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Konjo
Konjo in Japanese means ‘fighting spirit’. It is a combination of willpower, guts, grit, determination, great stamina, courage, fortitude, perseverance and tenacity in the face of physical hardship, pain or even death.
Konjo is the story of Sandeep Goyal, a small-town boy from Chandigarh. One day he had it all: he was on top of his profession as a CEO, he held memberships of exclusive clubs, had invites to the best events. Then he was out of his position and suddenly everything vanished--the memberships, the invites, the easy friendships. From being down in the dumps and without direction, he patiently crafted a new career over the next few months. He partnered the world’s No. 1 ad agency, Dentsu, in India, and grew it to a Rs 1,200 crore entity.
The Konjo story spans almost eight years, from Sandeep pursuing the joint venture, to launching it, to nurturing it, to growing it into a phenomenal success, to selling his stake in it. For a very tidy sum. Konjo is a story about entrepreneurship as much as it is a racy account of the advertising world and its ideas, campaigns, rivalries and successes. Its artless, conversational tone makes what was an essentially difficult task appear simple. A reminder that when the
chips are down, a cool mind and a fighting spirit are the only ways to make a comeback.
Konjo is the story of Sandeep Goyal, a small-town boy from Chandigarh. One day he had it all: he was on top of his profession as a CEO, he held memberships of exclusive clubs, had invites to the best events. Then he was out of his position and suddenly everything vanished--the memberships, the invites, the easy friendships. From being down in the dumps and without direction, he patiently crafted a new career over the next few months. He partnered the world’s No. 1 ad agency, Dentsu, in India, and grew it to a Rs 1,200 crore entity.
The Konjo story spans almost eight years, from Sandeep pursuing the joint venture, to launching it, to nurturing it, to growing it into a phenomenal success, to selling his stake in it. For a very tidy sum. Konjo is a story about entrepreneurship as much as it is a racy account of the advertising world and its ideas, campaigns, rivalries and successes. Its artless, conversational tone makes what was an essentially difficult task appear simple. A reminder that when the
chips are down, a cool mind and a fighting spirit are the only ways to make a comeback.
- GenresBusiness
337 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
1 person is currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Sandeep Goyal
24 books1 followerMr. Sandeep Goyal, BA, MBA has been the Founding Chairman of Dentsu India Group at Dentsu Inc and Dentsu Communications Pvt. Ltd. since January 2011. Mr. Goyal serves as Chairman and Owner of Mogae Digital Private Limited. Mr. Goyal serves as Chief Executive Officer, Group Broadcasting of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. He served as Group Chief Executive Officer of Zee Telefilms and served as President of ad agency Rediffusion DY&R. He served as Chief Operating Officer of Rediff. He serves as Chairman Emeritus of Dentsu Marcom Pvt. Ltd. and served as its Director. He serves as Chairman at MOGAE MEDIA PVT. LTD. He served as the Chairman of the Board of Dentsu Communications Pvt. Ltd. until January 2011. He served as the Founder Chairman of Dentsu Creative Impact Pvt. Ltd and Dentsu Marcom Pvt. Ltd., until January 2011. He served as Chairman of Dentsu India Group until 2011. He serves as Vice Chairman at Mogae Consultants Pvt. Ltd. He serves as Vice Chairman of Mogae Group. He served as a Director of Mogae Digital Private Limited, Dentsu Creative Impact Pvt. Ltd., and Dentsu Marcom Pvt. Ltd. He served as a Director of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. He is a regular contributor to The Economic Times, Financial Express, Business Standard, Hindu Business Line, Business World and other publications of repute and is a much sought after speaker in industry forums. Mr. Goyal has been on the governing bodies of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and the US-based National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences of (NATAS), over the years. He is the first Indian on the global jury of the Emmy Awards in 2002. Mr. Goyal holds an MBA (FMS Delhi '84) and an Honors graduate in English literature (gold medalist) from Panjab University.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 23, 2014
By far the best book I have read about the advertising business in India, "Konjo: Fighting Spirit" is a great buy at almost any price. At only Rs.199 (on Amazon), it is a steal.
Sandeep Goyal is the man who brought Dentsu, the world's No. 1 ad agency, headquartered in Tokyo, to India. His story is an inspirational one, and for media students and young ad professionals who crave industry insights from a consummate insider, this book will prove invaluable with its thrill-a-minute revelations about some of the country's most famous ad campaigns (Tata Tea, Toyota Innova, HDFC Life) and the people behind them, about the ad pitches that worked and the ones that didn't, and about the strategies used by Dentsu India to win new clients.
The story Goyal tells us in "Konjo" concerns only his eight-year association, in the form of a joint venture, with Dentsu. When he sold his stake to the parent company, he became richer by millions of dollars, leaving him free to pursue his many interests: according to the author bio in "Konjo", Goyal is now writing his PhD thesis on "Human Brands". But I am hoping he will write at least two more books, one about the time he spent with Rediffusion, one of India's iconic ad agencies, and one more about his stint as Group CEO of Zee Telefilms. Going by the impressive insights gleaned from "Konjo", can you imagine what a stimulating experience it would be to read these two books?
Sandeep Goyal is the man who brought Dentsu, the world's No. 1 ad agency, headquartered in Tokyo, to India. His story is an inspirational one, and for media students and young ad professionals who crave industry insights from a consummate insider, this book will prove invaluable with its thrill-a-minute revelations about some of the country's most famous ad campaigns (Tata Tea, Toyota Innova, HDFC Life) and the people behind them, about the ad pitches that worked and the ones that didn't, and about the strategies used by Dentsu India to win new clients.
The story Goyal tells us in "Konjo" concerns only his eight-year association, in the form of a joint venture, with Dentsu. When he sold his stake to the parent company, he became richer by millions of dollars, leaving him free to pursue his many interests: according to the author bio in "Konjo", Goyal is now writing his PhD thesis on "Human Brands". But I am hoping he will write at least two more books, one about the time he spent with Rediffusion, one of India's iconic ad agencies, and one more about his stint as Group CEO of Zee Telefilms. Going by the impressive insights gleaned from "Konjo", can you imagine what a stimulating experience it would be to read these two books?
September 7, 2014
excellent book; gives one a good idea of the ad industry in India. fast paced; keeps u hooked throughout. also a good book to understand the japanese and their style of working.
July 5, 2015
Recently while browsing a book store, I stumbled upon this book with a weird name which immediately attracted my attention. The subject seemed interesting and relevant, and I ended up buying the book then and there.
Konjo, which in Japanese means – “The Fighting Spirit”, is the story of Dentsu’s entry into India and is written by Sandeep Goyal, the person who got Dentsu to India.
The book is in a chronicle format detailing the author’s life from the point where he quit Zee, to heading and making Dentsu a formidable advertising Agency in the Indian Industry.
Goyal is not one to forgive, and at no point does he mince words or not mention names. He is brutal and honest in recalling incidents. Like the time where he mentions wanting to slap the CEO of a prominent agency, or accusing an insurance firm of using a tag line created by his agency much after their association was cut. He is honest to the point of embarrassment.
At the same time, it is not a “unleash my grudge” kind of book, and the author details out the entire ardous journey of him convincing the Japanese of why he is the most suited person to mantle Dentsu in India. The process of setting up a winning team, and the many snippets and anecdotes of various pitches and campaigns during the crazy years in Dentsu makes this book an interesting read.
it provides a good insight on the ways of working of the Japanese, and the subtle cross cultural differences that need to be kept in mind during interaction with them.
It also has some hilarious short anecdotes like the one where Sandeep was regarded as a very rich person in Japan Dentsu office as he had served Mangoes to his Japanese guests during Dinner. Or the incident where the entire Dentsu mechanism got into chaos looking for a missing Japanese employee, who was later found to have locked himself up in his room watching TV!
After selling his partnership back to Dentsu, and making a lot of money in the process, Sandeep is now left with enough free time to pursue his many interests. He is now writing a PhD thesis on “Human Brands”, is involved with a food channel and dabbles in other interesting stuff. After reading the book, I am now curious to read his other book – “The Dum Dum Bullet”. A must for someone curious about the Indian Advertising Industry.
This Review was first pulished at http://bharatjhurani.com/2015/06/konj...
Konjo, which in Japanese means – “The Fighting Spirit”, is the story of Dentsu’s entry into India and is written by Sandeep Goyal, the person who got Dentsu to India.
The book is in a chronicle format detailing the author’s life from the point where he quit Zee, to heading and making Dentsu a formidable advertising Agency in the Indian Industry.
Goyal is not one to forgive, and at no point does he mince words or not mention names. He is brutal and honest in recalling incidents. Like the time where he mentions wanting to slap the CEO of a prominent agency, or accusing an insurance firm of using a tag line created by his agency much after their association was cut. He is honest to the point of embarrassment.
At the same time, it is not a “unleash my grudge” kind of book, and the author details out the entire ardous journey of him convincing the Japanese of why he is the most suited person to mantle Dentsu in India. The process of setting up a winning team, and the many snippets and anecdotes of various pitches and campaigns during the crazy years in Dentsu makes this book an interesting read.
it provides a good insight on the ways of working of the Japanese, and the subtle cross cultural differences that need to be kept in mind during interaction with them.
It also has some hilarious short anecdotes like the one where Sandeep was regarded as a very rich person in Japan Dentsu office as he had served Mangoes to his Japanese guests during Dinner. Or the incident where the entire Dentsu mechanism got into chaos looking for a missing Japanese employee, who was later found to have locked himself up in his room watching TV!
After selling his partnership back to Dentsu, and making a lot of money in the process, Sandeep is now left with enough free time to pursue his many interests. He is now writing a PhD thesis on “Human Brands”, is involved with a food channel and dabbles in other interesting stuff. After reading the book, I am now curious to read his other book – “The Dum Dum Bullet”. A must for someone curious about the Indian Advertising Industry.
This Review was first pulished at http://bharatjhurani.com/2015/06/konj...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews