Ashwini Gangal
Interviews

"I'm realising the perils of marketing": Manisha Lath Gupta, Aam Aadmi Party

For Manisha Lath Gupta, former head of marketing, retail liabilities and electronic banking at Axis Bank, the experience of working as a volunteer at the Aam Aadmi Party, has been a humbling one.

From being "the person everyone wanted an appointment with" to being "the person who takes appointments to meet people," she certainly has seen a different world at AAP, where she has spent around four months.

Lath Gupta now deliberately takes cabs, and walks, so that she can do "dipsticks" with cabbies and other 'aam aadmis' along the way about their wants and needs. Though her immediate role doesn't require her to, she also does a fair amount of door-to-door campaigning for the party.

Her mandate includes reaching out to people and sourcing monetary contributions from them. This includes both online as well as on-ground fund raising. She is part of AAP's administrative organisation, led by Pankaj Gupta, the party's national secretary.

Lath Gupta, who has worked across corporates such as Colgate Palmolive India and Hindustan Lever, will figure out what she wants to do in her "come back phase of life" by the year end.

"I am not sure if I want to do conventional marketing anymore," she says, "I would probably be better off working in the area of corporate social responsibility. I also like the notion of cottage industries."

We spoke to her about her experience at AAP and attitude towards marketing in the context of the on-going elections.

Edited Excerpts.

Edited Excerpts

What is your exact role at AAP?

I am part of the fundraising team. I do the online and social fundraising, which largely comprises email campaigns. We 'campaign out' to databases, and people click and donate. One of our largest sources of funds is the online channel.

I also do HNI (High Net Worth Individuals) fundraising, which involves going out and meeting people either one-on-one or in groups.

What makes you right for this role?

To be honest, anybody can do it. Someone with half my IQ and a tenth of my experience can also do it. I am under-utilised. My capabilities and competencies are far higher than this.

This was not a natural career progression for me; it's a parallel line. It's not like this is a new 'job' that must fit my skill set. I am doing this at the level of a citizen, not as a marketing professional.

Yes, I have done a lot of online marketing work, so I know how these things work. I have good online banking experience, so I know how payment gateways and other such channels work. So I can help in that area... but is it a rocket-science role? No.

People like me make good brand ambassadors because there's credibility, the ability to put my point across, and access to certain people which the average college volunteer will not have.

Your job at AAP is all about persuading people to donate. A CMO's job also involves persuading consumers... in that sense, does your background help?

Not really, because we have no marketing budgets here. If I were running an ad campaign for Aam Aadmi Party and spending Rs 500 crore for it then it would be similar.

We go and speak to people and they can ask us questions. In an advertising scenario that doesn't work.

When you go and speak to people who can also speak to you, it's not called marketing. You can say maybe it's like a 'salesman's job'. Marketing is basically a one-way message - you get messages and react to them. And based on how glamorous those messages look you make up your mind about the products. Which is unfortunately how we're selecting our prime minister.

How so?

Being on this side now, I'm realising the perils of marketing. We are actually almost 'buying' our next prime minister. With Rs 5,000 crore spent on advertising campaigns, you're reminded of these candidates every day through print and TV ads. You think, 'This guy is the best thing since sliced bread... he's going to come and solve all our problems.' But nobody knows how. It's almost like buying a packet of Kellogg's or toothpaste!

It has become a very odd political environment, where there's a lot of money being spent and through sheer power of advertising we are going to choose the destiny of the country. I find it very strange that many educated, well-off, smart, senior people get swayed by marketing campaigns.

Has 'the AAP experience' changed your views towards marketing?

No, over the past few years I have developed strong views about certain industries like food and beverages; it's an industry that needs to be far more regulated than it is. Half the time we are advertising and marketing food that is not good for anybody's consumption. Health itself has become a big industry, with pharma, hospitals and doctors sort of being part of the collusion.

Now it's getting into our agriculture industry - insecticides, pesticides, seeds. I have strong reservations about this whole nexus. I could never get myself to work in any of these industries; I am fairly clear about that. As I'd told a head hunter once, I actually don't mind working for the alcohol or cigarette industry. At least they are not pretending to be good for you.

I am a big environmentalist. I am beginning to get more and more disillusioned by packaged goods. We are putting far too much junk into this world - you buy a phone and within one year you buy another phone... is anyone pausing to think about where this phone came from, what it took to make it and where it will go? Which junk yard will it lie in and which communities will it impact?

And we are constantly being bombarded by marketing messages to use them, get rid of them fast, and replace them with better models.

We have to be very conscious of what comprises development; get very swayed... 'Oh Zara has come in, India is developing'... that's not development.

That's why I was happy working with Axis Bank - it's just a service; you're not selling junk or messing with people's health.

How has AAP changed you? What's the easiest and toughest part about being in AAP?

On a personal level, the experience has made me calmer. I get more time to myself now.

The toughest part is the emotional toll it takes on you. In the corporate world, you do your best and then you either get your market share or not... but never have the stakes been this high.

The easiest part has to do with the kind of people I work with at the party - they are just like the people I was used to hanging out with in the corporate world. The people within AAP are all well-qualified professionals from the IITs, IIMs, etc.

In fact, they are better people; they have a broader outlook. Corporates - and banks to be specific - have a very myopic view of the world. In FMCG companies, people are grounded because they go out, meet retailers/consumers; even if you're the CEO, you'll roll up your sleeves and walk in gullies to meet shopkeepers. But with banks, well, it's a bit of a virtual industry because you're dealing with a derived economy of sorts. In a bank, lunchtime conversations are about the stock market, money, etc... not about the 'real' country.

Were you guilty of this during your days at Axis Bank?

No. I never understood most of that stuff anyway. I was always more on the marketing and retail side. In fact, I was probably guilty of trying to bring the bank down to earth and trying to get them to be more connected with consumers. I really pushed for that.

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