Category: SPECIALS

With over 10 years of professional experience, Akanksha’s mantra is “to be true to everything I do and to myself – by ensuring that I have given nothing short of my 100%.”

 

“What drives me is the selfish desire to make a mark; essentially leave everything better than I found it,” she says.

 

As for choosing her career, Akanksha said, “I wanted to be in the ‘Communications’ industry long before I even understood what it entailed and that’s what led me to MICA. While I did dabble with Account Management for about a year at the start of my career, I felt that the well-honed left part of my 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 brainJ.”

 

With a professional career spanning 15 years, Sonali began her journey with Grey 15 years ago as a Media Planner. From there, she moved on to HTA before she got married and had to leave the country for the next 12 years.

 

She worked in Dubai and Australia with ZO, OMD and even did a three year stint in consumer research. Having had enough of the outside world, Sonali came back to Mindshare and closer to her home. Since then, she has been working as Client Leader with Mindshare Gurgaon.

 

Sharing an anecdote from the past, Sonali says: “I remember when I was doing my PG, and showed inclination towards Client Servicing, one of my mentors wryly commented: “here goes another one, she’d rather chase artworks and function as an exalted courier and not use her brains towards making a difference”. It almost felt wrong not to do something about such a strong statement… Well, here I am today and you don’t see me complaining…so I guess something I must have done something right many years ago…

Nandini Dias, COO, Lodestar Universal, is one of most applauded professionals in the media industry. A firm believer in work-life balance, she manages her responsibilities at work with much aplomb.

 

An excellent leader, in this conversation with Ritu Midha, Nandini talks about the KPI of a successful leader, need of policies to enable women to hold their own and the women consumer at large.

 

You’ve come a long way in this industry today. What would you attribute your success and stature in the industry to?

I guess sincerity is the key. Respect the brief, acknowledge the practicalities and give it your all. If you can start all this afresh again and again on assignment after assignment, things usually turn out well. I am not a master at it but I try. Always!

 

Is being a woman helped or hindered you in your career in anyway?

In this business one is supposed to leave one’s ego and gender outside the room. It really doesn’t make a difference what gender you are, at least in my experience.

 

[youtube width=”400″ height=”225″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1ZbtHm62XM[/youtube]

While most sectors are seeing women rising to the top now, it is different with Media where there have been women achievers since the time of Roda Mehta etc. What are your views on the same?

Well, media planning and buying is a relatively new field without too much history. So I guess given an equal opportunity, equal number of women are seen in the top rung.

 

Would you say that Indian businesses are now unbiased, and that women get equal opportunities as men?

The mindsets have certainly opened up. Indian businesses have started understanding that if 50% of the workforce is cut off from any form of opportunity they are limiting their own talent pool and consequently their options by half. But to enable women to continue to stay in their career, a lot of infrastructure needs to be put in place, at least in India. There are periods in their life when women usually get off. Like childbirth, husbands transfer etc. We need to relook at our policies and enable women to continue during/post these times.

 

Moving to women in general, do you agree that the women consumer segment is increasing in power and importance?

There used to be very well defined male bastions and female bastions for most product categories. Technology, cars, finance etc were supposedly open only to men and FMCG products like shampoos, creams, edible oils etc to women. But now with more and more women joining the work force the behavioral pattern inside the household has changed and the division of house chores between the couple has become more ambiguous. As a result the decision making process has altered breaking the bastions. So both the male and female consumers have increased in power and importance on the non-traditional bastions.

 

Does word of mouth play a more important role as far as women consumers are concerned?

Today social networking is an important medium. In fact advertisers invest money in using groups and friends to spread the word. Bloggers are paid to create conversations. So word of mouth has become an organized medium. Word of mouth in marketing is relevant and used by both genders. If money is being invested to buy a product everyone should do due diligence check out opinions of people who are current users.

 

Do you believe that a woman’s role as a home-maker is evolving to that of a home owner – more so in case of upmarket metro women?

In my books, home-maker is part home owner irrespective of what the legal document says. It is important for everyone to understand that the role of all in a household has evolved.

 

Is the upmarket metro woman growing at a pace faster than men today?

Women in India have just started seeing economic independence. They have had to struggle to break traditional mindsets and become economically independent. As a result the mindset of working women is that they have to remain focused and have to succeed. It is going to be very important that we should be able to balance the work-family-life equation well. And to me success will be best defined if we manage the three without strain.

 

Lastly, an unrelated question – how would you define a Diva?

A woman who works towards a goal she sets for herself and accomplishes it.

 

Anupriya Acharya, Leader, Client Leadership, South Asia at Mindshare Fulcrum brings to table freshness of thought and keen consumer insights. She joined Mindshare Fulcrum as the Head of Affairs in February this year.  She moves in from Singapore, where she was CEO, Aegis Media.

 

It is a homecoming of sorts for Acharya as she was a part of Mindshare team for almost five years in the past as well – 2000 to 2004.

 

In this brief conversation with Ritu Midha, Anupriya Acharya speaks about her interesting journey in the world of media, marketing to different target groups and more.

 

[youtube width=”400″ height=”225″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGFzF3-F7G0[/youtube]

Let’s begin with your stint in media so far…how has the journey been?

For me, the journey has been very interesting. When I started out, I didn’t have a destination in mind. I am an explorer by nature, and so even on my work, I moved from position to position…different functions…different places…different cities. I have always enjoyed what I do. There is always a sense of freshness in my engagement with my work, and that’s what I particularly enjoy. So for me the journey continues to be interesting.

 

Has being a woman ever been a barrier, or advantageous for that matter?

As boring as it sounds, neither has it been a barrier, nor has it been of any help. It is basically your competencies, which either make you successful or not. It has nothing to do with, at least in our profession, being a woman or a man.

 

When I was a child, all the children in my neighborhood were boys, and hence, I usually used to be only girl in that group. In college, again, I went to Roorkee University, which was primarily an engineering college and, I think 90% plus of the crowd were men. I have always been comfortable in such situations. And now I find that, especially in senior positions, there are more men than women. It is important for you to be comfortable with that, which is not that tough for me. But it is equally important, I think, that men should be comfortable with you as well. That is something that helps for sure.

 

The media industry has always seen women at their working best right from the days of Roda Mehta etc. But that is not the case with most other sectors that are just witnessing the rise of women in the managerial ranks. What would you attribute this behavior to?

Skill sets and competence required is not specific to men or women – which is why opportunities are equal for both guys and girls. But it does help that women like Roda Mehta did exceedingly well so early on. It has definitely led to there being no mindset as to women not doing well, or that they would be experimenting so to say. In some other sectors which are largely male dominated, and there are hardly any women, it might get tough initially for the first round of women.

 

Talking of women in general, do you think they make different purchase decisions than men?

Women in general are far more multi-dimensional and multi sensorial. They have a higher EQ, and they are more receptive to learning and observing. They are shrewder. So they should be making different decisions as compared to men.

 

How much does your market strategy depend on the gender you are targeting?

If you are talking about consumer insights and advertising, it is more a function of whether you are relevant to your times or not. Whether you are talking to a kid, a guy or a woman, it is important that you are depicting the current era and not talking the cliched language of years gone by. While there are differences in men and women, even in the way they consume media – they are not so dramatically different.

 

More of a challenge is picking up the right insight that would strike the right chord for most of the women you are talking to.

 

Do you think woman’s role as a home maker is now changing to that of a home owner?

Yes, of course – as the whole economy grows, and the women become more economically independent.  Whether or not they become independent homeowners is not that big an issue as having a huge say in what property to buy, where to buy so on and so forth. There is more input given by women even in joint properties.

 

The world is changing and recognizing that there are more and more women buyers out there.

 

How has the upmarket metro woman changed if we compare her to a generation back?

She is more individualistic – has more clarity of thought, much more confident – is happier talking her mind, does not have to think too much of the repercussions. That is because there is a more acceptable society to such viewpoints and such mind states. It is all changed for the better.

 

And finally, how would you define a Diva?

I think somebody who can catch your imagination without trying too hard. And, is comfortable in her own skin.

 

(Experience: 4 years)

Born a Tamil Brahmin, Nithya grew up largely in New Delhi, though she moved around a fair bit in her early years owing chiefly to her dad’s job at a bank. The multiple cultures she was exposed to fostered her curiosity in understanding people and cultures. While still in school, she discovered an interest in media and went on to do her BA (Hons) Journalism from Lady Shri Ram College for Women in Delhi. While at college, she was exposed to the various facets of the media industry and not just journalism. “In those three years, I was able to explore both the content creation and business sides of the media and entertainment industry in India and decided to do my MBA in Communications management from MICA. After graduating from MICA in 2008, I moved to Mumbai and joined Mudra Communications, and am now part of the DDB Mudramax media team,” avers Nithya Ravi.

 

While doing her MBA in communications management at MICA, Nithya was drawn more towards media than advertising. The whole process of planning based on knowledge and data was what excited her. In fact, analytics and strategy continue to be her key area of interest and the part of work that she enjoys the most. Working on a couple of industry projects in her second year and her internship at JWT only strengthened her decision. Having joined DDB Mudramax straight out of MICA, the last four years have been interesting and a wonderful learning experience for Nithya.

 

“Having worked in the industry for four years, I find that my early familiarity with different parts of the country continues to play a key role as we strive to find more creative and localised media solutions for clients and also continues to define my personality and my interests and hobbies,” she says.