Category: SPECIALS

(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.”

(Work experience: 9 years)

She has a better way to soak in extra knowledge; an attribute she feels sets her apart from her peers. Avers Gauthaman: “There is so much of information one can gather by just listening! And that is precisely what I do most often. I love to listen to people, analyze reaction when spoken, interpret gestures and expression which I believe usually talks more than words!”

But besides being an avid listener, an amateur cake baker and an animal lover (do minus the lizard and the cockroach variety!!), Gauthaman’s main area of focus is media planning. A major portion of her time in a day is spent towards her role as GM while her remaining time is spent with arguments & discussions with her husband, focusing on re-educating herself with her class 7 son and in disturbing her lazy sleepy dog.

Gauthaman did her MA in English Literature (Central University, Hyderabad) and took up towards Advertising Management as a career option. She specialized into the profession by doing a course from MICA. As she puts it: “And so, putting words to numbers, picture-zing and understanding bars and curves has been my passion for the last 17 years.”

Sharing her inclination towards media planning and buying, Gauthaman said: “Media has always been like a puzzle game – analyzing data, understanding consumer behavior, customizing budgets to plans and eventually shopping media intrigued me more than copy writing/servicing. So from starting off as a client servicing person at my first job, I switched to Media planning and buying later.”

(Experience: 10 years)

Arti Singh had a non-descript graduation and although she “was never going to Trinity”, she aced advertising and loved the way it ticked. She could not pursue a professional course and without any guidance or competitive edge, she jumped into the hospitality industry.

She soon gained a foothold – and that was all she needed – in Aaren Initiative which was the sister concern of Lintas Group. She worked as a Central Co-ordinator, handling Tata Indicom’s outdoor account at Pan India level for 22 circles.

Talking about her move to Posterscope, Arti explained: “Alice was finally in the rabbit hole! I also got a chance to work in Activation at Tata. And then came a challenging portfolio in the retail division at Posterscope Outdoor. The field was new to me but I was on a high and needed the adrenaline. I went from being a media executive to media manager and right now I am Associate Business Manager, heading a team of my own. I am proud and passionate about my work and my passion leads me to greener pastures and multinational clients. When glory beckons, I march onward.”

“I didn’t wake up some day and ask myself why I am in Media Planning and Buying? I chose this field as much as it chose me. Retail is an extremely disorganized field but at the same time challenging and innovative.”

For Arti, every day is a brand new – pun intended – horizon, with new people, negotiating commercial proposals and maintaining client satisfaction, both existing and new. She feels that the scope is huge and without any stagnancy. Retail is rapidly expanding with great demand and Inventing, Innovating and Inspiring unique and visible trends for brands are her 3 Is for success.

(Experience: 7 years)

Shilpi Tibrewal is Media Director – Planning at Dentsu Media. With nearly a decade’s experience in the business, Shilpi has strong expertise in managing full-spectrum media responsibilities including media strategy, planning and buying. Over the years, Shilpi has worked with leading media organizations like Mindshare Fulcrum, Carat Media and Mudra Connext. Having worked with brands such as Emami and The Times of India, she also has experience managing the media mandate on the client side. Her brand experience includes brands such as Aircel, Honda Bikes, Unicharm, Hitachi, ICI Dulux, Amway, Yatra, HBO, Adidas, BMW and Ray Ban to name a few. An M.A. in Political Science from the University of Calcutta, Shilpi also completed an MBA in Marketing and M.A in International Relations from the University of Sussex, UK.

As to why she chose media planning & buying, she states, “The media – be it print or television is something that we as consumers, grow with. We had television going colour in my time. I remember suddenly having access to sudden burst of choices when it came to newspapers and magazines. In my earlier years as a student, these choices and variety fascinated me. I was very curious about the background of these ‘information vehicles’ and how they may operate. So it was an inherent curiosity that got me started on the road to discovering media and it has been a fascinating journey of great learning!”

(Experience: 8 years)

After completing her BA in Mathematics from Lady Shri Ram College, Nilakshi Shukla started her career in marketing with Virgin Atlantic. After taking a break to complete her post-graduation from Times School of Marketing, she worked with the Times of India. She has now been working for 8 years, out of which 6 years have been spent as a media planner and buyer in the digital space: “Joining Web Chutney in 2006 kick-started her career in this space.” After a period of two years, she moved to Tribal DDB.

Elaborating on her career, Nilakshi said: “I joined GroupM in the end of 2009 and worked as a specialist in Mobile Media Planning, which allowed me to deep-dive into and get a better understanding of one vertical of the digital space. In January this year, I transferred to MEC Interaction as the Delhi Head; looking after all digital platforms including display, mobile, search, social and creative.”

Nilakshi’s entry into media planning was not a calculated one. She joined WebChutney as a media planning executive, excited about the Internet, but not being entirely sure what it was about and without any prior experience in the space or media planning. But a few days into it, she was convinced that this is what she wanted to do in terms of a career. Nilakshi said that as an avid Internet user and with an inherent curiosity for the medium, being a planner fit right in: “Add to that the explosive growth which Internet usage was poised for and the fact that it was constantly evolving, ensured that this would be a fun and dynamic industry to work in.”

(Experience: 8 years)

Bhumika Shajwani has nearly eight years of experience in Media Planning & Buying, Key Account Management & Brand Management. She feels that she is a highly motivated and result-oriented professional with the ability to visualise the big picture and lead a motivated and high powered team to implement brand promotion campaigns, launch new products and enhance customer experience.

Talking about her experience, Bhumika said: “I have experience in leading activities involving liaison with key accounts and sustaining strong business relations with key accounts of strategic importance. I am proficient in heading business operations encompassing customer relationship management, finalisation of strategic alliances leading to brand enhancement & consumer market analysis.”

Dexterity in steering development of products based on market/customer specifications with a strong understanding of marketing issues is one of her core strengths. She said that she is an impressive communicator with honed interpersonal, team building, negotiation, presentation, convincing and analytical skills.

(Experience: 9 years)

Ronak Parekh has been a part of Madison Media since the past nine years as a media planner. She has worked on varied set of businesses including Zee Network, Dish TV, Pidilite, Times Television and currently handles the media duties for Marico.

Sharing her passion for the domain, she says: “It is a very dynamic industry wherein one has to constantly evolve and keep up with the client’s business requirements. Also the nature of work is challenging and has to constantly learn and adapt to the ever-changing environment. That’s what I found stimulating in the initial stages, and it still keeps me charged up, excited and looking for new solutions.”