Indian Advertising Strategists - Gendered Strategy Analysis

"The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there." - L.P. Hartley. From newspapers for political propaganda pre-independence to digital editions with appropriate media placements, advertorials, and jacket ads; freedom fighters are going to be pretty unhappy about this, among other things. The radio frequencies, the modem 'handshakes' (those screeching sounds, man!), the channel switches during ads to catch two TV programs at the same time, to the current binge-watching, Hinge-dating, X-ing of your tweets, the past really feels like an alien country. We have moved. We have shifted. But then again, have we really? Have we really, Mr Hartley? Same fundamentals. Same urges. Same conflicts. We have forever been people of mixed village and urban formations trading, warring, and warring over trading. Be Distinctive. Be Different. Mass-target. Segment your audience. The warring principalities might not agree on some matters, but they do when it comes to measurement. They do clink their glasses on the rationality of it all. Even the socials are a science. We study the past through the 'welter of ruins and traces of garbage' (Time Pieces by Nayanjot Lahiri) and I can't help thinking that that is how we learn anything. Especially, effectiveness. Especially, when learned effectively. From traces we learn. The first of many things I'm doing to learn from the traces is the qualitative and quantitative gendered analysis of Indian advertising strategy as a discipline and profession. I want to speak to people of strategy, across agencies, whether fresh into the discipline or seasoned veterans; whether you switched verticals or owned businesses, let me hear your thoughts. This will be an anonymized article so that the confidentiality and privacy of data is held sacrosanct. Will love to connect with people I haven't heard ever, in a while, or have been talking to everyday. Please ping if you are interested in a 45 mins interview where I hear your thoughts and perspectives that haven't been captured enough. Thank you. I promise you an interesting chat, for sure, for sure, for sure.