S1E10 The Hunt for a Marketing Midas: “Day 9 - Asher”
Divya K
As soon as Mr. Mogambo kept the phone down after talking to his old acquaintance who had earlier worked at ‘Onion Rings’, he gave a sigh of relief. The Reference Check about Robinhood turned out to be highly positive.
It was now easier for him to conclude that Robin was definitely a shortlist for the position of Marketing Head at Bitter Chocolates Inc.
And a few minutes later, he got an Expertite Interview Schedule notifying him that Asher was coming to meet him the next day at 10 AM as per his discussion with Hina from Autumn Leaf.
Mr. Mogambo was really happy that day.
And he woke up bright and cheerful the next morning. He even had a little chit chat with Mrs. Mogambo, then reached his office.
“Sir, you are looking really happy today…” Ramlal said sheepishly.
“Nothing much Ramlal” Mr. Mogambo winked and went to his room.
He logged into their recruiting software Expertite and went through Asher’s resume again. It was perfectly set, with his experience, achievements and awards neatly mentioned (Asher had won the award for the best Social Media Marketing campaign last year). There was a link to his portfolio in which there were YouTube videos of his marketing campaigns, interviews with media personalities, launch programs, team celebrations (which showed how well adored and respected he was) etc. Mr. Mogambo really appreciated his methodical approach.
Ramlal called to inform Asher had reached; shortly thereafter, he heard a knock on the door and Asher comes in with Mr. Mogambo’s permission.
Tall and well-built with a navy blue jacket, Asher was definitely handsome.
“Good morning, Mr. Mogambo. I am Asher Hussain.”
“Good morning, Asher. Glad to meet you. Please have a seat.”
“Thank you Mr. Mogambo.” Asher replied with a smile.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Mr. Mogambo asked, “Okay, Asher, please tell me something about your education and work experience.”
“As my father was in the Indian Army, I completed most of my education from various Army Public Schools pan India. After that, I did my graduation in Engineering from [blanked out] and did my MBA in Marketing from [blanked out]. Then I worked with some big and mid-sized firms in their marketing and management teams, until I found my dream job as the Head of Marketing at ‘Carla Foods and Drinks’ four years ago.”
“Carla Foods and Drinks are very famous. We really admire their marketing strategies and campaign ideas. So, am I talking to the great mind behind all that?”
“You are embarrassing me Mr. Mogambo.” Asher said blushing. “I believe that behind any success lies the dedication and hard work of each and every member of the team.”
“I agree with you.” Mr. Mogambo said, nodding approvingly and thinking “Asher thinks that a true leader never forgets to share the credits of success with the entire team. Impressive.”
“Asher, tell me about a challenge that you handled well in your work.”
“There was this instance when my team wanted to work on a campaign which needed a lot of money as it involved a celebrity endorsement. But my opinion was to use a common man with a story that will make an emotional connect with our target audience consisting of the normal middle class but aspiring Indian. This would have also cut our production cost drastically and we could utilize the savings there for a broader 360 degree media plan, combining TV, Radio, Print and Social. It was a challenge convincing the team at first because celebrity endorsements does work in our industry but once they got convinced, our campaign took off and it was very successful too.”
“If you have to look back, do you think that doing the celebrity campaign would have been a better idea, given that these celebs have a great number of followers and admirers?”
“Celebrity endorsement is a quick way to gain visibility through brand endorsement but not always sustainable and sometimes risky. Besides, people connect more with people if a campaign is well designed,” Asher said with a humble smile. “And so I would have done what I did, even today.”
“I get you.” Mr. Mogambo smiled.
“Since you are so successful at Carla Foods, why would you want to leave now?”
“Well, challenges inspire me to do my best. It was very challenging when I had joined Carla Foods four years ago with Millennials giving way to Generation Z and Multinational food companies entering the Indian market. Today, we have close to 25% market share which is more than what we had envisioned in our annual plan. Besides, my succession plan is in place and backing her is a great team who have a clear perspective on what needs to get done. So I believe I would be leaving Carla Foods at the right time to seek new challenges”.
“Why Bitter Chocolates?” Mr. Mogambo asked.
“My wife loves them!” came the spontaneous reply, and then “When Hina from Autumn Leaf called me for this position, she also shared your current state of affairs. The challenges and opportunities she described were in line with what I wanted to take up. So I did a little research on Bitter Chocolates, realized that there was so much innovation in the Product and Category here that if Marketing could help them, Bitter would definitely be in better shape. That’s when I made up my mind to meet you.”
Then Mr. Mogambo asked Asher some standard marketing and management questions. Asher came out with flying colors.
“Fine, Asher. It was a great experience talking to you. I must admit that I learnt some new things.” Mr. Mogambo smiled.
“I’m pleased Mr. Mogambo. I hope if everything goes well, I might get to work with you and learn more from you also.” Asher said, smiling and shaking hands with Mogambo.
Exchanging formal greetings, he went away.
Mr. Mogambo was very happy to have found another candidate who had the perfectly right attitude and proven knowledge required for their critical leadership position.
He opened Expertite and qualified both Robinhood and Asher. Hina saw the updated status at her end and was very happy to have met a demanding client’s requirement. She called both the candidates and informed them that she will come back on their meetings with the Founder and MD Mr. Gabbar Singh.
Don’t forget to check our final episode of this season. Three candidates are required, two are already through. Who would be the lucky third one?
About the author: Divya K
In case you missed the last 9 episodes, here they are: