Spirit W | There is a severe dearth of 'Work' n 'Life' balance in our industry: Cheil Worldwide's Suruchi Makhija

Here we go again!!! This time Spirit W comes to you with Cheil Worldwide's Suruchi Makhija who started her career in the Advertising field seven years ago.

An intersting little incident would be apt to introduce you to our 'woman in the case' this week. Young, banished and lost, Suruchi Makhija bumped into someone, just like her. She says,"There are more like us", he told me. "Get into Advertising, you look like you have a copywriter in you."

"So I went to MICA to study it and got a lesson on life instead", she said.

Suruchi Makhija joined agencies like FCB Ulka and Cheil, as a Trainee & Junior Copywriter for around 3 years. She then learnt from the best digital creative teams in Malaysia for the next 2 years. After returning, Makhija joined Publicis as a Digital Creative Specialist to set her learning into practice and later joined GroupM (Quasar) to truly work and understand the depth, width & height of the medium.

Currently working at Cheil India, erasing the lines between "above', "on' and "below' the line, she rather believes in communicating in an Integrated manner.

Pointing out some of her works that she is very proud of, she said, "I am most proud of ideas that use the media space to the fullest degree with as little investment as possible. An excellent example of this is a small Facebook engagement that fulfilled what I like to call the 3E's - Easy, Economical and Effective. "

She does not get inspired by people rather by the personification of those people's ideals, faiths and passions. Speaking about her inspirations, she said, "My inspirations are not women, nor are they men. My inspiration is the rebel who lived inside Steve Jobs, is the brave writer inside Jane Austen, the righteous soul who lives in my husband, the unconditional caregiver in my mother and the tolerant leader who occupies my boss." For her these inspirers are immortal and live beyond any one person's life and are found residing in many a human and hopefully in her as well.

Responding to the most inquisitive question of this section, as to whether or not she feels that women in the media space have an edge over men; she said, "No. In my mind gender is not a factor of success. Only intelligence, dedication and skill are the true parameters that either sex can hold in any measure. It really depends on the individual."

Some sections of media think hiring women furthers their cause, which by the way she finds quiet demeaning to her sex. "But at the end of the day if the parameters mentioned before are not met, be it a man or a woman, both the job at hand and the hiring agency's goals are doomed", she opined.

ÂȘAccording to her media industry does lack something, organizationally though. There is a severe dearth of a Work-Life Balance in our industry. She says, "We take for granted, each other's personal and family time. We think it's OK to demand our colleagues to spend that extra time away from their home, their families. It's fine to NOT be paid for the extra hours that are put in. So yes, we don't value each other's time and lack respect for each other's space."

As per Suruchi Makhija, Cheil is one agency that is changing this trend and for the better. "Here, they ensure work is process driven and all teams work together at full capacity during working hours to ensure efficient and timely churn out. We are an agency full of happy people who love what they do and are kick-ass at it too," she added.

She says, "My peers and senior associates have a right to perceive whatever they might about me. I believe most peers see me as a thoroughly dedicated professional. For those who don't, it is through my work and not through talk, that this perception shall be altered."

She has been in advertising for more than 7 years, the second half of which has been consumed in specializing in her current medium of choice ' Interactive Advertising. Having worked with some of the best creative teams around, in India and Malaysia and having being associated with brands like Honda, Kingfisher, Microsoft, Domino's, GM, Samsung, LG, Hyundai, she holds supreme quality knowledge needed to survive in the competitive industry. | By Aanchal Kohli [aanchal(at)adgully.com]

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