Winning with minimal bloodshed!
PLAYING WITH PERCEPTION: LESSONS FROM A FAILURE
War strategies for marketing!
PLAYING WITH PERCEPTION: LESSONS FROM A FAILURE
(Seventh in the series called “The Martial Marketer”. War strategies for work!)
(Adapted from Sun Tzu/Shih Chi, and localized with Indian history. The core is his, the screenplay mostly mine)
**
Kulothunga Chozhan III rushed into the chase.
“Victory will be mine today. The enemy is fleeing. Bloody cowards, making me chase them to death. They are fools, attempting an attack on my fortified location.A fort my family has held on for ages. I will teach Sundara Pandyan a lesson he will never forget.”
**
The Pandyas and Chozhas were legendary rivals across centuries. Land and power swapped hands, like a river in spate claiming the banks and fields. Whenever a border is shared, especially an unmarked one, it does lead to increased tension. It leaves a festering wound that refuses to heal and ensures there’s no peace!
The 13th century seemed to belong to the Pandyas. They were on the ascendancy capturing lands and smaller kingdoms. The vassals began to grow, as did prosperity.
With prosperity comes one of two things you can call an oxymoron — contentment, and greed!
Sundara Pandyan I, the creator responsible for the resurgence of the Pandyan dynasty, was pleased and pissed. There was this one thorn in his region that refused to give up. That Chozha chieftain Kulothungan, Sundara declined to call him a king, especially since the province and power of the Chozhas had been severely curtailed. That Kulothungan refuses to give up his last bastion in Uraiyur (a place in ancient Tamil Nadu, South India). I need to get the better of him to ensure the longevity of the new crop of Pandyas.
Kulothungan belonged to that sect of people who refused to face reality. In their mind, they were still the King and purveyor of everything. Refusing to see the truth, they built their own imaginary castles in the air and lived in a cocoon of their own past glory. What they lacked in strategy or manpower, Kulothungan made up in pop and spite. He sent letter after letter, terming the Pandyas as cowards, lepers, and impotents — swear words of yore.
Sundara called his commanders Manickam and Velan. His instruction was simple. Bring me the head of Kulothungan. This is enough. It is time to de-weed my Kingdom, and I entrust this responsibility to you. Before the next full moon, I want this done, said Sundara.
Manickam and Velan smiled at each other. The opportunity they were waiting for. Battle hardy veterans, both of them knew which fights to pick and which ones to walk away from. Therefore, the enemies, both the vanquished and those about to be extinguished, called the Pandyas cowards. This was the buzz being spread among the general populace — that the Pandyas will run away from a fight. Where’s the valor in that? How could brave souls of our soil walk away from a challenge or war?
Cowardice is the only explanation and all Pandyas, therefore, were cowards and losers. That stereotype stuck, but Manickam and Velan knew they had the confidence of their King Sundara. Sundara knew the power of strategic attack and defense. He picked the right resources and gave them the freedom to execute the tasks.
The taunts from Kulothungan continued to come. Manickam sent a message back stating that Sundara will be attacking them within a week. The reply also stated that the attack will be big, and there will be no quarter given. Fair warning that made Kulothungan laugh. The enemy was coming to him, to his bastion, to his region where he reigned supreme. AHAAAAA. Victory will be mine, though Kulothungan.
Sundara’s two commanders reached Kulothungan’s region and camped near the horizon. Just out of eyesight, even with binoculars. News reached Kulothungan that the enemy had arrived with 100,000 soldiers, including alliance forces. Even those claiming loyalty to Kulothungan had apparently switched allegiance.
The first night of the siege, shivers ran through Kulothungan’s people. They saw the entire south side of their region lit up. 100,000 was correct, the number of forces that Sundara Pandyan had come with. So many people and so many fire torches lit up. All they could do was wait. Two days later, Kulothungan’s minister came running with the news.
“Sire, did you notice? The number of torches is lesser today.”
Kulothungan rushed to the tower of his fort to see. It was true; the number of torches was visibly less. What was happening? He ordered additional sentries to the north. Could they be planning a rear attack?
Two more days later, again, they noticed that the number of torches was reduced. It appeared that Sundara’s forces had reduced, closer to 40,000 now.
By the sixth day of the siege, Kulothungan’s spies came back with the information that only 10,000 forces were there. It looked like the rest of the troops had deserted Sundara Pandya. The alliances seem to have cracked on the battlefield.
These Pandyas were always cowards. Just look at it. They cannot keep an army together.
The seventh night, they could ascertain that the Pandyan forces had dwindled to much less than what Kulothungan had. His spies came the next morning and said that the enemy had decamped. They were turning back, and the force was even more depleted.
He readied his army, getting them all set to attack.
Kulothunga Chozhan III rushed into the chase.
“Victory will be mine today. The enemy is fleeing. Bloody cowards, making me chase them to death. They are fools, attempting an attack on my fortified location.
A fort my family has held on for ages. I will teach Sundara Pandyan (1) a lesson he will never forget.”
It was midday by the time his commanders gave the green signal to leave the fort. The chase was on in earnest. There was a pep in his soldier’s feet. Kulothungan was leading the attack himself. They had to traverse through a ravine, and it was dusk by the time they reached this narrow passage. A tree marked the location where they had to turn to get out of this area. One of the soldiers pointed to the tree, which had a flag tied to it.
Curiosity always provokes a response. Kulothungan reached the tree, lit a torch, and saw something scribbled on the tree. Peering close, he read:
“Kulothunga Chozhan, under this tree, today, you will die!”
He sprung back in recoil, shocked. Before he could say anything, Kuthungan’s body was punctured by arrows, and he died that day, under that tree. As was etched on the tree. His army was attacked by archers seated on top of the ravine.
How did this happen?
Manickam and Velan formed a think tank to arrive at a strategy to win over Kulothungan. They decided to play on the stereotype that Pandyas were cowards.
“If they think of us as cowards, let us continue to lead them down that path!” said Velan.
Deception is key to Victory.
They had gone in with a force strength of only 5000 warriors. The messages and series of disinformation campaigns, though, sent the message that their force was 100,000. To confirm that, Velan’s men lit 100,000 torches and spread it across the horizon. It gave a display of a vast army, waiting to attack. As the days went by, the number of torches and the number of tents were reduced. It gave perception to the enemy that cowardice had set in — the deserters were leaving the Pandyan camp.
When Kulothungan gave chase, everything had been planned. The day and time of the attack, the location through which the enemy army would be lead. Velan knew that the military had to go through a ravine, and it will be dark when the enemy army came to the tree.
Curiosity killed the cat and a few more men!
Sundara’s archers were instructed to shoot at lit torches near the tree and all through the ravine. When Kulothungan picked the lit torch, the archers sent the arrows flying from the top.
Kulothungan lay on the earth, his body punctured with arrows. His life flashed in front of his eyes.
Oh, I wish, If only I had…….
**
War and strategy, but a combination of a few moves.
As the primary colours combine in the hands of an artist to create a rainbow, so do the moves of an outlier marketer.
Seven music notes and five basic tastes all work wonders with the right architect.
Attack strategy, too, has only two moves. Direct and indirect.
The leader needs to know his men well, to train them well.
- When the leader is genuinely courageous, he will have the courage to display (false) weakness.
- He and his men will have the discipline to feign confusion in the ranks.
- It is all about playing with perception and using deception to win with a small force.
- To win with minimal loss of his own and limited bloodshed of the enemy.
First, the whole (army/team), then the individual (skill/taken/discipline).
When the right men are picked for the right job, given clear instructions, and discipline is enforced — the combined ENERGY will ensure Victory.
What’s your marketing attack strategy?
Direct, indirect, or a combination?
Lessons from Sun Tzu. The story was inspired by Sun Tzu and the story of the war between WEI and CHI kingdoms.
Research Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandya_dynasty
This is the seventh in the series called “The Martial Marketer”. War strategies for work!
1. Marketing Camouflage! Success is sweet.
2. A Trojan variation to defend and attack.
3. Victory at all costs.
4. Size does matter.
5. Fight the fight within, first.
6. The (marketing) warrior without vanity.
Pravin Shekar is an outlier marketer, parallel entrepreneur and a raconteur.
mic @ PravinShekar.com .
For creative collusions, join: http://bit.ly/JoinMyOutlierTribe
Pravin is the author of seven books: Devil Does Care, Marketing lessons from Mythology, Getting paid to speak, a Virtual Summit Playbook, Climb your way out of hell & a collection of travel pics/romantic poems, and stories from the heart!
http://tiny.cc/PravinShekarBooks
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