"Focus doesn't mean a brand can remain isolated from the competitive environment"

The third edition of CMO League saw Sanjay Khosla, Former President, Developing Markets, Kraft Foods (Mondelez International) enthrall with his exclusive experiences. Khosla delivered the keynote address on ‘Fewer, Bigger, Bolder: From Mindless Expansion to Focused Growth’ at the event that was held in Gurgaon on January 16, 2014.

Khosla opened his address by stating, “It’s not about how many things you do, but how you can do a few really well by keeping focus onto them.”

He went on to share his opinion about the importance of risk taking abilities for a marketer, proving the equation with his own experiences. He said, “Decision of acquiring the $20 billion Cadbury in 2010 was a very brave decision by Kraft. But it paid off. In 2006, Kraft was giving low gross margins and an investment as big as $20 million was a risk and Cadbury paid it back as it turned out to be a $16 billion brand from $5 billion in five years.”

He mentioned that the era of command and control has died. He added that he has been following the rule of ‘5 Categories, 10 Brands and 10 Markets’, which insists on focusing on few, but executing them well. Khosla cited the example of Cadbury’s ‘Shubh Aarambh’ campaign, which was all about focusing on Dairy Milk, which today is the backbone of Cadbury’s business in India. His seven step framework, which he believes worked in this case as well, included discovering what works, focusing on it and then executing perfectly at various levels with right delegates.

Khosla advised marketers not to fall in the trap of paralysis by analysis. He said, “Often marketers go through a big long PPT and end up asking ‘Karna Kya Hai’ as in what to do?” Citing the example of the 100-year old brand Oreo, which was doing not well outside the US, he mentioned that Oreo had made $200 million in 95 years and crossed $1 billion in the next five years. He noted, “Oreo’s growth was a result of execution, adapting and due to collaborative network. We kept the balance between being mindlessly global and hopelessly local. Brand’s global essence of twist lick and dunk remained the same across but execution in terms of price points packaging was more adaptive according to the demands.”

He also warned that risks and failures come together. He admitted that his mistake with Wheel was not to adapt with the situation and to keep testing the same strategy over and over again. He said, “Failures are bad, but doing nothing is sin. We can afford to maintain hit to flop ratio of 7 out of 10.” Advocating the blank cheque concept, Khosla shared his experiences of giving a blank cheque to the authorities and trust them so that become accountable and realize the responsibility. He said, “Being a marketer, if you think you know everything, it is a matter of concern. The concept of blank cheque has worked for Cadbury as it doubled its revenue in a year’s time in 2011. Shubh Aarambh was the outcome of the blank cheque concept, where you encourage and make the local talent accountable for what they do.”

Khosla concluded his session by stressing that focus does not mean a brand can remain isolated from the competitive environment and brands.