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<ul><li><keyword id="910338" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="DDB-Mudra-Group" source="Orion">DDB Mudra Group</keyword> aims to create gender equity in leadership with the <keyword id="12384504" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Phyllis-India-Project" source="Orion">Phyllis India Project</keyword>.</li><li>It includes a customized career plan for each participant based on their goals and development areas.</li></ul> In a bid to create a more gender-balanced company, the DDB Mudra Group has successfully launched ‘The Phyllis India Project’, a year-long mentorship program to enable and encourage women to thrive in leadership roles and drive professional growth. The comprehensive training program includes a customized career plan for each participant based on their goals and development areas. The program transcends the boundaries of the professional sphere by helping participants navigate mental and societal challenges such as experiencing motherhood guilt-free, overcoming the imposter syndrome, courage and self-belief, making your voice heard and other such themes. The Phyllis India program is designed to provide consistent and personalised interventions in the form of training modules, mentoring sessions and fireside chats with industry leaders. Each participant’s career plan and development is tracked and reviewed monthly with the leadership team. The program includes one-on-one and group mentoring sessions conducted by several industry leaders including Suparna Mitra (CEO – Titan Watches), Gayatri Yadav (CMO – India &amp; SEA, Sequoia Capital) Virginia Sharma (VP - Brand Solutions, Jio Saavn), Vasuta Agarwal (MD - APAC, Inmobi), Indira Rangarajan (National Content Director - Digital, Mirchi), as well as DDB leaders like Varsha Kaura (Global Business Director, DDB Worldwide), Diana Sukopp (CCO, DDB Germany), Noelle Baer (VP &amp; Strategy Director, DDB Chicago), among others. With this initiative, the Group intends to create a community of women leaders of today who can be the role models that inspire and support the women leaders of tomorrow. The DDB Mudra Group first entered participants into the global Phyllis Project in 2017. Having built on the fundamental principles and pillars of the global program, the company introduced the Indian edition that addresses the cultural challenges that women leaders face in the country. The Phyllis India Project pilot kicked off in 2020. The program has since been training its pilot batch of women leaders. Parallelly, ‘Equal Parenting’ is another initiative intended to help employees balance their personal roles as parents, with their professional aspirations. It is inspired by the need to retain mothers in the workforce and create equal parents among men. Guided and informal sessions focus on ungendering and redefining the roles of both mothers and fathers. “Gender gaps influence the society, culture, economy and the way in which we shape our world for the next generation. Supporting the advancement of women and non-binary individuals by addressing the challenges they face is a global priority for the Group, and we in India have taken it very seriously. It’s inspiring to watch the participants of the Phyllis program grow personally and professionally, take on new roles, and steer the company towards a future with unbound potential. Leaders like Mehak Jaini who now heads Strategy at 22feet Tribal WW, and Sharon Misra who is now leading Exxon Mobil’s business, are great examples of how the program enables and empowers women to lead the biggest businesses in the market. Our notable alumni from this global programme include Shagun Seda, Marketing Director at Netflix, and Sonal Jhuj who leads Global Brand Strategy at Lego Global,” says <keyword id="3609466" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="aditya-kanthy" source="Orion">Aditya Kanthy</keyword>, CEO &amp; MD, DDB Mudra Group. The Group recently supported the UN’s Women Empowerment Principles (WEP). The WEPs platform offers the private sector a global network of like-minded companies and guidance on advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community. “At DDB, we know that better product and cultures emerge from diverse and inclusive teams. That’s why initiatives like The Phyllis Project are at the heart of our people strategy. We hope to learn and strengthen our current efforts from the UNWEP network, which is yet another step in making a deeper, meaningful impact. This impact drives culture, company policies, business, and gender parity at work and at home,” says Rita Verma, Executive Vice President and Head-HR, DDB Mudra Group. ‘The Phyllis India Project’ currently engages with 25 of the brightest women talent in the DDB Mudra Group, has conducted over 35 group sessions and 100 one-on-one mentoring sessions so far. The program is named after Phyllis Robinson – DDB Worldwide’s first copywriter and the first female copy chief in U.S. history. Phyllis was known for her rebellious creative spirit, for challenging the rules and opening the doors for women in the industry. An icon of the creative revolution, her spirit continues to inspire women leaders to this day.

DDB Mudra Group launches a year-long mentorship program to nurture and empower a community of women leaders in the company

<ul><li>This Pride, we want advertising and media industry’s queer folks to take up space.</li><li>With our individual interviews, we will be focusing on harnessing the full power of our platform to highlight emerging queer leaders of the advertising industry.</li><li>In today’s interview, we talk to Amit Kekre from DDB Mudra Group about building an inclusive space inside the organisations, working on campaigns that bring real change, moving beyond tokenism, how he feels about limited-edition merchandise and a lot more.</li></ul>The discourse on LGBTQIA+ rights, inclusivity and diversity has definitely moved forward in the last few years in India after the abolition of Article 377 in 2018. However, many brands are still struggling to move beyond issuing boilerplate statements, rainbow-washing their social media platforms and still learning how to drive real change when it comes to adopting definitive actions at a structural level. Many <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dangingiss/2019/02/11/study-consumers-blame-government-for-dividing-the-nation-but-look-to-brands-to-fix-it/#2c91af526ac4">studies </a>suggest that consumers, especially GenZ and Millennials, are now expecting to see brands address social, political and cultural issues such as climate change, the right to love whoever you want, to mention a few. According to a Sprout Social poll,<a href="https://sproutsocial.com/insights/data/social-media-connection/"> more than half consumers</a> say that they want to buy from brands that stand up for social issues. While every day should be Pride Day, the earmarked month of June brings along an opportunity for us to sit and reflect on how far we have come, try to recognise and unlearn the biases, acknowledge the struggles that LGBTQIA+ people went through because of our ignorance, give a privilege check and start normalising the conversation at a macro level. So, we decided to catch up with Amit Kekre, National Strategy Head, DDB Mudra Group, to understand how brands can be true allies to the queer community this month and every day after June. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Moving beyond tokenism" text="Moving beyond tokenism">Moving beyond tokenism</cmsannotation> Come <keyword id="168821" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pride-Month">Pride Month</keyword>, social media is flooded with VIBGYOR-coloured logos, rainbow limited-edition merchandise and special discounts. This ‘woke washing’ disappears on the very first day of July, brands join another bandwagon on social media and forget that the community still needs to be heard and seen. So telling us how brands should stay away from this rainbow-washing, Kekre said, “Put your money where your mouth is. Second, don't just leave it at the level of ads. Enough has been said through advertisements and brands gain more from that and the community doesn't. Responsible brands that truly want to involve in a give and take, and not only take, can do a lot of things. One is brands are part of corporations -- those business organisations can make sure that they invite people from the queer community to be active members of their organisations.” Many people have lost their jobs and livelihoods due to COVID-19. The situation, however, is grimmer as far as the lives of numerous transgender people are concerned, especially for all people from the Hijra community. Adding on why brands should reserve jobs for marginalised communities, Kekre said, “If you're raising a cause, make sure that the cause doesn't die down with one ad. Make sure that the cause stays on with your focused commitment to it. The queer community needs a lot of support. Look at the last two years. COVID has impacted the trans community so much. They are literally out of livelihood. They don't know where to go, where they are going to eat from now. So, brands can come forward and do something real to bring a meaningful difference in their lives. They can give them employment; all the brands that have used the queer discourse to bring the story forward to the society can actually now also go one step forward and make real difference, give them employment, give them opportunities. Don't just leave it at telling their story.” During Pride Month, Kekre’s phone buzzes a lot. Brands reach out to him to put them in touch with queer folks who do commericals or brand partnerships pro bono, which isn’t true for brands who look for cis-het influencers or content creators. He shared, “A lot of brands use the queer community as their ambassadors, influencers, queer influencer, and often enough, it's an unsaid expectation that they would work for free. "Oh, you're queer. So we'll use your influence, but we won't pay for it because you're getting the limelight, and we are a big brand. So, why don't you just do it for us for free?" Queer people should do work for them for free just because they're queer. So, respecting the commercial ambitions of successful people is important because there's a lot of compromise that happens there. Would you do that with a heterosexual, heteronormative influencer? You wouldn't. I get so many calls, “Can you put us in touch with some of your friends who are influencers? But you know what, can you just make sure that it's free and that they don't charge?” I ask why? Why should they not charge? Don't use their queerness as their Achilles heel.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Getting the marketing campaign right" text="Getting the marketing campaign right">Getting the marketing campaign right</cmsannotation> Over the years, brands have made many campaigns; some have gone south and some have managed to tick all the right boxes. For Kekre, it is<a href="https://youtu.be/-p8DFP1Tn1s"> Times of India’s Out and Proud campaign</a> for its honest portrayal and <a href="https://youtu.be/blvOBnSRfVc">Brooke Bond Label’s 6 Pack Band</a> for its gumption that continue to stay locked in his heart. “I think, for the first time you saw the portrayal of the community that was not hyperbole, it was not exaggerated, it didn’t feed into the stereotypes. Times Out and Proud campaign showed people and members of the community just as real as they are -- as people who are full of flaws as well as beauty. It normalised the narrative, and the portrayal of the queer community,” explained Kekre. He loves clients like Brooke Bond Label who help bring real change. He said, “Second one that I really like, for just that simple bravery, is the Brooke Bond six pack band. For brands today, trust me, it takes a lot. On the entire queer spectrum, I think one of the most disadvantaged communities is the trans community. It takes a lot of gumption and courage for a brand of that scale, to imagine and create a mass narrative with a transgender band on it. Typically, the kind of conversations that you'd hear in boardrooms are: “Oh, we'd speak to the family audience and we speak to the mass audience and they're not in tune with this kind of 'evolved discourse'.” And here's a brand that proves it all wrong. It goes ahead and perhaps addresses one of the most stigmatised issues and marginalised sub-communities within the entire queer community and does a really good job of it. Forget the execution, the insight and the idea in the ad -- I just like it for the sheer bravery of it. I love clients who do that kind of work. Otherwise, you just lose time and so much effort in leading this overt intellectualization that goes on and on. And everything basically is done to cover the lack of conviction and the lack of gumption that clients have in really doing something meaningful for the community because you can hedge your bets all you want but if you really want to do something, you'll show up.” One campaign that made him cringe was “<a href="https://youtu.be/C20SmW662UQ">Karan Johar Knorr soup ad</a> without blinking an eyelid.” He explained, “It kind of projects the community as overtly sexualized, people who don't have anything on their minds but sex.” So, we asked him which approach works best: a campaign targeting discrimination and stigmas, or a campaign celebrating the community or a campaign that includes couples of all kinds? “It completely depends on what the task is. Why are you doing and what you're doing? There are lots of variables that you need to keep in mind and really evaluate. But at a general level, from the community's point of view, which campaigns are the best: I think campaigns that show the community in a normalised light. Excess of everything is bad. This overt depiction of pathos is also something that's been happening quite a lot. Having said that, the large part of the country doesn't actually recognise the anxiety and angst that people from the community go through. Some campaigns that show that anxieties show that pain is also critical, provided you show that anxiety in a real sense, you don't overdramatise it, and you don't ridicule it either. It's a very sensitive portrayal that you need to put there.” Kekre added that celebratory campaigns also do well if done in the right way. “We've done that with <a href="https://youtu.be/LrPJZJ53BV4">Levi's ‘proud to be more’ campaign</a>. It's a celebration of the queer community, where it's based on a simple idea that these are people who are far more than their sexual identity, and the success that they've reached in their professional circles. And I think those kinds of campaigns go a long way in normalising. Don't look at them from a special lens. These are people like you and I, and their sexuality, just like anybody else's sexuality, is a small part of their life. There is a larger life-narrative that they also hold. Celebrate that as well,” said he. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Rainbow Merchandise: Yay or nay?" text="Rainbow Merchandise: Yay or nay?">Rainbow Merchandise: Yay or nay?</cmsannotation> Brands often launch limited-edition rainbow-coloured merchandise during Pride month. From Lego to Fossil, there’s a bunch of brands who have done it this year as well. While it reflects that there’s an increased awareness, it comes across as a monetisation opportunity. Kekre, again, said there’s a way to do it right. He shared, “Merchandise is often used as a monetising opportunity on the back of people's sentiment or on the back of a community. Having said that, I think when the merchandise is done meaningfully, it works. It was done with Levi's jeans series. There are some brands which specifically design their products for the community and there are some brands that are specifically creating products for the community. So the latter works. But limited-edition merchandise, I think it needs to be done a little bit more thoughtfully because I wonder who is it targeted at? The reach tends to be very limited. From a marketing perspective, I wonder if it makes sense for the organisations or for the audience as well. So I view this limited-edition merchandise with a little bit of suspicion.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Looking inside to change the world" text="Looking inside to change the world">Looking inside to change the world</cmsannotation> As an industry, advertising is known to lead to change. It can use its influential power in mending belief systems and nudging people to question their regressive thoughts. It can bring about normalisation and make people embrace the entire spectrum. Apart from using their advertising and marketing tools tactfully, brands and ad agencies can work towards improving gender representation inside their organisations at a structural level. Kekre has introduced an internship program at DDB Mudra Group, which is specifically designed for the transgender community to help them ease into the organsation, sharpen their skillsets and simply give them an opportunity to shine because other organisations don’t. Many organisations hire one queer person and make them the face of diversity at their organisation. Recently, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/ad-agencies/article/cannes-lions-to-onboard-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-specialist-consultancy-after-former-dean-abraham-abbi-asefaw-called-out-the-organisation-for-lack-of-representation/articleshow/83030888.cms">Cannes Lions was </a>called out for hiring one person of colour at Roger Hatchuel Academy and making them the face of diversity but it has now onboarded a specialised Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity agency to correct its course. Highlighting how organisations need to have an active approach towards hiring queer folks as well, he said, “It's a journey and most organisations have started on the journey pretty recently. So, there will be slow steps. This one person as the face of the queer community -- ticking the job on that list -- is not the approach that organisations should take. It should be like any other diversity initiatives. For example, when it comes to gender representation, most organisations have recognised the unconscious bias and have set targets to include X percent of female employees. Those kinds of targets also need to be set for people from the queer community. And that's where I think the stand needs to change.” He added, “Most organizations have a very passive acceptance towards the community. They'll have policies which say, "Okay, if you're working with us, and if you happen to be queer, then we won't discriminate." But that's still at a very passive level, you need to have policies which are actively inviting people from the queer community to join the organisation. For example, have a program like DDB Transit does; it goes to queer interest groups, to welfare organisations, sets up camps, and invites people from the queer community to come and join us. It's not about after you've joined, if you happen to be queer, we'll take care of you. We're actually saying, "Hey, if you're queer, please come and join us." And we'll make it an inclusive environment for you, we'll make sure that we have policies for you that are designed that way. We also happen to be the first agency that has same sex insurance and we're committed to making a whole host of other changes: from physical infrastructure that is required or mental infrastructure that needs to be put in place -- it needs to be an overt statement, and there needs to be a financial and mental commitment to it. We aren't doing it just for the sake of tokenism -- there needs to be value in it for both the organisation and community.” Kekre suggested moving beyond marketing and advertising to bring real change in the society and taking a step forward towards inclusion and normalisation. “From a communication perspective, I think most brands are still in the trap of doing representational work with the community. And that's where change needs to happen,” said Kekre. Brands have a responsibility to the community and they should aim to not only promote themselves, but address larger social issues throughout the year, only then can they be true allies. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="83309890" title="Best LGBTQ+ campaigns India has seen over the years" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>

Don't use their queerness as their Achilles heel: DDB Mudra Group's Amit Kekre on what brands should do this pride

<ul><li>There’s no doubt that in 2022 and beyond, companies and advertising agencies will dedicate more attention and resources to improving <keyword id="61889" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="diversity" source="Orion">Diversity</keyword>, <keyword id="12546708" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="equity-and-inclusion" source="Orion">Equity and Inclusion</keyword> (DEI).</li><li>While the ad industry has a lot of women today, many drop out by the time they reach mid-management levels, primarily due to the lack of flexible hours, or the flexibility to work from home.</li><li>Advertising agencies, therefore, have been working towards training more women, to prepare them for leadership roles. They are also launching special programs to encourage queer people to join advertising agencies.</li><li>We speak to a few Creative Agencies that appear to be making strides in improving DEI to find out what’s their current <keyword id="1014511" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gender-ratio" source="Orion">gender ratio</keyword> and got them to share a few ways in which they think the industry can evolve to become more inclusive.</li></ul>The advertising industry is known to lead to change and advertising agencies have the power to shape how people see themselves through their creative campaigns. They have the power to make a positive impact on society. The industry can use its influential power in mending belief systems and nudging people to question their regressive thoughts. From challenging stereotypes to pushing people to embrace the entire gender spectrum, advertising campaigns can work wonders in bringing about acceptance. Apart from using their advertising and marketing tools tactfully, ad agencies can work towards improving gender representation inside their organisations at a structural level. However, at the creative stage, too many perspectives have been excluded over the years. Many organisations hire one queer person and make them the face of diversity. Last year, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/ad-agencies/article/cannes-lions-to-onboard-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-specialist-consultancy-after-former-dean-abraham-abbi-asefaw-called-out-the-organisation-for-lack-of-representation/articleshow/83030888.cms">Cannes Lions was </a>called out for hiring one person of colour at Roger Hatchuel Academy and making them the face of diversity. After drawing flak, the academy and Cannes Lions onboarded a specialised Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity agency to correct its course. In the last few years, advertising agencies in India have taken baby steps towards improving Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity inside their organisations as well. They are trying to build an inclusive culture that transcends barriers, biases and bureaucracy, and makes employees truly feel like they belong. With equal representation of different voices on the inside, historically underrepresented demographic groups are authentically and positively represented in the campaigns too. This leads to robust dialogue, richer decisions, it helps build empathy within the organization to design good, and human-centered solutions. Advertising and Media Insider gathered insights from industry leaders and agencies who appear to be making strides towards DEI about how employers can boost diversity and inclusion in their organisations. A look at the current gender ratio MullenLowe Lintas Group’s gender ratio stands at 35% and the agency network has a similar ratio even at the leadership level. Garima Pant, Group HR Director, MullenLowe Lintas Group told us about their hiring process. She said, “For us, DEI goes beyond Gender. This year with our Apex Council, we plan to steer initiatives and changes aimed towards shaping and embedding DEI in the DNA of the organization. Our commitment to hire more diverse voices has already been put in action; we are signatories on the UN Women Empowerment Principles, we introduced our Referral program with 2X referral bonus aimed at hiring women, PWD’s and LGBTQ+ team members and are also systemically looking at embedding DEI in our processes to ensure accountability while we lead with intent. For advertising, more than most other industries, DEI is not just a humanistic issue, it is a business case. At the heart of diversity and inclusion is getting diverse thinking, diverse perspectives, thereby inspiring imagination and impacting societal change.” DDB Mudra Group, which was one of the first agencies in India to update its insurance policy to include same-sex couples and live-in partners, ended 2021 with a gender ratio of women-to-men at 40:60. Rita Verma, EVP &amp; Head - HR, DDB Mudra Group told us all about the agency’s roadmap for 2022. She said, “DEI has been a key priority for us in the last few years, and our plans for the coming year are built off the work that we have done in the last three years. The Phyllis Project is a DDB global initiative that kicked off in 2018 to help women leaders stay the course and rise more effortlessly through the ranks. In 2020, in the middle of the challenges of the pandemic, we managed to launch the India leg of the program, which is a more intense, consistent and personalised program for our top 25 women talent. We will proudly be graduating the first batch of the Phyllis India project in March of this year, and kick-starting a 2022 batch. Through the last two years, with a mix of mentoring engagements with the best in the business within and outside DDB, training and skill-building interventions and exposure to some of the most inspiring women leaders, we’ve built a set of powerful women leaders. We are proud of the ones who have stayed with us and grown their influence within DDB in India, like Mehak Jaini who heads strategy for us at 22feet Tribal Worldwide, and also the incredible women talent who have gone on to take on bigger challenges in the industry such as Sonal Jhuj at Lego and Shagun Seda at Netflix. Our Open Pride program has seen us consistently engage in conversations with our employees to increase awareness and sensitize them towards the LGBTQIA+ community. We have made a conscious effort to improve our policies, whether it is in the context of insurance for same sex partners, or increased paternity leave, or wellness leaves. This is a result of six monthly reviews to see how we can be more inclusive and sensitive to all employees. We want to lead the thinking in contemporary employee policies and not follow the market, and are constantly seeking inputs from our people to get better at this. Another initiative that we are truly excited about this year, is a series of our Equal Parenting workshops to help our employees become the kind of parents and professionals they want to be and normalise the essential conversation around balancing parenthood and professional success.” At TBWA, 35-40% of their employees are women across client servicing, creative and planning functions. To encourage young women and employees of all genders to speak up their minds, the agency network has been working towards making leaders on the top more accessible to new employees. Namrata Nandan, Executive Director – West, South &amp; New Initiatives, TBWA said, “We have provided a platform to our young promising stars to establish a direct connect with the CEO and present their thoughts on matters pertaining to strategy, operations, organization culture, etc and play a part in the decision-making process. Young millennials and Gen Z are vocal &amp; creative, coupled with a strong need to belong and to be heard. This forum provides a great opportunity for the organization to leverage their creative/out-of-box thinking and at the same time gives them the opportunity to express themselves and participate in decision making.” Ways in which the advertising ecosystem can improve DEI It is important to build a work environment where all employees feel seen, accepted and valued. Rohit Suri, Chief HR Officer, dentsu South Asia said that agencies should ‘foster an Inclusive Culture by cultivating a supportive, welcoming and inclusive workplace where everyone can contribute to their full potential.’ Sharing how the entire advertising ecosystem can elevate DEI across the board, he said, “The advertising industry has a huge responsibility to uphold DEI and ensure stereotypes are removed, create products and service offerings that mitigate bias and it is important for the industry to understand that DEI is all about adapting human behavior, something that requires continuous enhancement of inclusion capabilities and ongoing practice every day. Secondly, along with behaviors organizations must have robust feedback mechanisms and listening systems that reinforce the culture of inclusion and belonging. Third, organisations must invest in training programs and initiatives that invite diverse talent from underrepresented groups to join them to ensure the ideas that come from these diverse teams are better and the clients are better served. Fourth, when DEI is treated as a business imperative it moves beyond the responsibility of one team or a group of people it becomes the responsibility of everyone in the organisation.” Pant broke down her advice into three parts and advised agencies to follow M.A.P. “Measure - What gets measured gets done: The Org Business and Talent dashboard needs to have a diversity and inclusion lens across the employee lifecycle. Awareness - Moving beyond the metrics. Awareness is the greatest agent for change. Policies: Put a stake in the ground. Policies ensure that organizations embrace talent practices that systemically drive Inclusion,” explained Pant. Verma pointed out that ‘with the queer community, the task is slightly different because one does not identify candidates at the outset by their sexual identity.’ What DDB Mudra Group is trying to build is an environment that makes everyone feel safe, nurtured and be given equal opportunity. This happens through consistent awareness building, education, and sensitization workshops and interactions. To bridge this gap, the agency has organised various masterclass sessions for its employees. Adding how the HR industry needs a refreshed approach after the pandemic, she said, “The advertising industry in India is experiencing a lot of change. And it is a great time to re-evaluate the principles on which we want to build our agencies going forward, and therefore the overall ecosystem. Especially in the last couple of years, we have seen unforeseen levels of attrition and burnout owing to the pandemic. What it has taught us is the fact that we need to do better by our people as an industry. Whether it is in terms of providing better work-life balance, supporting and propagating equal parenting, consciously seeking women talent in leadership, rewarding leaders for their role in creating and nurturing diverse and inclusive teams, or partnering clients to better represent women and other faultily represented communities in our work – there is so much we must do as an industry. We believe that product and creativity will be exceptional as an outcome of all these efforts as well. It is an exciting time, and we hope to walk tall in the advertising fraternity by leading from the front on all these issues.”

Here’s how Indian ad agencies are improving Diversity, Equity and Inclusion within their organisations

<ul><li>A recent study by Deloitte found that India ranks highest among 18 countries in terms of anxiety during the second wave of the pandemic.</li><li>We are constantly living with the fear that someone close to us or someone we know might succumb to the virus.</li><li>A lot of agencies have upgraded their policies to help their <keyword id="6357081" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="employees">employees</keyword> navigate through this tough period and to push them to take care of their <keyword id="6354774" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mental-health">mental health</keyword>.</li><li>From switching to 4 work days a week to hiring full-time, in-house counselors, here’s how they are helping their employees tackle burnout and take care of their mental health.</li></ul>Do you also feel your heart racing when you receive a call from a relative you haven’t spoken to in a while? Or when a friend, who usually texts, suddenly calls you now? You are not alone. We are all either grieving someone’s loss or feeling anxious that we might have to, soon. It is no secret that the second wave of COVID-19 has had a severe impact on our collective mental health. We are feeling dejected or overwhelmed with the huge spike in cases everyday. As of today, there are 2.33 crore active cases in India. And people who are clinically diagnosed with mental illness such as Obsessive-compulsive Disorder, depression, autism, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), have found their struggles quadrupled. Many COVID survivors, who do have the privilege to find an ICU bed and pay for oxygen cylinders, are facing survivors' <a href="https://theswaddle.com/survivors-guilt-is-hitting-covid19-survivors-in-india-complicating-their-grieving/">guilt</a>. A recent survey by Deloitte titled Global Consumer Tracker’ found that India ranks highest among 18 countries in terms of anxiety during the second wave of the pandemic with 21% of consumers in India anxious, followed by Chile at 16%. The ad industry has also been impacted severely. This week, we lost a young star from the advertising world, Syed Mohammed Talha Nazim, to COVID. Social media is still flooded with pleas for oxygen and ICU beds. At such a time, it is becoming increasingly challenging to focus on work and continue leading normal lives inside our houses. Ergo, there is an urgent need for improved, empathetic and caring HR policies and counselling sessions at the workplace. It is critical to prioritise employees’ mental well-being rather than seeking updates on their daily tasks. Advertising agencies bear the additional responsibility of coming up with optimistic campaigns that drive change and raise awareness. Despite facing the blues of working in isolation and pressure to overperform in a dismal atmosphere, ad agencies are increasingly pushing their boundaries to come up with empathetic campaigns to help our country. Lately, thanks to #<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/detoxwork/">Detoxwork</a>, many agencies have been called out on LinkedIn for forcing their employees to be available 24*7 and meet deadlines. While it is extremely saddening to read those stories, it is no surprise that we continue to sustain our toxic culture. Over the years, the advertising industry has normalised inhuman working hours. In 2017, Tadashi Ishii, CEO, DAN Japan, had to resign after the suicide of an overworked junior employee. It did raise some questions back then but the topic was brushed under the carpet as always. This time, in India, we have lost two lives to advertising's work stress. They were<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/ad-agencies/news/cheil-india-comes-under-criticism-for-allegedly-asking-employees-to-work-from-office/articleshow/82308605.cms"> forced to come to office</a> as India observed a national lockdown. Even those who are working from home -- are overworked, constantly in-between calls, they do not have the time for their families even if they sit right next to each other. However, there are a few agencies that are prioritising their employees’ wellbeing. We reached out to a few digital and creative agencies to find out what measures they have taken to help their employees look after their mental health and asked to share a few tips on what we need to do as an industry to make sure we don't forget our teams' mental health amidst a crisis, and here is what they said: <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Virat Tandon – Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group:" text="Virat Tandon – Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group:">Virat Tandon – Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="Virat Tondon lintas" msid="82574512" hostid="261"></div> Health and wellbeing of our people is the need of the hour and our priority. A COVID war-room with all the leadership across the agency and different offices, HR and Admin teams, has been created to keep a lookout for providing help – with a hospital bed or oxygen or any other assistance. Employees well-being and recovery is tracked by the HR team. Our Panel doctor is available for any assistance and has conducted sessions for employees giving guidelines on prevention and the first response to be taken. The Lintas Employees Welfare Trust released a Covid Care package in September 2020 that included financial assistance and counsellor support for employees who need to cope with stress or have mental illness issues. Our focus has been to let people take care of their health, their loved ones, without feeling the pressure of work deliveries. People spend a very large part of their lives with the organisation they work for. It Is their second home and it’s natural to have that level of compassion for them and do the most you can do. Their health and wellbeing directly impact not only the quality of their lives but also impacts the quality of their work and output. Everyone knows that in theory and should attempt to put it into practice. Leaders need to take the necessary steps and put this belief into action. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Aditya Kanthy, CEO and MD, DDB Mudra Group:" text="Aditya Kanthy, CEO and MD, DDB Mudra Group:">Aditya Kanthy, CEO and MD, DDB Mudra Group:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="Aditya Kanthy" msid="82574492" hostid="261"></div> The first thing we have to do is normalise the conversation around mental health. And the pandemic may well be a tipping point, where people have realised the importance and seriousness of this challenge. Mental and emotional support is crucial in these times. We started on our journey before the pandemic in early 2019 by bringing on board India’s leading Employee Assistance Provider. In this program, licensed counsellors champion mental health recovery through awareness, education, and empowerment of our people. This was perhaps one of the industry’s first such initiatives. Not only us but DDB as a network globally has also done meaningful work on this subject. So, we have learnt a lot from their experiences as well. It guides our approach – which is to take as full a view as possible. We understand that while counselling helps, we have to do more to make a serious dent. In a situation where many of us have friends and family who are going through the worst phase of the pandemic, on-ground support resources for those who have contracted COVID-19 can alleviate a great deal of anxiety. This includes quick and verified access to medical help, comprehensive insurance, flexible leave policies, and better balance of work and life. On an industry level, at the cost of sounding repetitive, our first step is to acknowledge the problem and talk openly about it. When C-suite leaders champion the cause, it makes the conversation accessible, real, and addresses the stigma attached to mental health issues to a large degree. Peer support plays a huge support too. At the DDB Mudra Group, we make a visible effort to do so with our #justask meets, where anyone in the company can talk to me candidly and anonymously if they feel so, about any issue that’s affecting their work life. Secondly, we also have to be cognizant that a person’s quality of life beyond work, is directly linked to their mental health. So, let’s respect boundaries between work and home and acknowledge people’s lives outside the workplace. One way we do that at the Group is by valuing empathetic leadership and using that as a performance indicator. Each business leader is responsible for ‘people’ metrics just as much as Human Resources is. Everyone with a responsibility for other people is involved in this process. Finally, it also helps to bring clients into the conversation. They too are looking to work with partners who are dealing with this issue as progressively as possible and there is much to learn from them too. And that partnership is crucial to making progress on this subject. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Gautam Reghunath, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu Webchutney:" text="Gautam Reghunath, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu Webchutney:">Gautam Reghunath, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu Webchutney:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="Gautam Reghunath" msid="82574485" hostid="261"></div> As agencies, we attempt to maintain reputations as fun, dynamic places to work, but beneath the surface, it’s obvious that many of us are often grappling with various cultural and personnel issues including burnout, overwork and more. People need to know it is ok to be vulnerable and that having trouble with your mental wellbeing does not mean someone cannot do their job capably. It is in the interest of the workplace for every office to provide policies or through their actions show that it is okay for people to speak their truth. Our key aim over the last few years has been to normalise conversations around mental health and one of the first steps was to include it as a permanent official part of the agenda at all our executive committee and quarterly leadership meetings. It starts from the top and sets the tone for all decisions through the year. As our primary actionable measure, we’ve engaged with the Hank Nunn Institute (HNI) as our partner for mental health support services for around two years now. HNI’s trained professionals are available to all employees who can schedule their time anonymously, for free and without the office’s intervention, to discuss either personal or professional aspects of their life. Some weeks are packed, some are not, but what’s important for us is for everyone here to know that it’s okay to seek out someone to talk to if you feel the need to. The teams at Webchutney have also been experimenting with a few employee-sourced ideas on how we can be better to ourselves around areas of mental health &amp; work pressure. Along with planned down-times, we recently piloted our first ever winter break last December where the entire agency with the support of our clients shut shop for two whole weeks. It’s obvious that work-load management has a direct impact on how happy and satisfied we are at work. We’ve tried to turn timesheets, often loathed at agencies, into a tool to have open honest conversations around work timings and over-work. All team leaders who have colleagues clocking over 50+ hours a week have to mandatorily schedule discussions around reasons for this overtime with the CEO every fortnight. Outlier weeks are normal, but we’ve seen a drastic improvement in workload management purely because we’re all discussing this honestly &amp; frequently. Our industry is built around deadlines &amp; deliverables. It’s full of talented people who know what it’s like to find themselves at the intersection where moments of magic meet the point of serious stress. Our learnings with all these measures have been many and the focus on mental health resources aside, for creativity to really thrive, our need to adapt and change has never been more obvious. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Akshay Gurnani, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Schbang:" text="Akshay Gurnani, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Schbang:">Akshay Gurnani, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, Schbang:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="Akshay gurnani" msid="82574545" hostid="261"></div> It's empathy that is the need of the hour - from our employers to our clients. It's important for us to listen, acknowledge &amp; act upon what an individual may be going through in these trying times. It's important to also understand how we as an organization can help our team members better. We have an in-house therapist who is accessible to aid our employees, free of cost for as many sessions as they would want. Whether it be automating processes that help in increasing the efficiency of work for all our teams to sending out automated monthly reports, we have been pushing our teams to not take up any work on weekends. Mental health is a priority thus 2 mental health leaves have been assigned to teams to avail anytime in the year. We have ramped up hiring to reduce workload and ease out hiring gaps across teams. We have aligned our clients with the situation at hand and aligned them on how we can create better synergies in these difficult times. Our leaders need to be able to ask the right questions to the clients to comprehend briefs better &amp; reduce the number of reworks. It's imperative to have honest conversations with clients and push back on timelines, owing to the fact that currently our teams are facing resource crunches due to either them or their families being affected by COVID19. We have sent out emails to our clients informing them to expect delays and this has been received quite positively. Digital Marketing is not a "life or death" industry. One less or a delayed post will not affect anything, this is something that clients need to realise and accept. Using the reach of the brand pages, we would like to talk about a message that's more important than selling a product under these times. It's important to come together as a community to urge people to register for vaccination, adopt double-masking, staying indoors, etc. This is the time to show more empathy towards agency partners as well. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Roopa Badrinath, Chief Talent Officer, Wunderman Thompson, South Asia:" text="Roopa Badrinath, Chief Talent Officer, Wunderman Thompson, South Asia:">Roopa Badrinath, Chief Talent Officer, Wunderman Thompson, South Asia:</cmsannotation> <div type="image" title="roopa badrinath" msid="82574562" hostid="261"></div> At Wunderman Thompson, we recognized the importance of mental health from the time WHO declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic. As a company we have been communicating openly about the importance of mental health to ensure that the stigma attached with it is addressed with honesty. Mental Health has a deep impact on how we think, feel and act and impacts our relationships with our family members, friends and colleagues. It impacts our mood and our general behaviour. Behavioural changes is a natural reaction to the stress, fear and anxiety that people are feeling as a reaction to the threat posed by COVID-19. It is important to acknowledge that it is normal to feel that way and focus on ways to reduce the stress inducers. The pandemic has created a lot of anxiety around personal health, family health, children’s education and relevance of skills in a changed world to name a few. One of the critical things that we realized early on is the need for empathy and trust driven leadership style. Leaders were constantly reminded about empathy and kindness and were encouraged to have regular check-ins with their team members. Once the initial euphoria of WFH evaporated and the lines between home and work started getting blurred, we constantly and consistently reminded our people to set up a routine and stick to it; draw boundaries for themselves; take breaks in a normal work day just the way they would while in a physical space. We encouraged all our team leads to ensure that their team members took time off from work even if they were going nowhere. As is evident from all the global reports, women have borne the maximum brunt due to the pandemic. Their care giving, household and online schooling responsibilities multiplied manifold. Teams were sensitized to be mindful of this and have flexible options for setting up meetings. We launched an all-women Employee Resource Group (ERG) which will be run for the women and by the women of Wunderman Thompson. This group has taken upon itself to launch several initiatives in the next couple weeks to help women navigate the additional challenges thrown at them. As a company we recognized that sexual harassment can be a reality even in a virtual workplace and ran workshops on sensitizing employees about virtual sexual harassment; how to recognize and report the same. To ensure that employees seek help we are constantly reminding them about the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) where they can reach out to trained counsellors in the strictest of confidence to address their mental well-being issues. This service is available even to the family members of employees. We are confident that all the curated health and wellness programs like compassion meditation, mindfulness hacks – dealing with anxiety, building meaningful connections, staying positive, harnessing the power of sleep that were offered to employees last year will hold them in good stead to deal with the current situation. Currently all employees have access to a COVID stress management program which offers Meditation, Yoga, Breathing Exercises, self-care, Gratitude Session to name a few.

COVID strain and its impact on mental health: How ad agencies are helping employees cope with anxiety and burnout

<ul><li>In the last feature of our <keyword id="168821" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pride-Month">Pride Month</keyword> series, we look back at the past of advertising, speak to the LGBTQIA+ community from the industry on which ads they resonated with, its evolution thus far and how can the industry further drive change in society at large. </li><li>They said a lot needs to be done and change can only come when the insiders of the ad industry step into the shoes of these people, empathise and help normalise. </li></ul>While every day should be Pride Day, June brings along an opportunity for us to sit and reflect on how far we have come, try to recognise and unlearn the biases, acknowledge the struggles that LGBTQIA+ people went through and to start normalising the conversation. After the Supreme Court scrapped Section 377 in India in 2018, a lot of brands came forward to celebrate the landmark judgement. However, the momentum went down in 2019 and this year, when brands have more time than ever to really reflect on their values and speak about issues that matter, this June, the discussion around equality went further below. Apart from the <keyword id="9479124" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="rainbow-washing">rainbow washing</keyword> on social media and a few campaigns by OkCupid, Tinder and Instagram, this pride month was rather disappointing. While globally, the LGBTQIA+ representation-momentum is only growing, India is still way behind. This silence is speaking a thousand words, indicating that traditional Indian brands are still closeted. So we decided to reach out to the LGBTQIA+ community from the ad industry and look back at the campaigns that started a conversation that everyone else was afraid to have, trace the industry’s progress, discuss how they wish to be represented in the future and how advertising can drive change. Ads that sparked change OTT platforms have allowed directors and writers to create content with no filters and break out of the conventions of love stories and gender roles. There is more representation now than ever before. However, it is only during the pride month that there is a sudden bombardment of rainbows and brands remember that LGBTQIA+ are also their consumers with purchasing power. Shekhar Mhaskar, Chief Growth Officer, Isobar India says Indian advertising industry still has a long way to go. When asked what are some of the Indian ads that he liked or resonated with, Mhaskar said, ‘None. At least not from India in 2020.’ He explained, “Indian advertising is yet to come a long way. Got to be bolder than ever. While advertisers in India want to be in the race to show that they accept the LGBTQIA+ community in a lot of ways, the advertisements or the creative are still 'indicative' by using mnemonics of such relationships, viz. using rainbow colours; using the gender symbols, so on and so forth. It needs to be bolder, in your face (without bordering any sexual innuendos, though). To give an example, look for the ad ‘Imagine a World’ by SodaStream, or a few others that are part of the 2020 Super Bowl series where real-life gay talent has been cast - Jonathan Van Ness, the nonbinary star of Netflix’s Queer Eye, speaks about the virtues of Pop-Tarts and Drag Race stars Kim Chi and Miz Cracker filmed a commercial for hummus. As also the Amazon Alexa ad where Ellen and her partner Portia are at centre stage.” Amit Kekre, National Strategy Head, DDB Mudra Group shared a few ads that he liked from the many that have been launched over the years. “Vicks' Touch of Care campaign busted the stereotype of gender. It changed the definition of motherhood by saying that motherhood is an emotion independent of gender. In my mind, it was one of the sincere efforts and insight into the transgender community and questioned the very restrictive, hetereonormative framework of gender that we as a society are used to looking at. It was profound story-telling on the part of LGBTQIA+ community. DDB Mudra also worked on a campaign for Levi’s that tried to convey that they are more than just their sexuality, which I loved. Often enough the conversation around queer community centers around sex or sexuality but we are more than that so Levi’s tried to convey that our lives are more than just our sexuality,” said Kekre. How can ad industry become the torch-bearer of change? As an industry, advertising is known to lead to change. It can use its influential power in mending belief systems and uprooting regressive thoughts. It can bring about normalisation and make people embrace the entire spectrum. However, are we really using it tactfully? Kekre says change takes time. He said, “Change is a gradual process, especially in a society like ours where deep-rooted stigmas are the background that we operate in, change is even slower to come by. And not just advertising, brands and businesses at large lead change. Change comes in two parts: culture outside and internally, brands need to embrace change within their own ecosystem. So while advertising is consumer-facing does the part of story-telling and changing attitude at a large cultural level, within the organisation -- I feel there is a lot that needs to be done. From a passive acceptance, we need to move to active invitation that makes an announcement to the community that we are open for you to come in. It means not just policy and structural changes, it means tying up with organisations that help you identify talent from this community.” DDB Mudra has introduced an internship program specifically designed for the transgender community that helps them ease into the organsation because they are the most marganlised community and need more attention in terms of sheer livelihood. Jay, Creative Producer, Kinnect also suggested looking on the inside, recognising biases and talking about the stories out of the box that we have been stuck in. She said, “Advertising is a powerful industry that can drive change by reaching out to the masses at once. We have the potential but we have some way to go. As people who are in positions of making decisions about what consumers see, I do think we need to relook at our personal biases and understand that our society is very tightly pound by these gender roles, expectations of what a man and a woman are supposed to be, what relationships should look like -- once we open up our minds to a perspective free of these rules, we will be able to see that there are so many beautiful stories that deserve to be told. I wish these queer identities are represented outside of the pride month also. Everyone is a consumer and they should be spoken to all the time. Once brands approach inclusiveness as a given, rather than a singular campaign brief, I think that will be real change.” Mhaskar suggested stepping into the shoes of the queer community and understanding their woes and challenges. There is a need for empathy, not sympathy. He said, “There’s a lot to be done, a massive lot. India as a country is conservative and hypocritical. Agencies and corporations should openly and honestly promote inclusion of the LGBTQIA+ folks in the workforce and give them the same rights and privileges as everyone else. The policies are not meant to be in the books for keepsake. Those need to be brought out and applied without someone having to ask for it. Hope you get the drift.” Brands have a responsibility to the community and they should aim to not only promote themselves, but address larger social issues throughout the year.

Pride Month: How ad industry can drive change in the society

<ul><li>Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for 2022-23 in Parliament on Tuesday.</li><li>This year's budget is indexed towards startups, MSMEs, infrastructure projects, rural revival, digital payment apps, telecom growth and affordable housing.</li><li>We reached out to digital, media and creative agencies to understand how the increased focus on digitalisation, sustainability, blockchain and push to MSME can impact the ad and marketing industry.</li></ul>Be it the introduction of a Digital University to make education accessible across the country or the proposed launch of a Digital currency by the Reserve Bank of India to the government’s focus on promoting digital payments and fintech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made it is clear that digital is the way forward. The Union Budget 2022-23 aims to boost the country's digital infrastructure and enable a cashless economy. The government also announced that it will set up an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) promotion task force to give a push to the animation and gaming industry. To facilitate the roll-out of 5G mobile services in India, FM Sitharaman said that Spectrum auctions will be conducted in 2022. This, in turn, will give impetus to Voice, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality and pave the way for the Metaverse. The Digital Rupee using blockchain will help Indians accept virtual currency and accelerate cryptocurrency exchange in India. Overall, the budget also shows a promise for Electric Vehicle brands, digital payment apps, MSMEs, gaming industry and start-ups. We reached out to digital, media and creative agencies to understand how the increased focus on digitalisation, sustainability and blockchain can impact the advertising and marketing industry. Here’s what they said: Anupriya Acharya, South Asia CEO, Publicis Groupe: The Budget is positive, growth-oriented and with reforms in the right direction. The advent of 5G is sure to transform communications – for our industry it will help creation of better AV, voice and AR/VR experiences. It will also fuel digital payments, streaming entertainment, gaming, e-commerce, tele-medicine etc which in turn will aid more Unicorns! It is also heartening to note that a special Task Force is being set up for AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic) as this will help us build the much needed capacity both for domestic as well as global markets. And then there have been no changes in income-tax slabs for people, which many consumer segments were worried about. This in turn boosts consumer sentiment. From e-passports, to battery swapping for electric vehicles, setting up of optic fiber in the remotest of villages, setting up of a digital university and skilling through an e-portal, the big push is for technology, digital infrastructure and empowerment. Narayan Devanathan, Chief Client Officer, dentsu India: Having gone through the 38-page document of the Finance Minister’s budget speech, I decided to do a search for a couple of words that I thought kept repeating throughout her speech. The words “will be” occurred 110 times in the entire speech. When I narrowed my search to the single word “will,” the number rose to 362. To me, those two words sum up the essence of what this year’s budget is and is not. What it is, is a future-focused budget, aiming at the distant vision of India@100, with a 25-year Amrit Kaal lead-up. What it is not, and what I felt was sorely needed this year of all years, is a present-focused budget. A punishing 2021 for the aam aadmi with more-than-usual expenditure on health and sustenance meant the general populace was looking for immediate relief that would place more cash in their household budgets. That did not happen. Nor was there any extraordinary investment in relieving the healthcare expenditure burden. For all the importance of farmers in upcoming poll-bound states, there was neither major sop nor stimulus given to back the importance of agriculture as a spine if not engine of the economy. Even the MSME sectors were only handed a slightly longer lease of life with the extension of the ECLGS, but there was no real move to stimulate consumption by placing more cash at consumers’ disposal, for example, extending LTA claims to restaurants (and not just accommodation). There is perhaps plenty for the industry to cheer about since it can afford to think about the future and a slightly longer term than just the here and now of survival. The stock market did cheer up even before the FM’s speech, but that only served to underscore the dichotomy between the real health of the population and the Minority of Haves. When the general population probably can’t afford to wait for the benefits of trickle-down economics to reach them in yet another trying year, the dreams and wheels of a consumer-driven economy might move slower than the industry might like, despite the many future-facing and progressive policies announced. Virat Tandon, Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group: The union budget can be termed as consistent with the government's vision to reach the 5 trillion GDP mark by 2025-26. Hence, the strong focus on capex to boost infrastructure that connects and streamlines middle India and provides the engines of entrepreneurship across the length and breadth of the country. It also shows India's commitment to bring a digital first economy with the 5G rollout planned for next financial year, clarity on India's policy for cryptocurrency, data centres, EVs and our very own digital Rupee. Start-up culture will continue to flourish with the right policy framework. These investments and policies will generate jobs and go a long way in inclusive and sustainable growth for Bharat. Anurag Bansal, COO &amp; CFO, DDB Mudra Group: This Union Budget looks neutral, with no major changes in taxation. The launch of digital Rupee based on blockchain technology is a big move to bring in official cryptocurrency in India. New e-passports with embedded chips would definitely ease overseas travel. Managing the Fiscal deficit while pushing for growth and investments is a great balancing act taken on by the government. It will give a boost to capital investments and infrastructure development. Kartik Sharma - Group Chief Executive Officer – India, Omnicom Media Group: With an impetus on holistic growth, developing infrastructure and job creation across sectors, the 2022 union budget shows promise with a focus on the big picture. Reviving economic growth in the post-pandemic environment has been a focus for this government and this progressive, digital-first, and development-oriented budget reflects that. Not only does it provide a boost to the MSME, agriculture and healthcare verticals, but also signals that investing in infrastructure today will connect India better tomorrow. With an increased focus on digitization, some of the standouts for me were that the budget recognized the current gaps and opportunities within the education sector, and is advancing towards uplifting India with the creation of a digital ecosystem - one that is focused on upskilling and creating more employment; aligned with the dynamic needs of today. It also aims to further strengthen communications in the rural sector and build upon the overall financialization of India. Furthermore, while the rollout of a 5G ecosystem will improve the quality of services, the launch of digital money, supported by blockchain, signals an increasing focus on transparency. With consistency in strategic direction and focus on propelling the MSME and start-up ecosystem, this is a welcoming budget for new-age businesses and a hopeful one that will ultimately lead to a boost in the A&amp;M industry as well. We're at the cusp of the next stage of India's digital revolution and although certain factors like data privacy still remain an area to be delved deeper into, as infrastructure and banking penetrate further into rural India, we’re looking hopeful and strong to transform into a forward-leaning digital economy of tomorrow.” Deepak Mittal, CEO and Co-Founder, TO THE NEW: The government's unprecedented commitment to technology innovation and adoption in this union budget is highly encouraging. Breakthrough developments and futuristic technology such as the introduction of digital currency, the rollout of 5G within FY22-23, and e-passports using embedded chips are exciting for the country's future. Among the measures announced, the budget highlights special incentives to startups and the launch of a progressive, new portal encouraging a digital ecosystem for skilling and upskilling. These initiatives will serve as a successful catalyst for the country's economic growth. Atul Shrivastava, Group CEO &amp; Executive Director at Laqshya Media Group: The union Budget underlined the government’s focus on long-term growth. As India’s economic growth is estimated to be 9.2% in the upcoming financial year so it would be good for all the industry and with overall growth, we are sure advertising &amp; media will also show remarkable growth which was low due to the pandemic in the last couple of years. As announced the National Highways to be expanded by 25,000 km under PM Gati Shakti mission. Highways are adding a new dimension to the growth of the OOH Industry as advertising on the Highways is emerging as very strong choice for brand building for many categories. Prasad Shejale, Founder and CEO, Logicserve Digital: The FM has announced a very progressive budget with an intention to widen India's horizons and outlook in the next five years, leveraging emerging technologies. The Government has addressed some urgent priorities underpinning the digital sector, including the launch of digital currency, API-based skill credentials, digital learning channels, digitization of manual processes, etc. On the digital connectivity front, the 5G spectrum auctions will finally make the dream of a tech-savvy India a reality, further boosting the country's digital infrastructure. Additionally, the launch of a design-led manufacturing scheme for the 5G ecosystem as part of the PLI scheme will ensure affordable broadband and mobile communication even in far-flung areas. The availability of high-speed internet connectivity in urban as well as rural areas will encourage marketers to experiment with blockchain, AR, VR. On the skilling front, initiatives like establishing a digital university will provide an opportunity for youth to learn new skills from the comfort of their homes. The creation of a new task force to build domestic capacity in the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) sector is commendable. The overall budget is future tech-enabled and balanced. Ahmed Aftab Naqvi, Global CEO &amp; Co-founder, GOZOOP Group: While there will always be hope for more and better, the continued push towards digital, fintech and the boost for start-up ecosystem with the extension of tax benefits till March 2023 along with capping the surcharge at 15% irrespective of the amount of long term capital gains, will fuel the fire of entrepreneurship in our nation. Varun Duggirala, Entrepreneur, Co-founder of The Glitch, Author, Content Creator and a Podcaster: The twin announcements of the digital rupee and the taxation on ‘virtual digital assets’ is clearly a focused drive from the government to regulate the crypto space. What needs to be seen is how this plays out because regulating a decentralized space is a paradox in itself. Another point that stood out for me was the national mental health program. More than anything else it signifies the normalizing of mental health as a legitimate area of focus for us as a nation. Shrenik Gandhi, CEO and Co-founder, White Rivers Media: In my opinion, it is a fairly balanced budget. There is sufficient emphasis being laid on up-skilling, and making right investments in tech which is the need of the hour. The previous budget was more inclined towards setting up a strong foundation in the digital space, and this one is essentially focused on making further advancements. Besides, Digital Rupee being introduced is indeed, a great news across sectors and it will be exciting to finally watch it become a reality. It can prove to be a game-changer in India's future as transactions will become even more instantaneous. Speaking of the expected benefits, let’s not forget that this is India’s #Budget and not a Big Bazaar scheme announcement. So, the immediate benefit may not be seen right now but considering the long-term narrative, it is a fairly established budget. Sahil Chopra, Founder &amp; CEO- iCubesWire: While the general trend of the <keyword id="12134566" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="union-budget-2022" source="Orion">union budget 2022</keyword> has its emphasis on ease of doing business, I strongly believe, data and digital occupied the centerpiece of the budget. The plans to focus and promote the fintech and digital economy are a very strong positive move. New age technologies, keeping data and digital at heart of it will allow the tech enablers to transform multiple industries. For MSMEs, the government has plans to outlay Rs 2 trillion which is again a welcoming move that will help in enhancing startups as well as entrepreneurial opportunities for all. Besides, extension on tax exemption to startups and promotion of startups to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ through varied applications and drones as a service is also encouraging. The ambitious optical fibre to the villages under PPP in 2022-23 shall get the next 100M in the Digital Universe soon. To sum up, it’s a positive budget for the digital sector which has always vouched for a strong digital infrastructure in the country." Chetan Asher, Founder and CEO, Tonic Worldwide: The budget clearly will help the country march towards digital adoption and transformation in many sectors. With 5G rollout on the cards we will see an acceleration across the board. The digital rupee will put India right up on the map of advanced digital economies. Clarity on Digital assets and crypto will give it new impetus. All of these initiatives will help us emerge as leaders in adoption and growth of blockchain technology Ambika Sharma, Founder &amp; MD, Pulp Strategy: The Budget is interesting as the Government has focused on all sectors. The financial support for the digital payments ecosystem is a welcome move and further reaffirms the Government of India's digital banking push. This push on digitization will make way for more inclusion in the ecosystem. The focus on 'Ease of doing business is a great step, as it will further promote entrepreneurship in the economy” . The 2022-23 budget finely balanced fiscal retreat with supporting economic recovery. The budget focused on a familiar strategy of driving capital expenditure to drive growth, to crowd in private investment through higher public spending. Although markets could be disappointed with a higher fiscal deficit of 6.4% of GDP for FY23 than expected, it is perhaps prudent to not undertake aggressive fiscal consolidation at this nascent stage of recovery. While elevated market borrowings are likely to pressurize bond yields, the inclusion of green bonds in the borrowing plan is an interesting innovation. In terms of specific policy announcements, the move towards self-reliance through protection for domestic manufacturers (change in custom and import duties) aligns with the long-term goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat. The government has extended the startup tax holiday and concessional tax for manufacturing startups by a year. While that was on the cards, it doesn’t address the core need of startups to be given a longer tax holiday of 5 years as required. One of the most encouraging aspects of the budget has been the announcement to set up an AVGC (animation, visual effects, gaming, and comics) promotion task force to plan and build domestic capacity for serving domestic as well as global markets. Loss from the transfer of virtual digital assets cannot be set off against any other income. The creation of a unified logistics platform and the developments of 100 new cargo terminals in the next three years are significant steps in improving the supply chain ecosystem in the country. Infrastructure status given to Data Centers will provide a huge boost to the fast-evolving digital environment of the country. The fiscal outcome is broadly in line with our expectations with the government having continued its focus on infrastructure and rural demand. Himanshu Arya, Founder and CEO, Grapes: The Union Budget for the financial year 2022-23 has set the stage with an invigorated focus on ramping up the process of the digital revolution. The government’s focus on the digital ecosystem is a progressive move to render an inclusive landscape for job openings and entrepreneurial opportunities. The extension of tax incentives for startups for one more year will give a slight relief to the industry. I hope that the cash flow improves in the market. The Union Budget has various encouraging initiatives and is directed towards a more viable and flexible business ecosystem that completely aligns with the ideologies of Make in India. Siddharth Devnani, Co-Founder &amp; Director, SoCheers: Digital and digitization stood out as a strong overall trend in the Union Budget 2022. The budget put a great focus on long-term growth and given how intricately ‘digital’ was integrated into several measures, it can be seen as an integral part of that growth. Implementation of the Central Bank digital currency will definitively aid the growth of digital economy and finance in the country, opening doors for digital acceleration across sectors. The announcement about the new digital university and the renewed focus on digital learning, further presents an opportunity, especially to the fast-evolving Educational Technology sector. However, a definite plan on how this will pan out for all corners of India remains to be seen. Moreover, digital will also be leveraged in the set-up and operation of tele-mental health centres, providing the necessary focus and access to mental health services to the Indian masses. This comes as one of the most welcome move as it’ll contribute infinitely to the nation’s long-term growth.

The advertising industry voices its enthusiasm about the government’s steps towards boosting digital ecosystem in Union Budget 2022-23

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">US Army/YouTubeAfter the release of the audit, the US Army dropped longtime ad agency McCann and restructured its internal team.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>An internal audit found that the US Army wasted more than $36 million on marketing in 2016. An earlier version of the report said $930 million spent over the previous three years "didn't provide best value."</li><li>The Army's new marketing leaders told Business Insider they would ensure a greater return on taxpayer dollars.</li><li>They're upping Army's presence at events like Comic-Con and Pax, a conference for gaming and esports, because gamers "make good soldiers."</li><li>As a result of the audit, the Army earlier this year slashed the size of its marketing team, relocated them to the homebase of new ad agency DDB in Chicago, revamped its events strategy, and sought to improve its internal data system.</li><li>Officials also said they would hold ad agency holding company Omnicom more accountable for results.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul>Last year, an internal audit found that the US Army wasted more than <a href="https://www.adweek.com/agencies/u-s-army-will-restrict-its-marketing-efforts-after-an-audit-finds-millions-in-wasteful-spending/">$36 million in taxpayer money</a> on marketing in 2016. An earlier version of the report found an eye-opening <a href="https://www.adweek.com/agencies/u-s-army-audit-claims-ineffective-marketing-programs-have-wasted-millions-in-taxpayer-dollars-each-year/">$930 million spent between 2013 and 2016</a> "didn't provide best value to support Army recruiting."The Army's new marketing leads - assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs E. Casey Wardynski and enterprise marketing chief Brigadier General Alex Fink - told Business Insider how they plan to ensure a greater return on that investment by holding themselves to the same standards as any other major advertiser.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-army-targets-gen-z-data-driven-marketing-strategy-2019-10">The US Army has struggled to get recruits. Its new marketing heads explain how the military will target Gen Z with personalized, data-driven ads.</a><h2>The Army revamped its events strategy and plans to update its internal data system</h2>The audit led to a complete overhaul of the Army's marketing operations.Most of the programs labeled ineffective concerned events marketing, so Wardynski said the Army is abandoning efforts like the Tough Mudder series, which cost about $2 million and only led to seven contracts. Instead, it's focusing on conventions like Comic-Con and gamer gathering Pax, where the Army can set up virtual recruiting stations and quickly see ROI.Last month, the Army <a href="https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/us-army-unveils-esports-team-at-pax-west-as-recruitment-tool/981581962">introduced its new esports team</a> at Pax West in Seattle. Wardynski said gamers "make good soldiers" due to their ability to absorb information.The audit also faulted Army employees for failing to enter data -- into what it calls its enterprise marketing management system -- that tracks campaign results or submitting incorrect numbers.Fink said improving that record is one of his key goals; IT firm Booz Allen Hamilton <a href="https://washingtontechnology.com/blogs/editors-notebook/2019/05/booz-allen-ota-win.aspx">recently won a $152 million contract</a> to develop software for managing recruitment and retention, and the Army eventually hopes to combine the two systems.<h2>Army leaders say they would hold themselves and their agencies to a higher standard</h2>As part of its 2019 <keyword id="6354810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="defense">defense</keyword> spending bill, Congress withheld 50% of the Army's marketing budget pending a report on the audit by then-Secretary of the Army Mark T. Esper, who <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/senate-confirms-army-veteran-mark-esper-secretary-of-defense-2019-7">was confirmed</a> as President Trump's Defense Secretary in July.Esper's report led the Army to <a href="https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/the-us-army-will-eliminate-the-majority-of-its-internal-marketing-department/">slash the size</a> of its marketing organization from 60-plus employees to 20 and move it to Chicago, blocks away from its new ad agency of record DDB and parent company Omnicom.Wardynski and Fink called the new Chicago division the product of a collaboration between the US Office of Personnel Management, the Army, and unnamed marketing execs that it brought on to advise them.Wardynski said the new group, called Office of the Chief Army Enterprise Marketing, may eventually grow to more than 50 employees and that there would be an emphasis on hiring longtime military staff who are better equipped than civilians to translate the military experience to its ads.Fink also reports to a newly formed governing board consisting of Wardynski, deputy chief of staff Lt. General Thomas C. Seamands, and Lt. General Paul Funk, who was appointed commanding officer of Army Training and Doctrine Command <a href="https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/03/29/meet-the-general-whos-about-to-be-in-charge-of-the-armys-training-and-recruiting-overhaul/">in March</a> to lead the overhaul of its recruitment efforts.Since Congress ultimately controls the purse strings, Army marketing leaders<a href="https://www.adweek.com/agencies/the-u-s-armys-marketing-chief-briefed-congressional-staff-about-adweeks-coverage-of-ongoing-audit/"> addressed</a> the Senate and House Armed Services Committees in January 2018, after Adweek broke news of the audit. Since then, Wardynski said his team has continually updated Congress about its move from a focus on broad-reach TV campaigns to a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-army-targets-gen-z-data-driven-marketing-strategy-2019-10">targeted and data-driven one.</a>Finally, the Army plans to make ad agencies DDB and OMD more accountable by attaching numeric goals to every budget item and offering incentives to get the best results.Fink said if a platform doesn't deliver - linear TV included - he would quickly move on to one that does. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/effects-concussion-brain-football-super-bowl-sports-2015-1">Here's what happens to your brain when you get a concussion</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

An audit found the US Army wasted $36 million on marketing in one year. Here's how its new leaders plan to ensure a return on taxpayers' money.

<ul><li>Over the years, the advertising industry has normalised in-human working hours. Last week, the advertising industry lost a young gem due to cardiac arrest, which was induced by <keyword id="32784" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="work-stress">work stress</keyword>.</li><li>We speak to a few young copywriters to find out how stressful the job is, why does the problem exist and what kind of policies we need to execute to change the situation around. </li><li>We also spoke to a few agencies that have managed to create a healthy workplace and addressed examples of overworked and stressed employees at work. </li></ul>Last week, the advertising industry lost a young professional due to cardiac arrest, which was induced by stress. We were all left aghast to hear that she was only in her 40s. Many CEOs and Creative Directors sent their heart-felt condolences to her family members and to the agency she worked with. But did they make any concrete changes to make sure this is not repeated or did it start a much-needed conversation on how toxic advertising culture can get? This unfortunate incident has taken us back to the same problem/question that keeps popping up every year but it is never addressed. Will the stress level in the advertising industry ever subside and can copywriters ever dream of having a work-life balance? Over the years, the advertising industry has normalised inhuman working hours. In 2017, Tadashi Ishii, CEO, DAN Japan, had to resign after the suicide of an overworked junior employee. It did raise some questions back then but the topic was brushed under the carpet as always. This time, in India, we have lost another life to advertising's work stress. It is time we realise the severity of this problem and start talking about it. <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Text"><cdata><![CDATA[]]></cdata></div> Nikhil Narayanan, Creative Director at Ogilvy, took to LinkedIn to share this angst against people who take their job too seriously. He wrote, “I am no expert on other industries, but advertising is one that has normalised inhuman working hours. People flaunt dark circles caused by a lack of sleep like a badge of honour. When you leave work at 6 in the evening, you are asked whether you are taking half a day off. Jokingly. "If you aren't willing to work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, you aren't cut for this, dude," some say with condescension. Well, sc*w that.” With work from home, the stress levels, tough deadlines, demanding clients and high pressure have all quadrupled. The person who does have the ‘audacity’ to prioritise a personal task over work, is frowned upon. People boast about how many hours they work, depth of dark circles under their eyes and for treating work like their life-time partner. There is a series called Thinkistaan written by N Padmakumar, who has spent 17 years of his life in the ad industry, that aims to talk about the <keyword id="2312133" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Toxic-work-culture">toxic work culture</keyword> that the advertising industry has built over the years. I reached out to a few of the top agencies of our country including DAN, GroupM, OML, The Glitch, Leo Burnett and all of them denied to comment. Agencies that did agree to speak to me told me all is well now. They do offer flexible working hours to their employees. But ground reality is not the same. I spoke to junior copywriters from the same agencies and they painted a different picture altogether. They said that they are overworked, constantly in-between calls and do not have the time for their families even if they sit right next to each other. They eat their meals as they work and even have to keep their personal life aside on the weekends. So why do we still continue to pressurize our employees and deny them their dues? Young copywriters and art directors told me it all boils down to the notion that you cannot say no to your client. Clients are treated like God in our industry. Agencies, on the other hand, are often treated like the client’s extended family, who can be cut out if one thing goes wrong because there are too many fish in the sea who would even agree to do the work at a lesser price. A young copywriter at a digital agency, Yesha Shah, describes the toxicity in the industry saying, “Working in an ad agency is like getting back with your toxic ex-boyfriend. You know that it is so toxic but you just can’t let it go.” She resigned last week due to the ever-increasing workload. Many creative people have resigned over the years and never looked back. They have decided to settle for a 9 to 5 job instead and kept their passion aside for peace of mind. People who do survive in the industry have to accept the fact that they cannot have a life apart from work. Shah has never kept her phone on silent and attended calls even at 3 am due to a false sense of emergency created by her clients about a mundane task. She has nightmares about getting fired by the client, she lives and breathes work. She says that she feels guilty for taking an off when she is unwell. She also tried to discuss it with her HR representatives and Client Managers, who did understand her problem but let it slide by saying, “This is how it is. We cannot say no.” “A colleague of mine once worked from 10 am to 7 am and that is the benchmark they have set for us now. I once left at 11 pm on a Friday night because I was done with my work and the entire team paused and frowned -- like I did something wrong. We are expected to stay until 4 am on a Friday night. Now, I don’t even have the time to eat food. I have roti, kapda, makaan but not the time to enjoy these basic rights I deserve. Eating food is a privilege here. I used to love writing but if I continue working like this, I will be dead when in my 30s,” shared Shah. Shah is 22 and has reached her burn out level already. She is going to leave the advertising industry and is reconsidering her life goals completely now. Another intern with an integrated agency spoke to us on the condition of anonymity. He told us about a pitch he and his team worked on for a month. The client (a digital wallet app) created a false sense of urgency at first and kept postponing the meeting later. When he did set a date to meet with the agency, he sat through the presentation for five minutes and walked off mid-way. Jay Morzaria, Creative Partner, Atom commented on Narayan’s post talking about a similar problem he faced. He said, “It's also a lot to do with boundaries which many ad agencies have failed to set with their clients. In a bid to 'maintain relationships', we have turned ourselves into slaves. Till now, out of all the 'urgent' jobs I have done, most of them eventually got cancelled or delayed.” Where does the buck stop? “How do we change this toxic culture? Need to plan work better, stand up to clients and learn to say NO. When we succumb to survival fear, we open ourselves up to exploitation,” said Hamsini Shivkumar, Leapfrog Strategy Consulting. A lot of agencies have introduced HR policies that allow employees to consult an in-house counselor for free, take an off on Monday once in a month or stamp in on a time-sheet that alerts the HR representative when they overwork. But are these policies religiously followed? A seasoned Creative Director, Nazim Ahmed (name changed to maintain anonymity) who has nearly 15 years of advertising experience and is currently working at one of the top <keyword id="1015861" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="advertising-agencies">advertising agencies</keyword> of our country, also said that agencies do offer the right HR policies but the ground-reality is quite different. “There are no boundaries at work or fixed timings. In advertising, you walk in at 10:30 am but there's no fixed time to leave. Before COVID, signing off from office meant you’re done for the day. But when at home, you cannot leave for the day. Now, because we are working from home, all hours are working hours. To address stress-related concerns, our HR started an activity called townhall where employees were allowed to raise their concerns but the entire team is on the call. You cannot really discuss your issues in front of the entire agency so people chose to speak about smaller issues. The biggest reason behind all this workload is that agencies can only do so much and clients are very demanding. At the end of the day, if you don’t deliver, the client will tell you they have other options available. During this lockdown, we have done a lot of work under this false sense of urgency created by clients and a lot of that work never saw the light of the day. They call it off, not even having the decency to inform us at times. Work stress has always existed in the industry but the problem has magnified now. The boundaries are completely blurred,” said Ahmed. In case an employee does muster the courage to say no and breaks the chain, he/she is either fired or someone else in the team is assigned the task. The pressure is passed from one person to another but there is no end to it. Learning from a few examples We spoke to a few agencies that have managed to find basic solutions to ease the workload. MediaCom has taken a few measures to reduce burnout and stress amongst its employees. Navin Khemka, CEO, MediaCom South Asia said, “We are encouraging employees to take leaves, emphasizing on the importance to give rest to ourselves, reduce our stress, be resilient and ensure our mental well-being. This is an agenda which is being accentuated in all our leadership calls and town halls. We have, in fact, highlighted employees who have not taken a single leave in the entire year, and reported them to their respective managers, to encourage employees to take breaks and avoid burnouts. Khemka also lets his employees take a week off after a hectic schedule. He said, “This was implemented with the team members being given time off on a rotation basis. This has been very well appreciated by both teams and clients. We have also spoken to our employees to go back to their hometowns and WFH. This also ensures that they get quality time at home and are not staying all alone in a big city. They have been told that they will be given at least 2 weeks’ notice before we reopen offices.” Gozoop was ranked on No. 20 amongst India’s top 50 Great Mid-Size Workplaces in 2019 by a publication. Its Chief Happiness Officer, Bansi Raja, told us a few problems they decided to address to create a healthy workplace. She said, “Life in the advertising industry is as stressful as someone working in the stock market or even the telecom industry. Instead of focusing on reducing the stress, let’s shift our lens to providing a strong work culture and helping build resilience within your team. Enabling constructive feedback conversations, having each other’s back through tough times, leading with compassion and empathy balanced with tough love, pushing back unnecessary deadlines, being real, and extending professional help around mental breakdowns are ways to build a culture that stands strong in the face of adversities and strengthens your team from within. When you truly care for your team as your own, you’ll know exactly what will make them thrive. So focus within and build a culture that you wished you had in your early years. That’s the only way we’ll build a future that we’re proud of.” Sudish Balan, Chief Business Officer, Tonic Worldwide also said dealing with <keyword id="32785" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="work-pressure">work pressure</keyword> is never easy but it’s worse when you don’t get support for dealing with it. Talking about a few policies they introduced to address problems related to work stress, Balan said, “The HR team at Tonic sends out frequent communication to our clients on the working hour policy that we have. Sometimes it’s to express our gratitude to the clients in helping us ensure the work hours are maintained. As soon as lockdown was announced and working from home became the mode of operation, we initiated a Timesheet system. The sole purpose of the timesheet is to track overworking teammates. We have a Red Flag algorithm incorporated in the time sheet to track based on the number of hours. The Team lead is held responsible if the flag is raised. Our HR team monitors this system closely on a real time basis and takes actions on a weekly basis. As a creative person myself, I consider myself as a lamp which can burn brighter if I spend more time switched off than when I am switched On. It’s the same logic we have for our people at Tonic 'Switch OFF so that you can Switch ON and be awesome.'” BBH &amp; Publicis Worldwide India has also introduced mental wellness programs for its employees. Subhash Kamath CEO, BBH &amp; Publicis Worldwide, India said, "Working from home, though it cuts down travel time etc, brings its own stress and problems. A lot of people have felt that the lines between working hours and personal time have started to blur, and they feel they’re putting in more work time at odd hours as well. Plus, people living alone can feel isolated and anxious, having to do everything in the house while coping with work. As a group, we’re acutely aware of this and we’ve always maintained that people safety and health come first. So, a number of initiatives have been introduced for the benefit of our employees. We’ve tied up with a professional organisation, which has many years of experience in this. It gives our employees and their dependents free access to trained, independent counsellors who can help deal with personal or professional issues. The areas of counselling not only include mental wellbeing but also physical wellness and nutrition. And all if it is done in complete privacy. And the Employee Assistance Programme Hotline is available 24x7. In addition, we’re encouraging all team leaders to be in regular touch with their teams. And every now and then we all meet online informally, as well as continuing with cultural activities like music jams, guest speakers etc.” Famous Innovation’s Creative Director, Ketan Sudhir Kadam, says he has been privileged to find an agency that allows him to maintain a balance between personal and professional life. “I accepted an offer letter from Famous Innovations and just a day after the lockdown announcement was made. To be very honest, I was worried about how I would blend in a new agency without even meeting anyone in person before, except Raj Kamble whom I met at a few industry events before joining. Since my joining, I did not find any kind of work pressure and it is just because of the culture we have here. The situation is new to everyone, we all have to work together and make it better for anyone who is affected by the pandemic. I believe, we all should, without hesitating, take a break whenever we feel that the work has reached a point where it isn’t keeping us happy but causing stress. At Famous, we have breakthrough sessions where we play housie, charades, or listen to international award-winning creatives, every Friday to just forget about work, connect with each other, and enjoy a day without worries. I hope agencies find ways like these to keep their employees motivated during this tough phase. Because at the end of the day, our work is a reflection of us. And if we don't feel great, the work won't be as great,” shared Kadam. Nazim Ahmed (name changed) said it isn’t just agencies that need to put their foot down if their client pressurises. The whole industry has to come together to flag off toxic clients. He explained, “We're at gunpoint from the client’s side. The industry should take a collective stand and refuse to be treated this way. They will say they will move on to the next agency but that shouldn’t happen. The next agency should put their foot down and say we heard you treated your previous agency poorly and we don’t want to be on your side. It should be a chain reaction. Just like the credit card industry, we should blacklist clients that exploit agencies for pitches - they call 100 agencies and take the best ideas to the agency that charges the least. No agency should participate in those pitches. We need to stand together, everyone is fighting for survival after all.” Ogilvy’s Narayan reminded in his LinkedIn post that the advertising industry doesn’t save lives. Its job is to sell products, which can wait. He wrote, "The thing is, advertising isn't as important as people in the industry make it out to be. We are not out there curing bloody cancer. At best, we are trying to convince people to choose a fancier hospital through messages that often create false hope. That's about it. We might be needed, but we aren't indispensable. We might be creative, but we are not artists. We might be necessary, but we are not that important. So slow down. It's just a job. Treat it like that.” Update: The DDB Mudra Group reached out to us and spoke to us about the issue and the responsibility that agencies play in addressing it as well as coming up with effective solutions. Aditya Kanthy, CEO &amp; MD, DDB Mudra Group said, “The first step is to acknowledge that stress, burn-out and work-life balance is a problem and has been for some time. It is simply not acceptable to say that this is how things are and we should just live with it. We also have to understand that it is a complex problem and there isn’t a silver bullet to solve it. While, we have put in place policies which help our employees cope better, such as the Employee Assistance Program which provides free mental health counselling for all our people; compulsory leave to help them switch off; and tools like Asana and Sunday Trackers to help manage and safeguard their time; but we know that policies can only do so much. We get the outcomes we want when everyone involved makes a serious effort to change. This includes a push from our side in building a culture of empathy and transparency that empowers our employees to voice their issues, ask tough questions of us and assert their life choices beyond work. It also includes bringing our clients into the conversations, setting boundaries and building partnerships with mutual respect for each other’s time. We’ve got to hold hands on this one and make it better one step at a time - every moment, every day.”

As advertising lost another young life to work stress, are agencies still refusing to acknowledge that burn-out is a real issue in the industry?

Here’s how the advertising and marketing industry reacted to Union Budget 2021

<ul><li>With Mother’s Day around the corner, we reached out to the <keyword id="53257" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="working-mothers">working mothers</keyword> from the advertising industry to find out how they are dealing with quarantine blues and their kids being at home 24 hours. </li><li>They also shared with us some policy ideas that they wish the industry could take into consideration and help them juggle smoothly between work and household chores. </li></ul>In wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdown, juggling between both work and home life has taken an even bigger toll on working moms. They have always been swamped but now that the entire family is under one roof, we can only imagine what a storm that must look like. Working parents have lost the privileges of ‘me time’ as there is no external help from grandparents, nannies or schools to share their load. They are also home-schooling while working as the CEO of their houses. And to top that up, they are dealing with work pressure, anxiety and waves of guilt for not being able to spend quality time with their kids despite being house arrested. While husbands have started shouldering the parenting responsibilities in India, the task of planning, organizing and supervising if everything is in place, comes with a mental load on women. With Mother’s Day around the corner, we reached out to some working mothers of the advertising industry to find out how they are multitasking during this quarantine period, a few policies they wish companies could introduce to help them juggle smoothly between household chores and work, and how is it they wished companies would help them cope up with anxiety and stress. Here is what these superwomen had to say: Rachana Lokhande, Co-CEO of Kinetic India and mother of a son: <div type="image" title="Rachana Lokhande, Mother and CEO" msid="75609058" hostid="261"></div> We are almost seven weeks into the lockdown and we will be into the lockdown for a few more weeks. And I'm sure most of them are working mothers multitasking -- juggling between household chores, traveling between office work managing kids, managing their studies, cooking, baking, cleaning, mopping, and everything. In the first few days, all the family members came together and said that "oh now that we are in the household together, we are going to help each other and we are going to distribute work and all" but all the euphoria, believe me, has died down and the ownership is back on us, to take care of many of the things if not all. While everybody is talking about how ‘managers need to be empathizing with their situation by being more sensitive.’ But I think more than all, what we require is having a mature conversation. Transparency and trust is what we need more than anything else. Having those transparent mature conversations with your managers or with your family, explaining them, what is the situation you are in? You need to listen to them and understand what their demands are. And what are the basics that need to be fulfilled. And then sitting together and prioritizing is the most important thing. I mean, that will build trust in all the relationships that we have. That is more important right now. If we have this conversation, and if we set our expectations right, between all the stakeholders currently in our life, our family and organizations or our managers, we will be able to prioritize our work and we will be able to better at everything. Multitasking is definitely not a solution for anything, because it will only end us up in stress and guilt. But prioritizing, setting timelines for all the work, everybody being on the same page, will help you deliver your hundred percent to each of the tasks that you do. And of course, organization should continue with Flexible Working Policy, work from home as a policy should continue. Organizations should also look at evaluating the matrix to ensure that it is more objective and more delivery-oriented. Rest, Happy <keyword id="6408068" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mothers-Day">Mother's Day</keyword> to all stay safe, stay healthy. Priya Balan, Executive Director, Mullen Lintas and mother of two kids: <div type="image" title="Priya Balan" msid="75609182" hostid="261"></div> Well, truth be told, I'm actually managing quite well. I have begun to enjoy this new way of working. And I seem to have found something, a rhythm that works quite efficiently for me, for my family and for work. It was all very overwhelming in the beginning when it just felt like your whole world order had collapsed and you're sitting in the middle of it all trying to be in different places at the same time. Multitasking, you have work, you have the children to be taken care of. There is the kitchen and there are various other domestic chores that need to be tied up. But I guess, a week into this new way of life I found my groove and that seems to be working very well. I think for me, one of the big positives of this lockdown is the fact that I'm able to be a more active weekday, ma'am. Which otherwise is not something that I end up doing. Because of the nature of my work. The fact that I'm home today when the kids finished their online school is lovely. No longer is it just a phone call to ask them how their day was, but the fact that we can actually hug and cuddle when they come back from school. It's a nice, sweet thing. Of course, there are lots of challenges; some days are great. There are some days that are not so good and there are some days that you just can't wait for them to get over. But I think given the circumstances we are in, given the need to opt for this kind of Working system. I think I am quite happy and I could actually do this for a little while more happily. If this is going to be a new way of life and living and working, I'm sure those policies will come into place. But once the policies do come into place, I think the onus of making the system work lies equally with the employee as much as it lies with the employer. I think there has to be a certain sanctity to working hours, as much as sanctity to family time is going to be expected. So otherwise, I see productivity could get marred in the long run. Also, the other thing I find funny is that you have all lost track of days, and there are lots of public holidays and bank holidays which otherwise would be holidays for us. Today, one doesn't even think twice before picking up a phone call or setting up a meeting. I think some discipline in what is going to qualify for working hours and working days will have to come in for this overall thing to work. Anjali Malthankar, National Strategy Director, Tonic Worldwide and mother of a daughter: <div type="image" title="Anjali, Tonic" msid="75609292" hostid="261"></div> Honestly, this quarantine period has been a seesaw. Some days are really high, some days are difficult. First 10 days were chaotic -- nobody knew what to expect from each other. My daughter, Tara, thought I was on a vacation and wanted my 100% attention. And, you know, when her homeschooling started, her timings used to clash with my morning meeting timings, and how much ever I would try to kind of set her up, she would invariably video bomb into my meetings, and it was getting very difficult. And I think that's where this whole flexibility aspect kind of comes into play. Tonic has always been very supportive and always been flexible. When it comes to these things, so soon enough, I realize how to kind of manage that. I think flexibility is the only policy that really can help mothers. So when we work in the office, when we say flexibility we mean work from home as an option. And when it comes to work from home, I think flexibility means maybe shifting a few meeting timings or being tolerant with the video bombing. And I think the rest, mothers can manage. I haven’t experienced anxiety related to work. But as a mother, I worry about my child's future and how their learning is going to be, and when she will get to meet her friends, when she will get to step out and experience things -- the way it should be. And some days, when you feel low and you want to kind of talk to someone, when the work culture is supportive, it really helps. You need to give that space to kind of speak your mind and feel vulnerable, that it's okay to feel low some days. I think that kind of support is always something that can help. Mitushi Verma, VP, FCB Interface and mother of daughter: <div type="image" title="Mitushi fcb" msid="75609252" hostid="261"></div> These are times like we have never experienced earlier. So it certainly is going to be an effort every day to adapt to the new normal. For the child it is a dream come true to have mom at home, at their disposal. But that also means that they want their undivided attention. They are not being able to understand why is mom at home and yet she is not. What helps, is to explain to them how it works and make them a part of the schedule. We are now not only working from home but also working for home, non -stop 24*7. I think companies are doing their best to make it as smooth for their employees as possible. However, being able to discuss work on calls has meant that sometimes work flows way beyond working hours or that calls get scheduled at a time a when there are other household duties waiting to be done. It would really help if at an individual level we are all a bit more empathetic towards the rather hectic schedules of working moms. It was really heartening to receive communication from the agency that simply said that they understand how it is to work from home. That it is ok if kids popped up in video calls to say hello! That it is okay if you stepped out to attend to a wailing baby! It is OK!!! Feels good to be understood! At work, a colleague introduced me to the concept of “mental load or emotional labor”,that women carry worldwide. Simply put what it means is that women always have lot more things on their mind, to do. So it’s not just about the physical load of doing the things, but also the mental load—the task of orchestration and project management which still falls disproportionately on women, mostly. So effectively, their mind is never ever free. This has only increased during the current times as there is a lot more to do and to get done. One is always on tenterhooks about someone in the family especially the kid, falling sick during these times. To be given access to doctors through Doctor 24*7 app, by the agency, is reassuring and much appreciated, to say the least. Rituparna Dasgupta, Vice President - Strategy and Analytics, Mindshare India and mother of two sons: <div type="image" title="Ritu, Mindshare" msid="75609321" hostid="261"></div> As a mother of two young energetic boys and the chief operating officer at home and the strategist at work, it’s surely a quick juggle between roles during a typical day. This is perhaps for the first time it has happened that both partners are at home along with children with reduced help for such a long duration. This is the opportune time for gender equality to be truly lived. And employers are a critical part of this behaviour change. Flexible work hours and mandatory breakfast and lunch breaks could make this juggle a smooth ride, especially for reducing the breakfast and lunchtime workload when the family is generally having meals together. There could be a no meetings policy in the 8-9:30 am or 1-2 pm time bands. Most schools are running e-learning sessions for children and probably not all families have personal laptops/computers. Companies could allow employees to use their official laptops to enable continuity of learning for their children. With always-on unsettling news blaring, disheartening projections of the economic impact of COVID-19 and to top it up, kids fussing about food and getting cranky due to this long lockdown, it’s only natural to experience anxiety and frustration at times. However, not giving vent and letting this build-up within oneself can have serious consequences on both mental and physical health. Companies could support employees through virtual counselling sessions with professionals, laughter yoga sessions, breathing exercises or something like a date with an anonymous agony aunt for simply venting out and shedding the load! A pep-talk with one’s manager, senior leadership or someone from the company’s talent team could also have a positive and comforting impact on the employee. Chanda Sarma, Regional Head-Operations(North), WATConsult and mother of two kids: <div type="image" title="Watconsult - Mother" msid="75609336" hostid="261"></div> Quarantine has not been easy for anyone and perhaps is slightly more difficult for mothers with young kids. Household chores and professional responsibilities clubbed with a time when kids are completely homebound is a struggle. However, based on my personal experience, co-workers and clients both have been an extension to our families and extremely understanding. Not even once has taking a feeding or diaper break been a challenge and nobody seems to mind a baby gurgling in the background either. I have always been in the camp for flexible timings but for once I feel what we really need are fixed timings. With coordination efforts being on the rise and personal efficiencies being at an all time high, the boundaries of work hours and post-work hours have been blurred significantly. The week is largely divided into work hours, screen time and sleep hours and an official cut off from work should be defined. For anyone who has an extremely active lifestyle, anxiety is not unnatural. I have been extremely lucky to have found coworkers who constantly check on each other and at WATConsult, our days have been filled with a lot of training sessions which go beyond the trade and are focused on our well-being and holistic living. Having attended quite a few of these, I actually feel this should be a norm, quarantine or not. Pragati Chavan, Director- Corporate Communications, DDB Mudra Group and mother of a daughter: <div type="image" title="Pragati, DDB" msid="75609365" hostid="261"></div> The hardest thing about this pandemic is the uncertainty it has brought with it. Having a support system is important at the best of times, and crucial in these testing times. At the cost of sounding like an acceptance speech, my husband, in-laws and colleagues have supported me fully to manage work, childcare, and running a household as best as possible. We share all the household duties, childcare responsibilities and everything else in between. As a parent to a toddler who’s entered terrible twos in full gusto, and as a busy working professional, routine is my best friend. There are days when everything’s going according to plan and on some days it's complete chaos. But for someone who’s a stickler for planning, being comfortable with the unstructured parts of my day is a huge learning experience for me. Guess there’s some silver lining after all. Currently, people are not working from home, they are working from home during a crisis. It’s an important distinction for companies to recognise. Luckily for me, my company has been extremely flexible and quick in framing policies that really look after working moms like me. Simple policies like no calls during 1-3 p.m. and following clear boundaries between work and home on weekends is a life-saver. During this lockdown, my parents are in a different location than me. So in addition to the stress of maintaining a work routine and looking after our own health, I am constantly anxious about my parents. During such times, more than policies, it is genuine empathy that helps. This, in turn, is driven by corporate culture. I’ve had colleagues offer to check in on my parents and to help with emergencies, which is really touching. Our HR team has also been proactively reaching out to everyone on a weekly basis.

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