 Hello and welcome to another episode of our special series, Beating Our Lords. In this series, we are speaking to leaders who are showing us the way forward in these difficult times of lockdown where COVID-19 has just put a complete hold on most of the businesses, which will in long run impact our economy. But we have leaders who are ensuring that despite all the challenges, we are continuing with as much as we can while being in the lockdown sitting at home. With me today is one such leader, Mr. Anand Badkamkar, CEO Dan India. Welcome to the show, sir. I'm really sorry if I pronounced your surname incorrectly. No, no, you've been on such a quite, quite properly. Thanks Nazia, I'm happy to be here. So, I want to begin by asking that today, it's we're almost settled into the lockdown now. It's almost the third week and it's been extended now. How are you managing your business? How are you managing your employees, your teams? So, it's a new experience all around. It's for everyone actually. The entire advertising industry went into this. So, when it started, initially the thoughts were whether we can do this, whether it's feasible because as a whole, the entire organization or the entire country working from home, that was something which was not anticipated. Too many apprehensions or sort of too many questions at that point of time. But, we started a bit early in the day because as a country being part of the multinational network, we had seen in our other markets in China or our European and American markets. This already had started and people had started working, taking action. They were learnings from our network agencies or learnings from our counterparts in other markets. So, that was quite helpful. The teams were geared from the beginning and we started working towards this work from home kind of a concept, 10 days in advance before the actual lockdown started in India or when the PM announced that. So, in a way, a bit of forward planning and more importantly, I think the resilience of the team and the way teams have responded. Not only our teams, but even our clients or our vendors or our vendor ecosystem because we all are set into the same boat. So, it's not something which is specific to some segment or various at some specific areas. The entire economy, the entire spectrum is impacted because of this. And the good part is people are willing to support each other and trying to make the most out of this. So, yeah, we are now in middle of the lockdown completely and up to 30th now for sure. But people are finding ways of sort of making this happen as well and then sort of making most of it if I can say that. How about clients? Because they are a little more demanding than employees. So, how are you dealing with your clients right now? So, it's all, again, it's work from home. That's a new experience for our client interactions as well because earlier it used to be every alternate day or every day the teams used to be with the clients and then meeting with the clients or face-to-face interactions that has shifted to your Microsoft Teams calls or Zoom calls or the con calls. That has not gone down but definitely as an advertising industry or as an advertising segment, the spins have gone down. So, the work-wise, there's definitely sort of a bit of a slowdown but the clients' interest or clients' interaction and the core concern and care for the brands and how do they want to sort of get ready when this entire thing gets over because this is going to get over. How they're going to get ready for that, that still continues and kind of messaging they want to take out to consumers. So, that has still continued. So, what's missing is a physical interaction which the teams had with the clients or one-on-one meetings if you can call it but still the interaction continues and then the overall work sort of still continues. Would you give us some ratio of like, what's the drop in the ad spins? Some ratio? It's too early for that just now, Nazia but it's definitely going to be a substantial impact because IPL was supposed to start from 14, that's not going to happen now. We had GoaFist as three years of our annual festival that has gone off. A lot of advertising spends haven't pushed back. So, when this comes back at that point of time we can see exactly what is the impact but is definitely impacting half of March was like you take example of events companies or out-of-home companies, that's almost come to a zero because there are no spends on those activities. Digital TV while there's more viewership or there's more sort of consumer or your foot falls over there but that's not actually converting into ad spends. So, that's something which has come down quite substantially across all but what's getting more is actually on event wherever there's personal interaction or people wanting to be out there in the market that is massively impacted. Overall, when the lockdown gets out, we can get a view because currently we are thinking that it should come back by Diwali and things might sort of start reviving. Current year is going to be definitely a challenging year for industry as a whole but it's not that there's no hope at all. There's a lot of positives coming out of this. Clients are still engaging, clients are still working along. You also have some difficult clients like Maruti. I mean, in the sense automobile industry has been very slow for last one and a half years. Now we have this new crisis. Then you have GoAir as your client. Again, another industry which has really been hit very badly and it's almost like the operations are shut completely. What kind of media advice are you giving to these clients or in general clients industries which have really seen a very big hit after COVID-19? Yeah, it's not specifically restricted to only these industries or these segments. It's actually all across. But if you see currently what's definitely happening is clients are taking a really look at their overall spends. More than spends actually is their business pattern or how their business is working out. And what was going to be the challenges to the business because the entire ecosystem has sort of been impacted because there's no movement. Manufacturing has almost come to a standstill. So the demand generation is going to take some time. So all across what even we are advising the clients is not to be completely media duck. You will need to be there out there in the market or with the brand. Somewhere you need to be reaching out to their core consumers. And it's not the product placement or product advertisement as of now in these days but it's more on how you're engaging with the customers or your ultimate consumers and being relevant and doing that purpose-driven or responsible advertising. That's something which is quite critical. And at the same time, this is a good time to sort of plan for future as well. Because one is this immediate thing the next two, three months, how do I keep engaging with my customer or my consumer base? But more than that, when the things start coming back because then there would be a spike in the demand, I should be ready for that also. Working with the customers on that and that's across the industry segments actually. And how do I keep ready for that? Because you can't be just completely at zero. And from there, you can't just switch into if I take auto. You can't be the fourth or fifth gear on immediate basis. That will take some time. So you need to be ready for that and gear for that. That's something which leads through sort of all the two. So when I'm discussing with the clients, it's around these also, how the strategy and how the business planning is coming through. Most of the questions that we have discussed so far are a little depressing in the sense that there's nothing great happening right now. But eventually things will come to an end. And what kind of hope or messaging would you want to give to youngsters or the industry which is a little anxious to know where will this lead us to? Yeah. See, as a country or as an economy, we definitely are poised for great things. Means India definitely has bright future and in the long term, it's definitely going to be a hugely successful economy and a country. That's for sure. And I do believe strongly in that. And so does our network as well. And that that's something which is bound to happen. So this is a short-term phenomenon in that overall perspective, right? So this is going to end. There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel, if you say, from a gloomy perspective. That's something which is definitely going to come out. But these days are somewhere you can't escape because that's something as in that country or it's a global pandemic. Everyone is going through this. So you need to be quite forced in there to acknowledge that this is a challenge which is tearing us in the face and it would be there for next two months, three months, four months, which we need to stay through together. So one is staying together as a team, not losing hope for sure and being positive. You have to be optimistic, eternal optimist. That's what I keep on telling our guys as well. Right? So you have to be extremely positive and just look at the positives and be ready for future when the things start coming back. A is you sort of batten the hatches just not because they are stormy with the outside or you need to sort of ride through those rough waves. But once that is done, you need to be ready to go out and start winning those clients, delivering that excellent work to our clients and start speaking with the consumers. That's something you need to be ready with. So one is be positive from leader's perspective. Keep on communicating with the teams. Keep on inspiring them and keep on passing those positive messages and very transparently communicating with them where the entire thing is moving. So that's something which will go a long way. Working together as a team, do those regular calls, regular meetings, engage HR more and more on inspirational ways of working or sort of for welfare or health checks for the employees. I think that's something which is critically you need to take through. And from employee perspective, one is definitely plan your future, how you are looking at and one is self introspection and self learning. Because now is a good time to learn whatever skills you wanted to have. Sort of maybe it might be just some personal skill you wanted to have that, maybe music or maybe some instrument or something like that. Or there are so many online courses. So go on those online courses, something to do with management or self help, something like that. But pick up that one skill or pick up that one sort of added, I won't say degree, but certificate or something. When you have this time and this opportunity available to you. Because moment things open up, you'll start traveling. If you're in Mumbai or Delhi, Gurga or Bangalore, you'll spend two hours, three hours just being on the road. So just now, you're at least awarding that. So definitely people are working a lot more as as compared to when you used to be in the office. But definitely there is more time to be had on your hands also if you can plan that properly. So I think that's something you need to see, but definitely it's positive and it's going to be much, much better than it's today. That's for sure. And I know you have to rush. You have a meeting to attend. One last question. This unprecedented lockdown has changed all of us in different ways. It has had its own impact. How has it evolved you as a professional or as a person? What are the changes you see in your lifestyle day to day? Whether it is work or in your personal life that this lockdown has brought in? So the biggest change that has brought in is my look actually because I sort of changed my hairstyle completely. So that was one, I was trying to sort of experiment with that. I think I would say that that's something which has worked. But besides that, even I'm trying to do some courses, online courses or sort of something to learn or something which has been saying for a long time, some language to sort of brush up upon, a bit like that. More than that, then it's more time to mess with the family working together. Partly it's mandatory, but at the same time, it's something which you get to spend more, spending time with my son, with my wife, sort of discussing more, which we may not have discussed in your routine sort of matters actually or day to day work. So that's something and then some shows at home actually doing some shows at home, started sort of trying to get my hand in the kitchen. No, not so much, but somewhere around that. So a bit like that. So on professional front, it's more on learning work wise. It just continues. There are calls and calls and there would be meetings in that sense. But it's more like a better mix of personal and professional life. I think that's something which this is giving and what it's taught quite quite strongly is anything can happen actually because no one had imagined that such a thing like will happen. You are into a phase where you know what the problem is. And I think none of us had experienced this before, right? Because you don't know the answer. And as a human being, you're quite keen or as more structured people, you're professionals, you want to know what is the outcome and you want to plan for the outcome. The biggest challenge many are facing just now is because you don't know what is the outcome because there's no cure as of now for the disease. So working in those times and still keeping the ambition and then sort of running on day to day, that's something which is important. And what's more pleasing is the way all the teams have rallied around our 3700 employees in India, the way they have come together and then sort of fighting against this at personal level, at professional level, at organizational level. I think that's much, much pleasing and most pleasing thing which I see over here that we have come together as one and much more strongly than you would have seen even earlier as well. So that spirit continues actually. That's one of the most pleasing things actually. And then we're running out of time. So I wish we had more time and I could have asked you more questions, but I respect the fact that you have some prior appointments. Thank you so much for talking to us and wish you all the best. Stay at home, stay safe. Thanks, pleasure talking to you and take care and stay safe, stay at home. See you. Thank you very much.