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MR. GAURAV KANWAL
HEAD – DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS, SOUTH
ASIA AT ADOBE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED
BATCH: 1997-2000


HIS EXPERIENCE IN MARKETING & CORPORATE JOURNEY BROUGHT FORWARD BY SHREYA BHATIA

Simple, down to earth, hardworking, well planned and a true professional is what defines Mr. Gaurav Kanwal, who has tasted success and is known to deliver his best. He leads his team by performing a consultative role and draws immense trust and confidence from his team-mates. He is a thorough marketing person which has helped him grow the business of every employer he worked with. Mr. Kanwal attributes the success he has achieved in his career to the knowledge that he has gained over the years. Mr. Kanwal has changed industries from Management consulting, Ceramics, Hospital & Health care to Computer software, this had helped him expand his knowledge base in various areas. He works within the boundries and yet he is innovative and this is what sets him, apart from the others.

An alumnus of the 2000 batch, the corporate journey for Mr. Gaurav Kanwal started with Feedback Ventures, a management consulting organization where he worked as a Marketing Executive for one year and two months. He then got an opportunity to work with Corning International where he started their retail business heading the regional sales and marketing for north and south India and worked with the company for five years. He then switched over to the hospital and healthcare industry where he worked with International SOS Services, that was providing medical and security services for most of the Fortune 500 companies, his stay there lasted for eight months. His next change was Symantec Corporation, a computer software company where he was the country Sales manager – India and SAARC for consumer products and solutions. Here he was assigned the responsibilityof setting up the distribution channel for the company in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal which he successfuly executed by making the products available in more than four fifty cities. It was only a month back that his current employer, Adobe Systems Inc hired him to head their distribution channels for South Asia.

With approximately 12 years of experience in the area of marketing, Mr. Kanwal feels that marketing is largely responsible for connecting the brand

With the customers.

He says that the world of marketing has seen a complete change and the virtualization of work place purely depends upon the type of product. FMCG, retail, and for various other sectors marketing tactics are changing. End customers play a very important role for a marketer. How a brand shows itself creates a lot of difference. Social media is also increasingly gaining importance in making people aware about various products.

Mr. Kanwal shares with us the challenges that he currently faces on a daily basis in his chosen field of marketing communication. The changing mindsets of people and their preconceived notions poses a huge hurdle to work around.A lot of brands are making a noise in the market today, but wher the customer’s face a problem is which brand to actually trust. Since peer group impacts a lot of people today, it is important to bring about that change. The second major challenge is how to target the audience. Thirdly, to find out who is creating the negative brand image and positive brand image for your product and lastly, how to engage people at each level as most of the geographies today have tier I, tier II, tier III and tier IV cities.

On probing to know more about awareness as against brand image, Mr. Gaurav Kanwal comments that in his mind, both are related to each other. Brand awareness helps create a brand image. A marketer should have the ability to position his brand in the minds of consumers.

Mr. Kanwal feels that various elements are needed to provide a brand its competitive advantage. It includes consistent interaction and creating a positive image of the brand in the customers mind. Providing superior quality products to your customer, making the products easily available in the market and providing after-sales support services for the products are some of the key requirements of building a positive brand image and sustaining it.

Commenting upon his leadership style, he believes in using a consultative approach and whenever a new person is hired, for a few months he considers it a hand holding period and helps the person to grow. Mr. Kanwal acts as an umbrella for his team. He appreciates their work in public and reprimands them in private and tries to create a healthy work environment for them.

Going back to his MBA days at IIPM, he says, that the two years were filled with fun and frolic. He used to enjoy the IIPM festivals a lot particularly the Aagman and the Amaze festivals. To the young professionals seeking to go higher up the ladder in their fields, he suggests them to be true to themselves and have confidence in their abilities.

“Whenever stuck on a crossroad, they should see what is the worst that can happen and then take the right and timely decision”, feels MR. Kanwal. When he is not working Mr. Kanwal fancies going out with friends, watching TV and traveling to new places. Cult wishes that he keeps going places and enjoys grand success at Adobe.

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