NewsReach
brings you unfiltered stories from professionals shaping the world of branding
on Brand Ki Baat.
It
is easy to be seen in today’s business world, but credibility is not. Brand
voices have never been louder but amplification alone cannot make a lasting
effect. It is execution that makes the difference.For any smooth customer
experience, there is an unseen engine of
process, infrastructure, and intent. And behind all that is the story of
clarity that drives the intent. Today, a brand is no longer defined by what it
says in fact it is defined by what it delivers consistently. A market that is
becoming impatient and consumers prone to frantic demands of instant
gratification compel businesses to think not only about the way they
communicate, but also about the way they conduct their business. The process
and storytelling intersect at a point of building durable brands.
Welcome
to Crafting Bharat: Brand Ki Baat Mumbai Edition, industry first podcast
about brands, businesses and people who make them and build them inside out. In
this engaging episode, host Kartik Chawla is joined by Amitabh
Saksena, Founder and MD of Actimedia, PR and Digital, and Sameer Varma,
Executive Director at Coldstar Logistics in this entertaining episode
discussing entrepreneurship, reality of supply chains, B2B storytelling and the
changing demands of the modern consumer.
This series is proudly
brought to you by NewsReach, India’s leading PR-tech platform, with
Production Partner HT Smartcast; Gifting Partner Nanaji Natural and Beauty
Partner Lakme Academy. Tune in for stories, insights, and inspiration!
Edited
Excerpts
Coldstar
is operating in 7,000 pin codes and 200 plus cities. What was a key obstacle
which challenged your operations?
Sameer
Varma: I would like to begin with something easy. A
day or so back, I entered a famous bakery in Bandra. Back in the days, it was
normal to wait 20 minutes to get a croissant. And that wait is unbearable
today. It is that change in consumer expectation that has been transforming
logistics.
We
have swapped three days delivery to overnight, then six hours and to fifteen
minutes now. Shoppers became accustomed to immediate gratification. And when
they are accustomed to it, they cannot turn it back.
The
real challenge for us was not that it was difficult. The challenge was figuring
out how to solve for a demand that did not even fully exist yet. The technology
stack had to be torn into pieces and reconstructed again. Retrain our teams.
Rethink leadership. Since as a logistics company you are not merely finding a
solution to meet the present demand, you are finding a solution to the
aspiration.
How do you
approach B2B storytelling, especially in a space like logistics?
Amitabh
Saksena: Everything is a brand. You are a brand. I am a
brand. Coldstar is a brand. The difference lies in the tools used.
In
our case, things always start with messaging. Why does the brand exist? What is
its DNA? What is its personality? Communication is sterner in case you see
that.
The
first question that Sameer asked me when I first met him was a simple one, what
sells best on New Year? We guessed candies, icecreams, and drinks. The answer
was ice. That’s where the story begins. And the way it goes through a cold
chain and gets in your hand just when you needed it.
B2B
storytelling is the search for human points of entry. The audience may vary,
but the principle remains the same. Make it relevant. Make it relatable. And
most of all, make it unique.
What
is the biggest myth on logistics and supply chain?
Sameer
Varma: The majority believes that logistics is a
matter of trucks, warehouses and riders. But there exists an engine that makes
it happen. Technology, forecasting and process is that engine.
With
an effective supply chain, it makes the faces of the people to smile. When your
food is delivered to your table in good condition, when the product is not out
of stock, that is logistics that works flawlessly. The complexity is hidden.
And that invisibility is the proof of real impact.
What
was the origin of Actmedia and what was its philosophy?
Amitabh
Saksena: Actimedia was founded in 1998 when one of my
colleagues challenged me to make the jump. She said, what we can do for others,
we can do for ourselves. ExxonMobil became our first customer, which is a
fortune 500 company. That set the tone.
As
the years went on we drifted towards lifestyle and we decided we were not going
to go blindly after scale. We wanted curated clients. It was not about being
the largest PR company. It was concerned with being the best in the brands we
serve.
Happy
people make happy clients. This has been our philosophy. When internal culture
is high, the external communication is also a miracle of that culture.
In a fast
growing business world, what breaks first: process or communication?
Sameer
Varma: Personally, it would start with process.
What you are communicating is not anything unless you have a product or a
process that provides a better value. Our attention was on finessing our
operations. We began exaggerating the story only when we were sure of what we
had created.
Amitabh
Saksena: I agree. The product has to be great. You
can make some noise, but you will be thrown out of the market in case the
product fails. A powerful product can be brought to the next level through
communication. It cannot rescue a weak one.
This
is a reminder that behind any brand in sight there is an invisible discipline.
It is either a cold chain network that forecasts the demand of fruits or a PR
agency that is perfecting brand DNA; the basics are the same. Build the
product. Perfect the process. Then tell the story.
This
discussion is a refreshing change to a business world that is usually fixated
on appearance. Since when execution and communication coexist with each other,
brands do not merely expand. They endure.
Brought to you by
NewsReach–India’s leading PR-tech platform, with our production partner, HT
Smartcast.
