Pooja Sahgal and Shriram Parthasarathy share insights on creativity and marketing post Covid

At the first-ever Storyboard18 YoungGun’s edition, Pooja Sahgal, CMO and R&D Head at Raymond Consumer Care and Shriram Parthasarathy, head - digital media marketing and social media marketing lead - India, at Microsoft spoke about marrying tech and creativity, the India story and shared valuable pieces of advice for the YoungGuns.

While talking about being bullish about India’s creative industry, Sahgal said, “Recently, I was judging at an award function where I saw a huge amount of creativity which is very insight led. The fundamentals of creativity have remained the same. India has become far more confident. India is understanding human emotions really well and marrying it with digital and tech learnings to extrapolate the kind of output we expect.” She added, “A lot of small brands using digital are becoming creative and engaging with the consumer. Nothing can beat creativity. I have worked internationally and understood that across the world, a lot of things can be equalised but intellect and creativity is always a standout which India is really emphasising on.”

Sahgal shared her message for Storyboard18’s YoungGuns and YoungGuns across the world. She said, “Continue doing what you are doing. Individuality and innovation really matter. Technology will happen, and you should use the tool but the inspiration, the curiosity and really stretching yourself, backing yourself and believing in yourself and breaking the boundaries, is really what is going to make you stand above everyone else.”

Sahgal stressed that now is a great time to be in India. India is more diverse than Europe and South America. India has a huge palette backed with technology and exposure. “A lot of countries are going to adopt our communication and creativity and take it to the next level.”

Parthasarathy who was also present at Storyboard18 YoungGuns event, shared his insights on how marketing has evolved in a post-Covid world. “The way I look at the marketing playbook and the way it is evolving, I see a lot of shrinking of the left brain and the right brain discussion. We are talking about technology, and creativity having a great interplay to do 3 things broadly – making our conversations more intelligent and personalised, and making the engagement with the customers that much more meaningful. Lastly, marketers are going to find more time for our creative selves to unleash the creators and creativity and spend more time towards that in the next 3-5 years,” he said.

Storyboard18 is bullish on India’s creative industry and the talent putting it on the map. To kick off the campaign to fuel the industry further, Storyboard18 launched YoungGuns, an initiative to celebrate new ideas, bright talent, fearless creativity and an exciting future. It’s critical to recognize, celebrate, encourage and support young, brave and bold brand makers if we want to propel the industry forward. YoungGuns is an annual recognition program that puts creativity and talent back in the spotlight.