Rajeev Bakshi, Former Chairman, Pepsico India & Former MD, Metro Cash and Carry
Rajeev Bakshi is a leading corporate leader and the Former Chairman of Pepsico India & Former MD of Metro Cash and Carry.
Podcast
Overview
Rajeev Bakshi is at The Brand Called You to share his experience of over 40 years of working with Food and FMCG brands like Cadbury, Metro Cash and Carry, PepsiCo, and many more. He continues to guide other major brands like Ola Foods, Umang Dairy, with his vast knowledge of Branding and marketing.
On How to Successfully Build a Brand-
“Depart from the regular,” one thing Rajeev has to say about building a successful brand is that one should not stay within the reins of regular. He advises the entrepreneurs/professionals to do something unique that makes business sense and also appeals to a set of audiences. He advises the brands to refresh every year, address a new need of the consumers, and keep on innovating and redefining according to different demographics to sustain in this market for a long time.
How is Storytelling relevant to Brands?
The branding and marketing expert delves into the importance of storytelling for a brand. He shares the key to his success lies in the successful storytelling of the brand. Spinning the story and presenting it to the audience in a way that the audience believes in that story, and catering to the needs of the consumers at the same time, will really lead to the success of a brand, opines Rajeev.
Big Brands and E-commerce Platforms
Rajeev has worked with some of the major FMCG brands in India and he shares how these brands have reacted to the new e-commerce platforms. He talks about ways in which these brands have to sustain themselves physically and business-wise at the same time adapting to the new digital platforms.
“At this stage, I think most of the brands are actually experimenting with the digital world, especially the old legacy brands. I don’t think there are many examples of brands that have actually taken the right turn and got the dependency on the digital world to a larger extent. So, I think…..the issue is obviously about changing the wheels of the car while you’re driving the car and that’s basically what is happening.”
Tune in to this episode and learn more about Branding!
Profile
October 2016 onwards
Have been appointed as Chairman Steering Committee of Umang Dairy
May 2016 onwards
Have been appointed as Non Exec Chairman of Raymond Consumer Care and also driving their operations.
April 2017 onward ,I have been advising Hero Cycles Ltd on their domestic and international strategy
February 2018-July2020, I led a diversification project for Dalmia Bharat Cements Ltd
September 2019 onwards have been Advising Ola for their Food and Mobility business
June 2010 to January 2016
Managing Director Metro Cash & Carry India. Responsible for the Cash and Carry business in India.
Feb 2008 to Dec 2009
Joint Managing Director ICICI Venture Funds: Responsible for the Real Estate practice. Also responsible for consumer oriented businesses in the Private equity practice.
Jan 2007 to Feb 2008
Senior VP Commercial Asia Pacific Pepsico: Responsible for overseeing key Commercial Strategies Asia Pacific.
June 2001 to December 2006
Chairman and CEO of Pepsico India Holdings: Responsible for Pepsico’s Beverage Business in South Asia. The business operated with over 40 bottling plants in South Asia out of which 16 were owned and operated by the company
Jan 2001 to June 2001
Managing Director Cadbury South Africa; Responsible for the company’s confectionery business in South Africa.
Dec 1997 to Jan 2001
Managing Director Cadbury India: Responsible for company’s confectionery business in South Asia
Jan 1997 to Dec 1997
Regional Marketing Director Africa/Middle East for Cadbury International: Responsible for overseeing marketing strategies for the Region.
Oct 1992 to Dec 1996
Sales & Marketing Director for Cadbury India: Responsible for the Sales & Marketing function for India.
June 1986 to October 1992
Marketing Manager + General Manager, Sales & Marketing Lakme Ltd: Responsible for the Sales & Marketing function of the company in India.
June 1979 to June 1986
Management Trainee; Area Manager and Branch Manager in Lakme Ltd in the sales function.
EDUCATION
1977 TO 1979 PGDM(MBA) from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Majored in Marketing
1973 to 1976 BA (Hons) Economics from St Stephens College Delhi
OTHERS
IIM Bangalore awarded me the “Distinguished Alumni Award “in recognition of my contributions to business and society in the year 2014
Non-Executive Director of Marico India from 2002-2020
Non-Executive Director of Cummins India since 2002
Non-Executive Director Omniactives Health Technologies Ltd from 2018 -2020
Chairman Raymond Consumer Care from July 2017
Member Advisory Board Raymonds India since 2015
Member of the Confederation of Indian Industries National Council. I also served as the Chairman of the National retail Committee for CII.
Member of the National Council of FICCI. I was also the Chairman of the Food Processing Sector Committee.
