Prashant Parameswaran – Marketing Professional with 20+ years of experience with Nielsen, Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills, Coca Cola, and L’Oreal.
On Nov 20, 2020, MYRA hosted a virtual talk by Prashant Parameswaran – a leading expert on corporate marketing.
Students, faculty, and the general public attended this entertaining session – and gained valuable insights into the
future of marketing.
To start, Prashant discussed how consumer behavior has drastically changed over the past two decades, and how modern technology, globalization, digital payments, and shifting cultural norms played a role in this.
He stated that in order for marketing to evolve and adapt to this new consumer environment, marketers should think deeply about 9 key themes, which broadly fall into 3 categories:
WHAT:
1. Connect vs Create
2. Design Solutions vs Manufacture Products
3. Solve Problems vs Offer a Product
HOW:
4. Influence vs Inform
5. Context vs Content
6. Consumer Obsession vs Consumer Focus
WHY:
7. Lateral Thinking vs Linear Thinking
8. Present Future vs Future Back
9. Purpose vs Product
Prashant discussed all these themes in detail and showed examples of innovative and successful video/print ad campaigns from major local and international brands including, Tanishq, Sleepwell Mattresses, ID idly batter, Oreo Cookies, SaReGaMa Caravaan, Air New Zealand, Volkswagen, Vodaphone, Scandinavian Airlines, Blendtek, Phillip Morris tobacco, and Aircel laundry detergent.
Throughout the talk, he backed up his views by citing the latest academic research from scholars like Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper, as well as consumer research from Nielson and Harvest Media.
To close his talk, he left students with some words of wisdom: “Marketing takes a day to learn, but takes a lifetime to master. Practice!”
This webinar was part of an ongoing speaker series, organized by the MYRA Career Services Office. The goal is to regularly provide expert industry insights to MYRA students, faculty, and the citizens of Mysore.
To register for the next webinar, please visit myra.ac.in/webinar.
