Exclusive | Godrej's Sumit Mitra speaks out 'LOUD'!

Godrej, a brand which is known to provide unique and innovative product range for their consumers has launched one more unique initiative called "LOUD, which provides an incredible opportunity to college students to live out their dreams. It is a platform for students to fulfill their unfulfilled personal dreams or quests but who have not been able to do so either due to the constraints of time or money.

Godrej Industries Limited and Associate Companies’ (GILAC) innovative initiative scouted campuses for passionate and creative individuals to bring their dreams to life.
(GILAC) is seen as a vibrant and young brand with the promise of trust and quality. On the occasion of finalizing the winners for ‘LOUD’ 2013, Adgully caught up with Sumit Mitra, Head, Group Human Resources & Corporate Services to understand more about the initiative.

At the Godrej headquarters in Vikhroli, 3rd September 2013, was a day full of enthusiasm as 16 imaginative minds shared their dreams with much passion and conviction. These dreams ranged from ‘Shooting a music video in the laps of the Himalayas to building a fully renewable energy driven school for girl child in Bundelkhand’. Some adventurous, some serene and some socially inclined, the platform saw beautiful dreams unravel in unique ways. Along with the sponsorship of upto INR 1.5 Lakhs help make their dreams a reality, the winners have also won themselves pre-placement opportunities into Gurukul 2014, the summer internship programme at GILAC.

This unique campus engagement, Godrej LOUD – ‘Live Out Ur Dream’ spanned over 9 top management institutions of India and 16 finalists were shortlisted through a rigorous process from the 733 entries. The finalists showcased their dreams to a panel of senior Godrej leaders comprising of Ms.Nisaba Godrej, Executive Director, Innovation, GCPL; Mr.Sumit Mitra, Head, Group Human Resources & Corporate Services, GILAC; Mr. Mark Kahn, Partner, Omnivore Partnersand Mr.Parmesh Shahani, Founder, Godrej India Culture Lab.

Speaking about the initiative and taking us through the journey of ‘LOUD’, Mitra said, “Godrej LOUD is an innovative campus initiative to identify passionate and creative young people who will be the next generation of Godrej leaders. We feel that encouraging dreams and partnering to bring them alive will be a win-win situation for both Godrej and these students. For the students, LOUD is not only exciting but also personally enriching and for Godrej, it is a great way to create a talent pool of passionate potential employees for years to come.” 

This is the second edition of LOUD, and according to Mitra they have received an overwhelming 733 applications from 9 leading business schools in India and the brand is all set to get bigger and more exciting in the years to come.                         

When asked about marketing and promoting the same, Mitra said that they would not be taking any specific route for this initiative. Since their target audience is quite tech-savvy hence the Godrej team chose to create a buzz around the digital space with Facebook pages, Twitter initiatives etc. Elaborating on that front, he said, “Besides being enthusiastically LOUD on the campus, we have been focusing quite heavily on the social media platform. The Godrej LOUD Facebook page has become a vibrant community with 11,000+ likes and constant conversations. The aspiring students could apply from that space too.” 

The rationale behind coming up with something like this is to build the brand’s reach and essence among the youth. He says, “We have always recruited students from management schools and colleges which again is a competitive market hence we thought of coming with something like ‘LOUD’ which can wholly and solely focus on young aspirants who want to enter the challenging industry. We keep the decision completely open to the students whether they want to join us or not.”
When asked about the brand value that this initiative is getting on the table for Godrej, Mitra stated, “Well, this initiative takes forward the fact that Godrej being a brand has always stood for something authentic. We have spent a lot of money in terms of charity, social services etc though this is not any kind of charity but is just a support to people who have unfulfilled dreams.”    

Concluding the conversation he emphatically said, “Looking at the volatility of the market, the costs may go down but recruitment will never take a back seat. Having said that, we at Godrej believe in attracting talent in terms of the brand’s core value and essence but not at the rate of cost or salary we would offer them.”
Now the challenge they face is to train the students to become apt for the brand. That entire approach is important hence Godrej believes in offering management training opportunities to the students and then keep the option open for them as to whether they would want to join them or not .

Open to all first year students of B- Schools like IIM L, IIM A, SIBM and IIFT, students talk about their dream through a video clip, audio clip, photograph, poem, short story or a power point presentation. This unique campus project, Godrej LOUD – ‘Live Out Ur dream’ spanned over 9 top management institutions of India and 16 finalists have been shortlisted through a rigorous process from the 733 entries. The finalists showcased their dreams before a prestigious panel of Godrejites. The initiative will give an opportunity to all the first year students of prominent institutions such as SIBM, XIMB, MDI, FMS, IIFT, NITIE, IIM Lucknow, Kozhikode & Ahmedabad to fulfil their dreams -  dreams which otherwise may not have seen the light of day.