 Hello and welcome to another episode of our special series, Meeting Our Lords. COVID-19 has confined us to our homes for another three weeks. These are very difficult times to run our businesses. In our special series, we at Exchange for Media are bringing to you leaders who can help us navigate our way through these difficult times. Today we are speaking to Rubina Singh, CEO Eye Prospect India. Welcome to the show, Rubina. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me over and hope you and your family are healthy and safe. Thank you so much. We wish you the same. Rubina, these are very challenging times for everyone. How are you ensuring that your business... First tell me what is the kind of impact this has had on your business, this lockdown? Well, like in the case of most people, I think the impact has been massive. It came in suddenly, it was something which is unprecedented, something we had never imagined which would happen. But the fact of the matter is the clients that we work with, a lot of them, the supply chains are broken. Obviously, they're not able to reach out to the customers, there are no footfalls in their stores and businesses are impacted at large. Because of which, there is obviously an impact to the business that we run at Eye Prospect as well, which is digital marketing, helping our clients with their digital marketing efforts. So, yes, there has been an impact. But at the same point in time, we are quickly working on areas where we think we can help clients and trying to also see how we can pivot our business into other areas where there could be an opportunity. So, that's how we are dealing with. So, to talk a little bit through what we're doing with clients, because our current clients are our foremost priority at this point in time. We understand for them also, there is a lot of uncertainty and anxiety. The routines have disappeared, there is a feeling of apprehension for them also. In general, the 24-hour news reports that we consume also lead to a lot of anxiety and fear for our businesses. So, I think what is important for us is to be able at least to give some amount of reliability on the work that they depend on us for. We have made sure that what we deliver to them is done bang on time and correctly. There are daily updates and connections happening with clients. There are weekly meetings happening with them, weekly calls happening with them. And the fact of the matter is that because we are not able to do face-to-face meetings which we otherwise do, we are trying to see how we can stay connected more than less by using calls or even video calls very effectively. On the other part that I mentioned was, and I prospect, we tried to also get into another area of business. We all know that while there has been a significant impact on all our businesses, there is always an opportunity that comes with every crisis. That's what I really believe. And the opportunity that has come to us is that most people have a lot of time on hand currently. And that time to my mind can be best utilized in learning something. And as we all know today, digital has become the center of our lives, right? Whether it's connecting with our friends and family or the world outside at large or whether it's as professionals giving us the flexibility to work from home or even as businesses, it's perhaps the easiest way to be able to connect to your customers. So what I prospect are doing is we're building a program which we believe will help build a stronger digital ecosystem by sharing knowledge and providing the hands-on insights that we have got working with real world problems of our clients. And we're doing this in form of holding educational webinars which we kicked off last week which was the first one on paid media. And as we speak, we are doing one tomorrow as well. We got a fantastic response on the webinar that we did last week. And the plan is to continue it in two now different modules. We've started with the Big No module, but as we go forward, we'll get into intermediate and pro as well. And hopefully as things resume back to normalcy, I hope that's soon. But also start another perhaps education vertical within the iProspect brand. So after you've spoken about clients, employees are equally important. And they are also, some of them are also anxious. There are news coming in of pay cuts from everywhere, layoffs. What kind of confidence building measures are you taking for your clients right now, for your employees right now? I think you're right. These are very uncertain times. And people are bound to feel at different points in time. You feel sometimes sad, sometimes you feel stressed, sometimes you feel a bit scared as well. It's bound to happen to all of us. I think what we are trying to do is to help keep the morale of the employees highest. The first thing is that celebrate contributions, right? Whether they're small or big. I think just recognizing and appreciating some great work that is coming through to my mind is the most simple, cost effective and direct way to boost the morale. Apart from that, I think what happens in offices is that we have a lot of water cooler conversations, right? But currently we're feeling all feeling a bit isolated and therefore uncertain on what is really going to happen. So we are actually trying to make a conscious effort to start chatting with our colleagues frequently. Just catching up on the day generally as friends, not so much on work, beyond work as well. Whether it's through phone calls, but more importantly, we are also trying to do a lot of video calls because all of us, you know, we're very excited to see each other. We took it up a granted that we would be with each other for most of our waking hours. But now we're trying to, you know, we understand the importance of it and how much joy that brings to us. And now, you know, we're trying to stay connected. What we're also doing is we're trying to build, you know, continue the culture that we had in whatever small ways that we can. So for instance, in my prospect, you know, we had this tradition of Fun Fridays. What Fun Friday is simple, it's time to unwind together at the office, you know, and we believed it helped us create better relationships at work and out issues if you may have had during the week with a colleague of yours. It generally would lower stress levels and create that happy atmosphere in the office. But, you know, we'll just hang out as friends. So we were missing that a lot. So we did a video call, you know, about the Friday before last with the whole iProspect team. Just to say hello as friends and chit chat. I'm so good to see everybody. And I can also tell you it was a really energizing experience and the productivity of the team. And, you know, I could see that go up by the sheer number of WhatsApp messages that started happening between our internal groups, client groups, so small things like that. I know at a dine level also the HR team is doing a great job. One is we have, like I said earlier, we have time so to invest that time into our hobbies passions as well. We are holding a show, you know, an internal sort of show which is called dance got talent. So that's what the HR team is putting together. But more importantly, we also understand that the pressures and the stress levels some of us are facing, you know, because of the restricted environment that we're currently operating under could be immense. And while talking to friends, family, people we trust in general can help at an organizational level to help with this stress. You know, we're planning a wellness program. So the first session is actually scheduled tomorrow with a sound healer. She's a wholesome life coach, and she uses energy healing through sound instruments, you know, for spontaneous relaxation and meditation. So some of the initiatives that we are doing to keep the environment positive and lift up this group of our team members. Coming back to the clients, I was going through the list and I found a lot of BSFI clients. And this sector is not very active, but it's still visible when I see a television or particularly on digital media. Access recently did a campaign, which is, which became pretty popular. So how are you handling your clients from this particular sector? Well, I would say we are fortunate that our portfolio has been always dominant with the BFSI. And these are essential services, right? Banks are still open and they're functioning as normal. If I look at insurance, in fact, health insurance and life insurance have actually the searches and the businesses are actually increasing in times of these crisis. So yes, this sector has not been impacted as much by the current crisis vis-a-vis some of the others like in travel, hospitality, e-com, and so on and so forth. So there are opportunities and relevant contextual opportunities that we are working with our clients in the sector. But you also have tourism clients. What are you doing with them? Actually, to be honest, we've not been very heavy on that category, but a few of them, maybe a couple of them. Do you have Swiss tourism there? Yes. And I think clients are also being sensitive and we are also sensitizing them on how the consumer behavior is at the moment and what is the mood and how will that information be palatable. So some very interesting campaigns have been designed with very relevant communication to be able to stay connected with the customers. See, I understand this is a situation which is very difficult, but we are all hopeful that at some point in time we will get past this. And at that point in time, we don't want to be completely, you know, not in touch with your customers. So while it can be lesser than usual business as usual days, but it is important for brands to stay interconnected with customers, especially on digital. Well, today, maximum spent is really on digital media and there are various reports which I'm sure you have access to just saying that consumption on digital media has gone through the roof. So this there is an opportunity for clients to be able to, you know, stay connected with their customers through the digital media at prices sometimes which were which are far more economical today because of the demand supply situation. So this will be what it was, let's say six weeks ago. Rubina, I also want to understand you must you understand digital better than most of us. What are the kind of consumption patterns that you're noticing and do you think it will change the way we consume digital. I mean these this lockdown because consumption has increased. Like newspapers have now become digital, you know, everyone is most of the people are consuming newspapers on digital. What kind of changes do you expect once the lockdown is over behavioral changes in consumers. I definitely think it is going to be a huge change in consumer behavior. You know, after this lockdown, one is that digital was always centerpiece and the customer, you know, the consumers and the users were always there. I think marketers didn't, you know, leverage this medium towards fullest. I think today, because of the business situation, they're also realizing that, you know, this is becoming a medium which is going to be far more effective and reaching their customers directly. So sometimes like you say, you know, to give you an analogy everybody knows that, you know, for working women life is difficult balancing between home and family. But today when you see women, you know, or even for the men folk when they see the women working at home cooking looking after families also managing their work, they're able to understand that power better. Is this again something wrong with the video? Well, they always knew, yes, digital is grown and I can hear you absolutely clearly and see you absolutely. There was just one second glitch here. Okay. So what I was really saying is why marketers always knew this that digital is become centerpiece and it is where all the customers is today's situation has forced them to, you know, kind of use it as a medium as effectively and large it is currently to be able to, you know, deliver their messages which are not just acquiring customers but also top panel objectives. If I talk of person ages, how much growth do you think that's sweet? Let her be there. We all know they're working from home. How much growth do you think we will see eventually in consumption patterns in digital after this lockdown? I mean it's hard to remember and to say anything right now. Can you hear me right now? I can hear you but I think. Can you hear me right? Yeah. Yes. I think it's hard to make any guesses right now but I definitely see that there is going to be a positive impact on the digital channels for sure. I think from a customer's point of view because I think that, you know, they're going to use it more and also from as customers also currently we want anything they're trying to use digital right so I think we are adopting it for much as well, not just for consumption of media but transactions as well. And for businesses also while they're realizing that even, you know, this whole situation even once the lockdown opens they're going to be like the Prime Minister said today there are going to be steps in which it will be released. I don't think people will immediately go back to their normal behavior of getting out to the stores as quickly. It is going to take some time to get back to that normalcy. In that time, I think both customers and marketers will leverage this medium hugely effective. I know it's definitely going to be a big positive upspending putting numbers to it at this point in time is going to be a very hard task. So before we close, I would want you to say something for the youngsters of the industry. You know, we've just maybe they started their career this year or somebody who started their own digital agency this year. So what would you like to give a piece of advice, you know, from an expert like you? Well, I'm no expert. I think I would. But I have always believed that every cloud has a silver lining and there is some opportunity in every adversity. So see the bright side of things, invest in learning, see where the opportunities are and build on it. I think those of us who are in the digital space are still better off than many other people. Because I think this is the space which will be or which even currently is less impacted than some of the other mediums. When I look at, for instance, our form, what people who work in their events business, right? So this opportunity to stay positive, stay focused invest in learning invest this time of thinking through new ideas, finding new opportunities and build on them and stay positive and safe. Rubina, thank you so much for talking to us and taking your time out. I'm sure this interview will inspire many young people. Stay at home and stay safe. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm sorry about the interruption that is working from home. It's perfectly fine. Thank you so much.