It was during my final Marketing Communications presentation that I learnt probably one of the most important lessons in my career.
My presentations, especially when it came to Marketing & Planning, were regarded as good and I was looking forward to killing it at this one too. I had prepared a whole nice deck, helped others in the process too.
So my product and brand of choice was Luxury watches. I was fully prepped with all the lines of communication and modes of execution to work my way through the presentation.
During the presentation where everything was going fine, or so I felt, I was interrupted by Subbu Sir (Subramaniam Krishnan, marketing consultant) and I was asked a question. “Does the brand you represent manufacture quartz watches or mechanical ones.
“They make quartz watches,” I answered, and at that moment I could see it in the jury’s eyes that things were about to go down for me.
Though it did not go as bad as I thought it would, purely because Subbu Sir explained where and how I goofed up, it was bad enough. To give you guys an idea, Quartz watches are cheaper than the luxury ones, which are Mechanical. I did not know that part of the story simply because I did not study the product category and the brand as well as I should have.
From that day onwards, I have never half-assed my way out of research. Who knew my worst presentation would teach me my biggest lesson!
Today I work as an Account Manager in a marketing firm; right from on-ground market research to execution of marketing activities, everything is handled by me. Before making any plans of execution, I see to it that I know what I am dealing with, what audience and what market my communication has to appeal to.
