THE TRANSFORMATION

This article sums up the (fiscal) year that was for team Mustard. The ups and the downs. The highs and the lows. Contributed by Soumitro Mukherji, who, these days, loves to flaunt his new title. It reads: Chief Brand Custodian, Mustard Communications. Neat, huh?


Sounds like the title of the latest tome from Robert Ludlum? It very well could be! Let us examine it in slight more detail, especially in the last 3 months at Mustard.
But first, what does a process of transformation essentially entail? It means it is not a snapshot of change at a point in time but a gradual change over a period. What changes? The very basic building blocks – the DNA or the atomic structure of an organism undergoes a significant change so that the new organism feels different, speaks a different language & most importantly acts differently. (Any resemblance to the “walk engliss talk engliss sequence from Namak Halal is absolutely intended) At Mustard this transformation was seen in the people, in the processes followed & finally in the qualitative & quantitative results achieved.

People- The start of the last quarter marked a significant change of guard at Mustard with Santosh, Hirak, Amit & Naresh deciding to move on and their places were taken by Saurabh (web) & Prabakar (graphic design). Gaye char aur aye do? Bahut nainsafi hai yeh – the ever present Gabbar in me thought. This was the beginning of the transformation which really illustrated the adage that “when the going gets tough, the tough get going!” Prabakar quickly (within 3 days of arrival) did not let us feel Santosh’s absence & Saurabh worked manfully to fill the tremendous void left by Amit & Naresh’s departure combining both designing & programming skills. Seamlessly, Ravi rose to Saurabh’s support on the design front & of all people Priya took it upon herself to guide the missile called Prabakar. Other significant role changes were the movement of Arindam to the Ministry of Strategy & yours truly being consigned into the marketplace.

Processes- Slowly “strategy led design” actually became the order of the day, multi-tasking was no longer frowned upon by the “creative types’ with Bishi leading the way managing Metso Minerals, Priya completely taking over Asian Paints, Ravi guiding Atul’s fortunes & Arindam orchestrating our entire overseas business! Yes you heard right guys. Client pitches are made entirely basis a case study based presentation, every RFP (request for proposal for the uninitiated) is followed by a brainstorming, creative strategy is articulated, visual guidelines are drawn up & brand name & logo decisions are taken after decision parameters are drawn up & evaluation grids filled rigorously. Weekly reviews internally & monthly reviews with the CEO have also started.

Results – Collections in the last 3 months have been at almost twice the running rate compared to the previous period & salary cheques have been issued on the 1st of the month! Mustard has been instrumental in naming a new company from the D&B stable,
The Economist (London), JansenJager (Holland), Metso (France) & Metso (Singapore) have been added to the client list, RR Kabel pitch has been a success & we have reached the final stage of the Reliance Digital multi agency pitch.

Maybe its time you looked at Mustard with different eyes & spread the good word around. Archana Sharda (Metso) did as did Mouli (D&B) – ask them for their post recommendation experience. But of course there has to be a party pooper, in this case Robert Frost who wrote “the woods are lonely, dark & deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep”… As I look afresh at these iconic lines I am struck by the thought of how truly reflective they are at this juncture of Mustard’s Pilgrims’ Progress…