When I was 16 years old, my mother gifted me my first feature phone. She casually asked me which network operator I wanted to opt for. I told her that it didn’t really matter which operator it was, as long as I quickly got a chance to get my hands dirty with the new phone. As I was speaking with her, a commercial flashed in the TV running in the background. Abhishek Bachchan was playing the head of an educational institution – a priest and the principal of a school. When challenged by the traditional, physically bound classroom methodology that prevents reaching out to many who are in need of education, he uses mobile telephony to overcome the barrier. Thousands of students are seen benefitting from that idea. At the end of the ad, Abhishek Bachchan looks up to Jesus and says “What an Idea, Sir ji”. The decision was made; I told my mother I wanted an Idea SIM. 9 years on, I am still connected to Idea through the Idea-Vodafone network.
Fast forward to 2015. College placement season was on. Seven days prior to my first interview of the season at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), I, along with my friends, went shopping for formal clothes to wear during the process. I was a fat guy, and the fitting of the clothes was not to my liking. I tried many brands and many colours, but alas, I didn’t feel confident I could pull any of them off. Dejected, I returned back home. My father was surprised when I returned home empty-handed. I narrated my ordeal to him. He had a swift response, “Peter England nahi try kiya kya?”. I shook my head. He immediately took me to the nearest Peter England showroom, and bought me a Peter England white shirt and a Peter England black trouser. I also got to know from my mother that day that he used to wear Peter England to office during the 1990s and 2000s, up until his retirement in 2007.
The two instances mentioned above are few of the thousands of interactions I and my family have had with the Aditya Birla Group and its subsidiaries including Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Pantaloons, Planet Fashion, Peter England, Idea, Ultratech Cement, Birla Sun life Insurance et al. With the effort of over 120,000 employees spanning over 34 counties, the ABG touches millions of lives every day and brings joy and satisfaction to each one of them. And like each and every one of them would say, ABG is #BigInMyLife.
P.S. I cracked the interview at TCS and worked there for 2.5 years, prior to joining SCMHRD, Pune. I have taken Marketing as a specialisation and the Idea ads made a big impression on me, and have contributed in their own small way to my choice.