Planning for the Best: Asking the Right Questions with Puneet Bajaj

Puneet Bajaj is VP of strategy at FCB Kinnect. He has worked with 100+ brands across the spectrum including the likes of HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, Amazon, TVS Motors, P&G, Intel, Disney+ Hotstar, Decathlon, Go First, Dream 11, Star India & Reliance Digital. Puneet started out in a digital-first industry, having spent his formative years honing his understanding of various branches that move businesses forward - media, analytics, SEO, listening, design and creative and found his home in strategy.

LBB> What do you think is the difference between a strategist and a planner? Is there one? 

Puneet> When I started out in the industry, it was explained to me that planning involves setting the fundamentals of the brand while strategy comprises the action points. The former stay intact while the latter evolve with time. While this perspective reflected in how brands dealt with mainline and digital agencies, I don’t really like to differentiate b/w the two especially if you are working in the digital scape. Knowing what it takes to build a brand is just theory if you don’t have the actionable steps to bring it to life, and acting without knowing the north star is just shooting in the dark. 

LBB> And which description do you think suits the way you work best?

Puneet> As mentioned above, I don’t think of it as an either-or thing. It’s more like horses for courses. There are some businesses we work with where the need is doing a viability study to determine the product-market fit. Then there are cases where the brand fundamentals need to be addressed before getting into the actionables. There are cases where the foundation is in place, but the strategic steps in light of the changing circumstances need to be addressed. And then, at times it’s about doing, say an audit of the brand and seeing where it can improve – these are easy fixes and don’t always need a deep dive, relatively speaking. So there are multiple hats to be worn, you need to know which one to don when. If you have a defining term for such a role, please share with me also. 

LBB> We’re used to hearing about the best creative advertising campaigns, but what’s your favourite historic campaign from a strategic perspective? One that you feel demonstrates great strategy?

Puneet> I really like the campaign done by Porsche, in the early 90s. (Of course I came to know of it much later, I wasn’t really studying campaigns as a one year old). The brand wasn’t selling as well it had expected in the US and they attributed it to lack of Americans’ understanding and appreciation of German engineering. Research however showed that it wasn’t lack of knowledge or money but the perception that those driving a Porsche were seen as assholes by others. So the creative brief was to show potential buyers that Porsche drivers aren’t assholes, and simultaneously, make current owners feel good about owning one. One of the films in the resultant campaign showed a guy in a normal hatchback trying to race a Porsche and the Porsche guy just lets him speed past him, while sporting a friendly grin, showing that they’re not the pricks they were made out to be.  

LBB> When you’re turning a business brief into something that can inform an inspiring creative campaign, do you find the most useful resource to draw on?

Puneet> As much as tools help with insight mining, the most useful resource I rely on is talking to people who are the actual TG. They might just be walking you through a day in their life, or their thought process before buying or what content they remember on reels – but if you are using your observational skills to good use, most true insights stem from there only. This holds true for the larger culture as well, if you are tuned in, then you can use the other tools at your disposal to extrapolate the findings to show scalability. 

For instance, in this campaign for Google Cloud, the creative brief we shared with the team was that through decades, Indians have been told you can’t do certain things because you don’t have the resources, but there’s this Indian spirit of 'why can’t we' that leads them to find solutions and prove the naysayers wrong. Why can’t we be food sufficient? Why can’t we be a nuclear power? Why can’t we launch a mission to Mars? Why can’t we have a social network in our languages? My creative partners took this and elevated it into a positive expression of 'Hum Banayenge' to show how the featured clients had a similar outlook when creating solutions for tomorrow.

This Add An Ad 2.0 campaign for HDFC Bank, on the other hand, was based on the insight how people have a certain voyeuristic tendency while watching vlogs, visually scanning the things in the background to see how their favourite creators lived. 

LBB> What part of your job/the strategic process do you enjoy the most?

Puneet> Problem solving. If I’m able to ask the right questions which lead to the actual problem, it’s a good day at work. What to do comes later. Strategy is about asking the right questions, and not jumping to answers. For one of our clients, the brief was simple – how do I sell more air conditioners this summer season? My team went to stores across the city to speak to the actual customers who had come in wanting to buy an ac. It’s from those conversations that we realised what the actual problem was. Basis which we designed the strategy. Can’t delve more details for now as it’s a work in progress. 

LBB> What strategic maxims, frameworks or principles do you find yourself going back to over and over again? Why are they so useful? 

Puneet> My go to maxim is - People think they make rational decisions. But they’re almost always emotional ones.

Be it the phone we use, t-shirt we wear or the news app we follow. There’s always an emotional factor that gives us the nudge to act which we then justify with logic. Knowing this and being able to tap into this enables you to crack the right message. This of course is easier said than done. 

Funnily enough, sometimes your own biases as a planner might be preventing you from getting to the core issue. Getting over that is a skill that’s honed over time.

With respect to models & frameworks, there’s no one size fits all. I look at them as tools that help in structuring the thoughts. If they don’t bring clarity, it’s just theory packaged as a fancy looking slide. So I equip myself with multiple such frameworks which I deploy depending on the ask. Some of these are quite straightforward yet very helpful. For instance, the Get/Who/To/By framework is great for distilling all your research and insights into a creative brief. 

I also take time out to explore new ones and sometimes make my own frameworks that can be used at scale. What’s the success rate of these you ask? Next question please. 

LBB> What sort of creatives do you like to work with? As a strategist, what do you want them to do with the information you give them?

Puneet> Inquisitive and informed ones - Those that ask questions I didn’t think about and have a good understanding of cultural and behavioural nuances. I’d like them to creatively elevate the insights shared with them and I enjoy when creatives tell me if a space feels juicy but they are facing certain barriers – those are really interesting conversations to have. 90% of the times, it’s not about a right or wrong insight, but how sharp it is and that can come from anyone. I especially like to jam with my creative partners when I have multiple pointers but not a clear insight- that’s when their perspectives sometimes help us come closer to an insight. 

LBB> There’s a negative stereotype about strategy being used to validate creative ideas, rather than as a resource to inform them and make sure they’re effective. How do you make sure the agency gets this the right way round?

Puneet> I feel sometimes there’s an over obsession with data at the cost of its effective implication. Which is why you often hear phrases like “I have an idea, need strategy to make a case for it.” While that might be fine on some occasions, this would be taken care of if strategists are involved right in the beginning or at a WIP stage – to determine idea fitment and strengthen it. Both sides need to work towards this and from my experience, whenever I’ve had such conversations with my creative counterpart early on in the journey, it has always bore fruit. 

LBB> What have you found to be the most important consideration in recruiting and nurturing strategic talent? 

Puneet> A keen interest in solving problems, the litmus test of which is obsession with wanting to ask the right questions. Jumping to answers without knowing what you are trying to solve is easier but never helpful. 

LBB> In recent years it seems like effectiveness awards have grown in prestige and agencies have paid more attention to them. How do you think this has impacted on how strategists work and the way they are perceived?

Puneet> It’s perhaps added an incentive for strategists to be much more sharper with the direction they take because if they are able to identify the problem correctly, diagnose it well and have results to show for it, there are laurels up for grabs. That said, awards should be seen at most, as a good motivator, and not the driver of work. 

LBB> Do you have any frustrations with planning/strategy as a discipline?

Puneet> As an industry, we need to give it its due time. Clients are keen to get sharp insights, but want it in three days along with fleshed out creative ideas. Sometimes that runs the risk of compromising the quality. We are not solving for world peace, but for selling better. So let’s try and do it well. But for that, the onus is also on us as strategists. There have been times when the client’s asked for the whole package and we’ve discussed with them how at this stage, a strategic alignment is more the need of the hour. So we’ve gone in with only a thorough strategy. No creative. 

And sometimes, the other way round as well. 

Because we’d like to work with them as partners, not as salespeople. And doing that, requires an honest assessment of what actually needs to be done. 

Most times, the clarity this strategic outlook provides them convinces the clients of this approach, leading to productive discussions henceforth wherein everyone is aligned on what needs to be done and working towards it, as opposed to racing against time to put multiple things together. 

The caveat to this – you have to do a solid job on what you’ve promised. A shoddy display is what leads to irritation, escalations and unrealistic timelines because a trust deficit kicks in. 

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.  

LBB> What advice would you give to anyone considering a career as a strategist/planner?

1. Talk to people. Enough people. Relevant people. That’s where the best insights come from. 

2. Create a mental repository of interactions and experiences that you can call upon. 

3. Don’t just rely on Google and be lost in the tools. 

4. Focus on problem-solving, don’t worry about deadlines.