Spirit W | Dynamic and Creative: Spice Global's Chhavi Leekha

Chhavi Leekha, Group President, (Brand & Corporate Communications), Spice Global, is responsible for the over-arching advertising, branding and communication needs of the Group and is part of the Chairman's office. Spice Global is a US$ 2 billion diversified conglomerate that currently serves over 25 million customers across various sectors - telecom, finance, entertainment technology and healthcare – in the world.

She works closely with the communications and marketing teams of each of their  business verticals to develop and implement creative tools/techniques enhancing brand recall and enabling stronger engagement with all external stakeholders. In doing so she leverages new channels, techniques and is responsible for identifying unique, high-impact external communications strategies to help meet the Group’s business objectives.

Chhavi  is a specialized communications professional with a career span of 15 years. She has extensive marketing and communication strategic planning experience in various industries nationally and internationally. She has worked with various renowned organizations such as Avaya GlobalConnect, ACL Wireless Ltd, Bharti Televentures Ltd and Rolls-Royce India Pvt. Ltd. to name a few.  Prior to joining S Mobility, Chhavi was working with GE India Corporate HQ as the Head for Advertising and Branding. In this role she was responsible for pan-India brand management, advertising, events /exhibits, collateral creation and external stakeholder programs.
In conversation with Adgully, Chhavi Leekha, shared insights about the company’s vision, her views on social media and it’s impact on the industry , the PR effect on the changing media and much more.

Adgully (AG): Please give us a sense of the overall industry scenario with regard to Brand and Marketing Communications.

Chhavi Leekha (CL): The industry has vastly changed in the last 16 years since I entered the professional scene.  The customer profile has become multilayered, what with so many brands and products vying for a piece of the pie , this makes the space very exciting for any marketer. This is perhaps also because of the maturing of both the markets and the consumer behaviour.  Therefore, in a major shift in communicating with the customers we have moved away from universal messaging to personal messaging. This is largely because the average age of a consumer is around 35 years and secondly due to the ubiquitous nature of technology.

The other paradigm shift is the localization of brand communication. This young and influential customer of today is well travelled who likes to be sold ideas with local flavors. This is also because the Tier 2 and 3 markets have become equally important now due to their larger volume capacities. The Dhoni phenomenon for example has triggered a sublime confidence in the smaller towns to dream more fiercely and their share of voice now has an almost equal pitch with their metro counterparts. Hence I would say, we as an economy, have started feeling much better and comfortable in our skin.  Last but not the least, the digital medium has revolutionized the space, apart from bringing in a lot more dynamism and accountability for the brands. 

AG: Could you share some of the recent developments at Spice Global whereby it has expanded it’s footprint across the major metros across the globe while also targeting the Indian market?

CL: Post the divestment of our network business, the Group has aggressively expanded its telecom portfolio and the footprint with it. We aggressively acquired companies in the evolved ASEAN markets that complemented the aspiring demands of the Indian consumers in both design and technology on the device side.  Not only that, being in this sector since inception, we built up on our existing telecom portfolio. Hence, we developed our digital lifestyle retail network that now has over 1200 stores in Asia. In addition, we also expanded the Value Added Services categories that cater to customers across 20+ countries including those in Africa and Middle East with over a dozen patented services.

Our current focus is to bring latest android powered smartphones to the markets we operate in. In that regard, we have recently tied up with Coolpad, a China based Telecom Company with an impressive R&D around smartphones.    
At the same time, we also added mass to the other business verticals of Healthcare, Finance Lifetsyle & Entertainment as well.  We have tied up with the Ault Group to bring in ultra luxe nightclubs to India. We have also partnered with a leading technology find called Formation 8 to strategically invest in technology companies. We are also going to apply for Banking Licenses as well.  So for all the right reasons, Spice Global is currently at a dynamic stage of growth and expansion.

AG: What have been the Spice Group's vision, mission and strategic priorities?

CL: We like to call ourselves an investment brand. Our focus is to lead smart market investments nationally and internationally through global collaboration that combines expertise and innovation and value creation for our stakeholders. Hence there is a lot of emphasis on nurturing a ‘knowledge economy’. At the same time, we are equally aware of our responsibility to contribute to both well-being of the global society and foster progression of thoughts and ideas.

So, apart from making investments and expanding portfolios, we have launched a Global Citizen Forum that highlights issues of global interest at local levels, particularly affecting the youth with technology playing the role of a key enabler. Hence, we try and take a balanced approach to create both economic and social value.

AG: Which have been the key markets for Spice Global nationally and internationally?

CL: Our aspiration is to cover the i2i region (Ivory Coast to Indonesia) that has the majority of the youth population in the world today. Currently, apart from India, other key markets include the ASEAN region, Indian sub-continent and the Middle East. We have also started putting more focus on Africa.

AG: What are the two things about the media space that made you pick this up as your profession? What challenges have you faced in this industry?

CL: Dynamism and Creativity. These are actually two sides of the same coin since real time changes spur creativity to tackle challenges on the go. This I believe, is the DNA of every core marketing professional. Personally, I also feel that if you are really raring to go, these traits help you to develop as an individual as well. Being a mother and balancing home and office is possible only because of it or rather gives me an edge because of it. Beating time is an eternal challenge. However, with technology, it’s more like playing the game of Fruit Ninja than the Temple Run.

AG: How according to you can PR take advantage of the changing media?

CL: A successfully executed online public relations campaign offers endless benefits to a business. Social media has emerged as an excessively powerful means for promoting brands/products/services etc. Since its evolution and subsequent adoption, social media has changed the way businesses interact with their customer’s and audience. Today every company is using social media to promote their company/brands. This new dynamic has created a unique opportunity for businesses to connect and build brand loyalty with their customers.  Because of its simplicity combined with immediacy, social media is an ideal way to reach out to or talk about a particular brand, product, or service. Word of mouth is now the most popular form of advertisement and there is no doubt that social media helps contribute to its popularity. According to Ernst & Young’s Social Media Marketing – India Trends Study 2013 study, business organizations are increasingly using social media advertisements on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to promote brand awareness. It also mentioned that 83% of organizations use social media ads to promote contests to facilitate greater brand awareness.

AG: Considering the growing buzz of social media, in your view are social media platforms all set to stir up matters for the industry in the near future?

CL: The communications industry has been completely transformed in the last few years as we increasingly create our own content in order to break through the “traditional media walls.” We are living in a new era of influence. An era where news breaks around the world in seconds and citizen journalism is on the rise. It is an era when the majority of the world's population has now plugged-in to a powerful online platform and where the continuous stream of new content and opinions never cease.

The widespread use of social media has fundamentally changed how people communicate and share information. People spend more time online nowadays. This downright addiction to social media has made an impact in virtually every industry as companies seek to create strategies to engage on the social web. There is a huge scope of digital, anybody can use a clever hash tag to vote, connect, popularize and there is no limit to what you can do with that. When you cross leverage that with your traditional media, you have an ad running on TV and then you can provide a Twitter handle where people can comment. It is like using all aspects of communication together. Social networking will also become more industrial — embedded into products that we use. Overall time spent in social networking continues to rise — up 38% over the previous year according to Nielsen Media — more than any other online activity. The growth in time spent on social media is largely tied to the spread of smartphones, sales of which are accelerating overseas but slowing in the U.S. as we reach near saturation. That just means that the same pattern of skyrocketing use of social media followed by slowing use will be repeated in other countries in coming years.

AG: Could you also elaborate on how Spice Global challenges conventions to inspire change for the betterment of their customers?

CL: The Group has always pioneered innovation. From its early days when it brought in the best global brands to the country to ushering in mobile telephony in 1995 and closer to the times when it introduced the Indian brand of handsets that triggered a trend is something that the consumers are well aware of.  Besides this, we always made sure that we covered all critical elements of the ecosystem critical for customer delight. Hence, apart from devices, we also have retail, VAS and IP based products and services as well. We got the 4D Theatre in India as well, apart from introducing the First Dual Sim and the first 3D phone in the country.

AG: The Group has also recently forayed into healthcare services and will soon launch its first world class facility at New Delhi in India. Could you tell us more about this? Do you think the media industry lacks something organizationally?

CL: Saket City Hospital is already operational as on date. We are in the final stages of completion and the full-fledged services will soon be launched this year. To start with, the first phase will have 230 bed capacity with high end facilities and personalized patient care services. In the next phase, we expect to further expand the in-patient capacity and finally build a quality healthcare facility with a bed capacity of around 1000 beds in about 3 years from now. Being a world class facility, it will definitely have the best equipment and doctors but our focus shall be sensitivity to patient care defined by its motto of ‘You First’, a promise that Saket City Hospital will strive to live up to.

Every industry keeps evolving, so is media. What the industry should look towards is the seamless integration of all media. After all it's all about how well you are able to connect with your Target Group, engage them and convert them. The media industry is all about creativity and has immense opportunities to develop especially on the digital front. India’s media and entertainment industry has great potential to herald a new era of economic expansion.