Dear Reader,

With the mercury constantly on the rise, the summer is well upon us. In keeping with the thermometer movements, we have a real hot sizzling issue of Strategic Marketing for you.

One only hopes that the rise in the temperature will be commensurate with the pace of business growth. Till then, our cover story touches a chord that we in the marketing and media arena face everyday. Mahesh Murthy’s insightful views bring back to mind the old aphorism “Don’t work hard, work smart”.

With retailing in India emerging as a vibrant sector with exponential growth potential, Arvind Singhal’s article focuses on the appropriate positioning in the organised retail sector that can deliver maximum footfalls. This issue also takes a long hard look at culture in its entirety; right from the need to re-invent brands based on the forces of culture to Indianizing of western brands to corporate culture and how it helps in managing and cultivating talent.

Summer brings along with it the summer hols, smiles and cheer to all the kids around. With kids heavily influencing purchase decisions, Sampa Chakrabarty Lahiri reveals that advertisers who target kids are at an advantage. Lastly, as far as the route to a man’s heart is concerned, Geeta Rao lays down some innovative selling strategies for the evolved Indian male.

All in all, a truly sizzling issue!! Happy reading!!!

Bhaskar Das
bhaskar.das@timesgroup.com .