Ram Badrinathan, a travel analyst for the US-based travel research company PhoCusWright, calls himself a survivor. And rightly so, because it has been his ability to adapt to the changing scenario around him that’s helped him succeed despite studying for a degree that he didn’t put to use and later, the dotcom meltdown.
Badrinathan’s career path has been as exciting and informative as some of the trips he organises. In the past 13 years he has worked in advertising, then moved to a dotcom firm and finally settled down in the travel industry. He has gone through the gamut of the dotcom highs and lay-offs. Through all this he has used his marketing skills to further his growth.
“It all started with my pursuing the wrong degree,” says Badrinathan, who realised midway through engineering college that he was not cut out to be an engineer. At 21, he decided to follow his father’s footsteps. “I was inspired by my dad’s marketing skills and found his area of work quite interesting,” he adds.In 1994, he took up his first job as a management trainee with Trikaya Grey, an advertising agency, for Rs 2,000 in Kolkata. A year later, he moved to Hindustan Thompson Associates (HTA). “It was considered the university of advertising in Kolkata and anyone associated with the ad world would definitely prefer a stint there,” he says.
RAM BADRINATHAN, 34 |
Previous careers: Advertising and marketing |
| Job profile: Client servicing, business strategising and project management |
| Salary in previous job: $12,000 a month |
| Age at career switch: 30 years |
| Reason for job switch: Add meaning to work |
| Current career: Travel analyst |
| Job profile: Researching travel destinations |
| Earning: Rs 20 lakh a year |
| Transferable skills: Sales and marketing |
| Career outlook: “Be passionate about your work” |
However, once the project was over, Badrinathan could not go back to regular agency work—pitching for clients. “The adrenaline rush of the project was so heady that everything else seemed routine after that,” he adds. In 1996, Badrinathan hitched his career to the dotcom bandwagon when he joined a friend’s start-up.
Aesthetic Technologies was set up to create interactive multimedia. The added thrill was working with some of Kolkata’s top companies such as ICI, ABP Group and Mitsubishi. At 25 in 1998, Badrinathan was ready to take a sabbatical. “Since I enjoyed working as a marketing professional, I decided to pursue it seriously and add a degree for further growth,” he says.
WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A TRAVEL ANALYST |
| 1. Interest in travel as an industry and technology as a medium to promote tourism |
| 2. Ability to strategise the growth pattern of the industry |
| 3. Align yourself with a brand. It increases the visibility of your research work |
| 4. A person with 7-8 years of experience can expect around $70,000 a year |
| 5. One might feel jaded after some years. The next step up is to manage a team of analysts and be heard at seminars |
After completing his degree, Badrinathan joined one of Asia’s largest Internet companies, Chinadotcom Corporation in Hong Kong. The company was a global provider of enterprise software, business solutions and mobile and Internet applications. As a strategy consultant for the company, he was drawing $18,000 a month. “I had just married and my wife and I travelled a lot,” he recalls. Because of the high Net usage by travellers, Badrinathan was asked by one of the research heads of the company to prepare a white paper on it.
Soon he was analysing the travel industry on a regular basis. In 2001, because of the dotcom meltdown, the company started downsizing. “I would have lost my job but refocused my job profile,” says Badrinathan. Trained in marketing, he took up a job not many were keen on—sales analyst that required a lot of cold calling. He also took a 30% pay cut.
When a second round of layoffs was happening, Badrinathan moved to a project on e-business. By now, almost 80% of the senior staff had left. “I was 30 and I decided to relook at my career and life,” he says. Since he had been freelancing for PhoCusWright for almost a year, he decided to join the company on a retainership basis, returned to India and settled in Mumbai.
Working for PhoCusWright gave him an opportunity to discover India. “It was not the packaged tour kind of travelling. We would stay with the locals, walk through alleys and be a part of the place,” says Badrinathan. Such travelling also exposed him to the vast market that was waiting to be tapped. In 2004, he and his wife set up Soulitudes, a company that creates customised travel packages. The USP—to organise tours and workshops in association with eminent Indian classical musicians, photographers, actors and historians.
“We conduct music, theatre, photography and art workshops in surroundings that trigger reflection. We use interactive technologies for education, which fosters learning through teachers,” he explains. In the past three years there has been a “discovery of India” tour with film director Shyam Benegal, a Himalayan tour with actor Deepti Naval, a nature trail in Madhya Pradesh with dhrupad singer Wasifuddin Dagar, among others.
Though not money spinners, 3-4 such trips are organised every year. It is still his role as senior analyst that is paying. “My focus is on the Asia-Pacific region and corporate travel,” says Badrinathan. “It’s like being on a paid holiday 24/7,” he concludes. Managing a team of analysts is what he looks forward to from next year.
