As a student pursuing my MBA in marketing, I’ve always held retail close to my heart. It has evolved along the years as I have, and it almost translates into a personal journey of growth for me and my family.
My first memory of retail is going to the Pantaloons store near Camp area in Pune. It’s probably shut down now but I starkly remember the then dark green logo glowing on this white façade. A family of 4, we would go on one scooter once in a month. It was my most awaited trip. The store had a smell, it’s not one I can describe but I can almost recollect it like it was yesterday. As a typical middle-class child, it was all kinds of “luxury” I could experience. There were clothes and toys, both in a single store. I usually got to pick only one outfit of choice but some months, I’d be lucky enough to haul a toy along the way.
As the tradition progressed, we even signed up for the membership card. Loyalty programs were fairly new to us as customers so we religiously followed up on our points and usage. Much to our delight, Pantaloons was running a promotion where they were giving away free movie tickets to some customers. My family always went to single screen cinemas as going to a multiplex was out of the question, it was an expensive affair. The promotion gave away tickets at a multiplex and my 10 year old self just had to have them! A few days later, we were notified that we had won two movie tickets. My parents decided to send my sister and I for the movie to experience the multiplex first-hand. It was then that a 10 year old and a 16 year old, carried 300 rupees to the screening of “Kaho Na Pyaar Hai” and had their first brush with the “good life”. I went home and raved about the experience of the theatre more than seeing a newly introduced (and adored) Hrithik Roshan. It was the first time that I hadn’t fallen asleep at a movie theatre, my parents had to hear about every minute I spent there.
After this, I was determined to make sure we kept visiting Pantaloons for such “new things” that we could be introduced to. Years passed and we even upgraded to a Santro and our shopping allowances but we never won movie tickets again. I suppose luck runs out but one can never run out of heart-warming memories to reflect upon while standing at an Allen Solly store while my mom tries on her first pair of jeans; that or the opportunity to create new ones.
On the surface, I’m a typical 26 year old IT engineer pursuing my MBA after graduation and a bit of work experience. It’s only when I’m asked about my work experience that the whole story unfolds.
As a 22 year old graduate, I pursued the ideal IT engineer job with a leading MNC and I could not have asked for more. 6 months in however, I realized that while I enjoyed coding, my underlying interests were towards marketing. I would often ponder during work about how it would be to shift to a job that allowed me to work on brands. I would find myself reading more of Adage, Afaqs, Brand Equity and the likes than my regular papers. So on a Monday while going back home from work, I knew it was my last day and I went home and declared my intent to quit. My middle class parents were vehemently against the idea of me losing a “steady job” to stumble into a completely new field of work, but I knew I had to put my foot down. Once I knew that I could cross over, there was no way I was turning back. I put my papers down despite my parents’ apprehension. My only condition was that I had to get a job before I could end my notice period and only then would my parents pay the bond fees for severance from my organization.
I put my papers down on 1
st November and by 4
th November, I had found the “foot in the right door” situation. While I obviously would not find a job in the marketing realm, I decided to apply at start-ups which would be more flexible with their roles. I found a start-up that needed an employee for a 3 month project which primarily involved business development. I took it up because the project was exciting and the founder personally met me and said he would give me the opportunity to work with the marketing team as well. On completion of the project, I then decided to start applying to marketing agencies for a business development role and bagged one soon enough.
As a fresher, I was strictly put on sales calls for the first 3 months. All my leads were then taken up by my manager and closed. One month in and I knew that I was comfortable with the cold calling and lead generation and spending any more time would be an underutilization of my time and the agency’s time. I then spoke to my manager to let me work on the retail sector, along with my calls, which was not explored by the agency at that time as they mostly worked in the FMCG sector, which was the sector every employee wanted to work in. I knew that this would be a feasible option as it wasn’t business that was affected, I would get to move beyond calls and I would work with a sector close to my personal interests. My only condition this time was that I got to conceptualize campaigns for brands that I had prospected. I remember closing my first client within 3 months and then approaching my manager, again. This time I proposed a 6 month target, surpassing which I wanted to be able to prospect clients in the FMCG sector. My manager set a monetary target which I knew was impossible to crack as it was generally the annual target and I was new in the industry. I then began the journey of an “agency life”. 2 AM coffees and endless number of pitches with prospects. As my dark circles kept growing, so did the numbers. However, at the end of the 6 month period, I stood INR 20,00,000 short of my target. Disheartened, I sat at my desk, with a lump in my throat when my manager walked up to me. She said that she had inflated the target to push me but she had internally spoken to the head of our region and the target was supposed to be a quarter of the stated amount. Day 1 of month seven, I was at my desk at 9 AM, generating leads for the FMCG, retail and BSFI sector. About a little over 2 years in, I knew I could finally move to the brand side. Being an agency to brand shift is quite a common practice but it was difficult to leave the agency being a place that I absolutely loved everything about. Upon reflection, I also understood that a master’s degree would add value to my knowledge and help with networking too.
I went back on another Monday evening and told my parents of my intent. To my surprise, it took about a few days of discussion and an entire analysis on ROI to get them on board with the idea. I now cannot wait to go home, preferably on a Monday, and tell my parents about the day I finally moved to the brand side.