"In the evolving landscape of marketing, a 360-degree approach is crucial. It's about creating seamless communication across platforms for brand recall and resonance."
In this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, we delve into a captivating conversation with Divanshi Gupta, the accomplished Director of The Marcom Avenue and a graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting and Business/Management from Delhi University. From her solid educational foundation to her entrepreneurial endeavours with The Marcom Avenue, Ucanji, Dance Helpline, and Digital Shikshak we explore the unique journey of a leader at the intersection of finance, creativity, and innovation. Join us for an insightful exploration of the shape of work in today's dynamic professional landscape
Today, we open the doors to her world, exploring the intricacies of a 360-degree marketing strategy that is revolutionising the industry. Within this journey, we tread upon The Marcom Avenue's innovative project with a global fashion giant, where state-of-the-art technology is being harnessed to predict future demand and sales. Let Divanshi's intriguing career journey inspire you and offer fresh perspectives on the future of marketing
Episode Highlight
Follow: Divanshi on Linkedin
Produced by: Priya Bhat
Podcast Host: Archit Sethi
About Springworks:
Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes:
SpringVerify— B2B verification platform
EngageWith— employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture
Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building
SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and
SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system.
Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company.
"In the evolving landscape of marketing, a 360-degree approach is crucial. It's about creating seamless communication across platforms for brand recall and resonance."
In this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, we delve into a captivating conversation with Divanshi Gupta, the accomplished Director of The Marcom Avenue and a graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting and Business/Management from Delhi University. From her solid educational foundation to her entrepreneurial endeavours with The Marcom Avenue, Ucanji, Dance Helpline, and Digital Shikshak we explore the unique journey of a leader at the intersection of finance, creativity, and innovation. Join us for an insightful exploration of the shape of work in today's dynamic professional landscape
Today, we open the doors to her world, exploring the intricacies of a 360-degree marketing strategy that is revolutionising the industry. Within this journey, we tread upon The Marcom Avenue's innovative project with a global fashion giant, where state-of-the-art technology is being harnessed to predict future demand and sales. Let Divanshi's intriguing career journey inspire you and offer fresh perspectives on the future of marketing
Episode Highlight
Follow: Divanshi on Linkedin
Produced by: Priya Bhat
Podcast Host: Archit Sethi
About Springworks:
Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes:
SpringVerify— B2B verification platform
EngageWith— employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture
Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building
SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and
SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system.
Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company.
Hello and welcome to the Shape of Work, a podcast series by Springworks. My name is Anoop and I am your host. Each week, we'll be talking to top people managers across the world on the future of work and how it's shaping our workplace. So sit back and get ready to find out more from these movers and shakers, as we have a no-holes bar. Anything goes. Conversation with them about their journey, their insights, their thoughts, most importantly, their ideas and vision for the workplace of the future. Join in on the conversation, leave a comment and don't forget to hit that subscribe button.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to another episode of the Shape of Work podcast, and for this episode we have a very special guest with us, ms Devanshi Gupta, who is the director at the Markham Avenue. Hi Devanshi, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 3:Hi Yodshir, thanks for making time for me.
Speaker 2:It's a pleasure. So to begin with, could you please take us through a career journey so far?
Speaker 3:My journey, oh my God, okay. So, if I look back, my journey in the marketing industry began with a very deep-seated belief. Actually, I realized that marketing isn't just a business function. It's as essential as the quality of the service or the product that brand is making. And this realization helped me to embark on this entrepreneurial journey In 2016, when I founded Markham Avenue, driven by the need to become a catalyst to these businesses. So we always had a belief of not just talking about numbers, but actually growth and impact.
Speaker 3:It was very clear to me early on that in this competitive world of marketing, companies needed more than just a service. They needed a strong brand and a strategic marketing to actually back that brand and to thrive in this world. Well, since our assumption, markham Avenue now has come a very long way, growing from strength to strength, competency to competency, and we have the privilege of working with more than 300 plus diverse brands across 27 plus industries. And this, I would always say that this commitment to delivering result-driven marketing strategies what has been the core of this success. As we have evolved, we've expanded our horizons, we've branched out into more avenues Like, for example, now we have our own production house by the name of Woe Films. We have experiential team with us, we have technology team with us, media bank team with us, pr and a growth avenue to give a more integrated support to our company.
Speaker 3:Will. This expansion not only has helped us, in a way, impact wider challenges of our clients, but also create more opportunities for them to be able to tap onto, like, for example, we're able to personalize the communication more across different touchpoints for our clients. We're able to, in a way, tap onto a larger audience for our clients across these channels, and this potential has also helped us create campaigns in a more collaborative fashion, where one core team instead of multiple agencies or multiple network agencies are working on that one campaign, which has delivered astounding results for our clients. Well, my journey has always been fueled with a lot of creativity, innovation and pursuit of excellence in marketing, and Macom Avenue has helped realize the dream where we've been able to serve multiple clients with cutting edge marketing solutions, which has always fueled our growth and expansion and will continue to fuel this growth and expansion over the years.
Speaker 2:And congratulations on all the success that Mark on Avenue has seen so far and definitely way to go ahead. So, now that we're talking about Mark on Avenue and it was described when I was reading about it, it said that it's a 360 degree marketing agency. So could you like put some more light on this? That what exactly is a 360 degree marketing term? And also I would love to know that. We would love to know that how does it set itself apart from rest of the players in the industry?
Speaker 3:Well, marketing is a very evolving process, you know, archit, you'll agree with me. Digital marketing no longer is a sufficient avenue for brands to tap. It's no longer just being present there, you know, on social media, or just doing. You know, paid marketing generate needs. It is more holistic in nature, where one communication can be driven through multiple platforms and that communication remains seamless through all the platforms, so that for a user, you know, right from the point when he gets up to when he goes to bed, you know he has seen that communication, which becomes a recall factor for him about the brand. And which is where, you know, this inspiration of looking at a 360 degree solution to a client came into being. You know, we wanted to ensure that we just not become a service provider to our clients, but a solution given to our client. And when you have to be a solution giver, you cannot be dependent on the avenues that you can serve. You have to look at what is the best solution for your client and then drive it through the right avenue for them.
Speaker 3:At Markham Avenue, we are very, very clear that technology will become the, you know, focus or drive for us in the years to come. Today we see a lot of 3D billboards. We see a lot of AR based events. All this talk about AI and machine learning based technology. You know that's going on. Can you actually realistically tell me that India is able to harness all this? You know all this opportunity that technology gives us as a day.
Speaker 3:This is where, you know, I see the Markham Avenue not just leading the charge from the front, but also setting trends with multiple services under one roof. We get to address a lot of, you know, challenging pain points of a client. We get to serve a broader audience for them. We get to, you know, also, look at how we are able to create business impact for our clients and not just, you know, a simple number driven approach or simple creativity. So you know, overall, like, for example I'll take an example, I will not code the brand name, but with one of global fashion giant, we're building this technology that will help them predict the demand and sales for them.
Speaker 3:So like let me take an example say, a black color T-shirt, medium size, kept on which shelf in the store, depending where, you know, the store is located, depending on what are the local festivals going on, maybe what's the weather of the day, and such other 70 other algorithms, you know how many pieces of those medium black color T-shirt will be sold out. Imagine if you can predict that kind of you know sales and demand for the client. They will be able to better plan their inventory. So much cost can be saved. They can plan their promotions accordingly. They can actually start predicting the fashion that is going to be sold out. So we want to be building such impactful solutions for a client that create business impact for them, and that is how you know. We wanted to become a 360 degree organization where under one roof, our client could have the best of the solutions at their disposal.
Speaker 2:And I totally agree with the fact that in today's time, like the problems have become so diverse and obviously everybody is just looking for one player in the market which can provide, you know, one stop solution to everything. So that's when Marko Mevendee comes into the picture and has the clients with solving all the problems. And definitely, technology is here to stay for long and we can only survive if we leverage it to the best extent, and which is what Marko Mevendee today stands for. So, talking a little about your journey, so you said that you started with your entrepreneurial journey and as an entrepreneur, you have to wear multiple caps. Sometimes you have to become, maybe, a leader, other times you have to. You have a lot of things to learn from your team at the same time as well. So what were some of the most significant challenges that you faced in your early days and what sort of learning did you have from those days?
Speaker 3:Well, I will agree to your one point. As an entrepreneur, you have to wear multiple hats. You know you might be a business person in the morning, the afternoon you might be a client servicing person. At the end of the day you might just be looking at a creative, you know, on how it can become better. So as an entrepreneur, definitely you wear a lot of multiple hats, but as an entrepreneur, you cannot do everything on your own.
Speaker 3:It's actually the people behind that build up your company. I always say that I am there, or Markham Avenue is there, because the people are there, and I'm very, very, very, very fortunate enough to have found these core people that we call as a FIFA team internally in the initial start of a journey. They not only are the reason of why we are growing, or you know why you're growing so fast in the previous few years, but so you know they're not just a growth engine to us, they are the ones because of which we are succeeding day on day, year on year, and with these people taking charge at the forefront of a business we have never seen challenges, challenges. Actually. They become opportunity for us to achieve more, learn more and have a more joyful journey together, right, so that's how I've always looked at it.
Speaker 2:Awesome and that's the. I think that's the correct definition of a leader. I mean you, the one who really takes their team along and not just, like somebody who looks, always have to look behind for their team. I mean, we live in times where, obviously, an organization is known by the people who work and, you know, strive for the success of it. So, since marketing industry is completely evolving I mean it's constantly evolving we keep on saying new things coming up and it's something which just changes in a snap. So, how does Markov, when you stay ahead of the curve in terms of the industry trends and technologies?
Speaker 3:Well, to us, creativity is problem solving and we believe in solving the impossible. We never settle for the first or the easiest, the quickest solution. We have always looked at, you know, creativity as very carefully, as something to analyze, to research and create a very custom solution that not only solves our clients' challenges but also helps the client stand out by breaking the clutter. Today, everyone is doing marketing, so you cannot just be making a better creative or putting out more creatives or looking at being present on all the avenues. You have to be able to create a communication that resonates with your brand, right, that resonates with your customers. Actually, customers should feel that your client's brand is made for them, and that is where, you know, everything becomes innovative or creative overall. Well, here at Markov Avenue, we also have a core value which says non-stop wow, right, that is how we define it. So it's in our blood to always be hungry, to always be passionate, to always love tough problems and new challenges. You know, when you get to visit us, you'll never hear anyone saying I don't know how or I can't. At the Markov Avenue, you will always see us setting ambitious goals that we call as BHA goals and then deliver results by eliminating anything that says in progress work, you know, or it's not me you always look at how we can raise the bar. Again and again. This always means continuously pushing the boundaries of what's possible in this world of marketing. It itself is evolving, and then you also have to look at how you can further be at the forefront of this evolution. So we always look at cutting the solutions that we can offer to our clients.
Speaker 3:We have ingrained a culture of learning and search into our DNA as a whole. Like there are a lot of ongoing trainings that keep on happening. We keep attending a lot of industry conferences across different departments. We also look at how we can leverage the knowledge of thought leaders in each field right, because we're serving 27-plus industries. So, having such leadership in play, who can guide us with the challenges that that industry particularly faces of what audience interacts with in that industry? So we've lots of thought leaders on our advisory board who help us through each of this knowledge and the framing of the roadmap for each of our clients.
Speaker 3:So which is what has helped us deliver result-driven marketing? Also, we also maintain a very close eye on the consumer behavior shift because, with digital advancement and the marketing dynamics that are going on. It's very important to remain at the top of what's on the horizon. Nowadays, you can track each consumer's even small activities that they do day in, day out, right. So it's very important for us to be able to analyze this data day on day and look at what needs to change for our marketing. So, overall, if you look at it, but being at the forefront of these marketing innovations is how we are offering our clients strategy solutions that not only meet their current needs but help them be future ready.
Speaker 2:Exactly. I mean, I think I've heard it too many times now that we say that a good leader is somebody who can forecast the problem and then find a solution to it, so I think it's all about that. Another very important point that we discuss these days that is gaining a lot of traction is diversity and inclusion, and obviously when you run an organization, it becomes extremely important, especially for an organization which is extremely team-driven. So diversity and inclusion is gaining attention. So how do you ensure that diversity and inclusion is being followed in the operations in your team?
Speaker 3:Well, actually I think diversity and inclusivity is no more buzzwords. Actually today they are part and parcel, especially in the marketing world, because creativity is driven by or thrives on this diversity People from different backgrounds, different cultures. They bring more perspective, they bring more diverse thoughts, they bring more insights into perspective of a client audience as the clients look at expansion geographically also, demographically also to more client base. In fact, if they're diversifying their portfolio to different industry also, we need to have people from different background perspective bringing in that knowledge to be able to serve our clients better. So at Markom we have looked at diversity and inclusion as part of our existence in that manner, like, for example, diwali just went by and on Diwali itself we had a lot of different celebrations from different people with different cultures and backgrounds that acknowledge their own culture and help us also to look at more creative outgrowth as a whole team. So for me, diversity and inclusion is something that's part and parcel of our business.
Speaker 2:Exactly it is and, as you mentioned, it brings like a fresh perspective to everything that you do, especially when you work with such diverse, diverse impetus clients which are based in diverse sectors. Obviously, that is extremely important. So, moving on to the last question that I have for you is that I would want to take this opportunity for you to give some sort of advice to the budding entrepreneurs, you know maybe who would probably think you just start their own business, or have started, or in the initial phases in the dealing process.
Speaker 2:So what advice would you like to give it to them?
Speaker 3:Well, I've always said one thing. I keep saying that to my team as well If you have a dream, don't just sit there, leave no stone unturned to make it a reality. As an entrepreneur, see along the journey you will find a lot of so. You know, at times there are challenges, there are obstacles, there are, you know, ifs and buts that keep coming along. But along this journey you will also find, simultaneous, lot of mentors, teams, people that become more than a family to you and who help make this journey more easier and fun along the way. Your job is to find those people you would want on your bus and then just facilitate them with the right resources to make it happen and everything becomes, you know, a piece of cake and, you know, an enjoyment as a whole. So I always say, you know, if you have a dream, just you know, just make it a reality and everything will fall into place. Don't quit.
Speaker 2:Awesome. So thank you, Devanshi, for taking time out of your busy schedule and sharing your amazing insights with us.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, ashit, for you know having me here, and I look forward to more such conversations.
Speaker 2:Definitely, and thank you to our listeners for tuning into this episode.