Asia-Pacific Power List 2023: Rajashree R, Tata Consultancy Services

Rajashree R

Chief marketing officer
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
India
New member

Consulting and running are unlikely bedfellows. Still, for TCS, it has been a cornerstone of their marketing strategy since 2008, when they first sponsored the Mumbai Marathon as junior sponsors.

As its new brand custodian, Rajashree R continues to bet big on marathons. Last year, TCS announced that it would continue to be the title sponsor of the New York marathon till 2029. Before that, TCS also added London Marathon to its roster of 11 running sponsorships. London Marathon is the world’s fourth-biggest marathon. So exposure to half a million runners across 12 properties, with 2 million live spectators and a billion others watching on television, is a massive marketing opportunity for TCS. 

It also allows the tech giant to demonstrate its digital and technology capabilities while doubling as fund-raising events generating consumer goodwill. Any place where technology is helping humans do better is an intersection Rajashree loves.

One can say, Rajashree landed her job ‘running’. But, within three months of her taking on the mantle, the pandemic changed how marketing was done at TCS.

While the rest of the world was getting busy working from home early into the pandemic, Rajashree and her marketing team were working on a new brand purpose for TCS. It wasn’t rebranding but reimagining the organisation's future for a new era. She spearheaded the launch of the “Building for Belief” mission statement that communicated the collaborative role TCS plays in helping clients achieve their goals.

Its tagline `Building on Belief’ along with marketing campaigns, sponsored events and advertising, and the goodwill built up with investors, with local communities, academia and other stakeholders have cumulatively helped put TCS among the top two brands in IT services by brand value according to Brand Finance.

Traditionally client engagement and marketing drives, including sponsored events, were in person, which stopped as the pandemic hit the world. So she had to devise an effective plan to transform how TCS engaged with its customers, involving more than 2,000 leading businesses worldwide, 450,000 employees, and nine lakh shareholders. The most significant move was going digital. Large events on their massive platform were pivoted to digital media within a few weeks. In an aggressive push, Rajashree increased TCS’s focus and budget on marketing as she realised the importance of maintaining intimacy with all the stakeholders and tech-empowered engagements.

Communication took centre stage as the focus helmed how the brand was presented to the world. The OneTCS programme was launched to stay connected with over 450,000 associates across 50-odd countries and included talks with different personalities such as astronauts, musicians, and pandemic survivors. 

The company’s most recent activity was the OneTCS Talent Hunt, like India’s Got Talent, which saw thousands of participants. She also piloted a successful marketing campaign, #TCSPartOfYourStory, unfolding TCS' story of transforming the lives of every Indian citizen by being a part of India’s most important schemes, services and businesses.