Zero to Scale: It's a book that new age brand mangers needed.

Zero to Scale - book by Arindam Paul of Atomberg.

The brand

Atomberg is a brand that caught my attention a couple of years ago, as did the name of the brand head - Arindam Paul ( possibly a co-founder too, I am unclear) - both kept coming up in my twitter feed, podcasts etc. as somewhat of a case-study.

The brand intrigued me - my interactions with the product online at that time were largely their fans, then smart locks. Now I keep getting non-stop on my Insta feed trying to sell me their mixer-grinder. The portfolio now also includes water purifiers.

The product mix seems to suggest a younger, a smart buyer, but also a very diverse audience group; categories where general trade channels play a huge role in suggesting a new brand, such as mixer grinder & fans and categories such as water-purifiers where you are largely dealing with a duopoly - but if you are able to create a dent, you are really in for long-terms success. All this has kept me curious to understand their strategy. Who are they really targetting? How are they positioning themselves? Why Atomberg? What is their tageline "Why not?" really trying to say? I remember asking this of Arindam on Twitter once.

Why the book is important

When HP, a brand i was associated at that time, launched a home printing device that could not just deliver offset quality printing, but also deliver a perfectly bound brochure, it changed our world. Smaller brands that could never aspire to match global giants on communication could now deliver collatral that looked, felt as cool and sexy as any big brand in small batches - just one unit if needed. Soon social media would empower individuals and small brands to create global reach for their voice. Same thing - diffent manifestation.

Later developments such as packaging innovation, small batch production of most products, d2c distribution channels online, easy (and small batch advertising) and now even easier access to offline distribution channels ( really the only last-mile advantage still enjoyed by big brands) gave birth to new-age brands.

However when it came to scaling, incumbent/ traditional brands have had an advantage - inherent knowledge possesed by traditional marketing and brand leaders (and teams) that manage their brands, marketing, distribution. New age brands have found their way through trial and error, PMF experiments and so on.

Their knowledge sources have also been non-linear - a podcast by a founder, a talk by a d2c brand , an article explaining a conceptand so on. Assimilation, execution of this scattared knowledge, while valuable, is not easy.

We saw this ourselves. My wife, and colleague, Amita brings out a show called Raising an Athlete where she speaks with sporting icons, emerging athletes, coaches and parents to bring out valuable insights that the next generation of athletes and sport parents (such as ourselves) can use on their journey. When she started this journey there was no such resource available to parents like us . Now however we feel there is a need to structure this knowledge in a linear series of handbooks for parents and athletes that answer a 1000 questions around the beginning to outcome of a sporting journey (that often stretches 10-15 years of work).

Enter - Zero to Scale

Arindam's book does just that - for brands entering/ already in the market and looking to scale - not having to learn through trial and error. It's a linear, step-by-step guide, previously only available to traditional brands, through their experience and talent bank.

I won't share any insights from the book - for that you should buy a copy.

Read the book. Make summary slides. Keep the notes handy on your desk.

I might build Atomberg a bit differently ( basis what is known to me visibly), but what is clear to me is that Arindam is the 'first principles' guy that he says he is. Earned my respect and love.