Panel discussions through zoom windows: 4Thought, The FMCG Conclave

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This pandemic has brought us a whole set of new challenges in every possible realm, higher education being just one. Pursuing MBA from a B-School we never got a chance to live in and work with a team we never met seems, unfair but these uncertain times have prepared us to make and build with what we have and align whatever forces within access, to get what we want. Following the same, SMARK - The Marketing Club of SIMS (Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies) conducted its Annual Flagship Panel Discussion Event "4THOUGHT" - The FMCG Conclave in a web-based video-conferencing mode on 12th September.

The topic for this year’s panel discussion was the changing dynamics of the FMCG sector. We had with us a panel of four esteemed guests. On our panel, we had Mr Sanjay Singal who is the Chief Operating Officer for ITC’s Dairy & Beverages business along with Mr Saurabh Bajaj who is currently the Marketing Head - Dairy at Britannia Industries and Mr Siddharth Kapur, the Business Head - Adult Nutrition & Wellness, India-SEA at Danone. The panel discussion was moderated by a SIMS Alumnus, Shweta Baduni, the Key Beauty Accounts Manager for HUL.

The session was conducted on zoom. Since this year the team and speakers could not come under the same roof for the event, students made themselves a common virtual background to have a similar spirit. The event, 4Thought - The FMCG Conclave, began with the keynote address by the Director, Brig Dr Rajiv Divekar which was followed by the panellists sharing their thoughts with the students. 

They spoke about various trends that are emerging in the FMCG sector. This included the challenges faced by bigger players as they compete with start-ups for retaining their online share of shelf and different phases the marketeers went through since the pandemic; the initial chaos, the digital boom and the move towards developing new opportunities and services by analysing which part of the portfolio is performing the best in the market.

The panel discussion revolved around some intriguing questions by the moderator as well as the students. Our panellists discussed tweaking the message of the brand to be sensitive about the current situation, adapting to new ways of advertising like society lobby advertising and promoting products through Bollywood celebrities and influencers, all of whom are shooting from their homes. 

These are unprecedented times and hence, collaboration and innovative thinking are the only way forward. Elaborating on the same, our panellists shared their thoughts on supply chain management during the lockdown, shortage of labour, managing stock amidst the drop in demand and how they managed to keep the wheels turning through all of it in their respective organisations.

One of our speakers also addressed the importance of starting from sales. As marketing enthusiasts, all of us have the urge to have a marketing job as our first job but taking up sales helps in understanding the last line execution. Taking this path will help students appreciate how the product gets converted into cash ten years down the line. 

The session, 4Thought - The FMCG Conclave, ended on a positive note with our speakers giving a message to the students that they must remember that the year and a half of disruption caused due to COVID-19 is only a phase and this too shall pass. However, their career will be spread over a span of forty years so they must make sure that it does not create a long-term impact, which is difficult to mend.