It is said “Intelligence is learning from others’ experiences”. The Department of Management Sciences, University of Pune (PUMBA) believes in this very philosophy and organizes an annual event called “ACHIEVERS”. An event to honor excellence in various walks of life; it gives young aspiring managers an opportunity to learn from stalwarts who have achieved the pinnacle of success. “ACHIEVERS ‘08” held on 4th April 2008 saw Prahlad Kakkar, founder and CEO of Genesis Films Production Pvt Ltd as chief guest. The event began with the lighting of the lamp by Mr. Prahlad Kakkar and Dr. B. V. Sangvikar, HOD (PUMBA).

What do you expect from an industry veteran in the creative feild of advertising? If your answer is 'management fundas'then you have really missed Achievers '08. Mr. Prahlad Kakkar, ad guru (although he considers himself as a corruptor of innocent minds--after all that is what advertising is all about, embillishment of lies with truth), chief guest at Achievers '08 was not ribald and nostalgic (he graduated in Economics from Fergusson college, Pune) but he was straight from the heart. Reminiscing his mischievous young days in Pune which made him find his calling 'Robin'-- as he was known in those days taught us something which is not done in any B-school and that is,

"If you want to succeed you have to party hard everyday for 16 hours because you cannot work for 16 hours. Work is too mundane to be creative. You have to adopt your passion as your profession and your passion is one behind which you are willing to put at stake your career and reputation. Cyrus Brocha has made a career out of fooling people and a VJ on a music channel earns more than an IAS. You have to be creative to survive in any profession. If you think conventinally you will be highly respectable but moribund and anonymous.Unfortunately we are taught to behave normally whereas instead we should be wacky, crazy and break rules within our conventinal area of function. And to see your ideas bear fruit you have to take a risk for which you must have tremendous faith in your idea. As you move up the hierarchy conviction takes the place of logic in making decision. But confidence is not enough, you have to communicate your vision exactly as it is on your mind to convince others. Without excellent interpersonal communication skills 99% of the ideas remain still born. "

The three hour session was a sum of his experience of life and profession. Taking a hit at managers who take the guise of market research, he said that you cannot say why a campaign or product will work. All you have to do is trust your gut feeling and intuition because the truth is never disclosed in market research. Everyone has hidden aspirations which are not revealed out of fear of vilification and many other reasons.Every individual thinks his response will be read out aloud in public so the true reason why he likes or dislikes a product is never known. Hence the job of a marketing manager is that of a quasi-sociologist. The ads shown on different media are a reflection of the society and give us an insight into the minds of the consumer. And if we really want to know your customer you must see the best 100 ads of the year. At the end of the informal and candid session we were shown some of his ground breaking work with PepsiCo, Unilever, Bombay Dyeing etc. Mr Prahlad Kakkar left after leaving an indelible impression in the minds of PUMBAites. The mantra for success in business is simple and in his words it can be summed up in one line:

" The business of business is to take risks."

This blog is a combined effort of the Media Cell, Seminar Cell and all the PUMBAites who have worked hard behind the scenes to make the event a success.