A few years ago, in TheHindu BusinessLine ’s pullout devoted to advertising and marketing, we tried to get chief marketing officers to tell us about a great idea that failed, behind-the-scenes stories of product launches, and so on. It was a tough column to run as the CMOs tended to be circumspect.
Veteran ad man Ambi Parameswaran’s new book Sponge effortlessly achieves what we were trying to do. It is replete with delicious insider accounts of agency-client interactions, the strategy and thought behind their marketing moves, the mistakes, the successes, and the small details that teach us big important things.
After For God’s Sake which looked at how religion is used in marketing, and Nawabs, Nudes, Noodles that took us on a socio-economic journey of India through 30-second commercials, the former FCB Ulka honcho is back with a different focus. This time he trains his lens on clients and their different management styles. If you are looking for juicy tidbits on stormy sessions with temperamental clients, that’s not there. Ambi drops hints, but tends to focus on positive learnings from even these.
Each chapter in the book is a recollection of an encounter — a meeting with a client, the context, the action, and finally the wisdom that Ambi gets out of it, supplemented by nuggets from a great book. The sponge in the title is Ambi himself, soaking up insights. There are over 25 such encounters, with formidable names like Ratan Tata, K.L. Chugh, Vinita Bali, R.D. Aga, and Azim Premji among others.
Take the story of Ratan Tata and the shiny car. Ambi is flummoxed when 10 hours ahead of its launch he gets a frantic call that Mr. Tata wants to see the Indigo Marina that will be on display. On his orders the car had been electroplated but the engineers struggled to meet the exacting brief. Watching Mr. Tata inspect the car and hearing the questions he asks, Ambi’s takeaways are a leader’s ability to visualise an idea and execute it, be passionate and pay careful attention to detail.
We also see displays of courage and authenticity from CGH’s Jose Dominic, fresh thinking and change of approach from Cadbury’s Anand Kripalu, the importance of treating everyone with respect from Vinita Bali and many more leadership traits. One of the best stories is how Pradip Guha, then CEO at Zee, seeks validation for a campaign from a chaiwala . A chatty and absorbing book, what stands out is Ambi’s prodigious memory as he recounts incidents that happened early in his career with vivid detail.
(Disclaimer: Ambi Parameswaran is an Independent Director of The Hindu Group of Publications Pvt Ltd, which publishes The Hindu. )
Sponge: Leadership Lessons I Learnt From My Clients ; Ambi Parameswaran, Westland, ₹350.
