Friday 30 January 2009

Ravi Miglani remembers...

I was a student of Prof. Bhandari from 1981 to 1983. I have since then been in a career relating to marketing and marketing research all these 25 years! Prof. Bhandari's passion for marketing was infectious - and I am still infected!

I share the views of all the others who have posted comments on your blog. Every time I am faced with a marketing/branding issue, I am bound to find some pearl of wisdom in the words of Prof. Bhandari that precisely addresses that issue. His cryptic yet profound quips are etched into my brain for life! One particular concept that keeps coming back to me is "don't just look for a gap in the market - look for a market in the gap!" When we used to look at brand mapping and those fancy maps showing how the various brands in the market were positioned - and where the white spaces were - we used to get very excited by a white space and claim there is a gap in the market: an opportunity to position a new brand in the gap. He cautioned us that when an obvious gap in the market looks to good to be true, it probably is. Not necessarily all gaps in the market are opportunities - there needs to be a market in that gap.

I will never forget that - helps me greatly when I am about to jump to conclusions in my market research presentations to my clients; I can still feel Prof. Bhandari whispering words of caution in my ears!

* Ravi Miglani was a student of LRB in 1981-83 and is currently CEO of Feedback Market Research, Egypt.

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