Gulbahar Taurani, Versuni India: Trusted brands, a start-up mindset and the air fryer journey

From MVP - THE MASTERS' VOICE PODCAST - MEDIABRIEF · 48:34

Show by Pavan R Chawla

Send us Fan MailThis episode of our award-winning series MVP – The Master’s Voice Podcast features Gulbahar Taurani, Managing Director and CEO of Versuni India, the company that runs the Philips and Preethi domestic appliances business in the country. Gulbahar joined Philips in 2002 and has spent more than two decades learning what Indian families want from the appliances they bring home.In this conversation with Pavan R Chawla -- show host and Founder-Editor of Mediabrief.com and CSRBrief.com -- Gul, as he is fondly known amongst his friends, explains how Philips Domestic Appliances and Preethi became Versuni, and what the change means for the brands a household already trusts. He describes what it meant to take two trusted brands into a new organisation, and speaks about two decisions made on the very first day.The air fryer takes up a good part of the conversation. Gulbahar recalls meeting the appliance as a marketing manager in 2012, the doubts he met along the way, the copies that followed, and how he now answers the question of what an air fryer is for.Gul also sets out three growth bets for Versuni India’s next few years, offers a plain test for what deserves to be called a smart appliance, introduces the recently launched One Chef, and talks about smaller towns, local manufacturing and exports.Along the way he takes three questions that reach beyond appliances, on what 24 years in one organisation have taught him, the biggest mistake marketers make when they try to create a category, and what a CEO should keep in mind when an organisation changes its identity.All this, and much more, in a conversation rich with experience from Gulbahar Taurani, Managing Director and CEO of Versuni India. Watch. Listen. Read. Revel.Read the full transcript and the 10 Big Ideas from this conversation on MediaBrief: https://mediabrief.com/versuni-india-gulbahar-taurani-on-mvp-podcast/ Watch the episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LHwXw3EgODMWant to pitch someone to be featured? We have two podcast series: MVP - The Master's Voice Podcast, and MediaCast. Both are published by MediaBrief.com.So, if you want to pitch someone to be considered for our podcasts, here's how you can do it: First, follow us on Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram.Then, write to us at pavan [at] mediabrief dot com and alliances [at] mediabrief dot com, and also share links to your profiles that are following us. Connecting socially is something we believe in and advocate. So go ahead. Reach out. We're happy, social souls.

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