Guest lecture by Mr. Rakesh Vanarse

On the 8th of January, 2014, SIMSREE welcomed back to campus Mr. Rakesh Vanarse, an alumnus of the 1995 batch, for a guest lecture organized by the Alumni Committee. Mr. Vanarse is the Founder and CEO at Brandcepts Advertising & Communications Management Consulting, and had worked with various advertising agencies before starting his own company.  He interacted with the batch of 2013-15, talking about ‘Brand Personality and how to build brand image’.

Mr. Vanarse started the interaction by talking about the ‘Mission’ and ‘Vision’ of organizations and how they revolve around the image that the company tries to create for itself. He also showed how the concepts studied in business school translate into the real life ideals of an organization, with examples of brands like Tata Sons and RIL.

He also spoke about how every company has different motives and target audiences, and uses different marketing activities to reach out to the desired segment of people. Giving examples of the differing price points of cars from different manufacturers, he demonstrated how every manufacturer builds cars that appeal to different audiences, and thus emphasized the importance of understanding what a brand is trying to achieve in the short term so it can build an image in the long term.

Mr. Vanarse also showed the batch videos of an advertisement series in which progressive messaging was used to put across a powerful message about the image of the brand and create an identity for the brand in the minds of the target audience. He explained how the brand had clearly identified the age and income group that it wanted to appeal to, and accordingly based its advertising and promotional material on the psychological characteristics of the desired segment so that the audience could relate to it.

The batch immensely enjoyed the practical applications of advertising and brand building demonstrated by Mr. Vanarse, and came up with various questions regarding the behaviour of consumers and their response to various marketing techniques. Needless to say, Mr. Vanarse solved all doubts with aplomb, enriching the batch with his vast knowledge and experience in marketing.