Dr.Sandeep Goyal launches his fifth book, `Honest to God'

Chandigarh, September 26, 2019: Dr.Sandeep Goyal, today launched his fifth book, Honest to God in city.
The book launch was followed by an event attended by the city’s elite, where the book was released by Subodh K.Jaiswal, IPS, Director General of Police, Maharashtra. The Foreword of the book too has been written by Jaiswal when he was Commissioner of Police, Mumbai earlier in the year.
Dinkar Gupta, Director General of Police, Punjab was the guest of honour at the book launch.
The book is a compilation of 78 essays on advertising and branding, on corporate and marketing strategy, and on select celebrities - analysed as ‘human brands’.
The genesis of the book lies in a column that Dr.Goyal started writing for Business India magazine four years ago. The column too is titled Honest to God. The column has become very famous and well regarded amongst business readers for being frank, forthright and very very candid in the opinions that Dr.Goyal expresses across a broad spectrum of subjects. The book is an edited compilation of these columns, co-published by Business India and Crossword.
“I have known Dr.Goyal, the author, for nearly 40 years now from the time I too was a student in this city. Dr.Goyal has always had strong opinions, but the good thing is he expresses them too fearlessly and eloquently. That is what makes his book Honest to God so readable, absorbing and interesting”, said Jaiswal.
Dr.Goyal said that as a columnist speaking the truth and writing about incidents without prejudice or favour is not always possible because each one of us is influenced by what we read, what we imbibe and what we then process in our minds which then has a bearing on the output in a column or a blog.
The author’s Chandigarh connection
Dr.Goyal is an alumnus of St.John’s School. He then studied for his B.A. Honours in English Literature at D.A.V. College, Chandigarh, and topped the Panjab University, winning a Gold Medal.
Dr.Goyal has in recent years revived his connect to The City Beautiful. He sponsors the prestigious Ranvijay Singh Award at St. John’s in the memory of an old schoolmate. But more importantly, last year, he created at St. John’s an Endowment of Rs. 1 crore, which received widespread media attention.
Dr.Goyal has also taken up the renovation and redesign of the Matka Chowk in Chandigarh. He is funding a big installation at the Chowk which will become a landmark of the city in times to come.
Earlier books by the author
Dr.Goyal’s first book Dum Dum Bullet was published by Penguin Books in 2004. It is an anecdotal account of Dr.Goyal’s first two decades in the mad mad world of advertising. It covers in great detail the creation and launch of brand Airtel; the aggressive marketing of Maruti as global competitors entered India in the 90s; his handling of brands like Colgate, Citibank, Eveready, Taj Hotels, Tata and even entrepreneurial homespun ones like Moov, Rasna and more.
Dr.Goyal’s second book You’re Hired, co-authored with his daughter Carol, was released in 2012 and is a primer for first time jobbers.
2014 saw the launch of Konjo – The Fighting Spirit. Published by Harper Collins, the book chronicles the journey of the author as a highly successful entrepreneur, especially his handling of Japanese brands like Toyota, Honda, Canon, Panasonic, Sony, Daikin and others.
Earlier this year, Blogbuster was released by Haymarket’s Campaign and Crossword. The book is a contemporary and current analysis of India’s changing brandscape with detailed essays on many marketing issues and changing consumer behaviour.
The author on the book
Speaking about Honest to God, the author, Dr.Sandeep Goyal reiterated, “I spend hours, sometimes days researching a subject. I try to form an independent view. I write with zero bias. But when I write, I write with purpose, I write with passion. Marketing or communication may seem to be drab commercial subjects but believe me there is a lot of emotion that drives brands and brand-owners. I try to capture those emotions in most of what I write. Honest to God has consistently been over the past few years an honest and unrelenting mirror to all that happens in Corporate India”.