There isn’t a single kid who grew up in the 21st century and was not mesmerised by the huge logo of the man holding a building in his arm. That was the logo of Ambuja Cement. Every kid, every man, every person in India, irrespective of a rural or urban background had seen that logo. See, they took something very simple and put it up on every building across the country. Everyone was bound to ask for the cement whose logo was the man holding the building.
Then something beautiful happened. When Aditya Birla Group acquired Ultratech Cement, they had an amazing dream for the company. And slowly, they started to realise those dreams one by one. It took some time, but the job was done. Ambuja did it with their logo and Ultratech did it with their words. Ultratech connected their consumers with their product through words. The tagline “The Engineer’s choice” was doing that job perfectly. I was travelling on some smooth roads on the Golden Quadrilateral and I was talking to my driver about how well L&T have maintained the roadways in the most remote corners of our country. The driver then replied that it doesn’t matter how much you maintain a road unless the base is strong. He then added that he switched to Ultratech Cement from Ambuja Cement for the construction of his house. That suggestion was given to him by the shopkeeper. The seller got to know about the qualities of Ultratech Cement by a civil engineer who was his customer.
So what happened after Aditya Birla Group acquired Ultratech Cement? Their product was better than their competitors. With a simple tagline, their marketing team connected that product to the people, and exactly to those who understood cement better than everyone else, ‘The Civil Engineers’. That was pure brilliance. There was an advertisement which showed an engineer standing in front of the Bandra-Worli Sealink, and looking onto what can be considered as one of the outstanding achievements of India. In that advertisement, Ultratech asked the people of India to trust them and give them a chance. And we did. When my father was overseeing the construction of our house, rather on focusing on the brand, he took an educative decision by comparing the quality of the cement. Surprisingly enough, he chose Ultratech. So, it turns out that Aditya Birla Group put a lot of effort in maintaining the quality of the cement.
I still remember a time when Van Heusen was just a dream for the middle class. Before 2013, when Aditya Birla Group took over Van Heusen, nobody could ever imagine to afford one. When I used to see the merchandise of Van Heusen, the only word that came into my mind was ‘Elegant’. I never imagined that a day will come when I could afford elegance.
Looking back at all the other subsidiaries of Aditya Birla Group, doesn’t matter whether it was acquired or founded, I felt that what they did was understood what they have and then connect what they have to that common man of India who needed it. Whether it was Aditya Birla Capitals or Allen Solly or Columbian Chemicals co., they did their job with the same amount dedication. They were always sure about where they were and worked towards where they wanted to be.
Aditya Birla Group holds a special place in my life, because I am always able to connect to them. Always.
