Category: DIVAS UPCLOSE

(Experience: 14 years)

Sujata has done her post graduation in Communications, and has worked with agencies like Media Com (6+yrs), Starcom (2yrs), and Lodestar Universal (6+ yrs). She has handled a strong portfolio of clients including Marico, Gujarat Ambuja, Kelloggs, Heinz, Bisleri, Kelloggs, Birla Life Insurance, L’Oreal, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nerolac, Conagra, Abbott, etc.

On the reason for opting for this field, she said: “I have always felt comfortable with numbers, my friends who knew of this advised me to consider media planning so I chose to come into this field.” In fact Sujata Pawar is fortunate enough to have worked with senior media professionals like Shashi Sinha, Nandini Dias, Jasmine Sohrabji, Harish Shriyan, Divya Gupta, Gita Ram, Andre Purshottam & Ravi Kiran.

Sounding her mantra for all to practice, she said: “It is important to be constantly learning new things for mental stimulation and growth. In Lodestar UM, handling both planning & buying really helped groom understanding & thinking on Media as a whole in its entirety.”

Young, well qualified and trained Lara Balsara is all set to take her father Sam Balsara’s legacy further – not only in terms of steering Madison Communications to a new level, but also in her acumen for all things media and peripheral to it. A Graduate in Economics from St Xavier’s College, she embellished her inherent skills with a Masters in Marketing from Bristol University. In a brief conversation with Ritu Midha, Lara Balsara talks about her work mantras and more.

What is your take on work-life balance?

If you want to succeed at the work place, there is no such thing as work- life balance. You have to be available 24/7 during weekdays for sure. The “balance” comes from taking frequent short breaks over the weekend and pursuing a hobby.

Women like yourself are scaling great heights in media industry. Why do you think, media planning and buying attract so many women professionals?

Advertising as an industry attracts a lot of women.

Do you believe that in a few professions, women still have to work harder than men to prove their worth?

Maybe in some other professions, but not in advertising and media for sure. Women might find it a bit more challenging because they have to manage work and home.

Moving to marketing, do women look for emotional quotient in the brand marketing – or is it now logic all the way?

It would be a combination of both and would also depend on the product category.

Lastly, how would you define a diva?

A diva is someone who is confident and comfortable in her own skin and who sets new trends and benchmarks and doesn’t necessarily follow trends or people.

(Experience: 14 years)

Priti Murthy is National Director – Insights at Maxus India. She has over 14 years of experience working and advising companies across FMCG, Financial Services, Telcos, Retail, Publication Houses, Media and Television. Priti in her various roles, has been responsible for strategic planning for one of the largest media planning business houses in India – Maxus of GroupM (a WPP Group company).

Currently, Priti is part of the Maxus India Managing Committee and is responsible for driving strategic initiatives with all major clients of Maxus.

She started her career with Creative Unit (agency of Magna Group) as planner and rose to drive the strategic planning and implementation roles with various clients across various verticals. She has also been part of Publicis and Media Edge. Priti has advised various prominent companies including Vodafone, Nokia, Perffetti, Parle, Britannia, Dabur, Hero Honda, Tata Chemicals (Salt), L’Oreal (Planning)  Colgate-Palmolive, Shoppers Stop, Stanchart Bank and Hutch.

Priti is extensively quoted in Media and is also part of GroupM trainers – that focuses on delivering excellence in training team on Content and related skills.

(Experience: 11 years)

Kanupriya Seyal has over 10 years of experience in Strategic Planning and Buying for clients across categories such as FMCG, telecom, mobile handsets, retail, on-line travel, media houses, apparels, liquor, real estate and white goods. This journey of over a decade has been filled with challenges, excitement and learning.

Talking about her beginnings, Kanupriya said: “I cut my media planning teeth at Lodestar Universal where I worked on Madura Garments, General Motors and Bacardi before moving to Mudra to provide specialized holistic strategic solutions to clients such as Electrolux, Amway and Dabur. I was instrumental in winning multiple new businesses such as Spice, Hotspot and Yatra.com among others for the agency. I was also leading the team responsible for the Media launch of these brands.”

She joined MPG in 2009 to spearhead the investment planning on one of the largest advertisers in a highly competitive category: Reckitt Benckiser to improve the ROI through structured buying and increased innovative usage of various mediums.

Beyond Reckitt, Kanupriya has developed buying strategies for MTS and other MPG clients. She has added value to the client business through high level of commitment, passion and application of cross functional skills of planning and buying.

“I always found something interesting and stimulating in all my jobs. Having been nurtured in this vibrant and aggressive environment, my pursuit has always been new and loftier pinnacles of performance, which continues to spur me on. I have been ambitious for the brands that I steward. My award winning contributions include: a bronze for the category of “Best use of Sponsorship” at Goafest Media Awards 2008 and the Young Media Turks Award organized by NDTV.”

Kanupriya has a PGD with specialization in Marketing and Graduation in Advertising from Delhi University. Kanupriya said that she was prompted to take up this field as there aren’t many jobs which allow creativity and strategies to come to life to be observed by thousands of people. “Work results are very apparent and I felt that can result in a very satisfying career. It is one interesting field where one is not restricted to think within a square room.”

Kanupriya said that she has good critical thinking skills in terms of being able to evaluate information and analyze its relevance and meaning – which she felt was crucial to succeed in this field.

(Work experience: 11 yrs)

Sanchita started her career in media planning some 11 years ago and has worked across agencies like Carat, Mindshare and OMD. During her stint across agencies, she has had the fortune of working on key accounts like Berger Paints, National Insurance, Tea Board, Lafarge India and Airtel (East Circle). She currently manages the skincare portfolio for J&J comprising of brands like Neutrogena & Clean & Clear.

On her most memorable moment yet, Roy shared: “Have been a part of the core team that worked on the biggest back to college activation program for Clean & Clear called “FRESH FACE” in partnership with Times of India based on strong consumer insights around TG. The campaign resulted in establishing C&C as the teen and went on to win an ABBY GOLD in Youth Marketing Category at Goafest 2011 and other J&J internal awards.”

On what made her chose media planning and buying as a career option, she said: “Choosing media planning & buying has never been a conscious choice for me. Having said that once I started I have enjoyed every moment of it.”

Experience: 13 years

Atrayee Chakraborty is a Master of Economics from Presidency College, Kolkata. She pursued her MBA in marketing from Institute of Business Management, Jadhavpur University. Currently, she is the Business Head on Colgate Palmolive at MEC, GroupM.

Talking about her career graph, Atrayee said: “I started my career in the media industry 12 years ago, I have worked with HTA, Kolkata under Indrani Sen. I then moved to Lintas, Mumbai in 2002, where I worked for seven and a half years across multiple portfolios, both in media and in account planning. Thereafter, I joined MEC in 2010 to head the Colgate-Palmolive media business.”

Atrayee said that since childhood she has enjoyed watching advertising on television, “At times even more than good old programming”. As she grew up, she decided to study marketing and join an ad agency. Media planning became the obvious choice as she felt that she is “more left brain oriented than right… I love numbers and have an analytical bend of mind”.

She feels lucky to get her first break in HTA and work under Indrani Sen: “She was my mentor and responsible for creating my strong base in media planning. Since then I have never got bored of this profession…I enjoy every moment in my professional life without any regret or feeling of compromise.”

(Experience: 10 years)

Currently Florinda Fernandes is into both Business Development and Client Servicing. The profile includes everything right from pitching for a new business till the campaign ends. The entire process in terms of strategizing, planning, innovation and execution as a whole is Florinda’s forte.

Explaining her work, Florinda said: “Outdoor is one of the domains in the media fraternity wherein every day is a new day. Each day has a challenge as the industry is unpredictable. It is undergoing changes and evolving into a new platform. Today, we speak on the lines of innovation, convergence and globalization. It’s becoming more consumer-centric and holistic thinking, thus making it more challenging and realistic. I am more than happy to be a part of it, and see it grow.”

(Experience: 10 years)

Being daughter of an Air Force Officer, Namita Sethi spent the early part of her childhood in various cities across India before settling in Delhi for her higher education. She is a Commerce graduate, and has done my Post Graduation in Communications from Delhi.

“‘Media’ as a profession happened by chance.” As part of her summer internship, she got an opportunity to work in Universal Mc Cann. During this stint, she got a first-hand experience of media planning. As a student too, she had been good with numbers and analytics, so this profession seemed the most appropriate to take forward her strength and also as a career option. “And now, I am a Media Professional since more than a decade in a leading advertising firm, and happy about it.”

Namita is currently working with Lodestar Universal as Media Director and said that she has learnt a lot from diverse experience across portfolio ranging from Mobile, FMCG, Durables, Finance and Automobiles.

(Experience: 10 years)

“Necessity never made a good bargain,” said Benjamin Franklin, but Abhita Anand chose to differ. At 18, when most girls were deciding on what dress and makeup to wear to college, Abhita was busy converting the challenge of a life without her father in an opportunity to chart her career – a decision that made a difference to her and her family’s life.

Abhita started her career as a front desk representative in one of the most recognized and esteemed organization in fashion industry – not only in India but worldwide – Elite Model Management, India. Recognizing her potential and immense inclination to move forward, Elite gave her an opportunity that Abhita was not ready to let go, at any cost. Within a year, Abhita was handling the modeling school and was responsible for business development and targets for its Delhi branch.

It was Elite where Abhita started handling the PR and ad division work for Elite. It did not take long for Abhita, with her business acumen, to realize the potential of the last mile communication and she started the events division in Elite.

Juggling her education and work, Abhita completed her MBA in marketing and finance from Fore School Of Management to correlate the management gyan and its real life application. She spent more than 5 years at Elite handling various verticals and facets of business, making her one of the most important assets there.

With a hunger to try something new and considering the evolving market, Abhita joined Times Red Cell, the activation arm of The Times of India/ BCCL. It was there that Abhita got an unmatched exposure to the media industry and functionality. She spent three years on learning.

Some of the key projects Abhita handled at TOI were WagonR ‘Think Big Challenge’ and Met Life ‘I want to be an editor’. She delivered beautifully, making the clients come back to the organization year after year.

After spending three years with Times of India, Abhita joined MEC Access (Group M). Today, she handles the business at MEC Access, Delhi for clients like LG, Citibank and OCM to name a few.

(Experience: 10 years)

What Akanksha Jain values the most is to be true to everything she does and to herself. And she does that by ensuring that she has given nothing short of 100per cent.

Explaining her motivation, Akanksha said: “What drives me is the selfish desire to make a mark; essentially leave everything better than I found it! I wanted to be in the ‘Communications’ industry long before I even understood what it entailed and that’s what led me to MICA.”

She has ‘dabbled’ with account management for about a year at the start of her career, but didn’t follow through as she felt that the well-honed left part of her brain wasn’t getting enough exercise! “I was attracted to media and joined what was then a 3-member team (Pepsi @ Mindshare) to try my hand at it. That I am still here is thanks to the constant excitement and challenges that have engaged both parts of my brain.”

(Experience: 9 years)

With a total nine years of work experience, Priyanka Kapoor has handled portfolios varying from Media Planning/Buying to Channel Marketing to Event Marketing to Analytical Projects. Having made strategic contributions across categories, her expertise today encompasses Automobiles (Tata Motors), FMCG (Coca Cola, Bajaj Consumer Care) and Apparels (Zodiac).

Her current role at Lodestar UM primarily involves working on the strategic inputs and plans for clients. When asked on what is it that drives her to perform her best at her workplace, she said: “I am passionate about media planning and buying because it is a profession that always demands high energy and lots of love and passion for what you do. As a person, these are the cues that drive me and hence, this profession!”

Kapoor’s previous stints include marketing roles at NDTV Media, Balaji Telefilms and 9.9 Media.

(Experience: 9 years)

Rajeshwari Narayanan is a Commerce graduate and has also done her MMS in Marketing (MBA) from Mumbai University. She has been with Lodestar UM for the past seven years. Prior to this, she was with Starcom for six months & Triton Communications for a year-and-a-half.

Sharing her passion to foray into the media domain she says, “During my MBA days, I had done my summer internship in media at Lodestar UM. I found it fascinating and interesting and that is what led me to choose media planning & buying as my profession. I am fortunate to have worked with media stalwarts like Shashi Sinha, Nandini Dias, Arpita Menon and more.”

Narayanan has worked for a plethora of clients over the years like L’Oreal, Kansai Nerolac, Mahindra 2 Wheelers, Vedanta, LIC, Tata Trent, Diageo and many more.

Sharing her motto that drives her to deliver her best she says, “I believe that it is the leaders, the people & their attitude that drive organisations and keep the teams motivated and driven. Also, it is important in being transparent and open while interacting with the team, clients and media partners.”

Sharing a proud moment of her life, Narayanan exclaimed: “Winning Gold at the Cannes Media Lions in 2011 – a first for Lodestar UM – was a very proud moment for me and the team. We leveraged media partnerships and brand goals to create a path-breaking property that won accolades for our brand Garnier. I was very happy to be part of this initiative.”