Tech Transformation Unveiled: Sakshi Chaddha Explores Glance’s Industry Impact

Sakshi Chaddha:- And that’s the domination even of the word glance right we want to give you the information in just a glance right so we want to change the context of the time in that sense where you can get the right information and just a glance I feel that’s a positive change because it’s building in Far More Muscle and helping you do better right so it’s the onus is on us like the onus is on us to figure out a way for how we are going to operate around that technology and how can we make life more efficient uh as opposed to saying it’s you know it’s going to cut down uh you know our jobs or it will be you know the Doomsday conspiracy so to say.

Mehul Ashar:- Hello everyone and welcome to yet another episode of the growth genius powered by infid digit the SEO specialists this is the platform where we bring to you growth stories in marketing and business from industry stalls across the globe I am Mehul Ashar your host for today and I am the senior vice president at infid digit our growth genius for today is someone who is working in a very exciting space chances are that the service that they are offering is actually sitting right on your mobile screens right now and you may probably not know that it is actually a service and not part of your standard software which the telephone company is providing you I’m talking about glands which actually brings to you curated content right on your mobile screens so without further Ado please join in welcoming Miss sakshi chaddha who is the director of marketing at glands sakshi welcome to the growth genius podcast and uh thanks a lot for sparing your time uh we are really delighted to have you here thanks again.

Sakshi:- Thanks so much Mehul. It’s my pleasure looking forward.

Mehul:- Great let me start with a basic question because you know if somebody looks at your profile your professional Journey you know you have basically worked across various sectors and now you are in a very different sector say so how do you define your current role as of now?

Sakshi:- The current role as of now uh it’s a mix of a lot of things right of course all this almost a decade and a half experiences like here um so I of course work with glands uh where um a smart screen company we actually look at transforming your passive screens into um smart screens right what does Smart in this equation mean is essentially your screens can now give you a lot more information um than which they were not earlier right so idle screens can now become smarter they can bring information to you basis what your need state is and personalize it we can curate the information for you and deliver it right when you need it uh so right time right place right set of information that you may need and the reason uh to do this essentially is we feel that there is a lot of overc consumption happening in the world right uh there is just too much information out there and a lot of times all of us are going into those rabbit holes today uh right like you’re going into Doom scrolling behaviors you’re getting into some sort of a loophole and then just getting lost in that Journey um so the intent was that can we be that sort of um you know safeguard for you where we bring a meaningful information to you without you having to get lost in a search Journey or you know downloading multiple apps and trying to find what is right for you now my role actually sits at the cusp of all of this right uh this is a completely new category uh this is something that has not been done before um there have been attempts across the world at times but this is not something in general uh that as an organization or a business uh anyone has looked at uh bringing this to the world this technology to the world and we’re pretty much the only player in the world which is now looking at transforming lock screens and also other screens on your mobile devices on your other smart surfaces be it your TV or potentially in future maybe other screens you know any other passive screen um so I sit at that uh table where I’m trying to bring this uh to the world in a way that consumers find uh this product or this technology meaningful they understand the whole uh purpose and vision behind it and then of course consume and adopt it in a manner uh you know that’s that’s relevant for them uh so I look at uh at marketing uh at glance and that incompasses um everything from uh product marketing to consumer marketing to Brand marketing to uh engagement growth adoption uh and so on right so every aspect of end to endend journey of a consumer uh as far as a Services uh you know uh company is concern so that’s pretty much the chter here um additionally glance uh when it’s start started uh was a single Product Company so we launched about four five years back with just uh a lock screen offering uh and now in the last four years we’ve actually expanded um the brand um so my mandate has grown where I’m looking at both the corporate charter which is at the organization level uh for people to understand what we are doing as a business at the corporate uh what we’re doing as a brand on the screens and surfaces and then there are multiple 0 to 10 businesses that we are now exploring which are all meant to support the surface screen infrastructure right um so we’ve very recently um got into gaming as a platform so we built a new platform called Nostra which launched last year um so that’s a business that I’m looking at again from a marketing aspect uh we have a weather business uh we have an app called one weather which is largely available in North America um and now coming to this part of the world um so marketing for that so any businesses that are Allied to uh glands at the surface level um so marketing for that so there are about four or five such new businesses that we are working on within the mobile device screen business surface business as well as Allied businesses that help us build up these uh consumption lays right so what you see on your log screen today is pretty much top seven or eight consumption categories that almost all consumers like today in terms of consumption from news from Sports um to gaming to uh entertainment um you know so to all of these there are about six or seven such categories that typically consumers across the world consume so we’re building you know muscle in those and then hopefully as we get to a pmf then we bring this out as brands that of course will be available on the surface but they also can integrate to any uh directly into a manufacturer or an o or into an app and support that business so so yeah this in a nutshell is a role uh I in terms of what I’m doing today.

Mehul:- That’s very interesting in fact you know glands per has created a new space Faith you know if I may so apart from you know the existing products like the lock screens home screens and folders uh you know you mentioned about some of the new products as well so you know offering standpoint you know how did it start and where is it going uh for glands?

Sakshi:- So uh of course uh like I said we started you know about like four four years back it germinated with a small seed of an idea um this is part of inmobi where part of a larger uh of course organization so inmobi was in the advertising business there an at tech company uh and they were largely um shifting towards mobile as as a surface right and that’s when the realization sort of came in that this could be an interesting area for building consumer products as well right apart from the B2B aspect that we were doing we working with a lot of Brands agencies and so on to of course deliver their messages so we understood the communication or the consumption cycle of users and then the idea was that can since we’re working on this as you know as the surface is there an opportunity there um and that’s where the idea of sort of glands germinated that could you know a screen like surface on your mobile uh something which is passive today can that be turned into um something which is more meaningful for users uh and that’s the Journey of glance uh that’s how it started uh and now it’s blown into a much more larger vision and purpose for us we feel like you know there are a lot of opportunities out there uh for users to consume um but consumption has taken a slightly different turn in today’s world um you know and we’re all struggling with that um we all trying to cut down time we’re all trying to uh find a way to make consumption of content and information more meaningful for us and we feel we can play a you know a small part in that um by bringing it to you in a manner where you don’t have to make the effort right today I would spend endless time searching for something that I want like there would be like 40 50 100 sites that would be available to me to search for that information and then I have to go through that whole effort of finding what is right for me um or and then I’ll be sort of directed to either go to a website or download an app and then within that also I’ll you know try and find what I need in it’s you know a multi click Journey it’s amount of time that I would spend on each of these aspects so that’s where the the ideation sort of uh came from and then once we realized that lock screen as a Behavior Uh we were seeing a lot of uh interesting Trends in the way consumption was changing people were actually taking to the idea um you know they were interested in consuming information on the lock screen uh without taking too much effort and that’s the domination even of the word glance right we want to give you information and just a glance right so we want to change the context of time in that sense where you can actually get the right information and just a glance like you don’t have to spend too much Cycles um in in going and looking for it um so that’s where this the the origination of the thought process came and then we felt like this is you know this is extendable any such screen today which specifically even within your mobile device right so you have your lock screen which is of course the first entry point today for us right we use our Mo you know our device I don’t know like hundreds of times in a day I glance at my phone and that’s equally it’s it’s for everyone like we glance probably more than 100 times on our phone uh either sometimes with an intent and sometimes completely without an intent you know like you’re bored in the first thing you want to do is look at your phone like let me find what what I can do right now um so can I can I shift that behavior to instead of you going into a deep you know search or unnecessarily scroll can I just bring you relevant information in that period of or point in time um so that’s that’s how the shift happened uh we tested it out on log screen saw a good response um we actually see users spending time but it’s not an endless time like we’re not looking at them just spending like 4 hours on our platform it is supposed to be a relevant point in what is relevant for you at that point in time I am not giving you consumption where you can just go into an endless scoll Behavior this is it this is what’s available this is what’s right for you because this what’s happening in the world around you at this point in time this is Meaningful consume it and then you know do whatever your core work is right we’ like you to get back to that so um so typically people spend about 20 25 minutes on an average on L stream so and we find that that’s a good enough amount of time spent for that you know moment in the day to get meaningful um intent from from your passive screen today and it could be something to do a quick time pass it could be something to get some meaningful information which like play a game or you know there’s latest news happening around you or a life SC World Cup is happening right now so we have math score updates right on your lock screen so you don’t need to go inside and do an app try to find out who’s hit the next six or you know where the next boundary is coming from uh so all of that is there and then you know when this started as a process we realized we worked with a lot of Publishers of course we don’t curate this like we curate the content we do not build the content we work with a lot of Publishers we work with a lot of Brands to bring this content to you uh with the right credible trustworthy platform so um as we started developing this we realized there was a lot of uh White space as well in terms of building our own muscle for this consumption so that’s where some of uh you know our new brand sort of germinated from so we tested out gaming as a consumption C and then uh was born the idea of Nostra uh so uh that’s essentially our gaming platform we do everything gaming uh so today there are individual platforms uh if you want to consume a live stream there is a you know there is something like a twitch or you in India you have YouTube or a lot of newer apps that are coming in uh Roto uh you know routa Loco and so on so then there are instant games and there are downloadable games so the intent is for everything you have to go to a different you know space you have to go to a you know App Store you have to go to a independent app you have to go to a certain uh website how can I bring all of this together to you on one platform um so the idea of Nostra was that that bring everything gaming in one platform and give everyone a chance to try their hand right we are all uh Gamers like even as as kids right we play games in different shapes and forms so you may not be an active active hardcore gamer but in some way or the other we’re all you know like that little 2 minutes of fun time that spend um gaming on your uh uh you know phone so it uh so it there a platform offers everything to you if you want to spend time learning about um you know different games or just watching other people play you can watch live streams you like competing go and compete there are tournaments available you like quick fast action you can just instantly play a game on your lock screen you don’t have to download any apps there about 500 plus games available in the library you want to download hardcore games that’s also available um so that’s one then we also built um Roso which is our um you know trending uh anything trending in the world be it in terms of actually purchasing stuff so if you want a shop for stuff which is trending or just watch stuff you know consume stuff that’s trending in the in the form of uh you know live videos or shows um so that’s that’s our uh brand that actually sells your Trends in different ways and forms right uh so people shopping live shows entertainment and so on um so reposo was um it was an app that we acquired which was a short video app about three years back and then uh we sort of uh built it into what it is today which is shifted from short video because there was a lot of influx of short video we felt that live is a different gut of entertainment that we can actually bring to you viewers um it was seeing a lot of uptake in uh Global countries so in India we were one of the first ones to sort of bring live entertainment uh in a way to India about a year and a half back uh saw some great uh green shoots there and then you know develop the entire uh product to sort of now take it out to Market so you have everything from live entertainment to live shopping to um to just if you want to buy trendiest of products uh they’re all available there at uh the most reasonable prices um so Roso was again built out of that um and then on the surface side as Lo screen sort of started uh taking shape we realize there are other screens on your device so we’ve now built home screen uh which is another surface layer that you can go to and consume um folders is another way to consume data on your phone right uh typically uh folders has been uh on your phone on your mobile devices for for a while right it’s a standard product that uh your operator would sort of install uh on your device but what we’ve done is taken it to the next level so apart from just organizing your phone we’re also offering you a solution to look at content so all the apps that are Cur cre it for you in your folder it’ll get organized but you can also consume content within the folder itself so you don’t have to I mean unless you need to with an intent you don’t need to actually go inside an app you can just do a quick consumption within the folder itself um so the intent is anything that was pretty much transformable we’ve moved that surface um another space we are trying on the screens is TV uh we launched um you know a a product on TV about a year back we slightly transforming it now and re launching it in a new Avatar so uh you will see that product out in the market um it’s essentially again similar when your screen is um on an idal behavior when you’re not actively watching TV uh how can we take that ambient screen and convert it into something meaningful um so India it’s not a very uh very heavy Behavior right now where we keep our TVs on we’re a little more um uh sort of careful about it but in global marks a lot of times your television screen is like switched on it’s on throughout the even when you’re not consuming it’ll be on an idle uh screen Behavior so how can that screen which is just playing in your house with probably just some beautiful uh you know images or wallpapers how can that also continue to give you information uh so we’re looking at transforming that screen as well um so yeah very interesting uh it’s a very interesting space uh no one has sort of thought of you know the possibility of the in this space we feel this could potentially be the next change in the way um you know consumption is happening we’ve seen those decadal changes right it was browsers first then the app decade came and you know everyone was creating apps and then pushing out apps we feel screens could be I mean there’s of course conversations around metaverse and so on but the entry point to that is still screens it will still be your devices right so devices are potentially not going anywhere your device will stay in some shape or form um so how can then screens become uh also another sfce for you apart from you know browser ERS or apps what’s the next level we feel this could be the next change in behavior that we could be sort of the first to sort of initiate and hopefully uh you know we we’re seeing other players also sort of adapt so you have um apple and uh which came up with its lock screen offering about a year and about a year back right last year in June they announced it um so there is uh you know there is that shift in general across uh the competition Behavior as well where there is acknowledgement that there is a possibility here that this surface could play a meaningful role uh we feel we have uh a little more Headroom there because we’ve sort of got there first we’ve experimented figured what’s really working uh I’ll be tried now we’re right now more in the Asian market India is our primary market and uh we are also present in Indonesia where we launched about three years back uh Japan we just recently announced uh a launch in uh just about 6 months back uh so Asia we pretty much cover all larger markets uh we’re very soon in the process of you know launching other uh International geographies as well which is Latin America North America and uh potentially Europe uh so the slight a way to go out on the market is slightly different we do not do a direct user acquisition route uh we actually work with um operators or carriers or Telos uh so to say in in the Indian Palance um where we become a part of your um you know your device so we become pre-installed onto the device uh when you setting it up uh so that ways you do not have to make an effort uh because if you want to be on the on the screen that we want to be people will not go download another app that’s not the point we want to be right in the journey uh so which is why we sort of go built in into the OS uh and that’s our way to sort of reach millions of consumers in in you know in in a single at a one time uh so currently about I think we’re close to around uh 220 million active users between India and uh Indonesia Japan just started so it’s very decent um and overall we’re actually on almost half a billion devices in uh you know the Asian market right now um and with of course uh the vision is that by 2024 hopefully we’ll be on a billion devices with our launches in in the global markets that are planned out and ramped up and of course all once all the surfaces come together you’ll be a ble to see a much more cohesive much more um you know stronger way for you to interact with screens right now these are independent products but we hope to bring it all together in a manner that it feels very seamless and very intuitive to the customer to switch from one screen to another without having to have a break in the journey uh and without them having to sort of lose any of whatever that they were doing on one screen to the other so each screen will eventually at some point get connected so so yeah that’s that’s been the journey it’s been it’s been interesting uh to be a part part of this and to see it grow and to see the kind of response that we getting of course a lot of things to fix we’re also learning along the way uh because completely new untested unchartered waters for us as well uh so we’re learning every day as we hear feedbacks from users um and we continue to improvise um but I feel the larger vision is is a very interesting uh space and uh I’m looking right forward to be a part of this.

Mehul:- Yeah that’s pretty interesting I mean you are you are basically trying to be the uh you know single largest platform for Content which is curated by you right so that is that is something which is you know pretty exciting and to an extent or or rather you know it actually calls for a lot of personalization absolutely so how do you actually give a personalized experience to your consumers and uh you know it’ll be great if you can share some examples on this?

Sakshi:- So there is of course a whole uh personalization lay built in right right uh we cannot operate a platform of this magnitude without uh personalization and curation so there are two levels I mean of course there is we learn from the user so we take your signals right so there are times where you can give me a deterministic signal to say I like these particular categories you can go into glands in the settings when you’re setting up your phone you can actually choose to say I like you know these five six 10 or all content categories that that you want uh I like the I Want to Be You Know spoken to in these languages so there’s curation available you can select your language uh you can customize uh what you want so these are deterministic signals that I will get from you um a lot of times users may not be aware um and that’s where the exploration Behavior starts right so we will start teasing you with different types of content and see what you’re reacting to and depending on that uh the system will pick those signals and then Bas of that exploration we’ll start sending you more so if you’re interacting with a certain kind of content which is pretty much like how All Tech platforms work right if you’re interacting with certain kind of content we know that you’re showing affinity for it so we’ll try and show you more of it um even when you’ve given us a deterministic signal like you’ve told me I like something uh I will still test Waters with you because a lot of times when we choose something uh we’re coming in with a preset mindset that this is what you know this is what it would give me uh but you may not be aware that potentially there could be a little more outside that boundaries as well um so while you will give me a signal I will still try and explore certain things with you but if you do not show an affinity I will not like I will pull back right over uh a certain period of time and if you’ve not given me any signal to begin with uh then we will test Waters right we know there are certain categories that people like naturally like news is something that generally people would consume right like you would want to know what’s happening in the world uh Sports is a mix pag like there are people who love it and there are some who would just want to know and some who would go into a deep behavior um so again we’ll test Waters gaming is something that we are seeing a lot of people show Affinity across age groups right right from a 20year old to uh you know a 40-year old Homemakers also wanting to spend time with a quick game right it the need States would be different someone would be coming in with you know I want a game because they’re a core gamer versus someone coming in just because it’s a stress Buster and you know just a way to relieve you know their day-to-day um CH and just get away from it and do something fun um but we’re seeing Affinity across a lot of uh AG groups on that so that’s something that we see a lot of organic traction for um live is something that we testing out in this part of the world so optic but again it’s something that not everyone is picking up it’s it’s a different Behavior because it needs it is enabling you to interact it’s not passive consumption you can interact with a Creator you can actually interact with your community in and around that time and you know engage in what is happening you can change the direction of the show um so it’s a slightly different Behavior people are starting to get used to it and ATT tuned to it um so those are things that we test shop again is something that I mean in general everyone loves so uh we across do test it out um so there is a whole uh personalization Machinery that’s um or text that’s built in uh we test Waters with users and then see whatever their Affinity that they’re liking and the the system will personalize it for you it’s not 100% right there and I there are a lot of platforms who have actually perfected this over the years we are like we were just a four-year-old company so we’re still sort of our models are learning uh and uh you know that Improvement is happening so I will not be able to say that we are comparable to some of the bigger players in the market because they you know they have almost Decades of like learning machine learning that they’ve taken from the user and then applied Intelligence on top of it to serve you uh we about a for year Runway U so the the system is uh it learns organically of course as new users comes in uh so the setup is there uh but we use that to then uh personalize information but this is a very critical part of uh the entire uh platform because at the end of the day it’s it is built in the manner where it’s supposed to curate the right information for you so unless you find it’s relevant for you you will not stick onto the platform so that’s the entire base or the premise of the screen behavior that we want you to stick on which is why we will try and personalize it at close to your needs as possible so that’s how we work and then of course there are other pieces that we run in the back end in terms of uh what kind of tools that we do to personalize this um which are traditionally the typical uh standard tools that we’ve worked with some of the largest uh players in the uh you know across the world some of the top Global players uh to run this uh technology.

Mehul:- That’s interesting and uh you know what what intrigues me is that you know this is actually uh it’s a digital offering right and marketing per se has changed so much over the years how do you uh you know reach out to Consumers offering your services in this digital age?

Sakshi:- We ourselves are a platform to be honest right and we tell Brands to you know this is your window uh to a lot of consumers because I’m right there on the first interaction point that a user has with the device you cannot not go into your phone without actually looking at uh you know looking at a glance that’s our biggest sort of space right so for us we actually it’s a slightly different set of marketing that we need to do our are funnel is actually inverted I am not looking at uh you know driving I I users adopt me first and then realize that you know they are on glance so because my um my way to operate in the market my GTM is through my partners right I I go through a you know operator or uh you know a Telco in the country right so I’m I’m pre I come prebuilt into your phone uh OS right so people actually a lot of times our challenge is slightly different where we are trying to tell users that you are actually on glance because a lot of times their realization is not there they actually think it’s an offering from you know their service provider rer so we actually using it because if you’re using it on a you know a certain device you think it’s from Samsung or xiaomi or real we work actually pretty much with almost all operators in the country uh manufacturers in the country today almost 80% of Android um you know oems we we work with at least in India uh so it’s the task is slightly trickier where we are actually trying to sort of drive more awareness and uh you know uh engagement with the user because he’s already sort of adopted us uh but we do use from time to time when needed we do use external channels uh outside and I think that’s something that pretty much even you know the largest of platforms are doing that today when you want to you know have users realize that they using a platform or can have access your platform you do have to go out once in a while to mass media or digital other digital platforms which have a wider reach just to build this so for for us to build this awareness and cognition in users that you’re actually using glance and you know your lock screen that that you seeing you know with different uh lock screens that change on your phone are actually being powered by glance and why should you use it or how should you use it uh you know that education uh is for us runs a lot of course on the platform but also we use the standard digital uh platforms as well to get the message out to users um typically through different ways and means it could be through our own uh content or we work with of course influencers other brands uh to get this message out to users and um very recently actually uh we uh tested out using mass media as a way to also build awareness so we uh we just launched an integration uh we didn’t want to do a standard way of running a mass media campaign so we’ve launched an integration with uh big boss which is one of the largest sort of reality shows in India right now uh and uh the idea was to get it to more and more Indians across the country the message of that you know this is something something that is there on your device and how can you use it so it’s been placed in a very intelligent manner for the first time they’ve actually integrated with a company like us uh tech company uh and it’s part of the show there is actually a daily integration where um the contestants get to interact with actually a device which has never been there in the show so they actually get to interact with a phone device and they get interesting tips on what they can do uh during the show so some hidden or unknown news or some uh you know smart gameplay or some quick technique that comes to them which is pretty much what glands also does in real life right when you consume um so we’re trying to see if that is a way for users to register uh you know what is glands and how they can use it more effectively um so this is our first for to sort of we we’ve tried mass media previously once like maybe about when we launched the company but yeah this is our this is another test that we wanted to do to see if we can reach more homes in uh you know in India through both the digital and the DV integration so there are newer things that we keep trying out otherwise uh in terms of how to reach audiences but uh typically for us most of our effort will be on glance itself right telling users this is a way for you to go in uh because we feel that’s our strongest sweet where um we’re the first entry point for any user to to unlock that device so uh why not use it.

Mehul:- You have on platform and then you have platform approach?

Sakshi:- Absolut Yeah 

Mehul:- Interesting and this is this this would probably be the first right you know where you are actually you know getting users from your own platform?

Sakshi:- That’s true so um and that effort actually happens because the moment I I get into uh you know a phone uh a manufacturer has sort of added me in so the moment the device gets activated once the user Ops in it to as part of their setting uh we’re already on on their device then it’s a matter of you know getting them to learn how to use it again it’s a new category so category education is important important because it doesn’t like when you’ve anytime something new has come into the country like our today our digital ecosystem of you know payments and so on right it was at that time it was unimaginable for people that you know everyone would be using it right pretty much from um you know your your help to someone more senior to your business at anyone so it’s it’s sort of uh democratized the way we sort of uh you know interact uh we feel that this could be that platform that could cut across as well right this is for anyone I mean while we want to attract a certain set of users but it’s it’s a platform for anyone anyone who owns a device can can use this to access whatever that they want so.

Mehul:- Let’s say if you look at the off platform uh options you know where you are building this brand in the digital space you know how do you see organic search or where do you see organic search in the Journey of building a brand like glance?

Sakshi:- No absolutely that’s uh that’s a very cryptical component uh because that’s like I said while we want to um stop people from going into a heavy search Behavior but for them to know about us right for any brand uh to you know for people to build that credibility or trust today the first thing that they would do is you know search for for the brand and then also see what other other credible sources are talking about you right which could be media which could be other platforms uh and how and what they’re talking about it be uh you know influencers or agencies or any other you know uh sources that are out there uh so we feel search is a is a very critical part of our Journeys because as and when users do find out about us that’s their way to you know go and check back to see uh considering it’s it’s still a new company right while we’ve been there for about four years but uh it’s it’s something new that you it’s a new category it’s it’s a new completely new product right so it is a good way for them to check back and for us also it’s an important way to ensure that um you know users are able to find us uh in a manner that how to use the product what they can do around it um and also in general just an awareness about uh what the category can do for them how can it help them how can it a them and so on um so it it is a key piece of our uh you know in general approach in marketing uh where organic sits at while I’m not looking to drive traffic because I’m not I’m not an app or a website but I’m looking at driving in general awareness and per option so these are the two things that we definitely look at organic search to solve for us um and we look at various efforts and means to make that happen.

Mehul:- Obviously glands builds a lot through AI right to get to give that kind of wow experience to the consumer you know as far as marketing is concerned you know what is your take on AI in marketing?

Sakshi:- So I think there are both side of the coin we’ve we’ve heard from people uh who sit on either side of the fence I uh uh I think personally for me uh as a marketer I think any new change that comes in also AI is not a new thing like we’ve been using Ai and sub sh perform like it’s been there for decades right personalization as an as a thing has been on for a while right platforms have been using it for so long um it’s just that the way the the newer systems that have come in have actually enabled a far more higher level of uh you know uh interaction or personalization that we can do and uh efficiency that we can bring in into the way that we operate um so and that’s a natural leap of technology that would happen and was expected that it would happen um so I sit somewhere in the middle I feel that it’s anytime there is a shift in technology um I feel that’s a positive change because it’s it’s actually building in Far More Muscle uh and helping you actually do better right so it’s the onus is on us like the onus is on us to figure out a way for how we are going to operate around that technology and how can we make our life more efficient uh as opposed to saying it’s you know it’s going to cut down uh you know our jobs or it will be the you know the the Doomsday conspiracy so to say uh I just feel it’s it actually can be an aid it’s how you look at it right it’s it’s a great aid for us to actually improvise the way that we interact with systems and tools and how do we then pass that communication on to users right we can simplify users life so much uh we can simplify our life so much so it’s I’m seeing so much efficiency come in in to a lot of our processes right the time that we would take or a designer would take to actually create a single piece of content has actually come down significantly um so but you still need that human intervention because you know cultural nuances um uh people nuances all of this that still you know you need a human intervention to be that you know gatekeeper or or check uh to bring in right uh machine is good machine can bring you effici both in cost in terms of time in terms of every other lever but uh it’s an important space to have that human intervention to build in the right signals right because while the machine can give you that Insight but the real you know way to use that Insight I think we we are still needed uh to to bring that uh level of awareness to that uh problem statement and solution um so I’m seeing a lot of lot of change uh at least the way we are using technology right now the ability to now write much more quicker and to be able to CH out content and just basic ideation but that filter of you know cleaning up making it ready for consumption I think that layer is still um going to be pretty much controlled by us so um I’m seeing very good efficiency come in in the way at least our uh teams are operating I hope we can do more we’re actually working on a lot of you know interesting tools that we want to build internally uh with some of the bigger players so so that we can bring in Far More efficiency like we see a lot of spaces where we are spending a lot of um you know time and effort just to build um you know content cards and a lot of effort is still a lot manual uh which actually can be avoided in today’s day and time like we’re sitting like pretty much in you know 2020 almost 2024 now so uh I think we should you know be moving much more at a much more faster Pace than we are today and that opportunity is what AI is bringing us um so we should grab it with uh with both our hands and figure out how can we make it work for us as opposed to uh you know AI controlling us and telling us what to do but how can we control it and make it work for us I think that would be a great way to look at it.

Mehul:- Fantastic I think you gave me answer for both the current question and the next question by giving me yeah you know it was a very positive approach towards the because otherwise normally the uh you know look at AI as a you know enemy as compared to you know looking at it as an enablence so you know that actually you made my my job easier right now by answering both the questions together and in a very nice uh comprehensive so thanks thanks for that so coming to the next question sakshi you know throughout your long professional Journey you know is there any specific growth story or some growth stories that on top of your mind you know which you would like to share?

Sakshi:- So several interesting uh stories throughout um I’m a few uh that I want to definitely um talk about um I think one was um early on uh in the Telco days so I’ve uh worked with airell um Telcom of course uh now Telcom Market is completely changed we’re back to pretty much a three player Market uh when they entered we were around the eighth ninth brand in the Market at that time and uh Within 2 years it had become like a 12 13 player Market uh which was unimagined in Telcom like at least 10 years back um and it was a hard like it was a hard battle everyone was battling for that consumption share uh uh in India and coming as a regional player and going national uh I was part of that Journey for about um 3 4 years when you know we took that Spike so we actually moved from you know 89 to pretty much like the fourth fifth position in the country and that was a hard within two years we actually two to three years we made that switch um so there were a lot of interesting things uh that we did around that time which were uh industry firsts um one thing that was very close uh to me and I worked uh very closely on it for um about two three years was um of course the core marketing and there was a lot of interesting stuff that was happening there uh but we actually chose to take a slightly different approach at that time uh on uh by building CSR into a marketing uh communication uh you know uh Tool uh so while that was not the first choice at at that time we of course the intentions were always to do good uh and to solve for a problem statement but it actually turned into something quite unimaginable even for us right so the campaign I’m talking about is actually sa Trias it was a very interesting campaign at that time and even today I think a lot of people recall um how it actually transformed the way a lot of you know Indians thought about things of national pride right um and those were stats that were not known to people at that time that you know like population in the country is pretty much like almost going to die uh and it was a root shock for a lot of people across the country and we literally like we rallied the entire country to come together for a cause um and that for me was very heartening to be part of that for the two three years that I worked on that and not just the cause but it actually had a very wide impact on the brand as well uh so while we didn’t go in and did not imagine the magnitude of that chain that it would bring for us um we went in thinking we should do this as a positive effort and we hope it would make some change um but the kind of phenomenal response that we saw uh in terms of people coming together and how cause marketing can actually change the way the perception of your brand uh it was an eye opener for all of us right as part of the campaign we actually sort of grew with it uh as well like our learnings um so that was my first uh learning of how cause marketing can switch perception uh for Brands it was not that ASL has any sort of negative perception but we were like you know late entring into the market so to create that room for us that campaign really shifted of course there were a lot of other pieces and you know functional pieces that we so for both at the product level and so on we launched a lot of new uh products into the market which were again industry first but this really swung the needle in terms of how emotionally people were connecting to the brand um they actually felt that we were doing something good and they wanted to be Associated both with the calls of the brand um so that for me was um a very interesting shift in the way uh you know audiences perceived us before and after we sort of um brought out that campaign and sort of definitions of cause marketing after that started changing a lot of Brands started adopting that strategy in terms of you know building muscle around uh you know how do you take causes out to people in a manner that also bring stickiness and affinity for your brand and not just as a you know checkin the Box CSR activity that that you’re doing which you any which was compelled to do as an organization but how can you shift uh really the boundaries um then a lot of uh other interesting things uh for me um the second one was the next company for me was um so I worked briefly actually not briefly for almost three years with rumar which is one of the uh you know Legacy Indian designers and it was again a very wonderful experience moving from a corporate structure to work with uh you know sort of family uh business right proprietor run company uh but the shift there right a legacy company shifting into transforming into a urban young India first company uh and I was part of that Journey again a very interesting shift I think um getting everyone together onto that thought that we need to actually shift the Legacy focus into you know a young Ur brand that actually attracts like again across age groups because um the the kind of fashion that they did they had um um fashion for all age groups right so there were there were three or four brands that I was working on at that time of course the Cure label which was the signature label um that you use for occasions and uh and weddings and so on but we also launched a couple of other uh lines um but they were the first Indian brand to take the shift into digital uh in this space in the Legacy and Fashion World in the Indian Fashion World uh and I was part of that journey to push them to take that Swit while uh so we were the first ones to actually go uh on uh Market bases uh and build our own Ecom uh before that of course there were very small labels who were doing that in sporadic burst but we actually set the path for a lot of other than beginner labels to start realizing that digital is a space to move um and a lot of other then Brands followed through it and you’re seeing the change right now in that fashion industry like pretty much all of them are uh now heavily digital uh you know so and within the three years that I was there in the two years I actually like we saw our portfolio in terms of our Revenue shift um started to come in right our digital revenues had actually grown to almost 20% of the overall turnover within like two years shifting to an Ecom uh d2c sort of a uh you know model uh and that 4A helped actually push the company into to a lot more newer audiences a lot more younger audiences sort of got attracted to the brand so that was an interesting uh shift how to move the needle for uh the business and brand and also to move it in in a legacy brand and also a family run sort of a setup right so convincing multiple stakeholders to move that uh and get that going it was an interesting uh way of driving uh fashion adoption in India and of course uh then yeah another Journey uh with uh payback and then bat pay again some interesting notes there I think that was part of the shift that we brought in in terms of uh launching postpay in India as a brand right so again that was transformational uh a new kind of category bringing it to Indians so uh very interesting uh play there uh in terms of Shifting how uh you know we’re adopting Credit in a in a in a in a much more digital manner so uh that for me again was a new category and a new innovation and how we brought that from uh you know getting it to millions of Indians across uh the country so yeah there are a lot of those interesting stories and even with gland I just feel like the category itself and the nature of the business and the product that we building it’s so unique it’s so different um that just getting users to realize that you know this is there’s so much potential out there right like uh today what we’re doing is probably um you know 10 20% of what the potential is out there of transforming screens so I feel this journey itself for me is is an interesting growth story like I the year I’m going to be competing about two years here uh in just the last year and a half like the shift that we’ve brought in in the way users are consuming screens um and uh the kind of uh consumption behavior that they’re bringing both in terms of um just surface behavior and also within that how we consuming right like we can actually play that role of a digitally responsible platform that’s actually telling you stop uh you know stop overc consumption do it right do it at the right time and you know only enough what is relevant for you and just make every glance every moment so much meaningful for you that you don’t not have to get lost uh in the negativity of whatever is there on the internet uh so I feel just yeah this this whole um paradigm shift in the way the product is there and how we taking it to Market is just a very interesting story in itself and I’m sort of really happy to be part of this journey.

Mehul:- Interesting very interesting insights saki last question uh of this podcast so uh saki can you share any four takeaways for uh buding professionals before we sign off?

Sakshi:- That’s a hard one there um so um a lot of things like I think it’s the industry is Shifting there’s a constant change that is coming in right so so um I think what new in you know buing professionals can do is one is um you know you need it’s a continuous learning cycle right so it’s not just um School College whatever learning that you’ve done which is great uh but the learning never ends so you need to be constantly on your toes to be able to shift with the tide and to move on otherwise we’ll always continuously be in that struggle to say that you know I don’t have a job or I don’t you know I’m not finding relevance so you have to create your own relevance no one will help you so be on that continuous journey of of learning um so that you’re not losing uh you know uh whatever Trends are out there you need to catch them quickly um you need to be able to learn and experiment as well uh what works in marketing today is because there’s so much noise out there the standard tricks of Trades do not apply anymore like tradition I mean your your core rules well your Frameworks first principles of course to apply um but there is this whole set of learning that can come in with experimentation um so whatever you pick up uh just ensure that you’re always apart from the learning mode you’re always constantly in the experimentation mode uh because be both as audiences like as consumers ourselves and also being on the other side where we’re trying to communicate you know what our brand or offering is to Consumers that to understand that perception shift there is you need to be in that continuous experimentation cycle because we’re changing so fast right today I mean like just I said we’re in a we’re launching new categories and products people have never realized that you would also do this with a screen or a behavior right so just that journey and cycle is a lot of experimentation to test what users will resonate with what they will not and that’s true for any type of product or solution that you’re working with um so be in that constant journey of exploration and experimentation once you get into business the third uh while I said experimentation is important I’ll also go back to saying the first principles approach if you’re not clear in any type of the way that you want to approach something um the first principles approach is what you can always fall back on uh and that’s true for you know any sort of works that you’re doing um so try and keep it go back to the basics go back to the way you can simplify the problem in the most you know to the lowest common denominator and then try and build up how you can solve for it um because a lot of times we get bed down by millions of options same way as consumers we are B down by what to do and what to see um we get as marketers also struggle to solve for you know how should I go about things so um that’s always your typically of you know um as long as your Frameworks are right you can always lean back on those Frameworks to solve for uh you know a problem the last I think uh the way that we looking at content and creating a creation of content I think we all need to be able to I think while being a specialist is a great space but you also need to be able to in today’s world also play at the same time a hat of a generalist right so while you may go sharper on a particular vertical but you should be able to also understand what’s happening in around you and how can you use like everything has become about content right how do you create the right messaging so that your consumer understands what is it that you’re trying to tell it and then of course goes into the entire funnel of understanding and consideration adoption and so on um so it’s a TW thing you should be able to understand nuances of what’s happening in and around you apart from your specialization be able to play that lens or layer to be able to go wider while you go deep but also Al use content as a very powerful way of um you know building the right messages understanding the right insight and then using storytelling in an Innovative and interesting manner today it’s all about that uh I think we far away from um the earlier times where you know you could create one ad and that was you know entire year could run with that today it’s a it’s it’s it’s a time of like so much of fast consumption there is so much noise out there um that to cre create enough spikes for your brand you will have to continuously innovate and come up with newer uh pieces that can resonate with your audiences and to build that uh Affinity um so using the understanding of the other verticles and then bringing it down into um you know one that interesting piece of content that can go out uh I think that will be uh the next peep of how you can solve for uh you know solving a problem statement or you know solving for your product or promise to reach the right set of consumers or so on um so yeah I mean there are there’s a lots more I think there’s a lots more uh learning that goes along the way I would just urge people to get into the workforce uh as soon as they can theoretical learning takes you to a certain point but unless you actually get into it and apply it it it’s not it’s it’s very different um so while all of that is great and it helps you and stays in good stad but get into the workforce very soon put your hands at it if you cannot get a full-time uh job at this point in time try Consulting try putting yourself out there I think there are enough and more ways today for you know young people to get into the workforce it doesn’t have to be the typical 9 to 5 way there are so many more opportunities for uh people today to try their hands of AD building and learning so um I would urge that just get into it try your hand there’s just so much options available today I feel like I wish I started my journey now because I feel like I could do so many more things uh but it’s a great time uh to be in in this space in the marketing industry to uh to have a lot more fun than what we had in you know early days but I I enjoyed that time but I’m enjoying now more than ever.

Mehul:- Right thanks thanks actually for the wonderful insights so ladies and gentlemen this brings us to the end of yet another insightful episode of the growth genius this is something which was quite insightful for me as well there is a service platform that actually acquires consumers through its own platforms and even out of it the times are changing my friends and so is marketing and business and that is why at the growth genius we bring to you content which is more relatable and more insightful I hope you are learning and getting inspired by our content and if that is is the case do like share and subscribe to our content on various social media platforms or audio platforms the links to all of these are given in the description below so till the next episode of the growth genius keep learning keep inspiring thank you.