The morning session hosted Arjuna Ranatunga, Minister of Ports and Shipping, Sri Lanka and former Sri Lankan cricket captain, whose session was moderated by senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai. It was followed by interesting sessions by Benny Thomas, Strategy Head, Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Prakash Sangam, CEO, RedBus.
Setting the tone for the Knowledge Seminar Arjuna Ranatunga said, “when we get together, no one can get you to lose.” The session started by senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai asking him the one philosophy that made his team bring home the 1996 World Cup during a time when his country was at a threshold of civil war.
The two interlocutors spoke about everything from politics to his ‘strategic captaincy’ against the aggressive Australians and more. Ranatunga also added that he was not a big T-20 fan, because even though it was “quick and filling, it was non-healthy; like two minute noodles. Asians are not power cricketers. We are technically correct cricketers. T-20 is all about power.”
Sharing an anecdote, Ranatunga said, “When I played my first test match, I was in school. Once I got an offer and I asked the brand manager to meet my mother. After listening to him for a long time about money, fame etc, my mom said, ‘Sorry, but my son is not for sale.’ She always told me not to ever sell my talent or body for money. I was offered a million dollars after the 1996 world cup. But I asked them to go and convince my mother.”
Concluding the session, Ranatunga also shared his four ideas of how to lead a team when you hail from a country of conflict: (a) Respect your players; (b) Listen to them; (c) Let them create their own identity. Have a plan and self-confidence, and finally (d) Have a target.
Later, Benny Thomas, the strategy head, Crispin Porter + Bogusky presented some brilliant and successful case studies like Dominoes, American Express and Netflix. He started by saying, “Actions prove the brand promise, and the reactions start conversations.” His belief was that instead of putting a poster, one should get an elephant and walk him down the street to show people the circus is in town.
Speaking about the culture of changing ideas, he said, “Our jobs as strategists is to find the counter-culture for the existing culture and bring it up against the latter to create tension. That is when you garner attention to your brand.” He added on to say that advertising has to be ‘collaborative’. There can’t be any place for ego. And summing up the spirit of business in India in one word he used the word: Jugaad.
Carrying on the baton of innovation, the next speaker came with a successful business story and its journey in a diverse country like India. Prakash Sangam, CEO, RedBus, recognized by ET as one of the 40 under 40 in the list of hottest business leaders, spoke about how redBus was born because ‘in India, busses have innovations that is seen nowhere else in the world.’ He spoke about how the big hindrance in this situation was that bus ticketing was painful for a traveler in India. With redBus, he bought the entire ecosystem online.
Mr Sangam added “RedBus is not a clone of something that’s been done in the west. So we looked at unique India related pain points and gave our people solutions that weren’t seen before: Geocoding boarding points across the country, adding panoramic photos, adding travel tips, dropping points etc were a few of them.” Today if 80,000 people are booking tickets everyday using the portal then the innovation speaks for itself.
