Roti, kapda, makaan aur Wifi(food, clothing, shelter and Wifi) – the basic needs of modern mankind. And someone has really taken it upon themselves to single handedly cater to all these needs. Yes, it is Aditya Birla Group. Through brands such as the previously owned More(roti), Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Forever21(kapda), Ultratech Cement, Hindalco(makaan) and Idea(WiFi), ABG has touched every household in some way. But the one trailblazing brand for me under the ABG umbrella is Liva. Liva goes beyond the conventional apparel vision of making a consumer look good and really just focuses on making a consumer feel good. After all, isn’t it all about being comfortable in your own skin?
Moreover, ABG connected the people of this country and India as a nation transformed into a large community with the arrival of Idea. While other networks boasted about their network and the ease of entertainment content streaming it provided, Idea essentially focused on the educational aspect of internet usage. The Idea Internet Network (IIN) campaign highlighted the fact people didn’t need to restrict themselves to a specific stream of education and could instead follow their passion by taking up online lessons facilitated by Idea as an internet service provider. What an idea, sirji!
I have barely scratched the surface with these examples. With each brand, ABG has revolutionized the segments and redefined our lives. It has earned our faith and in ABG we trust!
I have always enjoyed event management. Working behind the scenes for my college’s annual cultural festival was my way of coping with the academic pressure and I did it with great pleasure. In my third year of engineering, we had a terrific lineup for our night events. The opening night was to be a raging performance by Suraj Jagan. The following night it was going to be two Electronic Dance Music sets by the Dutch DJ Sandro Silva and the Hungarian duo Stadium X. Everything was set. Deals had been sealed and publicity had started to promote the most anticipated festival. However, what’s event management without its fair share of running into last minute troubles?
Four days before our first night event, Mr. Jagan had an accident and broke his neck rendering him completely incapable of delivering the upcoming performance. We had a window of three days to arrange another artist. Banners, passes and posters had to be re-designed, re-printed and the new word had to spread again. Sponsors were intimated of the change in lineup. Clinton Cerejo graciously agreed to fill in for Suraj Jagan. The performance happened as (re)-planned and scheduled. So far so good, right? Wrong!
Our event venue was an open air arena, a state of the art sports complex, housed within our college campus. The stage was built and set for a proper concert like feel. However, as soon as Mr. Cerejo’s performance wrapped up, it began drizzling. The end of February; technically summer hadn’t even begun yet in Mumbai. But it rained that night. That translated into a situation that required the entire stage with its truss, lights, LED banners and speakers to be dismantled as soon as possible and moved indoors. Seemed like an impossible task at first, as it was late at night and the manpower was negligible. But thanks to social media, I mobilized a crowd of about hundred people in less than 30 minutes and what we witnessed next was a visual representation of sheer grit and unity. Students in large numbers were picking up trusses that weighed tons and carrying it further to a drier place. By the time the drizzle turned into a downpour, we had safely moved everything indoors. It was an exhausting experience but I had several takeaways from this event. First, remaining calm and composed really works. Second, no matter how impossible the task seems, when there is unity, no task is insurmountable. Third, it’s in moments of deepest despair that you really find your true strengths! Because when you feel that the odds are stacked against you, you never give up and keep on moving.