Play
Show Navigation
Show Transcript
00:00
Play
Seek 10 seconds backwards
Seek 10 seconds forward
00:00 / 14:29
Mute
Disable Captions
Settings
Picture in picture
Fullscreen
Search in video
You can search the video captions for specific words or phrases.
Popout transcript
Hide Transcript
Skip transcript
(energetic music)
Hey, I'm Sarah Franklin,
and welcome to a very special live episode of "Connections."
We are here in Chicago at "Connections" event
and who better to bring on stage
than the ever amazing long time CMO,
of MasterCard, Raja Rajamannar.
You're ready to do this?
More than.
Let's go.
Let's do it.
(congregation clapping)
(upbeat music)
(soft music)
Hello everybody.
And most of all importantly,
welcome Raja here to "Connections."
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
We like to take the show back to people's beginnings
and you grew up in Hyderabad.
Correct.
And your mother always taught you to diversify
what you do.
That's true, yes.
Can you share a little bit about that with us?
Yeah, I see.
I had a very, interesting story in the sense that my mom
she was absolutely brilliant
and she would always tell us
that we have got so many gifts that we have been given,
don't just be narrow and focus yourself in one,
trying to realize all the gifts.
So, I was a radio DJ.
I was also a cricketer.
I was also a table tennis, chess.
And I did not at the time really realize
what the importance is of doing so many different things.
It looks almost like being scatterbrained.
(Sarah laughing)
But actually it is not.
It's fantastic.
And you start experiencing different facets
and each sport, each area,
it teaches you something different.
It builds a different aspect of you.
That's what I carried throughout my life.
So, even for example, as you know, in my career
50% of the time I have been in marketing
but the other 50% I was managing P&Ls,
and I have moved
across multiple industries, multiple geographies.
And each time I go to some new place,
it's a fantastic learning but also I bring my past learnings
to the current role and that's been invaluable to me.
So, something that I don't know that you know
that we have in common, guess what I studied in college?
Chemical editing two?
Yes.
Oh, wow.
(laughing)
So, we share, so we're both chemical engineers?
Yes.
And we're both CMOs.
Yes.
So, people ask me all the time.
Imagine they ask you chemical engineering, marketing,
how did you make that choice?
How did you make that journey, that shift?
It's such an obvious transition, right?
(congregation laughing)
I wanted to pursue further my studies
and I went to do my MBA.
And when I was doing bit of the first and the second years
I was in an internship,
and I was supposed to do a project on logistics
for a color cosmetics company in India called Lakme.
I was sitting in that, one of the small cubicles
and my boss was at the next cubicle.
And he was having conversation with the agency people,
and I was overhearing what was happening
but there was no soundproof or anything of that song.
And they were struggling to see in those days
in south India, it just be very conservative
that women of good character do not use color cosmetics.
Oh wow.
That was a social thing, right?
It's very fascinating if you see,
that's if you're putting color cosmetics on you
which means you're trying to draw attention to yourself
and a good girl or a good woman
doesn't draw attention to herself.
It was a conservative thinking.
So, they were trying to see
how you can break through the taboo
and they were debating.
I listened to it for 15 full minutes,
leaving my project alone.
I said, why are this guys struggling so much?
It's so simple to me.
So, I just took a piece of paper and I said,
heading, is it bad to look good?
That's a brilliant question.
Right, I just put that.
And then I wrote it.
I created almost like an advertisement of the spot.
And I went to them and said,
hey, do you think this will work for you?
They looked, this is brilliant.
And at that time, the chairman of the company happened
to be visiting Bangalore,
which is where they did their project.
She saw it and said this is terrific.
They released it as a campaign,
and it became a big hit hit once some awards
You won awards?
Yes.
And-
Oh my gosh!
Not me, that company won the awards.
(congregation laughing)
So, but then it gave me such a motivation.
I said, maybe I'm actually good at advertising.
And then I realized advertising is part of marketing.
So, I should become a marketing guy.
Wow, that is an incredible story.
And also I love that your values were at the center there,
helping women feel great, feeling beautiful.
You've been at MasterCard now for over decades,
how do you bring those values into MasterCard
the brand and keep it fresh and relevant?
It's a privilege to be a CMO
because you have got a lot of things at your disposal.
You got amazing team, you got resources, you got network,
you got a big company supporting you.
Most of the times what I see is the company's marketing
is reflective of the,
it's a projection of what the CMO wants
to see manifest for the company.
It is a huge responsibility.
And in my case, as I was growing up,
my grandmother was blind
and it was the duty of my sister and me
to escort her and show her throughout the home
to, even when she's sitting at the table
we had to show her where the glass was,
where the plate was, where the items were.
The things we take so much for granted.
And 2019, there was Southwest,
that was probably one of the last physical events
like this, that was happening.
I attended that and when I was coming out
and somebody in the treasury department, finance guy,
basically he came and said, Raja.
I actually wanted to ask you something.
How come we don't have a card for blind people?
I said, why did I not think about it before?
So, when I started looking at it,
I went and spoke to a few people who are blind,
and said how do you identify your card?
How do you know front of the card versus back of the card?
How do you know left versus right,
upside down versus straight?
How do you know which is your debit card, credit card,
and how do you know which is your MasterCard
versus any other card or which banks card is?
They don't.
They have positions that they try to reserve.
And many times the positions get jumbled
in their wallet or in their purse.
Wow.
And they actually show it to somebody else.
And unfortunately that somebody else
is not always a good person.
Wow.
They quickly take a picture of that and then they get,
that identity gets stolen.
We said we had fix it.
To me, the most simple thing
was saying that let's put braille on it,
because blind people, braille.
And then we discovered that that doesn't work
because less than 10% of the people who are blind
can read braille.
So, what's a solution?
It took us two years to solve it.
We came with a simple system of notches.
So, if the notches tier, right?
You're holding the card orientation the right way.
If it is a semi circle, it means debit card.
If it is a half hexagon, it's a credit card.
If it is a V, it's a gift card.
And if there is a notch, it is a MasterCard.
We launched it with a beautiful ad,
which I felt very good about.
And we got kudos, till the time I received emails
from some blind people,
they said, it appears or it seems
that you are produced a brilliant ad,
sad they could not see it.
So, I said, my God,
how can you make such fundamental stupid errors?
So, we did a completely different ad,
for the first time we used actual commentary
of what is on the screen to her voice.
So, the ad actually is meant for blind people.
She feels a half hexagon, her Credit card.
She taps a terminal and takes her latte.
Thank you.
She steps outside and strides away from us.
That's how her been approaching and connecting the dots
to business results at the end of the day.
So, the point is you project yourself
onto the work that you do.
So, the values that you have are the problems
that you had seen, you try to solve them.
So, that's how have been approaching
and connecting the dots
to business results at the end of the day,
being a force for good.
You can also be a force for growth for your company.
And it's a happy marriage between the two.
(upbeat music)
You've been just one
of the most innovative CMOs out there.
You're on every list and everybody admires you.
How do you bring that innovation in every day?
And how do you do things at a fast pace?
Thank you for your kind words, but you know, it's, I think
as the leader of the team,
you get this proportionate credit for what is happening.
In terms of innovation,
my first thing is to have the right team in place.
People who are unbound in their thinking,
and who are willing to really go beyond,
above and beyond to everything without any constraints.
When I was in Unilever,
I was sent to a workshop,
called creativity workshop in Mumbai,
and it was done by a monk from Tibet.
And one of the most unbelievable kind of training programs,
it didn't feel like a training program,
it more felt like a yoga camp.
And there was a lot of yoga in it.
There was a lot of meditation in it.
And he said, I'll sort of break some of the molds
of your thinking and constraints.
He says, do you think you can leave your body
and go out of your body?
Well, I'm a chemical engineer like you are,
you're little logical.
You say, that's all like little, no.
You don't believe that kind of nonsense.
And I went through that experience
along with my peers at the time, it was mind blowing.
It frees you from the logical way of thinking, right?
You talk about it's not logic, it's always magic.
So, as marketers, we have to try to be magical,
not logical, number one.
Number two, having the right team.
And number three, most importantly, what I find is,
in this day and age, you can create that magic
not just by yourself, but through partnerships.
Most of the best innovative ideas that I have ever received
but not from my team only,
but they were from outside
and they were tiny startups, for example.
So, I keep making it a point, to go to Israel,
to go to Ireland and Poland and India,
talk to those people and actually
have like the speed dating with entrepreneurs.
That's one of my big things every time I go,
and they come up with brilliant ideas.
And at least probably 95% of them are not relevant
to what they do.
But that 5% is so rich,
that trip pays for itself 1,000 times.
But as a CMO, the biggest thing is to evangelize
for your team and for your ideas.
Once the whole company is behind you
and with you, things happen.
So, speaking of things, happening and ideas,
you have this big idea around multisensory, sounds, smell.
Explain that to us.
If you ask the most basic question,
how do you communicate with somebody?
Normally your talk, they listen.
When you bring a second dimension,
when they're looking at you in Zoom or in-person
it adds a lot more depth and richness to that interaction.
The communication is deeper.
The point is, if you add more layers
of these senses beyond sight and sound,
in theory, the communication and the engagement
should become much better.
The vast majority of the people
are blessed with five senses.
Why is it that as marketers, we only rely on two?
So, there is one is optimization of the current sense
that you're using and adding new senses.
So, can we add the sense of taste
to marketing your product?
Can you add the sense of smell to your marketing mix?
So, we went into, for example creating
what we call as priceless tables.
So, the first priceless table
was on a billboard in Manhattan near Times Square.
And we curated a phenomenal dinner
there with celebrities and with Michelin Star chefs.
And it just got sold out in a minute.
The whole experience is uniquely associated with MasterCard
because we curated it, we branded it.
We had special dishes which were MasterCard dishes.
To many it looked like a silly idea.
We persisted, we went through it.
Now we are at a stage where we are launching restaurants.
So, what 1,000 ads could have done,
that it's exceeded by the single experience
of how up being at one of these priceless tables.
And it's been working.
And the proof of the pudding
is my budget is much smaller than any of my competitors.
And we started few years back at number 87,
in the top 100 brands,
today we are at number 10 globally.
Wow, congratulations.
Thank you.
And in the U.S. we are at number eight.
And the audio brand that we launched identity,
and the audio particularly if you look at something
like you're smart speakers and wearables,
there is not enough visual real estate
to manifest to your brand.
So, you need to utilize other media,
in this case, it is sound.
So, we launched our Sonic brand,
which for the 30 in a row has been named
number one audio brand in the world.
We started getting get music.
We launched our first song in Latin America,
it became number one of the charts in 12 countries.
Next coordinated can,
we are releasing our first music album.
It's a very different journey altogether completely.
That's what we call multi-sensory.
And the key thing is it's not obvious,
but that's the beauty of it.
If it's obvious everyone would, how they done it by now.
And if you connect the dots,
the impact is disproportionate to superior.
(upbeat music)
What you're doing along that way is also building trust.
Every trusts when it come to a Priceless restaurant
they're going to have a great experience.
How important is trust in a brand?
Trust was always important, but now it is vital.
There is a complete trust deficit all around us.
The same event as seen in Fox as seen on CNN,
like the completely opposite to each other.
All the (indistinct) all the people, they just don't know.
They can't trust TV, they can't trust brands.
Brands have been practicing deceptive marketing
forever unfortunately, they want transparency.
They want to believe you.
And if you can provide that kind of a belief and trust,
it's going to be game changing.
Well, it's been such a pleasure.
The time has just flown talking with you all today.
We've had so much fun, right?
(congregation clapping)
Yes.
Thank you.
Thank you very much folks.
So, Raja, thank you so much
for joining us here today in "Connections,"
it's been a pleasure.
Thank you for having me.
Thanks everybody.
Much appreciate, thanks you everyone.
(upbeat music)
Thanks for tuning in,
make sure to check out more episodes on Salesforce plus.
Resume AutoScroll
Questions about Salesforce+? We have answers.
What is Salesforce+?
Salesforce+ is the free streaming service for business. It’s a place to watch live events and original series that help you grow your career and company, on your own time. Salesforce+ is produced by Salesforce, so you’ll find our company’s big events like Dreamforce here — as well as new original shows and virtual learning made for your role and industry. Everything is free and unlimited.
What can I watch on Salesforce+?
You can watch all kinds of helpful, entertaining, and inspiring videos on Salesforce+. One thing our members love is our events. Whether you catch them live or on demand, Salesforce+ gives you a free front-row seat to our biggest global events, like Dreamforce, TrailblazerDX, and Connections. Our members are also big fans of our original series. These entertaining business shows star people in roles and industries just like yours, giving you fresh ideas for how to grow your company and do better work. The best part is, it’s all free.
Do I have to pay for Salesforce+?
Salesforce+ is free. Watch any Salesforce+ events or series at no cost. To enjoy unlimited free access to our entire library of videos, become a member by signing up for Salesforce+ with a Trailblazer account. You don’t need a Trailblazer account to watch original series. To join us for virtual events like Dreamforce or Connections, you need to create your own Trailblazer account (it’s free!).
What is a Trailblazer account?
Your Trailblazer account gives you access to a unified profile across the Salesforce ecosystem and allows you to manage your settings and access across multiple Salesforce sites.
How do I sign up to register for live and on-demand events, like Dreamforce?
Sign up or log in to your Trailblazer account and complete a few additional details to watch Salesforce+ events live and on demand. We recommend preregistering for all events on Salesforce+ to get your own personalized journey, reminders, recommendations, and more.
Do I need to be a Salesforce customer to watch Salesforce+?
You don’t need to be a Salesforce customer to watch Salesforce+. Our virtual learning is open to everyone.
