“You higher carve out a distinct segment for your self and transfer in that area,” says Abbott’s Viju Nair, Advertising & Promoting Information, ET BrandEquity

In this episode of BE+ with Ambi Parameswaran, ETBrandEquity presents Viju Nair, commercial director, Abbott Healthcare.

Looking back at his young days, Nair shared he was born and brought up in Udaipur in a typical childhood with parents working in a government job.

With a dire inclination towards cricket since kinder days, he went on to play cricket avidly and was almost about to be in the Ranji Trophy squad. But destiny had other plans in mind and Nair pursued his plan B, B.Sc from PUMBA.

About setting his foot in pharma and healthcare domain he said, “I’ve had this self-awareness right from day one of my life, you’re not going to make it. What is that you can crack which these people will not. None of the engineers at that time would be interested in a healthcare setup.

“So I chose healthcare. It was never by default, it was by design,” he added.

FCB didn’t happen for Nair at the first go. He went to Ogilvy India earlier but got fired for no reason by the interviewer over issues concerning the previous manager.

About his stint at FCB, Nair said, “That’s where the journey started for me of actual marketing.”

Nair’s next destination was Wanbury, after about 3 years at FCB. “I was on the nutritional portfolio and somehow I felt that it was slightly a smaller role for me in terms of the brand size,” he shared.

That’s when he moved to Alembic Pharmaceuticals and handled large portfolios for about 1.5 years.

Nair also highlighted how his shift from consulting to advertising wasn’t easy. He said, “Those guys are not very polite in the beginning. They rag you well.”

“You have to put in extra hours. There is no shortcut to this,” he added.

Next, he worked for Proteinex for a short while but destiny had other plans for him. He joined Abbott in 2007 where he spent almost 15 years of his life in various roles.

Progressing towards the end, Nair shared about his favourite cricketer. “It’s always been either Mahender Singh Dhoni or there is nobody. Next is Rahul Dravid.”

Wrapping up he shared an advice for young marketing professionals. “I’ll just use two words for them which is anticipate and improvise.”

Watch the full episode here: