Legends of Advertising – R Sridhar

Q1 Sridhar’s Mentors

You asked me about my mentors. I have several mentors in my life. But some of them have had far more significant impact on my life than some of the others. First is my father.

The reason why I mentioning my father is that he had a huge impact on my career at a critical moment in my life. I am a B.Sc. Physics and Mathematics student. Till B.Sc. was a first class student all my life…the final exam I don’t know what went wrong. I didn’t do well.

Last day of the exam I came home and my father came back from work and he asked me how did it go. We had a very good relationship. I could be very open and frank with him. So I said bad and he was a man of precision and he said how bad is bad. So I said it’s so bad I might either get a third class or I’ll fail. So my brother was there, my sister was there, my mom was there. They were all stunned because I was so forthright with him. Nobody said anything. We had dinner. Next day, he was leaving for work. So he asked me, he said, what do you want to do now? Do you want to study further or do want to go to work? So I said, I want to go to work. So he said, well, then you start looking for a job from today. I said, who will give me a job? Because I haven’t got my results. He said, that’s the point. That the day the results are out, you’re a failed B.Sc or a third class B.Sc and nobody will give you a job. So you have to beat the results.

Lesson number one. So… you won’t believe it. I started applying for jobs. Within the first week of my applying for a job, I got a job as a management consultant as a trainee. So, two months passed, I was doing quite well. Essential thing that the job was, he would interview candidates for hiring for Valshan Nagar Group. I had to observe the candidates when he asked them the questions. I had to note down everything that this fellow said. What he said, how he looked, what was his body language, this is what I had to tell him. And he would ask some very awkward questions to this guy. Like for instance, he will say, what are your favorite books you read? So they’ll give some very high-sounding names. He said, what about porno? What kind of pornography have you read? And then the guy, that guy will squirm, right? Now after the interview was over, he will ask me, what did you think? So I will give my opinion about the candidate. He said, listen, you yourself are a funny guy, right? You have no experience. I’m not asking you about your opinion about the candidate.

I want you to tell me what did you observe in terms of what he did when I asked him awkward questions. So he said your job is to observe like a camera on the wall. I don’t want your opinions. Don’t use your brain. Just tell me this is my first lesson. What a fantastic lesson to be able to observe people without judgment. Right. And then add judgment later.

Q2 So when you’re really talking about mentors, how did you land up in advertising?

You are a legendary direct marketor in India… some great careers. In Ogilvy, you had a fantastic career. And how did you land up in an advertising job? And who were your mentors? What did you learn from them?

My first job was with Crompton Greaves in their sales division, selling lighting fittings and all that. And the job was in Pune. I had a princely salary of 450 rupees per month. And that was the first time I was going to live outside my home. My father said, excellent opportunity to learn. Most important lesson is that you have to be able to live within your means.

Don’t expect me to send money. Lesson number one. Four fifty rupees, it was really touch and go. You know, beginning of the month we used to go to five star restaurants. Second we will go to Udupi. Last week with the tea and biscuits, glucose biscuits. That’s the kind of life I led. Desperate life, it’s all right. I learnt a lot, I learnt a lot because I had to go be on the field, I dealt with dealers and then I was given the responsibility to deal with corporate customers. I was selling lighting fittings and lamps and all that kind of thing. I think about DGSND orders and government orders. see the kind of things. Huge lessons. Then after a while I said this 450 rupees is nothing. Then I saw an ad by Frank Simoes advertising asking for management trainees. So I applied and I didn’t know anything about advertising but stipend was 1500 rupees a month, that was thrice my salary. I said plus I will stay at home, know, no cost.

So I applied and I got the job at Frank Simoes. The only reason why Frank Simoes took me on is because of my BSc degree. He was having an account, Siemens account, which is full of technical stuff. And none of these people understood any of this. You know, they will know the difference between ohms and watts and amperes and all that kind of stuff. Because of physics, I knew all this. And the engineers were a strange load by themselves. Very meticulous guys, German guys. And you know, A7 or measure, A7 measurement is 297 mm by 210 mm. All Siemens leaflet where in A7 size. I took a leaflet and to a 1mm street, that guy will send me back. He wil back to the office, right? And then I put my cab fare and the accountant says, what did you do? I went to Siemens for a meeting.