The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry along with The Telegraph, presented by SBI and Sasya, organized a Think Lecture on 11th May 2017 at The Bengal Lounge, Chamber Premises on “Building Brands with an Indian Heart” with Mr. Bharat Puri, Managing Director, Pidilite Industries as the Speaker.

Mr. Sutanu Ghosh, President, The Bengal Chamber delivered the Welcome Address. The Chairperson of the Marketing and Branding Committee, Mr. Anoop Hoon introduced Mr. Puri to the audience where he fondly recollected the dynamism with which he started his career and later on went on to build iconic brands with Cadbury and Pidilite that are case studies in themselves.

Mr. Bharat Puri, in the next one hour of his presentation, took the audience through the journeys of the two brands, Cadbury and Pidilite, which have created a niche for them through effective communication packaged with innovative concepts. He mentioned that consumer insights are crucial in finding the void between the requirement and the availability and successful brands are those which create categories to fill up the void. This is aided by change in communication, product innovation and effective pricing strategy; the result of the combined efforts is reflected through the increasing revenue of the organization.

Mr. Puri went ahead by suggesting that two major deliberations that can help get into the depth of branding are,

a. Whom we are talking to as a brand, and

b. What changes are we seeking in the consumer behaviour.

Mr. Puri gave the example of Cadbury, which has traversed from being an occasional consumption item by the elite to an occasional consumption edible item for the masses and now also has made a place in the traditional Indian sweet market, with a major share in the gifting-item category in Indian festivals like Diwali and Bhaidooj. He also cited the similar example of Pidlite which has become synonymous with the adhesive category and is being used in various parlances internationally to describe strong bonding. It has also become a part of the Indian popular culture.

The session, which had kept the audience enthralled for an hour, concluded with Mr. Rachit Agarwal, Director, Simaaya presenting a memento to Mr. Puri on behalf of The Bengal Chamber and Mr. Indrajit Sen, Senior Vice President, The Bengal Chamber delivering the formal Vote of Thanks to Mr. Puri, the audience and the sponsors.