“FMCG Weekend 2011” concluded at DMS, IIT Delhi with cheers all around for a weekend well spent, hearing to Industry bigwigs who are the FMCG royalty if you will. The students were heard saying that the sessions acted as eye openers, as this weekend was an exclusive show of the FMCG sector through a management perspective.
The 27th of August, Day one, morning session, saw Ms. Sudipta Sen Gupta, General Manager - Marketing at Del Monte foods presenting a case study on “Beverages category of Del Monte in India”. She gave a glimpse of the non-alcoholic beverages sector of India, and its idiosyncrasies which make it quite a challenge for any new player entering the market. Ms. Sen gupta demonstrated the foray of fruit beverages of Del Monte in India right from its design, marketing, launch and the continuous innovation that is taking place to make it to the top. The session two had Mr. Himmat singh, Marketing Manager, Nestle, speaking about “Business and Operational challenges to rural market penetration”. Mr. Singh, with his vast experience in marketing in rural areas explained the bottlenecks such as the discrete product portfolios and marketing strategies for rural and urban areas, the distribution challenges for remote villages etc. He emphasized that inspite of all this, rural penetration is important as it would be targeting a population of almost 70 percent of India and listed examples to support his claim that rural market is the place to be.
The Day 2, 28th of August had Mr. Aseem Soni, Director – Sales, Cargill foods India Ltd opting for an informal setting to speak to the students and answering a variety of questions put forth rather than lecturing on a particular topic. Students jumped at the chance to pose their queries to the Industry veteran with twenty years of experience in sales and marketing field in the FMCG sector. It was a session appreciated by one and all for the liberty it gave them in choosing what has to be spoken than listening to a premeditated speech. There were a volley of questions from the house which were answered in totality by Mr. Soni, by quoting his own experiences, especially a memorable one in particular where he had to launch, a deodorant for men from a maker of deodorants for women.
The two day event concluded with, the students’ thirst for knowledge of the FMCG sector satiated and, them waiting for another event to gain more insights into a different sector with its own selection of challenges. kend 2011” concluded at DMS, IIT Delhi with cheers all around for a weekend well spent, hearing to Industry bigwigs who are the FMCG royalty if you will. The students were heard saying that the sessions acted as eye openers, as this weekend was an exclusive show of the FMCG sector through a management perspective.
