Conceptualised and Edited by: Anisha Motwani
Review by: NaSa
I haven’t read much text on business and marketing for the simple reason that it becomes too technical for someone from a non-business background like me. But the other day, when I was on my way back from the International Book Fair 2016 organised at the Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, I had heard a RJ recommending this book. He, at that time, was in conversation with the author Anisha Motwani. After listening to that conversation I made up mind to purchase and read this book. And I must say, it’s a good read, not only for someone who aspires entrepreneurship but for any book lover.
Motwani unveils the business models of brands shortlisted and discussed but through a non-technical, story-like format. She picks up 20 brands belonging to multiple categories as diverse as FMCG to automobiles to banking to entertainment.
The biggest positive of the book is its title “Storm the norm,” and its connotation that norms could be challenged, evolved and set afresh; just as these 20 brands did for themselves. As quoted in the book, “Some of these are brands that have come from nowhere and created new categories, some have challenged the hegemony of long-standing leaders, and some are decades-old brands which have continuously reinvented themselves to stay on the top.”
Basically, what I concluded was that the rules for business are no different from the rules of life – evolution and survival of the fittest. The brands which evolve viv-a-vis the ever-volatile market and consumer behaviour will only be considered fittest to survive.
Brands covered include the likes of Sprite, Real Juices, Idea, Tata Tea, Ford Ecosport, PVR and Axis Bank. Motwani unfolds the journey behind their success and sustainability in a very engaging manner.
The final story appearing in the book is that of the Times of India. The words with which the chapter begins sums up the spirit of the newspaper and also the essence of Motwani’s book:
‘If the world would only stop for us, so that we could all grow old together, what a pleasant state of things might ensue, but it refuses to halt for a moment: it declines to accept age and idleness in lieu of vigour and industry.’
