 Hello and welcome to another special episode of our series meeting all odds in this series We are speaking to leaders who despite major crisis that COVID-19 has put all of us into our standing tall And are keeping the business going with me today is one such leader. Mr. Chetan Mahajan founder and CEO mavericks India Welcome to the show. Mr. Mahajan Thank you so much. Yeah, it's good to be here And I hope everyone at home and at your work is safe and healthy And it's doing absolutely. Yeah. Yes. Yes, and we had actually, you know, shut our office 10 days ahead of the official lockdown. So we were Working from home even before the official lockdown started. So So you should in first question I want to understand how are you managing your work from home? Is it like Is it different difficult or it's doable? It's because we don't have a choice. I think it's doable. If you ask me if this is the most preferred way of Engaging with, you know, fellow colleagues and the clients. Of course not While within the times, I think we have adapted well in the last 40 days now But I guess, you know, most of our people including me we spend longer hours working It seems productive, but the collaborative spirit which comes while working together It just doesn't happen, you know, when you're all sitting on your own silos While technology has tried to bridge those gaps including zoom call and other calls and now hangouts and Facebook calls, but I think it's It's very difficult to bring in the creative the collective creative output on VCs, but yes, I think given the scenario most of our people have actually You know are putting much more time and are being more productive than ever before How is it for the communication industry because you know, you actually Your job is too much about, you know, going out putting up events meeting people So how much has it affected your business? So from a From a revenues kind of inertia, I think there has been a fairly I would say significant impact Because the businesses which were particularly in the space of travel hospitality they have zero revenues absolute zero and All those guys have either gone on a three to six months sabbatical or have completely We're drawn from the contracts. So the other businesses, you know, where the impact is Significant, but the revenues are not bottomed down to zero. So they continue to work with us. And Which are these businesses which are still using communications and are Interested in, you know, are still working with communication teams So there are many actually, you know, if you look at from our industry point of view So two industries which are doing really well amongst all this Chaos and crisis is one is the the healthcare industry, particularly the health tech industry And the second one is the education technology Companies so for these two companies, it's a watershed moment, you know I'm sure they didn't want it to come this way, but the the transition The digital transformation of these two industries Is this has been a tipping point for them? And you know, if you look at from from schools to colleges, everybody almost like overnight switched on In started, you know, delivering the classes and whatever online So it didn't take too much time for them to establish the infrastructure put up a technology It's so convenient. It was just about, you know, getting everybody together and Getting started. So I have a son who is in class six So he didn't miss, you know, initially a couple of weeks. I think through his school time They were just organizing and putting the structure in place making sure that all the teachers are available But then they have been online. The tuitions are happening online We work for I'm Calcutta as well. So they have also moved Everything online. So it's it's business as usual for both education companies and If you look at education technology companies, I think this is the best time of their business, you know It's a watershed moment for them And brands which are somewhere in between, you know, they're not as active like your education or healthcare and they're not completely shut like Travel or aviation. What kind of suggestions are you giving to them? So two things which are absolutely essential during these times one, of course you know This is a time when you really Call out your purpose and make sure that your stories are driven by your purpose and not by your product So the brands particularly the I'm talking about the ones which we are working with the the brands are very clearly Who have a very clearly articulated purpose They are not finding it difficult to engage with their stakeholders because they still have a lot of stories to tell Whereas the brands who are very transactional a very product-focused They don't have much to tell because they don't have any other story besides their product I will just give you one example of clay schools So clay schools of course is very clear with respect to the purpose the reason they exist and one of the biggest reasons is enabling women to go back to Work because there are multiple impediments for women, you know starting from marriage to child and Could be migration to other cities or countries and these barriers Don't allow women to go actually back to work and pursue their careers with equal amount of aggression as men would do So they are not finding it difficult to engage with their stakeholders because you know while the business is to enable Women through making sure that the kids are very well taken care of while they are working whether from office or from home through daycare and preschool But the the essential purpose the reason of their existence is you know enabling women to go back to work So they still have a lot of stories to tell they're able to keep their Ecosystem as well as the stakeholders meaningfully engaged and not trivially engaged Whereas you know some brands we work with Unfortunately, it's a very product oriented or product-centric or service-centric business. So they don't have much to go out and tell Another example, which of course is not a client. I would you know I would love to name is in a brand like a Xiaomi because they are again very purpose-driven brands So they don't have the earth of stories, you know when they go out and you know engaged with media They have enough stories which are revolving around their purpose and not Centered around their products those guys are not facing much challenges But others of course it is tough the second aspect is you know your internal communication crisis Now this is also the time you know when you know most of your employees You are not able to meet with them or purposefully engaged with them In many cases you're not even able to purposefully occupy them and that can be very very Frustrating for the the team members for the employees and that's where I think you know Communication agencies as well as the internal cop com leaders role become very very pivotal in making sure What the what the leadership is thinking how they are navigating these tough times because it's not just about the showlands Everybody is going through these uncertain times and it can be not just frustrating but very depressing as well and I would take the liberty we are still in the process of You know We we conducted a survey cross-centered professionals in the country At the millennial level as well as with the CXOs and some of the insights were very very interesting So for example while the companies may be pushed to get people to work from home because of the The crisis and the social distancing which they will have to maintain even in offices and the bigger challenges the commute How do how do you get people to travel to offices? But people are they're just looking forward to go to office. They have You know while most of us thought you know that people will love Working from home. It's actually very contrary to the general belief. You know, they're just itching They just want to go back to the office and that was I was actually surprised While, you know, some people did mention that you know going forward They would love to have some amount of flexibility with respect to work from home, but they don't want to Have work from home to become the new Normal, that's very scary. And also I think what happens, you know, when you are when you go to office, then Work-life balance becomes difficult when you're working from home, then life work balance becomes very very difficult There are no timings and And of course, I'm not getting into, you know, all of us are we are social animals, you know It's important that we meet people engage with people learn from people get inspired now, you know For a leader to inspire Their teams on I'm not saying it's not possible on zoom calls and all but you know, the inspiration which comes alongside Working together with the leader with your boss is very very different with the be a virtual engagement So another thing that everyone is talking about is there already a lot of There's a significant cut in all ad spends There are there's no production people are not spending on advertising How much do you think people would want to spend on communication? I mean even when we recover this entire recover from the current crisis as in the lockdown But the longer recovery will take much Time because you know economy has been hit and we still do not know how long it will take us to get out of this You think brands etc will continue to spend on communication or are you expecting some kind of See cut is I think Would be an understatement because if you look at a any crisis like this, you know, whether it was the you know the Lehman brothers crisis in 2008 which is the the sub crime crisis or dot-com bust 2000 Now some brands have a genuine problem and other brands will also take advantage of this crisis Right because it's an opportunity to negotiate and renegotiate all the contracts call for pitches and try and save as much as one can on various contracts because If revenues are not coming in then the only way to sustain yourself is By making sure that you're you're not spending too much. You're controlling your cost as much as possible So those things will definitely happen and I'm going again back to the insights we got from the survey most of the people expect the economy to To recover in no less than one year and definitely around two years. So it's a long long time you know, we're not looking at a v-shaped recovery anymore, which you know earlier many Economists were talking about that the recovery will be v-shaped, you know We go down and we bounce back But that's not likely to happen and one of the reasons it's not likely to happen is because there's a lot of uncertainty both from a business perspective and from The perspective incomes which people and companies will have And most of the people we surveyed in actually 50 percent said, you know, they are expecting to earn Less than what they earned in the previous year in the coming year and on the other hand There was a interesting insight, you know, they also expect to save more Because I think during these times they have realized that cash is not just the king It's it's being promoted to be an emperor now So you have to have either cash or liquid assets and not Assets which you can't immediately sell off or liquidate So what has happened is, you know, that all the discretionary spend That will take a significant hit people will not open up their pockets easily in the next six to 12 months The good thing about the PR industry is, you know that, you know, be it a small organization or a large organization Be it good times or bad times It's very important to communicate So, you know, whether you are talking to your people internally or other stakeholders because You're not here for the next quarter or the next year Businesses are made and built to be run till perpetuity And that's why it's very important to constantly keep your stakeholders engaged Not only let them know at how, you know, you will Recover and be equally relevant to them how you had left them in january or february of 2020 but even better What's the what's what's that one good reason why they should be loyal To that brand and that can only be communicated through You know, your organic channels and not through paid channels in particularly when you know, you're not looking at increasing the sales through spends Then it's only about building and protecting your reputation And I don't think any any brand which is serious about their business serious about building a brand and reputation for themselves. They will Really be You know putting a tight leash on the budgets for PR, of course, they will get reduced But the opportunity if you ask me relatively, it's going to be much much bigger for the PR industry This this unprecedented times has, you know, taught us a lot of things and you've been talking about You you're quite aware that the road ahead is really difficult. How are you keeping yourself motivated and how are you keeping your employees motivated? So it's it's a two ways trees You know, uh, I think uh, I'm fortunate because you know, we just started about two years ago Actually, we just completed two years this week So we have a relatively smaller team. Uh, and when you work with a relatively smaller team, you know, you have one-on-one connect with every single Individual every single team member and it's the belief in the leader and the ability of the leader to Be the best bet during these tough times And once people believe that that's good enough for motivation If they know that they are they are with somebody who is Perhaps most suited amongst the ecosystem. We are Working in to help navigate negotiate and emerge as a winner from here That's that's I think uh, nothing can motivate you more than that because in the Un you know in the challenging times in the time of crisis All you need is that one hope that yes I have a good chance of not just surviving this crisis, but perhaps thriving from this crisis Any measures that you You're in the business of communication. Have you communicated to your employees, you know some kind of exchanges you have had So which we all can also benefit from you know, our viewers can also benefit. How do you? Be motivated in these times So we do quite a few things to just keep ourselves One purposefully engaged The highest amount of motivation for creative people comes from having enough work, which is creative Because nothing can replace that right so if you have enough work And you have you are able to you know exhaust your creative energies Then you're bound to be happy the second aspect is you know When people are missing each other or they are not able to live Their lives as they used to two months ago Then you need to provide extra care. You need to be more than transparent. You have to Exuberate Trust in every communication you you know do with your people And you have to of course communicate constantly, you know, you cannot leave a gap You have to involve your people in decision-making. So I'll tell you, you know that you know, we have taken some tough decisions Internally Because for us, you know, it's not too much of a loss of a revenue Of course, we have lost revenue because of some of the clients who have Cut the retainers or have completely gone on sabbatical and we completely understand and we stand strong with them because this is the time to be together Right So what is very very important naja is you know, you you have a very transparent Engagement with your people. So every 15 days 20 days, you know, we What we have been doing is we give a status update to all our people on a conference call that This is what is happening with our clients. This is what is happening Consequently with us and let's let's find the best way to navigate and negotiate this So collectively we have taken some decisions which are actually harsh on the people But since they are part of this decision They are part of this process and they know why these decisions are being taken It doesn't affect them at all. In fact, it motivates them and charges them up that yes, we will fight together And only if we fight together, we have a chance to win Because unfortunately everybody's going through a crisis. Yeah So before we close, I would want you to Suggest what you think is the way forward for the entire industry, you know How can each stakeholder come together and find a way to come out of this situation? So I think first thing first This is the time to stand together And so many clients will come back and say, you know that you know, our business has suffered So we would want to reduce the retainer or the project fee for the next three to six months And it has happened to us and what we have done is, you know, we have actually increased the deliverables by 20 to 100 percent during these times Because you know in the routine course of business, it's of course, you know We always do our best like most of the agencies During these times it is even more important that you're going out of the way and making Sure that everything that is possible is done both from external communication point of view And internal communication point of view Second thing which is again very very critical is, you know, that your people Have to be with you all the while when you're navigating and negotiating this crisis because crisis will eventually be over And if it is not over then it becomes a new normal, right? So it's here to stay Which means that you know people will find a way to You know to live their lives around it And that's the time, you know people You know, if you if you have those right people They will help you move to the next level and I strongly believe that you know, particularly for You know mid-sized agencies and relatively smaller agencies It's going to be a huge opportunity And i'm i'm not saying this because large brands and mid-sized brands will be cutting budgets and looking for opportunities With mid-tier agencies rather than larger agencies because larger agencies unfortunately have Significant fixed costs and they can't do much about it because we Agency like us, you know, today we don't have an office and we don't have to pay for any either And when we go back, you know, we can we can we can go into walk into any office So we don't have those kind of Cost associated with our business So it makes much easier if you are if you have if you have flexibility with respect to your Overheads it's much much easier for you to bounce back in an ecosystem like this and my recommendation for people Across agencies across platforms is that I think just be transparent Everybody's going through a tough time If you are engaging with your stakeholders In a transparent manner if you're keeping them informed on if not on a weekly basis Now on a fortnightly basis what is happening and how You are able to support them whether it's your people or your clients come up with newer ideas Explore newer avenues of engagement see what's happened isn't if you look at the print media particularly It has shrunk significantly. There has been a huge amount of transformation from print to digital Now clients cannot on their own achieve this, right? But if the agency is is smart enough They will Help the client to make sure that you know They are transforming along with this journey and not trailing behind I think it's very very important to Unlearn many things and learn new things. This is also the time to Make sure that if you have any spare time and I'm sure many people have it these days So get on to online courses, you know, whether it is from Yudhami or Coursera, I think some of the best courses in the world are available Just just retrain yourself, you know, make sure that you know, you are one step ahead of the Client and client doesn't get an opportunity to tell you what needs to be done because that's the That's the worst case scenario You can face as a agency be the PR agency Integrated comms agency or an advertising agency doesn't really matter Thank you so much for speaking to us. I before I close I really want to repeat what mr Hajjan has said that let if this crisis becomes the new normal Then we have to learn to tackle it and I think in a way it has become the lockdown has become a normal thing for us Now if you all have been sitting at home and trying to find our ways to work And thank you so much for speaking to us. There's there's a lot that we have learned and I'm sure this interview will inspire many Thanks. Stay at home and stay. It was pleasure Nazian, thanks for having me with you. Thank you Stay safe. Also, I would request you to share the survey with us the survey that you've carried Oh, sure, of course So we just in the process of compiling the final report and by when a stage should expect the report I really am very interested in going through the findings of the survey. Absolutely. Absolutely. Good. Love to do that Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you. Stay safe. Nazia. Take care