Guest bio
- Managing Director of Pidilite Industries, the maker of Fevicol, since 2015, building what he calls a proneurial culture.
- An IIM Ahmedabad MBA who began at Asian Paints, where he became the youngest head of sales and marketing.
- Rose from managing director of Cadbury in 2002 to Global President for chocolate, gum and candy at Mondelez International.
Bharat Puri has been Managing Director of Pidilite Industries, the maker of Fevicol and a leading manufacturer of adhesives, pigments, waterproofing solutions and other chemicals, since 2015. An MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, he began his career at Asian Paints, where he became the youngest head of sales and marketing, then moved to Cadbury, becoming managing director in 2002 and going on to regional and global roles that culminated as Global President for chocolate, gum and candy at Mondelez International. His brand campaigns for Asian Paints, Cadbury and Fevicol are the stuff of legend, and at Cadbury he managed the biggest public-relations crisis the company ever faced. At Pidilite he is building what he calls a proneurial culture. He sits on several boards as an independent director, and is a keen sports fan and an avid reader.
Show notes
Welcome to another episode of Money Majlis focused on consumer marketing. Suvo Sarkar is in conversation with a doyen of the Indian business world, Bharat Puri, managing director of Pidilite Industries which owns the famous adhesive brand Fevicol, a case study on branding in many business schools.
Why does a low-involvement brand like Fevicol dominate the Indian consumer psyche over decades with its tongue in cheek irreverence? How does a company and ad agency build a lifetime bond of trust and challenge? And will performance marketing take over from brand advertising in the near future?
In an entertaining and inspiring discussion with Sarkar, the veteran Puri recounts how Asian Paints trained him to take calculated risks, how he managed the biggest PR crisis that Cadbury’s ever faced and how he is creating a “proneurial” culture at Pidilite.
He explains how he starts and ends everything with the customer, how brands will become more relevant in an era of digital and AI and why treating marketing like an expense is the beginning of the end.
Puri says leadership entails building a team that complements you, treating people well and doing the right thing every day. His serious advice to leaders: Don’t take life too seriously!
Comments
Loading comments…