Seven women achievers share their perspectives and understanding of today’s media and discuss what it takes for one to make it in a world of competition and technology.
“A defining period for women”
Dr Latha Rajagopalan Kumar, Consultant, Communication for Development
Just a few decades ago, a large percentage of people in India did not own phones or televisions. Computers were a rare sight. The internet did not sneak into our lives until much later. Communication involved time and physical effort. Connectivity was a word we used only for transportation. Yet somehow people reached out to each other and engaged in meaningful communication.
Winding queues at phone booths was a familiar sight. The anxiety of receiving telegrams, the anticipation of receiving a long overdue letter, the excitement of listening to a favourite song on the radio at night, or just the morning ritual of having a cup of coffee, chatting with the family and reading the paper were all indicators of the need to be informed as well as connected. Time has not changed this human need. However, it has certainly changed the way people keep themselves informed, entertained and networked. We live in a world of networks; it is interconnected and there is convergence.
An important outcome is the window of opportunity all this has created. According to a report in the Deccan Herald published last May, Indian media is a Rs 2 trillion plus industry and growing. There are hundreds of media entities in India employing over 500,000 people. Media industry has been growing exponentially after digitisation. This has resulted in a deluge of jobs that demand new skills. What naturally soon followed was a spectrum of mass media and communication courses in all the leading colleges and universities.
One of the noteworthy trends is a steady increase in number of women, making an impact in media education and industry. This could be a defining period for us, perhaps the best time to talk about media, learn about life in the industry and how to prepare for it.
“Digitisation has empowered learners”
India is a leading player in E-commerce, online gaming and online learning. The most groundbreaking innovation today in media technology is virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality. With time, interfaces have become simpler, and the experiences better. Using synchronicity and multiplicity, along with portability of device, technology has redefined creativity. A major innovation, which is all set to revolutionise newsrooms in the near future, is simultaneous personalised updates across digital sites. All this can be measured. Quantification is one of the most important features in media technology.
New media includes a host of web related communication tools, like blogs, social networking, virtual worlds, websites, and streaming services. Multimedia is now deploying spatial computing, which seamlessly merges physical and digital spaces to offer realistic experiences, interactions and immersive educational simulations. Video Creation and streaming technologies have leapt forward. Digitisation has empowered learners. The significance of virtual education is that there is no age, geography, or financial barriers. Free online content has helped people realise long cherished dreams of learning about any topic.
The downside is the rise in crimes using media technology. This necessitates even further knowledge of technology, and ways to protect oneself online. But even with all this happening, one thing continues and will hopefully remain the same. At the core of all the advancements lies our basic human need to stay informed and stay connected.
“The consumer is a partner”
Latha Menon, Filmmaker
Every brand has a target audience and the concept of creating communications aimed specifically at a particular audience is older than advertising itself, as we all know. A brand has to continuously evolve based upon what is authentic, not only to previous generations, but to the current generation at any given time. This means that to appeal to them, you not only have to showcase your brand’s values, but you also have to embody them.
Essentially, consumers have also become part of advertising rather than just passive onlookers. They want connectivity, trust and assurance. The communications of the brand must be flexible enough to adapt to all the tribes out there. What does the brand stand for? An extraordinary brand is something that is constantly evolving, that has its ears on the ground to the ever changing trends of the environment.
Goodness with Love
I have been closely working for two decades with Arogya, the flagship brand of Hatson Agro Products (HAP). It is India’s largest private dairy company and gets its milk directly from over four lakh farmers, spread across five states and 13,000 villages. It has created a model in which there are no middlemen between the company and the farmers. When my company Iris Film began working with them in 2002, they had a turnover of around 500 crores. We had done a campaign for comparative advertising, when it was the trend. We had referred to Arogya milk as white gold.
Then the brand decided to switch the entire idea. It evolved from selling itself as just a milk product to a wholesome product with its campaign of ‘goodness with love.’ Along with the agency Iced Pepper, we developed a simple story that shows tender moments between people of all ages, gender and types coming together. In 2011, we went further and added the little tagline: ‘from the villages’ to the ‘goodness with love.’
Birth of Docummercials
We did these as documentaries because we noticed the trend was changing. Rather than just having models, even real people were beginning to be portrayed in commercials. We came upon the concept of docummercials—real life stories of dairy farmers. Arogya no longer captured the moments of its consumers. Instead, they let the consumer peek behind the curtain and see the life of those who provided the milk that came to their homes. It was one of the first campaigns that showcased farmers as individuals who lived and loved the work. The positivity and joy of its farmers in the film brought about a positive reaction in the consumers, who began to see farmers in new light. They were people just like them with families and dreams. It utilised a campaign using emotion and aesthetic.
Consumer as a Partner
The company today has a turnover of over 7000 crores. I continue to work on different campaigns with them with Rubecon Creative. Arogya’s journey is important to understand that we don’t necessarily have to completely change the personality of the brand. Emotions and ideas are universal. Arogya was growing as Indian advertising also grew. Gender stereotypes were slowly breaking down. We have built heroes in a way that we haven’t built heroines. These boundaries and perceptions have started changing as more women have started entering and narrating and directing stories.
In 1996, when I had begun my company Iris Film, I was just one of the few or the only woman in the unit. As mass media has slowly become a career option, many women are entering the fray. More women have a point of view and speak up about that point of view. It changes and impacts the work in a very authentic way. Media redesign is to reimagine the consumer as a partner, not a target audience; to increase engagement for the consumer and to align themselves with a brand that has a cause. We, as advertising professionals, and insiders know that no successful advertisement can stay very far from where the audience live.
“Theatre should be included in the curriculum”
Deepika Kumaravel,Theatre Professional
Theatre is a field that has evolved and continues to evolve with man. It was born from man’s propensity to share his experiences and stories with fellow beings in a way that held their attention. They involved role playing, mimicking others and everything emotional, all to grab the wide-eyed attention of the listeners. Over a millennia, that desire to hold the audience rapt, has not whittled down. The stage may differ but the performance lives with the audience. That’s why, this completely live human-to-human, raw dynamic between performer and audience is so powerful; theatre will always have its lovers. Of course, in the last few decades, the change has been incredible. But it has been incredible in every field.
Movies and OTTs are big factors, and not necessarily negative ones, mainly because both offer the trained theatre actors and technicians more and very lucrative avenues to work. In fact, OTT is an almost natural new ground, a stylised auditorium, so to speak, with its ability to tell shorter, more intimate and more intuitive stories. Theatre is gender neutral. The challenges that beset women are the challenges that beset men too.
Today, shorter plays, like T20s, are gaining more audiences. Theatre, which used to stay static in a performance arena, has become mobile. It has become flexible enough to be performed in your park, on your terrace and in the playground. To that extent, it has evolved and gone towards people. That is a fabulous new movement.
Theatre in Schools and Corporates
When it comes to economies, theatre that thrives has to consider economies of scale. Bring in a scale that cannot be matched by screens, like Magic Lantern did for Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan. I wish that theatre must go into schools and education and into corporate organisations. Theatre training is all about being the best you can be as a person, discovering your potential as a human being, finding ways to engage with different people, even with completely opposite ideas, and finding the humanity in you to be there for your co actors, colleagues and teams.
The world needs young people adept in these things. Theatre can provide the vital soft skills needed. I call upon educational institution to make theatre a well conceptualised part of curriculum, and you will see leaders emerging in almost every other field. There are theatre groups that can offer tailor-made corporate workshops. Theatre training can make a dramatic difference. For those wishing to professionally take up theatre, there are courses offered by the National School of Drama and other institutions. Do check them out or contact us.
“Radio is still indispensable”
Joy Andavan,All India Radio
All India Radio was once ruling the roost. I grew up listening to AIR news. But then in the middle, something happened and we are not in the scene just like what we were. But we are still there, changing according to the trends of the day. We are there in social media and we make our presence felt everywhere. You can’t miss our radio commentaries. People are still addicted to radio, either while they are traveling or at home. They listen to a lot of music programs coming out of radio. They listen to news.
As a news editor and as a correspondent, my day starts at one o’clock at night and I have to be widely awake 24/7. It’s just like any other media. It was quite new for me because I had worked in the Press Information Bureau where we are just mouthpieces of the government. But in radio, it’s different. We have to take into account all the activities going on in our state, and also out of our state, which are of great importance to the nation.
Honing Communication Skills
As a communicator, my communication is very important. In 10 minutes, you can read only 140 lines—however fast you go. We have to read a lot of data and gain knowledge on technical things and also about everyday happenings. We have to make it very interesting, so while travelling, a traveller can keep things up to date.
Every hour, we are having news bulletin, which is just for two minutes. We must be simple and brief, so that people will understand our language. Radio doesn’t differentiate between man and woman. There are so many women engineers who are working in the radio. During natural disasters and emergencies, we work round the clock and issue frequent bulletins. We keep giving awareness messages to the people. All India Radio is the only organisation which has so much reach in the country and so many people listen to radio.
I’ve done Parliament and Assembly coverage many times. I’ve travelled with the Prime Minister to at least ten countries. I’ve attended G7 and G20. All these things have given me vast experiences as to how to go about reporting in simple manner, which a child can understand. The challenges are high and you can’t have excuses.
No Room for Excuses
Once we went to ISRO Sriharikota to cover a midnight launch. At 9.30 pm, we started from Chennai and we were almost near Sriharikota when some animal came on the road and our vehicle turned 360 degrees. Still, I kept going for all those coverages. When challenges come, you must stand up. Once when I went to Indonesia to cover the Prime Minister’s trip, my luggage got lost. But I had to rush out to report the news bulletin. We can’t say any excuses.
Youngsters nowadays don’t find news to be interesting. But you have to listen to news just to know how we are reporting, because radio is the best place where you can learn many things. Make it a habit to listen to any type of radio. You can listen not only for entertainment but also for infotainment, for which AIR is very popular.
Working with radio in the era of social media, is quite challenging. We don’t get carried away by any news, which is around us. There will be so much of temptation to just note down what is going on in the television and then give the story, but we never do that. In Tamilnadu, we have correspondents in every district. They work part-time with us. Whatever happens, they just report to us. We always give the correct news.
“Advertising remains a challenging industry”
Lalitha Vaidyanath,Advertising Consultant
Advertising gives a lot and it also takes a lot. It gives you freedom to express yourself, think creatively, think differently, and think on your feet. And if you’re someone like me, you can enjoy freedom from hierarchy and convention. If you have a bizarre idea, we love it. The outlandish is always embraced, because people remember it. When they remember it, they hopefully remember to buy the product that you advertised for. Anyone out here with wacky ideas, come over. There’s a whole industry waiting for you.
Both Fun and Challenge
Advertising gives you fun on the job. Your work doesn’t feel like work. Advertising is very collaborative. You always connect with many people and with consumers. Advertising opens up opportunities in allied fields. A lot of copywriters go on to become film script writers and filmmakers. Some join the television industry. Others start ad agencies or become planners and get into market research and so on.
That said, advertising is also a very challenging industry, as you need to constantly come up with new ideas, new ways of saying things and create new stories for a demanding audience. Your ad is competing for attention with Instagram reels, podcasts and Facebook posts.
I was very keen to join advertising right from high school. The printheads fascinated me. I remember memorising slogans and jingles, while my classmates were memorising chemistry equations and maths formulae. I joined a small ad agency in Bangalore where I started my career. I have worked in ad agencies in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad and have collaborated with agencies in Delhi and Mumbai. Each stint has been very wholesome, enriching, and packed with a lot of fun. In Chennai I have worked with leading brands and one of the highlights was creating the tagline for Sun TV Direct years ago—the Sun Tan Tana Tan campaign. That was translated into various languages and used across India.
“Parents require education about media”
Rangapriya Goutham,Media Management
I wanted to be a media professional, but I just couldn’t because of constraints and family demands. I did one small course, which was offered as a part of our college internship—Media and Mass Communication. I failed miserably because I did not understand anything. I somehow managed to clear with A+ grade.
I wanted to do something about media and media education. As part of my career, I always stuck to education. Whether it was technology based or computer based training, education was always my career pathway. An opportunity came when I was heading an institution. I grabbed the opportunity. We started an architecture college, a music school and a school of media, about 75 kilometers away from Chennai.
We need to educate parents more than the students that there is opportunity and life beyond what they think as the core disciplines. Today, many engineering students are writing media content. Many of them have broken away from their core. There are 4 million plus job opportunities. There at least 40 media careers in my hand. Those days, we only had universities that were giving media education but today private institutions and media companies are also hosting courses for people to upskill, reskill, retool and take their journey forward.
“Upgrade the Syllabi”
Dr Susan Sridhar,Retd Professor, MOP Vaishnav College
There are two main goals of media education. First is to make the students media literate. Second, a media student wants to enter media to be employable. He/she must fit into the industry.
There are many forms of media. Somebody has to create content for the media. The challenge comes in making the content relevant for a particular media. A student has to be trained to do that. Punjab University started the first journalism school in India in 1941. The second was our own Madras University in 1946. In 1965, The Indian Institute of Mass Communication came up in Delhi and in 1989, Loyola College started off with Viscom. Today there are so many courses. You have visual communication, electronic media, journalism, communication, media management, animation and many other courses.
We have a real struggle with the syllabi, because our syllabi have to be updated along with the industry. We cannot have students going in to the industry not knowing anything. In an institution, there are so many formalities to go through to get the syllabus approved.
The other thing, which sounds crazy, is that the nature of media courses is still not understood in the colleges. Most of our students have to be out of the classroom. They have to run around with cameras, find locations or get a story. They cannot be in class like for the other courses. This definitely disrupts the setup. I’ve been 35 years in the media education. After my 25th year, I began to see a great change and people have begun to understand the course and the needs of the students.
An internship exposes the student to the general environment of the media industry. It also helps them to get a good hands-on experience. The first internship is for one month, where the student gets exposure and sees where they fit in. The second internship is for three months. Here, they specialise in what they want to do. Most of the students get absorbed once they go for their second internship. They can go for internship in traditional media or startups. In traditional media, the brand name and the certificate matter but you can hardly make your presence felt. In the startup, you have to do many roles. So, the students must decide which one they prefer. A media student must have interest, curiosity, a lot of energy, good communication and basic interpersonal skills. Without these, they cannot succeed.
Q&A
Q: We have two important topics that are common to all the media. Ethical constraint is one topic. Women are not merely joining the industry, but leading some of the big media houses today. What does it take for women to get here? How does this impact the industry?
Lalitha Vaidyanath: Advertising always demands speed. A lot more women come in for various reasons, primarily because their journeys have been aided by technology. They work from home and report, and therefore they’re able to find a very nice work-life balance. Covid has facilitated that and it has opened up a lot of avenues for people and especially women.
Latha Menon: It has taken a while for women to enter film. It isn’t an easy profession to make your mark; it takes time. You have to learn new skill sets. But definitely the glass ceiling has been broken. Women are able to create strong narratives. This year, in the Cannes Film festival, a woman broke the glass ceiling. Payal Kapdia’s film won the Grand Prix. 1946 was the last year we won an award from Cannes. Women are going to tell more interesting stories.
Joy Andavan: Ownership of media is becoming a problem for women. But there are many new fields where women are leading and these fields are overtaking the prime media. Social media, online media, digital media, and other kinds of media are growing and they are all picked up by women who were once sitting at home.
Rangapriya Goutham:You can be anywhere, you can have any medium, but you will still be able to produce good content which can be used in any case. You can co-create now.
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring copywriters?
Lalitha Vaidyanath: Keep yourself abreast of trends and technology and keep a sharp eye out on what other advertisers of other products are saying. There are so many stories out there right now. You need to know about them. It is getting increasingly difficult to come up with one original idea. You must be willing to work very hard. Don’t rely on things like ChatGPT, though it may be very tempting. You must use your wisdom. You must have passion and willingness to succeed in this profession, especially copywriting.
Q:What advice would you give for young journalists who aspire to work in broadcast?
Joy Andavan: It’s very difficult when you start your career because of the time constraint. For 10 minutes, you can read only 140 to 145 lines of news. You can imagine how crispy your story has to be. I would encourage all the young journalists to read a lot. You have to equip yourself, look out for better words and read your story again and again. Once you learn, it will become very easier for you. That is a unique skill which you have to develop yourself.
Q: How has media education evolved now? What changes do you foresee?
Dr Susan Sridhar:With technological developments happening in the industry, media education has to change. The syllabi and the studios have to be revamped. We are going to see a lot of software development and use of AI in labs. Education has to keep pace with the industry growth.
Q: Can you discuss the challenges of producing documentaries on social issues? How can you ensure their impact?
Latha Menon: Documentaries are still a growing medium of narrating stories, but it is definitely growing thanks to OTT platforms which encourage documentaries. There are opportunities now. But to make real impactful documentaries like the Elephant Whisperers, which won the Oscar, you must collaborate with different sources, like a good producer, a good person behind the scenes who can market the documentary and funders to support the project. It may take a year or two, but one has to have the patience and not give up on a documentary. It is definitely a long process.
Q: How has your experience in advertising, influenced your approach to theatre production and storytelling?
Deepika Kumaravel:They are both highly creative fields and both require reaching out to the consumer. In that way, they are similar. But the dissimilarity is also very much there. Advertising is marketing of a product. Theater is an extension of literature; of ideas; and sometimes of protest. One is a consumerist endeavour, while the other could just be the opposite.
Q: What are your views on AI as a game changer and the concerns it evokes in the media?
Latha Rajagoplan Kumar: AI is definitely a game changer because of the way in which it creates content. There are also the ethical aspects of using AI and chatbots. It is impossible to predict what will happen in the future. I can only say that if the machines can start thinking like us, then all of us would lose jobs and we will have to reinvent ourselves.
Q: How important is collaboration and networking in your field? How can we develop that?
Rangapriya Goutham: Without networking, nothing works. Word of mouth is the biggest marketing tool. Communicate clearly and ethically and let people know what you do. Advertising brings a trust in the brand.
Deepika Kumaravel: Theater and performing arts depend entirely on collaboration and networking. We share our expertise with other theater groups and people around the world. The incredible experiences of others help us too.
Latha Rajagoplan Kumar: Technology has empowered people to work from home. This is possible only if there is a network. The moment you isolate, you’re out of the game. You have to know what the other person is doing. You must work together with people, especially when you’re away from people.
Dr Susan Sridhar: Good communication is the answer for good networking.
Lalitha Vaidyanath:Advertising is people’s business. You must have very good interpersonal relations. You must connect internally with your team and also with your consumer at the other end. Collaboration and networking is the mantra for success.
Q: What are the ethical considerations in the media?
Joy Andavan: The responsibility of being ethical rests with those who collect the news and those who read and display the news. Media should not focus too much on the human emotions, especially when people are already in pain. Nobody can put a restraint on you but you have to do it yourself. Unfortunately, that is missing today.
Latha Rajagoplan Kumar: You must be honest with copyright. You must also be ethical in relationships and interactions with people.
Deepika Kumaravel: In performing arts, intellectual right is a huge problem. You don’t know where your plays are being performed. In the days of technology and innovation, strangely enough, nothing has been done in this area.
