1. May 2013
With
OPEN
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Thought Leadership Marketing in India
Leading
Thought

2. Submit Feedback2
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Content is King
Making Themselves
Heard
Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take
Report
Snapshot
About the Report
Contents
Cover Page
About the Report 3
Introduction 3
Key Trends 4
Who’s included 5
Tool Box: Getting the Basics Right 6
Are companies serious about thought leadership? 6
Who do they target? 7
Content is King 8
Content Diversity 8
Are Thought Leadership Individual Campaigns or Company Driven? 9
Making Themselves Heard 10
Outcomes 12
Corporate Podium 13
Our Take 15
Report Snapshot 17
Home Contents PrintHome Contents Print

3. Submit Feedback3
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Content is King
Making Themselves
Heard
Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take
Report
Snapshot
Introduction Key Trends Who’s included
About the Report
Welcome to the first edition of ‘Leading with Thought,’ Prayag
Consulting’s first report on thought leadership marketing in India.
For many years, we have been advising clients on setting up thought
leadership initiatives for their companies. It is a familiar path but not
one that is very well trodden, and we have seen companies struggle to
sustain their efforts. A well-crafted thought leadership plan can deliver
the desired results – positioning within the clutter, brand prominence,
media attention, higher recall and eventually more business from
customers – but these are mid- to long-range benefits. The low
chances of immediate success in the thought leadership game poses
challenges to its adoption as a key marketing strategy.
Increasingly, however, technology companies operating in India are
demonstrating their commitment to formulating creative thought
leadership strategies. The purpose of this report is to study the
approach to thought leadership strategy within large companies in the
IT industry (both services and products). We have restricted the study
to large companies as it is these companies that have the resources
and appetite for creating sustained campaigns.
The report looks at the span and depth of the thought leadership
campaigns of these companies as well as the quality of content
and how well they have sustained their campaigns. We have also
studied the manner in which the campaigns have been marketed
and distributed as well as, most importantly, the key outcomes of the
thought leadership initiatives.
About the Report
Home Contents PrintHome Contents Print

4. Submit Feedback4
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Content is King
Making Themselves
Heard
Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take
Report
Snapshot
Key Trends
Limited Budgets - Key Challenge
●● Even within the large companies studied, budgets for marketing
remain low (1% - 2% of revenues) and in spite of this major
constraint, it is interesting to see how companies have managed
to carve out an effective thought leadership program. This primary
challenge is compounded by lean marketing teams struggling to
juggle various priorities with few resources.
Read More
About the Report
Introduction Key Trends Who’s included
IBM has established a sustained thought leadership program
with
●● Publications like the Idea Watch newsletter that caters to 11
different verticals, showcasing its breadth of thought leadership
●● The IBM Institute for Business Value initiative that regularly
conducts research and analysis to offer practical insights for the
business executive
●● Frequent and relevant presence on social media platforms like
Facebook, Twitter, blogs etc.
●● The Smarter Planet campaign that won the 2010 Global Gold Effie
award for market success and creativity
●● As a possible result, the campaigns of some companies fail to
communicate a point of view and instead appear to be more on a
self-promotion mission. In such cases, publications are typically
one-off productions with little coordinated effort to leverage new
thinking into multiple formats, networks, and channels.
Cognizant effectively uses several mediums such as
●● Its Future of Work microsite, outlining the opportunities and
efficiencies latent in tomorrow’s workplaces, showcasing the
intellectual capital that resides within Cognizant. This campaign also
won the 2011 ITSMA gold award for driving business with thought
leadership
●● The channel Cognizanti which assembles the best minds
worldwide to share insights as well as the biannual thought
leadership journal Cognizanti, which does its bit towards building a
thought leader brand image
●● The web with regular publication of white papers, establishing a
social media presence, with blogs, etc., showing that they want to
connect with their stakeholders
●● The print media with regular thought articles / interviews in
newspapers and online journals
Despite this, our research found several examples of thought leadership initiatives that stand out for their approach and effectiveness, while
highlighting best-in-class ideas and practices.
Home Contents PrintHome Contents Print

5. Submit Feedback5
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Content is King
Making Themselves
Heard
Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take
Report
Snapshot
Who’s Included
The report studies the thought leadership practices of 30 large
technology companies operating in India with revenues in the range of
US $ 50 million – US $ 100 billion+. The scope of the report is thought
leadership initiatives for the India region but in the case of global
companies, international collateral visible to Indian customers and
prospects has also been included in the study.
The report includes
●● Services and product companies
●● Indian companies and MNCs
Definitions
IT Services: Companies deriving most of their revenues from diverse
vertical and horizontal services
IT Products: Companies deriving a major portion of their revenues from
software products
IT Services IT Products
61%
39%
Indian Companies MNCs
71%
29%
Distribution of companies by business type Distribution of companies by ownership
Who’s includedKey Trends
About the Report
Introduction
Home Contents PrintHome Contents Print

6. Submit Feedback6
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Content is King
Making Themselves
Heard
Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take
Report
Snapshot
About the Report
Are Companies Serious about Thought Leadership?
Large companies are increasingly according mind space and budgets to thought leadership programs through booklets, whitepapers, blogs and
webcasts. In most cases, these initiatives are driven by senior management executives.
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Are companies serious about thought leadership? Who do they target?
In-depth publications
on specific topics
which showcase
Accenture thinking and
perspectives
Cognizant’s Cognizanti
eCommunity
A private, online community for senior IT
executives and business leaders
Infosys Blogs
Domain-specific blogs focused on
issues revolving around business
transformation and innovation
White Papers, Webcasts, Blogs
NetApp’s Advanced
Technology Group
(ATG)
Attached to the CTO’s
office, the ATG is
focused on new thinking
related to the storage
industry that goes
beyond areas covered
by NetApps, established
product lines
Future-oriented technical publications for verticals
under the title “Capgemini Point of View — the way
we see it”
IBM Institute of
Business Value
A business research organization
with dedicated consultants to
provide industry and business
perspectives for business executives
Wipro’s Council for Industry
Research (WCIR)
In collaboration with leading academic
institutions like Knowledge@Wharton and
industry bodies, WCIR conducts studies
on business and industry issues
Cisco’s Global
Education Group
An organization engaged in improving
education on a global basis
Home Contents PrintHome Contents Print

7. Submit Feedback7
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Content is King
Making Themselves
Heard
Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take
Report
Snapshot
About the Report
Cisco C Club
As the name suggests, the club caters
to C-level audiences giving them fresh
perspectives on technology, strategy
and business leadership through books,
online resources, and interactive forums.
Accenture
Its financial services industries thought
leadership is clearly intended for CEOs
and CIOs.
HCL Technologies
One of the few companies with
employee-focused thought leadership.
Who is the Target Audience?
Typically, clients, influencers, and alliance partners are the intended audience. Occasionally, companies target employees.
Who do they target?
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Are companies serious about thought leadership?
Home Contents PrintHome Contents Print

8. Submit Feedback8
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Making Themselves
Heard
Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take
Report
Snapshot
About the Report
Content Diversity: How Companies Compare
From technical to a combination of business and technical, thought leadership topics vary across the industry. Services companies are more
active in creating thought leadership than product companies. The latter also tend to focus on technical topics.
Some companies express clear views successfully, have stronger content and hence are able to establish credibility for newer ideas; while some
play it safe and adopt a dual approach, presenting both new points of view and generic approaches. Smaller companies in general take the less
risky and well established route.
A Fresh Perspective – Clear thinking carries the day for the companies below who project a clear POV in their thought leadership campaigns.
Content Diversity Are Thought Leadership Individual Campaigns or Company Driven?
Content is King
Latest Thinking
Thoughts for Tomorrow’s Enterprise
Cognizant
Perspectives
Insights
Home Contents PrintHome Contents Print

9. Submit Feedback9
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Making Themselves
Heard
Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take
Report
Snapshot
About the Report
Are Thought Leadership Individual
Campaigns or Company Driven?
Although thought leadership is mostly tied to the company brand with
credits attributed to contributors, there are a few successful cases
where companies have showcased individuals as thought leaders.
Here are two examples that stand out.
Padmasree Warrior
Chief Technology &
Strategy Officer, Cisco
Systems -
As of March 20, 2013
1,445,021 followers on
Twitter
11,526 Tweets
Several blogs
Vineet Nayar
Vice Chairman & Joint
Managing Director, HCL
Technologies –
As of March 20, 2013
13,445 followers on
Twitter
3,722 Tweets
Content Diversity
Content is King
Are Thought Leadership Individual Campaigns or Company Driven?
Home Contents PrintHome Contents Print

10. Submit Feedback10
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Content is King Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take
Report
Snapshot
About the Report
What are the Different Tools used
to Promote Thought Leadership?
From traditional tools such as articles, newsletters, books, workshops,
public lectures and seminars, white papers, and research reports to
newer digital and social media tools such as podcasts, videos and
blogs, companies are using all available channels to drive their thought
leadership programs.
Typically, the company website with a blog platform, internal TV
channel and internal magazines/newsletters are the tools used to
connect with internal audiences. On the other hand, magazines, white
papers and research reports, events, online portals (third party), social
media channels like YouTube, podcasts, blogs, and certainly, the
company website are used to engage with external audiences.
A few companies have embarked on co-branded programs and it
is easy to see why these are attractive. Co-branding is a powerful
way to gain a new audience through a partner’s established and
loyal audience base. It is also a means of securing a highly credible
endorsement for your point of view. Such partnerships, especially
with highly sought-after institutions and research companies help IT
companies break through the competitive clutter and heighten brand
awareness. However, very large companies prefer to rely on their own
branding engine and rarely take the co-branding route.
Making Themselves
Heard
Home Contents Print
Continued >
Home Contents Print

11. Submit Feedback11
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Content is King Outcomes Corporate Podium Our Take
Report
Snapshot
About the Report
Making Themselves
Heard
Internal channels External channels
Videos on
internal
Wipro TV
Videos on
internal
Adobe TV
Company website
showcases thought
leadership content
Point-Of-View
newsletter and
Synnovation
magazine
Internal newsletter—Speak
Social media sites such as
YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook
TM
Premium sponsor for Outsourcing-
Center, through which Wipro
whitepapers are published
Microsoft CIO Tony
Scott and members
of his staff share their
perspectives on IT on
MSDN Blogs
HCL, TCS, Cognizant,
IBM, Microsoft, Wipro,
Mahindra Satyam and
several others
Making oneself heard
Forrester, Gartner, IDC, and
several others have been
commissioned to create
Thought Papers
NetApp and research/
advisory companies
Blogs in Forbes
Home Contents PrintHome Contents Print
< Back

12. Submit Feedback12
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Content is King
Making Themselves
Heard
Corporate Podium Our Take
Report
Snapshot
About the Report
Outcomes – Where has all this led to?
While it is rare for thought leadership initiatives to be recognized and commended, a few programs have won awards, honors and/or media
mentions. In every case, they have contributed to the overall positive brand visibility of the companies awarded.
Outcomes
Media Awards Analysts
●● Favorable thought leadership
rankings for Infosys and the
Tata group
●● Poll conducted in USA Today
positioned Adobe as “a thought
leader to the mass market“
●● IBM won the Diamond Award in
thought leadership marketing
at the Marketing Excellence
awards 2009 held by ITSMA
●● Mahindra Satyam received
the PEGASYSTEM’s thought
leadership partner award 2012
●● Gartner’s acknowledgement
of Capgemini’s Technovision
documents – the ‘Capgemini
Point of View’ series
●● Forrester discussed the
findings from a Global CIO
study published by the IBM
Institute of Business Value
Home Contents PrintHome Contents Print

13. Submit Feedback13
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Content is King
Making Themselves
Heard
Outcomes Our Take
Report
Snapshot
About the Report
Describe your company’s efforts on thought leadership and outcomes achieved
Specific examples of initiatives and what they led to
Thought leadership is a very important part of marketing efforts at Cisco. It helps build brand awareness,
establish preference, support demand generation, and enhance customer relationships. Thought leadership
helps demonstrate our leadership in technology and also showcases how customers can improve business
by using our innovative solutions. It also helps us predict trends and take a look at how technology will
impact specific industry verticals.
At the beginning of our fiscal year 2012-2013, we devised a strategy for thought leadership across targeted
customer segments based on a combination of country, company and Cisco’s business priorities. To execute
the plan, we used a combination of offline and online channels including social media.
I can give you some recent examples of what we did -
●● Taking the advertising route, we tied up with a leading business daily for a series of 12 advertorials
spread over as many weeks. This series featured various Cisco spokespersons who talked about
technology innovations, while customer CIOs explained how they benefited from Cisco solutions.
Editorial support plus a relevant advertisement for the particular technology in focus were also part of the
exercise. The advertorial series helped invigorate our thought leadership initiative, provided visibility to
our stakeholders and ensured customer satisfaction in the bargain.
●● Hosting CIO summits – We regularly organized CIO forums for specific technology segments. The
Cable Summit, which we conducted in 2011, was one such effort. It served as a platform for analysts,
government officials and our own executives to discuss the cable TV digitization bill and its impact on
cable TV operators and consumers. Cisco’s efforts at the Summit helped increase the sales pipeline and
subsequently the revenues.
●● Association with industry bodies – Traditionally, Cisco has associated with industry bodies such as
Nasscom, IBA, FICCI where we take advantage of our global pool of experts and share best practices
with key stakeholders.
Nand Kishore Badami
Senior Vice President,
Marketing
Cisco India & SAARC
Corporate Podium: How Cisco plays the Thought Leadership Game
Corporate Podium
Home Contents Print
Continued >
Home Contents Print

14. Submit Feedback14
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Content is King
Making Themselves
Heard
Outcomes Our Take
Report
Snapshot
About the Report
How do you define the success of a thought leadership
initiative?
Thought leadership helps to spread awareness and hence it is difficult
to measure the impact directly. At Cisco, we consider different aspects
to get a composite view — market share gain, incremental business,
impact on C-level people, customer and employee feedback, analyst
quotes, citations in magic quadrants and the like. Tactical metrics such
as number of whitepaper/case study downloads, reach of advertising
and so on indicate the impact of a specific initiative. To make it as
accurate as possible, we also track what we call ‘marketing influenced
opportunities (MIO)’. If there is spike in MIO, we can directly attribute it
to thought leadership activities.
A combination of the above provides us with a pretty good view of the
success of our thought leadership initiatives.
Have you seen any change in the way your stakeholders
perceive you?
Yes, most definitely, and on all fronts. On the customer side, we have
seen that doors open more easily as we engage more deeply with
customers through our thought leadership initiatives. Customers’
awareness of Cisco’s solutions has gone up significantly. Customer
endorsements and case studies have motivated their peers to work
with us.
Corporate Podium
Home Contents Print
< Back
Home Contents Print

15. Submit Feedback15
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Content is King
Making Themselves
Heard
Outcomes Corporate Podium
Report
Snapshot
About the Report
Our Take
As part of the thought leadership study, Prayag undertook a thought
leadership ranking of the country’s top information technology
companies. Other than Mindtree, all the companies posted revenues in
excess of US 1 billion, and many of them several times that. The study
was restricted to high revenue companies as this largely levels the
playing field in terms of the financial commitments that a company can
make to a thought leadership program. Many of the companies in the
list are global players but they were chosen as they targeted India as a
market. While examining their artefacts, only those that were targeted/
available for their Indian audiences were chosen.
Key Parameters studied
●● Basic Thought Leadership Hygiene Factors
• Was the company committed to a sustained thought leadership
program? Did it have a clear target audience?
●● Content
• Messaging/quality/sophistication/range of topics
●● Reach
• Distribution spread/channels and partners
●● Outcomes
• Media impact/idea ownership
Our Take
Mature Companies
Companies in this group have managed to
propagate a clear thought leadership positioning
for their brands. Their high quality content is targeted at
specific audiences and has a clear point of view. They typically
work across multiple channels and some of them have built highly
valuable partnership programs for thought leadership.
Developing Companies
Companies in this group are in the process of securing a foothold in the
thought leadership market. They focus on technical issues or tend
to play it safe by treading the established path while expressing
views. They use fewer platforms than the top players. Content
diversity may be low and while there may be attempts at
campaign style strategy, their thought leadership
programs are not sustained. Clear idea
associations may not be visible for
the brand.
Developing to Mature
Home Contents PrintHome Contents Print
Continued >

16. Submit Feedback16
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Content is King
Making Themselves
Heard
Outcomes Corporate Podium
Report
Snapshot
About the Report
IBM
Accenture
Intel
Cisco
Microsoft
Oracle
NetApp
Nvidia
McAfee
Symantec
SAP
Capgemini
Infosys
TCS
Wipro
Cognizant
HP
Dell
HCL
iGATE
Mindtree
Lenovo
Adobe
Broadcom
Mahindra Satyam
Aditya Birla Minacs
And how the
results played out
Our Take
Pace setters
High Performers
Potential Upstarts
Also-rans
Companies that set the standards of thought leadership
in the business, who are able to match style with
substance. Typically the innovators of thought
leadership plays, these companies have tasted the
success that being a thought leader brings and are
keen to push the envelope further.
Companies that are just behind the leaders when
it comes to implementing thought leadership plans.
Typically what differentiates them from others is their
ability to establish ownership of an idea and gain media
leverage from the same.
These companies lag behind the leaders when it comes
to content delivery style and breadth of distribution.
They may not always be able to translate strategies into
business outcomes in the thought leadership game.
These companies are at the starting point when it
comes to thought leadership planning, strategy and
execution. They need to improve the depth of their
content offerings and spread of distribution.
Mature
Developing
Home Contents Print
< Back
Home Contents Print

17. Submit Feedback17
© 2013 Prayag Consulting All Rights Reserved
Tool Box: Getting the
Basics Right
Content is King
Making Themselves
Heard
Outcomes Corporate Podium Our TakeAbout the Report
Key Reasons for Failure in Executing a
Thought Leadership Strategy
Low marketing
budgets
Journals & specialized
publications
Whitepapers Events
Research initiatives
and reports
Social Media
Key Targets
Employees
Lack of a
clear point of view
No long term
outlook
Clear Thinkers
Power of Partnership
Outcomes
Multiple Channels in Play
Whose Voice is Heard?
Prospects InfluencersClients Alliance
partners
Blogs
Webcasts
Videos
Communities
Service companies
are more active than
product companies
Some companies use powerful partnerships to enhance the reach of their thought
leadership programs
Favourable Media
coverage
Awards Analyst Mentions
Wipro Technologies and
Knowledge@Wharton
NetApp and Forrester,
Gartner, IDC
Thought Leadership Marketing in India
Report
Snapshot
Home Contents PrintHome Contents Print

18. Prayag Consulting Private Limited
45/B, 2nd
Floor
Front Wing, 1st
Main
J P Nagar, 3rd
Phase
Bangalore - 560 078
Phone: (91) 80 26593328/29 / 41200439
Fax: (91) 80 26593328
Thank you for reading our report. If you have any queries or
comments, please write to us at info@prayag.com
Submit Feedback18 Home Contents Print