marketing at BIMTECH, thanks to his seniors and the various forums available online.

As it turned out, he took a wise decision. In India, Retail is yet to reach its full potential. “A lot of purchasing power is coming from the ever growing middle class. It is an amazing time to be in retail right now. It will only get better with time to come,” Vibhor Mehta predicts.

While working, you need to be in a place where you can give your best to the job and where work does not seem like work at all. It is the sort of scene where you get paid to do what you love. Vibhor agrees. He nods adding, “Where you can learn to love your work.” That too is very important.

At his new job he plans on being a team player, and pushing every member of the team to give their jobs the best possible shot.

He actually got this job after working on a project with Landmark Home Center. Vibhor is well prepared for his job thanks to this and suspects he got the job offer because of his successful completion of the project that the organization gave him.

Current economic trends do not worry this young manager. He is of the educated opinion that things will improve. India has no worries. “There is tremendous growth predicted in organized retail in India,” he says.

However, in retail, competition is tough. Yet, overcoming challenges itself is rewarding. “I learnt this at BIMTECH,” says Mehta. During his interview, he stayed true to himself. “I think believing in myself did the trick.”

Personally, this young manager finds the quote by Robert Louis Stevenson – Everyone got where he is, has had to begin where he was – a very interesting one.

“I would relate it to the problems you face in your life and career. Both have a great role in your future successes as you come out of all of them a better person learning bit by bit along the way,” Mehta says.

He has a suggestion for his juniors.  “Give it your best, improve yourself. Your best is the best chance you have got, forget about the competition.”

The litany of woes that has been unfolding left, right and centre all these months has been practically unending. Such as the woes from Tatra, ministerial land grab in Maharashtra. Akash building, Falak, Bengaluru municipality’s dirty campaign against Chinnaswami Stadium for not offering free tickets to corporators, unending serial rapes and murders, recovery of an infant girl live from a garbage dump in Gurgaon etc. Only a very brave soul can pick up the morning papers and not throw up both hands in despair or place them on one’s forehead a la A. K. Antony when he listened to General V. K. Singh about a retired General offering bribes to him.

I was wondering when will the unending stream of bad news finally stop. Lo and behold, the Good Lord sent Agni V soaring into the blue yonder and now all is well with the world!

Another uplifting news has been the performance of Rajasthan Royals in IPL V, especially that of captain courageous Dravid! (Please note the recurrence of good luck symbol V). The law of averages did after all catch up with random events and we did get our share of some “good news” stories, thank God, after a barrage of really depressing ones.

Will the run of these cheerful tidings continue? Can I pick up the morning paper tomorrow without trepidation? I wonder and I fear…………………..

Prof. K. K. Krishnan
Chairperson,
Centre for Corporate Relations (CCR)

Professor K. K. Krishnan, Chairperson, Centre for Corporate Relations is in charge of BIMTECH placements. 2012 recruitments have him smiling happily, because, in addition to the already recruiting biggies, 32 “new” companies have confirmed participated in the placement process to acquire talents. “With this, we have widened our base significantly,” says Prof. Krishnan. The new companies included names like Tata Motors, TVS Motors, Bajaj Auto Finance, Canon, ITC, etc.

International recruiters like Landmark, Dubai have approached BIMTECH to place their graduates in the retail industry. Other industries employing BIMTECH graduates included National Retail, Neutraceuticals, Manufacturing, Logistics, FMCG, Insurance, Consultancy, Market Research, Hotels, Infrastructure and Education, IT & ITeS, Banking and Financial Services,

As compared to 2011, this year is showing promise of being distinctly better. Prof Krishnan’s confidence in BIMTECH’s graduates shows through in his words, “BIMTECH’s students are top notch performers in various corporates. Their reputation has gone viral and therefore, the 32 new companies. We are perceived by the corporates to be fundamentally very sound in academics.”

On their part, students went through regular aptitude tests during their second year. BIMTECH introduced the KPMG Six Sigma Green Belt Certification for all students, to enhance their problem solving capabilities. “This is because we at BIMTECH believe in the continuous up-gradation of deliverables and synchronisation with the ever changing needs of industry,” Prof. Krishnan says.

Before the placement, BIMTECH invited industry experts to talk to the students and apprise them of the real life situation in the career scenario. These series of talks helped to give students a handle on what to expect and how to conduct themselves in their careers and during their interviews. TATA-AIG conducted a campus connect programme which proved to be very helpful. BIMTECH is organizing one with Accenture during the next academic year while plans of more are in the pipeline.

Further preparing them for their interviews, BIMTECH had created a Question Bank based on the types of questions asked by recruiters. This Question Bank helped students understand the type of questions that could be put to them and prepare themselves accordingly.

In an effort to improve, the feedback that recruiters provide BIMTECH is shared with all faculty and students. This action shows all concerned exactly how BIMTECH is perceived by the outside world.

“BIMTECH is steadfast in its credo which is “EXELLENCE WITH VALUES” and we will enable you to achieve this,” Prof. Krishnan promises future students.

In February, Bangalore’s Cha Bar at the Leela Palace became the meeting place for those located in the garden city. Together, they connected on conference calls with BIMTECH alumni located in the cities of Mumbai and Kolkata.

On 18 March, 2012, the second BIMTECH Alumni Group meeting took place in Delhi. Dressed in semi formals the batch of 1996 met over a buffet dinner at Gulmohar Park Club, Delhi. The meet was attended by BIMTECH Director Dr. H. Chaturvedi. Chief Guest of the evening was popular BIMTECH ex-faculty Dr. Dayanand Pandey (Fondly called DNP). Several NCR alums met that evening and managed to include a member who had recently moved from Bangalore to Delhi. He and his wife were welcomed warmly into the group. Together they relived the nostalgia of days spent at BIMTECH. One of the main discussions was finding ways to connect and network with other BIMTECH Alumni and increasing the strength of the group. A presence in social media like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter would make it easy for interactions and instant updates. Information on events, workshops, forums etc would also be added on the alumni portal, http://alumni.bimtech.ac.in, which would include information on regional activities so as to facilitate communication.

Even though the number of members is currently small, they have already created an India wide audio bridge which can be used by the various chapters to conference/talk for both intra as well as inter chapter communication.

At the meetings, BIMTECH Alumni discussed various ways of including ALL alumni into the group, including the new graduates who pass out every year. The idea was to provide a platform for the BIMTECH fraternity to network. To do this they would need a directory that would be circulated among all the members, and was already in the process of being compiled. Each member would be requested to update their details.

Before and after every meeting, office bearers would discuss ideas and developments over con-calls or via Skype. A financial budget was required to drive developments and fund meetings. Following an initial registration fee, annual subscriptions would finance chapter activities.

In keeping with the ‘each one teach one’ principle, members would reach out to other BIMTECH alumni and bring them into the Alumni Group fold. The whole idea is to stay in touch, network, discuss developments, help each other and keep the BIMTECH bond alive, today, tomorrow and forever.