Academic
The Market Launch Reset
Meher Sabharwal has decided to pause Sabza before Thursday's board. Three explanations, no clean data, and she wants to be argued out of it.
- You
- Category Marketing Manager, Sabza
- Across the table
- Meher Sabharwal, Business Unit Head, Beverages Business Unit
He speaks first.
You have had my ten minutes, which took four, so I will not repeat it. Board is Thursday morning and I need my position by Wednesday. Right now my position is that we stop, pull back to two cities, and I do not go and ask for the nine crore. Fourteen has gone in and we are at about half of plan. I have read the agency deck, the research summary and the sales note, and all three tell me something different, so I would rather hear it from the person who owns the brand. I would also rather be wrong about this now than in November. Start wherever you want.
The brief comes after you sign in.
The situation
She wants to pause Sabza before Thursday.
Meher Sabharwal has decided to pause the launch before the board. Three explanations are in circulation. None of them sit on clean data. She wants to be argued out of the pause, and she will not pretend otherwise.
You have the Sabza numbers from the system, not from someone's summary. Thursday does not move.
- The pause is her current decision.
- The stories in the room do not match the data.
- The board is Thursday.
The session
About twenty minutes.
You sign in with your email, read the brief, and have the conversation. A short reflection comes first. Then the coaching debrief, on what you did. The transcript stays with the session. You do not see a score.
- Email sign-in
- Coaching debrief
- Up to 20 turns
Before you start
What people ask.
Who am I in this conversation?
You're the Category Marketing Manager who owns Sabza. Meher Sabharwal is Business Unit Head for Beverages. You get the full brief after you sign in.
Do I need FMCG or brand experience to practise this?
No. The brief has the launch numbers and the stakeholders. You're practising diagnosis and influence when you can recommend but cannot decide.
What do I leave with?
A transcript of what you actually said, and a coaching debrief on what it cost you. You answer a short reflection before that debrief appears. You do not see a score.
Can a team run the same scenario?
Yes. Each person gets their own conversation. A pilot is how a cohort starts: same brief, separate transcripts, one place for the programme lead to read them.