Spirit W | Media Planning is an art of designing: Mindshare's Ruhi Jain

Ruhi Jain who is currently working as Senior Director, The Exchange, Mindshare is a passionate young girl in the most busy space; the advertising space. She has worked with Dabur Pvt ltd, Zenithoptimedia. We, at Adgully, caught up with her to know more about her life and career.

 

As told by Ruhi, her 8 years journey seems quite exciting, she says, “It’s been a passionate journey so far. From the in-house agency of Dabur where I got a good exposure to buying, to the planning of FMCG category of chocolates (Nestle) and then strategizing on the most impulsive and war gaming category of soft drinks (PepsiCo), it’s been an interesting and challenging experience.”

 

She feels it’s been like an exploration to try out new things, new ways and in the process enriching herself with what she did and with whom she met.

 

As like many, even she entered media space by chance; getting into Media was never in her agenda. She says, “I did my Bachelors in Computers Applications and then MBA was in boom and while I was searching for which field to specialize in, I came across this institute which offered an advertising course and I simply went ahead for it realizing it was one thing I had never thought of but was always curious about.” “ In fact, I can relate it to what I love doing best, which is designing (jewelry). For me Media planning is also an art of designing; crafting a plan, getting into the intricate details and then looking at the final form. For me it’s been adapting my hobby into my profession,” Ruhi added. 

 

The 3 key mantras that worked for her to survive and reach this mark are: Put your heart in whatever you do and welcome any change with open arms. Your passion will drive you to explore things and aim for the sky. Let your creative juices flow and see how a strategy can take the form of an art. She says, “Being a perfectionist has really worked for me and has helped me push myself beyond my limits.”

 

When asked about her inspiration, Ruhi said that she finds inspiration in more things than she can count. She feels a lot of people have inspired her, even the places she has been too has added something to her life!

 

Ruhi feels, “This industry has given me everything, from very inspiring bosses to subordinates to mentors to friends. My family and my husband have been my backbone, they’ve stood by me through the thick and thin and my husband has been my guide, my mentor, my teacher, my friend. My unparalleled passion with which I worked has kept me going and not to forget the rewards be it PepsiCo star awards or Choreo’s GroupM awards for Relentless Excellence or being featured as the Media Manager on Storyboard, the Emvies wins and other important industry awards.”

 

Here goes our most inquisitive question: Do you see any prejudice in the industry? Yes or no, elaborate with reason.

 

Ruhi disagrees to the statement and goes on to say that there is no prejudice in this industry as there are lots of females into management roles and heading units. In fact  she believes that being a female helps bring in different perspectives into the business and brings one closer to the consumer and brands. “They have it in them to multi-task which is very important in our trade. They understand relationships and know how to decode them. Females help bring soft skills to the business,” Ruhi adds.  

 

According to her; perception of people for this profession, the work-life balance and the fact of taking each other for granted (the client takes agency people for granted and we individually take each other’s time for granted), all these things need to be changed.

 

She is of the opinion that even though it’s not sci-fi, but our industry is a highly specialized domain and we should work towards developing talent and believes that the industry has evolved tremendously. According to her, the biggest challenge now is the ‘pace’, "the speed with which our environment is changing is amazing and we need to keep up with the changing world, adapt ourselves to the new age media and move with the tide", she opined.

 

When asked about the future plans, with a smile she said, “Future is for those who prepare themselves for it, it’s about what you make of it” and signed off. | By Aanchal Kohli [aanchal(at)adgully.com]