Gaurav Kumar, MICA

t was a sunny day in bangalore when I was walking down MG road with one of my college friends(a girl but not my girlfriend, actually I had tried but failed).. Anyway, back into flash back.. So, I was at my best to impress the dusky damsel walking by my side, ironically looking at other hunks on the street..and here comes the embarassment, a group of black Tshirt clad ladies with pamplets in their hands and offering a test drive on Pulsar "Definately Male" (aaahh... din know if it was a coincidence or an alternative as it was not working with the lady). I hesitated and gave the excuse ...Sorry, we have some urgent work and would give a try next time..the girls insisted and surprisingly "My lady" also joined them in pushing me forward to have a test drive. 10 minutes of counter discussion and here I washed my all the hopes down the drain to impress "My lady" with a blank face and disappointing confession "Actually I do not know how to ride bikes"... Oh my god! exclaimed the lady and looked at pulsar's "Definately male?" with a question mark.... I knew that was one of the marketing stunts of Bajaj and I was a victim of the "guirrila marketing".

After a decent period of time, when I became more erudite in terms of understanding management terms , I had another conflict, why Guerrila and marketing together?, isnt marketing enough alone to say it all?.... So the question is how to define marketing? how to justify Guerrila being associated with it? I would ask pardon from Mr Kotler on that but can not inhibit to express my perception about the subject which subjected me to a state of continuous introspection and ethical conflicts. Marketing is all about creating or understanding the needs of consumers(Such a kind hearted people the marketers are..grrrhhhhh!) and it is the process of communicating and delivering in a way as to benefit customers as well as the stakeholders(And in what proportion?)... now you add "unwanted" in all the verbs used in the pedantic definition and you get what "guerrilla marketing" is... Pulsar 200cc is the best bike for me when I do not even know how to drive a 100 cc bike, Plasama TV is the best deal in the market for me ... when I am still going on with my philips radio and vividh bharti on that...what kind of intrusion is this?

Over the years, I have developed a mindset and I am very strict to it... "you are always in market and you have to sell always else you can not succeed"... and if you do not follow this and fail...be a guerilla!