Harish Bijoor - I became a coffee man by accident
It is a tribute to this man that the moment we put something like that out, most professionals know who we are talking about. And the best part of it all is that it is sheer accident that led him to become one. And in continuing with our tradition to put people who have excelled in their own way as a professional or as an entrepreneur, this issue we are profiling a dynamic professional who is identified with coffee and is a hardcore Bangalorean. Currently heading operations for one of India’s growing telecom companies, he has a long stint at FMCG blue chips to his credit. He teaches in many institutions (IIM including), travels a lot, has a regular branding column in a leading publication, is writing two books currently and plans to retire by 40 (not a day more). He is a popular and identifiable face for Bangaloreans and has hundreds of marketing innovations to his credit. Adding aroma, freshness and excitement to this issue is our First Person who is none other than Harish Bijoor. In this long chat, he talks to us about his seven-year itch, love for Bangalore, what makes him click and more…
Tell us how did the foray into coffee/marketing happen?
It was sheer accident. My original career plan was to join the IAS, serve there for 18-20 years, gain knowledge of how the system works and then become a politician. But fate had other things in mind. My rank in UPSC was 865, which made me eligible for the Indian Auditing and Accounts Service, and I was not kicked about working there. Out of sheer boredom and bravado I participated in the campus recruitment of Brooke Bond Lipton and got through. Began as a management trainee in the sales function and in four years rose to become Product Manager for Coffee an achievement in itself. I spent another three years as Senior Product Manager in charge of Tea brands after that. After seven years of moving across various companies within the Levers fold and growing fast, the seven year itch happened. The environment at Brooke Bond Lipton though good was very structured and non-entreprenuerial. And I was keen to be in Bangalore. That is when Tata Tea happened.
Tata Tea had just acquired a company, which was into coffee and needed someone to set up the entire operation. It took me over eight months to decide because all said and done I was doing well in Levers and switching to an unfamiliar organization in the startup mode would have been extremely risky. I took the plunge and joined them as General Manager- Marketing in 1993 to startup the operation with the company they had acquired. Here is where the serious stint with coffee began as we started launching one brand after another successfully.
How was the stint?
Very exciting. Right from the word go it was a major challenge, as we had to launch and popularize the brands with a budget that was miniscule compared to the competition’s. So, innovation or using creativity to get the maximum bang for each buck spent by us became important and we pulled it off. Take the launch of Coorg Pure Coffee. We chose Coimbatore as the center for launch and instead of the usual press and TV advertising route, which would have cost a lot, we focused on a creative idea. We printed Tata Coorg Pure Coffee on three million eggs and put it back in the normal egg retail channel. The eggs became extremely popular and a lot of exitement got created in families which bought these eggs. People got so curious that on one visit to a house I saw two children and their mother watching the egg boil patiently. The retailers were happy as it created consumer excitement. We also got covered and thus with minimal budgets we were able to reach a large audience and make them aware of the new coffee brand.
The second time was when we were launching Tata Coffee in Delhi. We had printed tons of banners to be put out in Carolbagh and to my shock found that Carolbagh was a clutter of banners from many brands and companies. It was too late then and we could not do anything else. We then got the team to hang all our banners upside down and that attracted lot of attention.
Or when we launched Tata Kaapi, we did something unique after thoroughly understanding South Indian marriages and realizing the branding opportunity presented by Papads served. We started supplying the marriages with papads having Tata Kaapi printed on it alongwith the bride and bridegroom’s names. You should see the impact created. For people who were till then used to the routine of marriage and the menu, suddenly there was something to talk about.
However the biggest and the most challenging of all our innovations has been the creation of World’s largest coffee mug in Bangalore. Before I go into that let me tell you that while being creative or different is easily said, doing it is not so. You will have to wear your hearts on the sleeve get onto the ground and struggle to get it right. There is no other way you can do it.
Coming to our biggest and most enduring innovation, The World’s Largest Coffee Mug, the first genesis of the idea occurred to me in a dream though it was not really refined. We then tied it up with 50 years of Indian independence and the mug became our way of raising a cheer to the occasion. We carried it as an extremely secret project with only a few people in the company aware of it. We would have invested over 20 lakhs in creating the coffee mug which today still remains the largest coffee mug despite many others attempting including Nescafe. Coming back to the mug, we unveiled the mug to a cheering crowd of thousands and the resultant media coverage would easily run into few crores. That is what I call bang for the buck.
Till 2001, when I left the company, we had close to 106 innovations like that to our credit. That is a track record to beat by any benchmark.
What is the secret behind such consistent record of innovation?
First and foremost the belief in being different. Second believing in only big challenges. Third is research. We did lots of research trying to understand consumers and their behaviour. However I must clarify here that I never treat market research as the ‘be all and end all’ of marketing. There is a certain place for it, and beyond it, it is upto one’s instinct and intellect to shape the plan of action. Finally like I said before, once you decide to do something get behind the scene yourself and immerse yourself in doing it. You have to lead from the front. Otherwise these innovations do not work.
What about your seven year itch?
Whereever I worked, I have always felt the urge to do something totally new and different every seven years. It happened when I was with Brooke Bond Lipton and it happened again in 2001. After building the brands from scratch I felt I was ready for another new challenge. Telecom was coming up, the potential seemed immense and when the Zip Telecom offer came along I just took it up. Beyond the seven year itch there is another characteristic I would like to talk about. I do not believe in resting on your past laurels. I believe in saying to myself “I have done nothing and just moving on”. That way you are able to constantly reinvent yourself for new challenges. That is always what got me excited.
How did you get this “Coffee” tag and was it a conscious attempt?
Like I said it was all sheer accident and if I were to seriously answer the question, there was no conscious attempt to position myself as a Coffee person. It happened. First of all including the years at Brooke Bond Lipton I had spent over 8 years in building various coffee brands. Besides, during my stint at Tata I realized that running a business like coffee without knowing how it works end to end is not going to work. I spent enormous time after that in studying the way coffee is grown, harvested, roasted, grinded and packed. I really became an expert on the coffee segment and its various facets. Then I was asked to give a presentation on the market and trends in a few international conferences and gradually came to be identified with coffee. Even today I can safely say that I am an authority on Coffee.
What has been your single biggest achievement?
My biggest achievement has been striking a chord with every employee or professional who has worked with me. I have always respected people who worked with me and got it back in equal measure. The learning happened during my initial years at BBL. In my first posting all my subordinates were 20 years or more elder to me and I realized that the only way I could gain respect was by showing I knew what worked and that I was different. I did so by working with them closely and doing tasks that I would expect them to do.
This has been the reason how I have been able to handle union problems. Few basics I learnt alongside has been the need to be transparent, being honest and avoiding subterfuge and finally emoting with people.
What has been the most challenging moment of your career?
The strike that happened during my stint at Chennai one of the biggest territories BBL had. We had just completed two continuous quarters winning the achievement award and were going on smoothly for the third consecutive one, till the strike happened. I did all I could do to get the strike called off at the earliest, but could not do it. By the time it was called off we had just 5 days left to beat the target and could not thus win the award. I would call that the most challenging moment in my professional career.
Who is your role model or inspiration?
Mahatma Gandhi. I think he is a complete icon. He believed in what he did and had the right agenda like organic farming. We went back on that vision. Look what has happened. Today there is a premium in the world market for anything organic and we have completely moved away from it.
What are your future plans?
I have a couple of books already underway and the plan is to write all the books that I have in my head. Become a speaker, teacher and writer. I am not sure about teaching but lecturing is quite compensating. Quizzing is another option. Like I said these are all what I am going to do once I retire at 40. There is no point in working till you are 58 and then realizing that you missed something. One has to have some kind of work-life balance.
Your advice to professionals?
Every 20 years or so completely change yourself. And never ever rely or gloat on your past. Be honest and transparent. Playing games might work but at some point you will get exposed. I call all this Viagra for work. Professional career is then challenging and exciting.
Issue BG12 Mar02
