Ad land’s Young Guns: Dipanjana Nath, Mindshare

Dipanjana Nath’s career in media and communication started taking shape in reality when she got a chance to work as an intern in one of the largest media agencies in the country, Maxus (now Wavemaker) of GroupM. Then one thing led to the other and she saw herself working full time in the largest media agency in the country, Mindshare, and that too on one of the largest and perhaps most demanding account – GlaxoSmithKline. Nath has been with the agency for almost three years and is currently Digital Media Manager, Mindshare North. 

The last three years for Nath have been a rollercoaster ride of meetings, presentations, highs, lows, and most importantly, of great learning. But at the end of day, Nath considers herself to be a small town girl with a head full of dreams but her feet firmly rooted to the ground.  

What does it takes to climb up the ladder in advertising? Here’s Dipanjana Nath in her own words...

How did you get into the role you are serving?
Initially, I interned at Maxus, GroupM, as part of our post-graduation internship programme. After completion of my 6-month tenure as an intern, I was interviewed for a job role in Mindshare, through which I was given the chance to be a part of the Purple family.

What particular skill sets do you think you bring to the table?
A curious mind has always helped me to find answers and solutions and look into the details. I come with an ironclad will to learn, adapt, optimise, and improve. These skills have enabled me to build my key strengths as a digital planner and also become a team player.

One campaign that you have worked on that you are particularly proud of? Please take us through the making of the campaign.
Mindshare has always provided the chance to individuals to help them do their best. Although I have worked on multiple campaign ideas, one particular campaign that has been very exciting to work on is for Boost. Boost, the milk-based energy drink since 1983, even after being consistent on marketing through TV advertising, was losing its connect with the core target audience of 8-12 year-old kids. This is because the target audience is moving to other media consumption alternatives, and more importantly, as they are moving away from TV towards digital and mobile in India. Thus, living in disguise in the online world. We used the mobile gaming environment to unmask the older child, who shares devices and logins with their siblings and parents to play games. 

We tagged and identified mobile device IDs, which accessed kid-related gaming apps, basis repeat content consumption behaviour. In this way, we were able to ratify the “original trigger device ID” with whether it was really an older kid using the shared device to a large extent. Additionally, we ratified the identified device IDs by filtering out device IDs with heavy consumption of parents related content. About 63 per cent of the identified devices got classified under heavy kids-gaming app devices. 

Lastly, we minimised wastage by mapping ratified device IDs with smart data of third-party audience data platforms like “Personagraph”. About 75 per cent of ratified devices were finally mapped positive and classified as core audience for targeting. This opened a 1-1 channel with kids to distribute mobile video content for the first time. Boost arrested declining equity, posting an all-time high consideration of 84 per cent and a 2.2 per cent increase in market share. 

While working on the creatives how do you prepare yourself? What goes on in your mind?
While my work does not involve directly working with development of creatives, my work majorly focuses on how to make the creatives work. Once the creative communication is decided on, the process of identifying the perfect audience and serving the communication to them in the moment of truth is my job. 

Icons in advertising you look up to and how they have influenced you and your work?
I draw inspiration from Unny Radhakrishnan, [Chief Digital Officer, South Asia, Wavemaker (formerly Maxus)] because of his way of handling a team. I have always been a team player and believe that no battle can be won alone without the support of others.

What are the five most productive things that you do in your everyday routine?

• Have a smile on my face. This automatically makes situation seem simpler
• Maintain a To-Do list the first thing to start a work day
• Learn at least one new thing with respect to platforms and applications we use at work
• Define a day’s goals a night before
• Talk to my mother first thing in the morning to kick start the day with a peaceful mind and to remind myself why it is important to do good in my career

Do you think a career in advertising is a viable one in the long term?
Advertising could be a long-term goal for anyone with an inquisitive mind and who likes new challenges every day. This field gives one the opportunity to learn about technology, latest trends, consumer mindsets and understand market scenarios better. Thus, it would give me an opportunity to pursue a career in an exciting industry with new challenges!

What does it take to succeed in a career like advertising?
To love advertising and shine in this career path, one should have a zest of life and the willingness to have an open mind always to be able to learn new things.

What would be your advice to youngsters planning to enter this industry?
The advice for the young people joining the industry would be to always have willingness to work. No work is big or small and each one of them teaches something new. Thus, an open mind with a “never-say-die” attitude goes a long way for youngsters in the industry.

Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
This industry has a lot to offer and I wish to work on multiple brands in the forthcoming years to acquire knowledge across portfolios. In the next five years, I wish to be an integral part in an agency’s makeup, building up others in the team to drive client delight and constantly upskill myself to keep up with the demanding trends of the digital world.

Is there any agency/ organisation that you would like to work with in the future?
All organisations have something unique to offer, be it experimenting with innovative ideas, meeting challenging client expectations or a space which provides you the freedom to work at one’s pace. I wish to work for an agency that is future ready and encourages novelty in thinking. Whichever agency I work with later in my life, I would consider it a part of my learning graph.