Sidhartha Vijay Mallya
* 23 years
* B.Sc. (Hons) Business Management from Queen Mary, University of London
* Inducted in the business in 2010
Current profile
Director at Royal Challengers Bangalore, the Indian Premier League Team owned by UB Group. He leads the management including the marketing function for the team. He is likely to take over some other roles at United Spirits Ltd, the Rs 5,700 crore company owned by his father Vijay Mallya, some time soon.
Is business all about marketing?
In order to successfully sell a product, a company must market it in a certain way which both appeals to the consumer and gives them a reason to buy it. So, to that extent, I do think it is primarily marketing focused.
My take on advertising:
Advertising is the best means of promoting one’s brand and driving brand awareness amongst consumers.
Due to the ban on liquor advertising in India, we are left with the challenge of advertising and promoting our brands through different means, which is an exciting challenge.
The marketing and advertising campaigns I like the best:
* Guinness Beer UK (Diageo): Constantly delivers great ads with a consistent brand message.
* Nike: All their football ads are filled with energy and they stick in the viewer’s mind.
* Coca-Cola Christmas ads in UK: A lot of people believe that the Christmas season in the UK only starts when the Coke Christmas ads comes on TV. To be able to have such an effect on the festive season is something Coke has done really well. They have made themselves synonymous with the festive period.
Motto at work:
Listen to your head, listen to your heart but, most importantly, listen to your ba@#s. I believe that in order to succeed in what has become a very competitive world, one must be prepared to take risks and sometimes break away from the norm.