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Category: People

  • Syska Group signs on Rajkummar Rao as brand ambassador

    Syska Group signs on Rajkummar Rao as brand ambassador

    NEW DELHI: Syska Group has roped in award-winning Bollywood actor Rajkummar Rao as the new face of the brand. Rao will work closely with the company to promote Syska products across LED and fan segments.

    After the untimely and unfortunate demise of Syska’s first-ever brand ambassador Irrfan Khan, the company was on a lookout for a dynamic brand ambassador. Rao enjoys mass appeal for his unconventional choice of movies and is one of the most versatile actors of today. He has a strong connect with urban audiences, as well as with those from Tier 2 and 3 markets, which make up the large segment of Syska’s target groups, making the actor the perfect fit to endorse the brand.

    Syska Group director Rajesh Uttamchandani said, “We are extremely excited to have Rajkummar Rao as the new face of the Syska Group. Rajkumar is an apt choice for the brand because of his discerning choice of work and roles which reflects a sensitive, and mature actor. We believe that our journey at Syska is mirrored in his work.”

    Rajkummar Rao said, “For me, Syska is a high quality, 100 per cent homegrown brand. It is a pioneering company whose story is truly inspiring and which I relate to easily. Syska has created a niche category which is good for the country and has been making great strides in successfully convincing users to switch from traditional CFL to LED lights.”

    Under the partnership, Syska Group will launch a new ad campaign with Rajkumar focusing on LED and fans, which will be executed strategically through leading TV channels in GEC and news genres in order to reach the masses across metro, tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Its aggressive digital presence with publishers having high-traffic will further amplify the reach amongst the new-age customers and will only add to the momentum during the entire festival season right up to New Year.

  • Transformation is an on-going process, never complete: RD&X Network founder Rajiv Dingra

    Transformation is an on-going process, never complete: RD&X Network founder Rajiv Dingra

    NEW DELHI: Like most people around us, serial entrepreneur Rajiv Dingra counts himself among those who polished their cooking skills during the Covid-2019 lockdown. Now he can now make two mean recipes to perfection: masala paneer and masala chicken. However, unlike most people, that’s not his only achievement. He also happened to work on his new entrepreneurial venture, RD&X Network – a unique deep-tech network to drive brand, business, media, and data transformation that he launched on 27 October 202o. In a recent candid conversation with Indiantelevision.com’s Mansi Sharma, he spilled the beans about his new company, the culture he is expecting to create, and how his creator instincts prompted him to develop something dynamic. 

    On his exit from WatConsult 

    Dingra, who was associated with Dentsu International (then Dentsu Aegis Network) as the chief mentor and advisor for  WATConsult till January 2020, a company that he had founded 13-years back, said that resigning from the agency was certainly not a very easy decision, but he was willing to take the entrepreneur’s seat again. 

    He said, “I had given up my complete stake in WatConsult in December 2019 and within a few days I knew that I did not want to continue as another employee. I do not mean to say that the status of a CEO is anywhere lesser than an entrepreneur but it was more about who I really am. I see myself as a creator, someone who can bring different ideas to life. Also, I was very sure that we had created a brilliant team at WATConsult and nothing would go wrong even if I leave.”

    Another reason that contributed to his exit was the internal transformation that is actively happening across Dentsu offices globally. “I am a person who can’t do three things at a time. I have to disconnect completely from one thing to focus on another and that’s why I preferred to move out.” 

    Read more stories on Rajiv Dingra

    On starting RD&X

    However, when he had put down his papers almost a year ago, he had no idea what his next step would be. But the Covid-2019 pandemic gave him the opportunity to dive deeper into the data and tech space and create RD&X. 

    “I had no idea what I would be doing when I resigned from WATConsult, I just knew that I wanted to create something new, transformative, and disruptive. My last day there was in January this year when Covid-2019 pandemic had just started spreading, but it was nowhere in India. At that time, I realised that deep tech is going to be the next big thing, so I started exploring it. In another era, I would have taken more time to launch something of this stature and vision, but with the pandemic, I knew the time was just right and along with our core team, we worked intensively to put it together.”

    With RD&X, Dingra plans to create a global network of data and technology companies that are aiming to lead the next leg of development. He is already in advanced-level talks with a number of small and mid-sized companies in the US, SEA, and EMEA markets to grow the network and is expecting to make some big announcements in the coming six months. 

    “I'm open to investing in, acquiring, and even buying out some early-stage companies to fit in our larger vision. We are right now investing right now for skill and not for scale, so the core idea right now is to aid our inorganic growth and create strong teams across geographies and then focus on the organic part of it. At the same time, we are creating in-house flagship solutions and looking forward to expanding our India team.” 

    On offerings of RD&X

    For Dingra, the term RD&X is the amalgamation of three things; real-time data, disruptive technologies, and exponential growth and that’s what is on offer at his new entrepreneurial venture. 

    “We bifurcate our core services in four key areas: structured brand transformation, business transformation, media transformation (across buying, planning, and selling spaces), and data transformation. As we go along, we will further fine tune these areas and introduce better tools and technologies to achieve exponential growth for our clients,” he elaborated. 

    “We are going to leverage technology to create and aid new business models. The examples of these are companies like Urban Clap and TikTok. While the former used the latest technology to transform how business is done at salons or home cleaning services, etc., TikTok based on real-time data and technology, did social media in a completely new and unique way.” 

    On the brand identity of RD&X

    While RD&X stands for the exponential growth driven by real-time data and disruptive technologies, the brand name also signifies his own initials, and X stands for the x-factor of all entrepreneurs who are investing in the venture, quipped Dingra. 

    “The brand name signifies an entrepreneurial network which is transformist in nature, which has the attitude of constantly learning, evolving, and making new mistakes,” he explained. 

    The logo, designed by Dingra, hints at the constant juggle between market profits and losses. “If you look at our logo, it has three colours: red, black, and white. Black and red colours have a great significance in the business world; they reflex the profit and loss situations. For me, profit and loss are a unique matrix– for example, Kodak was in the black when it suddenly vanished, and Instagram had been in the red for the longest time but today it is one of the most popular social media platforms. So, it is all very volatile and it comes to the spirit of the team to take none of this seriously. The white stands for the canvas in which these other colours stand; means that no matter where you are today, you will always be on a blank canvas and have the opportunity to transform yourself for better.”

    He continued, “The infinity sign on our logo is not connected completely. It signifies that transformation is never complete, it’s ever going.” 

    On the geo-agnostic, remote-first culture of RD&X

    Dingra is excited to create a unique geo-agnostic work-culture at RD&X, something that has been made immensely easy by the pandemic-induced lockdown and the evolved work-culture. He foresees the firm as a completely employee-first organisation and has created a massive culture and people manifesto for it. “To me, being employee-first means giving up the blanket rules and regulations that we have for all the employees. We need to stop seeing them as another resource but rather as individuals and that is what is going to be our core focus at RD&X,” he said.

    Additionally, he’s willing to create a hybrid work model for the employees. “We will be investing in physical spaces, definitely, so that people have a place to get together and discuss ideas and work together, but we want to be remote-first. That means, people can work from anywhere they want; if they are comfortable at their own homes, they can choose to work from there, but if there are people who are more productive and comfortable in office-spaces, they can come and work from the office. There is going to be no compulsion of any sort for anyone.” 

  • Durga Puja: Advertisers optimistic as demand returns

    Durga Puja: Advertisers optimistic as demand returns

    MUMBAI: By now it’s evident that the Covid2019 pandemic is not going away anytime soon. After spiralling caseloads – ravaged the economy, and played spoilsport with travel plans – scary ol' Corona seems to be on the wane in time for the festive season, though it’s too early to celebrate outright. But with the markets rallying and consumer sentiments surging, brands and advertisers are sniffing the air hopefully, even as they tread with caution. 

    Every year, several categories like FMCGs, apparel, auto, e-commerce and consumer durables become the biggest spenders during the Durga Puja-Diwali stretch. The query their marketing teams puts up is not ‘how much?’ but ‘why not?’ This time around, the question is: how brands plan to advertise in the year of Corona.

    However, the Tata group owned fashion and lifestyle chain Westside has braced to make the most out of the circumstances. The brand’s ‘What’s Your Festive’ campaign focuses on all the products, right from clothing, cosmetics, footwear to  home décor. For the campaign, Westside has created four festive installations, each of which spans 15 seconds in which viewers can catch a glimpse of everything that it offers.

    Westside customer head Umashan Naidoo explained, “The films are directed by the very talented Devang Desai and the cast consists of Westside employees, customers and designers from the ethnic wear brand. After all, who better to advocate style and share the joy of their products but the creators themselves? We believe that these are real people with the aspirations of the brand at heart.”

    Read more news on Durga Puja 

    The films are meant to uplift spirits and have nothing to do with hard selling, said Naidoo, adding in an aside that the sparkling diyas featured in the video are part of a CSR project started in 2003 by Simone Naval Tata herself.

    As the options for big outdoor displays and activities are limited, brands are shifting to the digital space to keep their connect with customers alive. For instance, Fortune the Adani Wilmar group's Fortune brand has been running a digital campaign called Pet Pujo for the last three years to engage consumers. The brand’s media & strategy head Sanjay Adesara said: “This year, we have given it a twist keeping the current Covid situation in mind. From the last 3-4 years, we were doing a separate digital activity outside. This year also we are keeping it digital.”

    Adesara also shared that the trends in the West Bengal market during the pre-Puja period are similar to last year’s: there’s been no dip in additional grocery buying and shopping for clothes and personal care products.

    Kolkata is a major market for RSH Global-owned Joy Personal Care. CMO Poulomi Roy is of the view that from November onwards, things are going to pick-up in the northern part of the country, especially before Diwali. The skincare maker has launched a new campaign ahead of Durga Puja in West Bengal. As part of the campaign, the brand released the peppy, upbeat music video Dugga Elo featuring ten popular Bengali celebrities which captures vivid moments that highlight the vibe of pujo. Intended to create a festive mood and keep the spirit alive, the campaign song will be played out on television, radio, OTT platform and social media platforms of SVF Brands.

    Observing that while the personal care segment such as hand wash, soap, sunscreen segments had gone down during the initial phase of the lockdown, Roy said one category that witnessed a boost was luxury products.

    “People have stayed back at home and instead of spending outside, they have actively been indulging and taking care of themselves by using  personal care  products,” she added. The disruption that happened at the outset of the pandemic affected the company's supply chain but as things are getting back to normal, the demand is steadily returning.

    Experts echoed the sentiment, saying consumer demand has definitely picked up in the past 15 days. Experimental and cross-shopping is on the rise, especially for categories such as cosmetics, lingerie and home décor. They project that brands which have the best style, value, availability, and experience will surely witness growth.

    Tata CLiQ CMO Kishore Mardikar noted that since people are still on guard against contracting the virus, there’s been a lull in out-of-doors puja activity, especially shopping. Instead, they’ve switched to online to purchase their discretionary needs along with daily essentials. Broadly, there’s been an accelerated digital adoption this year,  with increased exploration and buying in all the categories including fashion and electronics.

    Looking to capitalise on this shift, the primary focus of Tata CLiQ is on audiences that have higher intent/consideration to purchase and thereby engage with them to catapult traffic to the platform. The company's marketing plan during the season is positioned around the theme of gifting.

    “This year our focus is to drive transactional efficiencies and hence our marketing choices are dictated mainly by digital media complimented with engagements via our social platforms,” Mardikar added.

    Even after Covid and government-mandated guidelines to check it, brands have improvised, adapted and are desperately trying to overcome all the challenges. Will they get to have the last laugh? Or will the Calcutta High Court's direction to make all pujo pandals in the state 'no-entry zones' prove to be their undoing?

    MediaCom chief growth officer Soumak Banik paints a not-so-rosy picture of the situation. “When you talk about Durga Puja or event festivities, the maximum of the money goes on ground. This time that is itself cut down, taking a huge hit. Even if the entire outdoor budget is lesser, it will impact advertising fundamentals at the end of the day,” he said.

    The festive season is an auspicious time in terms of sales for businesses across the board and marketers leverage this opportunity with promotions galore. This year, the festivities may be subdued and the volume of ads may be low, but brands are not down and out for the count. They're trying to reach out to customers in new ways and formats.

    “There is cautious optimism in the air. Brands are planning activities and are expecting offtakes to happen,” summed up Havas Media Group MD India Mohit Joshi.

  • Focused on building a unified APAC data & product offering across dentsu network: Gautam Mehra

    Focused on building a unified APAC data & product offering across dentsu network: Gautam Mehra

    Growing at around 25-30 per cent year-on-year, digital marketing is sailing the boat of popularity and recognition for many brands these days. The investments are pouring in and the role of data and analytics is spanning beyond just digital marketing. What used to be a throwaway thought for marketers just a few years ago, is now at the core of every planning and strategy meeting.

    And leading the field in delivering data-driven marketing solutions are stalwarts like dentsu programmatic CEO & chief data officer of denstu– south Asia. Gautam Mehra. Now, as he takes on additional charge as chief data &  product officer – Asia Pacific (APAC) for the agency, he spent some time with Indiantelevision.com’s Mansi Sharma, sharing his thoughts on the industry, how it has evolved, and his plans to navigate the diverse APAC market.Excerpts from the interview:

    ·        On the evolution of digital marketing over the years.

    Digital marketing has been one of the most dynamic and vibrant components of the realm of advertising. I remember when I had started, we used to buy keywords for twenty dollars a month (back in ’99) and that was digital marketing. Then it came down to brand heads and CMOs telling us to put out say 12 Facebook posts a day and 10 tweets a day (around ’05-‘09). Next was putting the ad on Facebook ads section, which my then agency Ignitee was the first-ever agency to deliver in this country. Their only intention was to make it visible to the higher management of their organisations. I remember a period when brands would quote 2 lakh rupees for an account that we had quoted Rs20 crore for.

    Today, in a world of high-touch customer experiences driven by technology and strengthened by the volume and veracity of consumer data, digital advertising continues to dominate. There is no dearth of funds when it comes to driving improved ROIs and brands are willing to invest as much as is required. Over the years, I’ve seen digital marketing move from a “needs to be sold” to a “must-have” avenue of client investment.

    ·        On his new roles and responsibilities.

    APAC is a very unique and diverse region. There are so many cultural differences amongst the markets within the cluster. Even if you just look at south east Asia; China is a completely different market from the rest, Singapore is very different from, say, Vietnam or Indonesia, and ANZ is again distinctively placed. So, APAC is not just one big region but 15 very different markets and that is very exciting for me to dive into in my new remit.

    I would be focused on building a strong and unified APAC data and product offering across the dentsu network in the region and establishing data-led solutions to localised client challenges.

    Read more news on dentsu

    On digital marketing’s position in the APAC region.

    Digital marketing in APAC is the most vibrant and fastest-growing in the world with the largest players in bigtech heavily invested in driving their next level of growth. I suppose the common perception is that we often set Europe or the US as the benchmark when it comes to digital marketing. But as for mobile and conversational marketing, many APAC countries are leading the charge. The  Philippines and Indonesia have a vibrant conversational commerce ecosystem and WhatsApp commerce is exploding in India. As a matter of fact, a dentsu report shows a leading majority of voice searches are coming from India. So, it is a very unique time and place for APAC.

    On whether the education system in India and APAC needs to change to facilitate the development of data and analytically skilled (wo)manpower.

    Speaking specifically for a market like India, I think there is a huge gap in the Indian market when it comes to vocational training. We are still teaching the same curriculum that was meant for the German manufacturing industry. It definitely needs a wave of future-proofing and I suppose the new changes to the system is but a first step in that direction. Interestingly, when it comes to women in tech, India has 32 per cent women in engineering education, compared to just 20 per cent in the US and 28 per cent in the European Union, according to Catalyst. I’d say there is a definite drive for women to take up more leading roles in tech in India and other markets in the region.

    On how the next generation of professionals can be trained better to take up these roles.

    We need to develop a culture of learning to learn. Digital is an evolving medium and no amount of training can equip you for the changes that keep on happening. You earn a new skill today and it will be non-relevant in the next three months. Therefore, we need to develop this spirit of constantly learning and evolving and only industry leaders can drive that change.

    On his  short term and long term goals.

    With the start of every new specialisation, step one would always be to take stock and consolidate. I have already been in touch with our teams across the region via the dentsu Marketing Cloud (DMC) ecosystem that we have built and scaled across the globe. Having grown a team of in-house experts who are thinking beyond just providing data solutions or providing a dashboard, and actually creating software like dentsu Marketing Cloud, dentsu Play, denstu True Value, that solves numerous challenges uniquely. We are going to add more to the list as we discover areas of opportunity to solve client challenges in the region. There are social media platforms apart from Google, Amazon, and Facebook, that are popular in APAC markets. We want to extend our solutions for marketers to analyse their marketing performances on them as well.

    On his experience of being assigned a new responsibility during the lockdown.

    Fortunately for me, I had already been interacting with 32 global markets for our dentsu Marketing Cloud (DMC) ecosystem and have already travelled extensively within the region for numerous pitches. With the advantage of already being in touch with our teams and having known them for quite some time, it has not been a really big challenge to me in connecting with teams during this lockdown phase as we progress in creating new solutions even during the lockdown.

  • Law college apologises for Suits vs Jolly LLB 2 ad

    Law college apologises for Suits vs Jolly LLB 2 ad

    NEW DELHI: Last week, readers came across a curious ad on the front page of The Times of India’s Bhopal edition. The print advert by Indore Institute of Law drew a comparison between two fictional characters Harvey Specter from American TV series Suits and Akshay Kumar from Jolly LLB. It bore the caption that an aspiring lawyer could be either – “Choice is yours.”

    The picture started doing the rounds on social media platforms and netizens were quick to slam the college’s perceived elitist stance behind the ad. Others accused the institute of denigrating the “dignity of Indian lawyers.” Social media pundits also questioned whether the college had obtained permission from the original creators before running the campaign. A fair few wondered why the institute chose fictional characters instead of its own alumni or famous practitioners of law in the real world.

    The overall impression in certain sections of social media was that the ad was in poor taste and problematic; and not the inspired idea that the advertisers imagined it to be.

    Facing flak, the law college later issued an apology saying, “We assure everyone that it was absolutely not our intention to offend anyone or defame any section of the legal profession.”

    But the damage was already done and the ad-makers were brutally trolled for their creative sense.

    Please find our clarification regarding our advertisement published on 15/10/2020. We would like to make clear the…

    Posted by Indore Institute of Law on Thursday, 15 October 2020

    Being a Law Institute, the college should have known better than to draw such a superfluous comparison, besides flagrantly violating the Intellectual Property and Trademark code on top of that. As per rules, no agency or brand can use any celebrity or work of any other firm without their approval, and if it has done so then the company has to pay the penalty under the Copyright Act. However, if the ad is published on social media, not many will raise the question of ethics.

    Using others’ IP in an advertisement is not uncommon, but this case has come into the limelight because the brand chose the ATL medium. Had the flyer had been limited to social media, it probably wouldn't have caused such a ruckus.

    ASCI secretary-general Manisha Kapoor shared that the council has not received any complaint in this regard as of now.

    Explaining the due process of dealing with violations, Kapoor said: “The advertiser will be asked to furnish the required permissions and an independent consumer complaints council will duly examine the objections and the advertiser’s response, and ascertain if the ASCI code has been violated. The advertiser will be asked to modify or withdraw the advertisement in question if it is found violating the ASCI code.”

    ASCI seeks to ensure that advertisements conform to its code for self-regulation, which requires advertisements to be legal, decent, honest, and truthful and not hazardous or harmful while observing fairness in competition. The code also describes that the ad should not be derogatory to competition without any plagiarism. It should not use indiscriminately for the promotion of products, hazardous or harmful to society or to individuals.

  • Shavon Barua quits PHD

    Shavon Barua quits PHD

    NEW DELHI: Shavon Barua has moved on from her role of chief client officer at PHD. She confirmed the news to Indiantelevision.com. Although, she did not divulge her next move.  

    She spent over five years at PHD and was spearheading multiple businesses.

    Read more news on PHD

    Prior to joining PHD, Barua was serving as president – west & south India at Havas Worldwide.

    She is a media veteran and has spent over two decades of experience. Barua has worked at multiple agencies such as Havas Worldwide, JWT, Rediffusion, and Lintas. 

  • Gautam Mehra gets additional role at Dentsu International

    Gautam Mehra gets additional role at Dentsu International

    NEW DELHI: Dentsu International has now entrusted Gautam Mehra, currently CEO, dentsu Programmatic & chief data officer, dentsu – South Asia, with the additional charge of chief data and product Officer – Asia Pacific (APAC) with immediate effect. He has been assigned to this new role with the intent to build a strong and unified APAC data and product offering across the dentsu network. Based in Mumbai, Gautam will report into Merkle APAC president Zhengda Shen for his additional role.

    Over the years, Mehra has been responsible for driving the data quotient for dentsu across India and South Asia, both internally andth clients. Notably, he led the creation of dentsu’s proprietary adtech product, the dentsu marketing cloud ecosystem – a cohesive system that brings together a slew of dentsu proprietary ecosystems such as the Facebook Marketing Partner (Ad-Tech) Badged DMC Explore, dentsu Play, dentsu TrueValue and other proprietary mar-tech tools used in over 32 markets globally. He has also led the unification of the data sciences and Amnet teams to create dentsu Programmatic, the leading programmatic player in India today.

    Mehra had started his career 20 years ago with his entrepreneurial venture, which was one of the first web development firms in India. Over the years, he did several stints in digital advertising working with the top brands in the country such as Viacom, Government of India, Standard Chartered Bank and Microsoft. In 2013, he joined dentsu following the acquisition of Communicate2 and led the Social & Display businesses of iProspect, the leading performance marketing and search agency of the country. Subsequently in 2016, he took on the role of Chief Data Officer for South Asia and has driven the groups data narrative in the sub-region.

    On the appointment, dentsu Asia Pacific CEO Ashish Bhasin said, “Data is central to our business strategy and the ability to handle data well and utilize it to its full capacity is critical in fine tuning way of reaching, interacting, and causing a reaction from the consumers; it ensures advertising efforts are in the right direction.”

    “Having Gautam drive this data agenda for us is crucial in the era of data explosion. He has earned a reputation of developing and delivering highly innovative data-led initiatives while embodying the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurism. This is a well-deserved promotion and I look forward to working closely with him,” Bhasin added.

    Zhengda Shen said, “Organizations are constantly challenged to evolve with agility and speed and adapt to ever changing consumer dynamics. Providing leadership for clients by integrating data, media, content and technology to navigate through this shifting landscape is a critical function of agencies. Gautam’s track record for driving innovations and developing globally scaled solutions makes him perfectly placed to help our clients in the region and to ensure that dentsu international continues to lead through innovation.”

    Mehra said, “There are almost no limits to what we can uncover by studying consumer behavior and their interplay with brands. I’m excited to apply my leadership, knowledge, and experience in delivering globally adopted tech driven products and solutions to further the data-driven culture of dentsu international and to build the practice across APAC, further cementing our dominance in this area within the region in using cutting edge technology to solve everyday client challenges.”

  • IAA appoints Megha Tata as president

    IAA appoints Megha Tata as president

    The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) has appointed Megha Tata as its new president. She is the MD of Discovery South Asia and was elected as vice president of the association last year.

    The association announced the appointment in a tweet congratulating Tata on her new role.

    She is an industry veteran with nearly three decades of experience. Tata joined Discovery Communications in 2019 and has been spearheading the operations there. Prior to joining Discovery, Tata was serving as the chief operating officer at Business Television India (BTVI).

    Tata has held senior positions at Star India, HBO India, and Turner International. She has received many industry accolades and has had an illustrious career.

  • FoxyMoron’s national head for client relationships Prachi Bali talks about her new role

    FoxyMoron’s national head for client relationships Prachi Bali talks about her new role

    NEW DELHI: While the industry battles arguably one of the most challenging issues of modern times, Prachi Bali has been promoted as the national head for client relationships at the full funnel creative and performance digital agency FoxyMoron. One of the youngest executives in the marketing world to hold the post, Bali is naturally excited to begin a new chapter in her professional career. 

    Bali, who had joined the agency in 2013 when it was still quite young, did not have any experience of working in the digital domain and neither any relevant qualifications but her curiosity to learn and grow bagged her a job as an account manager at the firm. 

    “When I joined FoxyMoron, it was a very interesting time as the industry was still growing. Digital was being termed as the next big thing and market and media  planners had started investing in the medium. Back then, it was more about making our agency bigger. With time, the focus shifted to how to make it better, and I was made an account director, then how to make it better than the competition, and it was all very exciting for me,” she shared talking about her initial days in the field. She worked across the beauty, edu-tech, alco-bev, FMCG & lifestyle categories over her tenure.

    Read more news on FoxyMoron

    Four years ago, Bali was handed over the responsibility of the Gurgaon operations and was named the business head for the northern region, which gave her a completely new side to explore. “I took a big leap of faith and moved to Gurgaon from Mumbai and Pratik (Gupta), Suveer (Bajaj), and I saw a lot of unharnessed potential in the market. Most of the agencies were headquartered in Mumbai and despite having a number of clients based in Delhi, the agency business did not quite pick up as expected and we wanted to harness that.”

    Over the past four years, she has reportedly grown the business by six times in the northern market and has built a strong partnership with the clients in the region.

    She did all of this while being one of the youngest executives out in the market. So did it ever get daunting?

    “Obviously it is a little challenging when you are the youngest person in the room, talking to people who are 15-20 years older than you are. But it was not just for me, even our founders, Pratik and Suveer are quite young, so our whole agency had this vibe of being a young business. Initially, it was a hindrance, yes. But then it is all about how you build up relationships and work.”

    Bali added that over the past four-to-five years, the experience has now changed from people seeing her or the agency as the ‘youngest kids in the room’ to the ‘most creative’ and ‘most knowledgeable’ people in the room. “It gives you a feeling that what you are doing is working and what you are doing is right. It is a beautiful feeling.”

    Going forward, Bali wants to expand FoxyMoron’s client-base and work on more interesting projects. 

    “The industry we are in, the whole experience is about meeting people, having discussions, and just communicating. I miss that a lot. I even miss the all-nighters that we used to pull in the office sometimes and I am excited to go back as soon as possible.”

    But is it getting difficult to meet some of the new clients as she takes up the new role amidst a pandemic?

    She replied, “Well, yes the industry is all about face-to-face meetings and that is not happening right now, which is a little challenging. But I am taking it in a more positive way that now every meeting of mine has not to be a 4:00 am flight and I can talk to them over a video call. The whole industry is functioning like that and the clients are also understanding and supportive. But obviously, I can’t wait to go back to the drill.” 

  • Vedanta Group ropes in former PTI CEO MK Razdan

    Vedanta Group ropes in former PTI CEO MK Razdan

    NEW DELHI: Vedanta Group has roped in MK Razdan, former CEO and editor-in-chief of PTI as a  senior advisor- corporate communications team. He will be based out of Delhi.

    Razdan is a well known name in the industry and has spent over three decades in the industry. 

    The veteran journalist became PTI’s general manager in 1995, after serving the organization as its bureau chief in its one-member bureaus first in London, then New York. He was later elevated as CEO and editor-in-chief of the organization.  

    Roma Balwani, Director, Communications & Brand, Vedanta, has welcomed Razdan to 'Team Vedanta' in a tweet earlier today.

     

     

     

     

    Vedanta Limited is a globally diversified natural resources company with interests in zinc-lead-silver, Iron ore, Steel, Copper, Aluminium, Power, Oil and Gas. It supplies natural resources that help the world grow.