You have grown up around advertising and now you lead the oldest advertising company in Bangladesh, Bitopi. Did you always know you were going to enter this industry?
I would say I got charmed into advertising.
Bitopi started off in this beautiful old bungalow in Topkhana Road.
It was the mid 1980’s to early 1990’s, and I was in school then. That’s when I started popping up at my father’s workplace.
I have to say that those were the golden years of advertising – when everything was housed under one roof.
Bitopi at that point had a research wing and even had a printing press in the office. There were artists milling around all the time.
Abdul Muqtadir, also known as Muqtadir Bhai used to be the creative director, while Syed Iqbal was an art director. I would just go and hang out on the creative floor, just seeing what the artists were doing, how they were creating a layout, in the days before computers. The atmosphere was rich and thriving.
I would love to be a fly on the wall (when I was allowed to) in brain-storming sessions. I would also get asked questions, or I would get to try some food or something that was going to be launched.
I not only felt important, but it was an instant appeal that these people are working and having fun at the same time – with Cha, Shingara, Daalpuri, Kebabs – it felt like hanging out with friends and laughter and banter all the time, while doing serious work.
At that time, there was obviously no exposure to foreign advertisements in Bangladesh.
My father would ask his friends and relatives to record just regular British Television and send the tapes to Bangladesh.
My brothers and I found ourselves sitting and watching those commercials for fun at home.
Of course, there was some foreign programming that would also get recorded, which was also fun to watch. Keeping magazines such as LIFE, National Geographic, Time and Newsweek was also something my father would do – so that people got visual ideas for print advertisements and see what is happening in other parts of the world.
All of this just made the advertising world such a beautiful, energetic, and glamorous world that I wanted to belong to as well.
I can go on and on.
The shoots that I was allowed to watch, the workshops that would take place with foreign trainers coming in, the team building activities that my father would carry out with everyone from the office– it all seemed to be things that I wanted to do when I grew up!
Women have to work twice as hard for recognition, what barriers did you have to break to get where you are?
I would say I am still breaking the barriers. It is an old boys club – the world of agencies and clients.
And I would say a single woman like me cannot always get an easy entry into this world. It is a constant struggle to break into the inner fold and make the connections, because oftentimes, a lot of decisions are actually taken in casual discussions in the corridor and not really in the boardroom.
I would say I really trust and depend on my leadership team and my colleagues to help me in this process, so that Bitopi does not fall behind in the race.
I just think it is very difficult for women to push their way through a male world and be heard. I would say it is a constant struggle and I am trying to be heard every day.
Women also need to be on the decision-making level at the top tier on the client side as well – which is sorely missing.
Under your leadership, Bitopi has had a string of award winning campaigns, what has been your favorite campaign so far?
It is very difficult to say what my favorite campaign has been so far. There are so many, and I am attached to all the work.
If I have to choose an all-time favorite campaign of Bitopi then it would have to be Djuice.
It was one of the bravest, most brazen campaigns that had ever been carried out and the legacy of Djuice still continues. It seemed like the work really did resonate with the youth segment and created a tribe.
The Djuice campaign when it was launched exploded across all media, it was the most relevant, the most engaging, the most provocative creative work that the industry has done in a long time.
It took very insightful cues from culture, was brave and challenged stereotypes.
This pandemic has turned the world upside down, how has it affected the advertising industry?
The first thing in marketing that gets slashed when business seems unpredictable is the advertising budget.
I do not think the economy has been that badly affected and not all industries have been hurt due to the pandemic.
But many of our clients whose business was still going fine took advantage of the situation and did renegotiate rates.
During the pandemic, commercials and filmmaking suffered greatly as there was a lockdown.
The one thing that got badly hit was the BTL industry – with no events or on ground activities happening.
That is just about coming back on again, albeit in a very small way.
Do clients still want the tired old formula that perpetuates gender norms and patriarchal values? How do you handle them?
Well, clients do want to play it safe.
They never want to stir up any controversy or ruffle any feathers or bring out any prejudice that exists in society towards any sub-group. It is a constant struggle and a balancing act.
We are shown great ads that have higher value messages on harmony and acceptance from other parts of the world for inspiration, but very seldom is it that clients feel comfortable taking that bold step.
We have been able to break barriers with our Sanitary Napkin campaign for Joya though.
For the first time in Bangladesh and in Asia we showed blood on the pad which was a breakthrough as in the past it had always been demonstrated with a colorless or blue liquid falling on the pad, to show absorption ability.
What is the one brand you really want to work with?
One of the brands that I really wanted to work with and have now in our portfolio is Dove. I love their Real Beauty campaign and the very provocative Pandemic time advertisement they had done.
I hope we do get the opportunity to create our home-grown own provocative commercials for Dove.
I really like what the hair oil brand Jui has been doing over the years and I would love to work on that brand.
Grameenphone is one of the brands that I would like to work on as I believe it is brazen enough to push boundaries.
Which achievement are you most proud of?
At this moment, I am proud of the fact that we are still surviving.
We were able to manage the unpredictable times, work from home, endure deaths of many of our colleagues’ near and dear ones and we have survived.
We stood by all our near and dear ones, people we work with every day, and I can proudly say that we did not have to cut corners during our hard days. At this point I am not being greedy, and I am happy that we have survived.
The biggest achievement that I am most proud of is having a stellar team in place that I have full confidence in, to do magic.
I really do love and appreciate all my colleagues and I have full faith that when we put our heart, soul, and hard work, we have proven it to ourselves time and again that we can accomplish anything.
Where does Bangladesh stand in competition with her neighbors in the creative industry?
Well, Bangladesh is gradually coming up. But I really think as far as creativity is concerned, it is not at the same level yet.
While I do think if an idea is good, it should not need too much money behind it for execution – some things still need fair amounts of budgets to materialize in the way envisioned. Or the creativity of the storytelling can fall flat.
So, budget constraints in execution of creative ideas are one of the things that set us back.
We also do not have enough research of people and their behavior.
If we had access to more data about people’s behaviour and choices, it would help us come up with more defined strategies and the messaging would improve.
Use of special effects and technology is another thing where we are behind our neighboring countries.
As a marketing professional, we need to be able to compete in creativity and innovation on an international level much more.
And we need clients and agencies to partner up in this process, as that is the only way Bangladesh will come up on the world map on a creative level.
What needs to change to become an industry leader in South Asia?
We need longer term vision, investments in the right places and the belief that Bangladesh can stand up to create effective meaningful communication that resonates with people here.
Industry leaders at decision making levels need to have greater knowledge and willingness to explore new and brave ideas that can set us apart.
For instance, we need both clients and agencies to work together to come up with brave ideas that we can submit for international creativity awards.
This industry is led by talents and people, and to attract the right people, it is important to also give the right compensation.
The industry has been cutting corners for creative work for a while now by slashing industry rates. I do not think that is a fair or a progressive way to move forward and be better.
As someone who's been in the industry for decades, what changes do you want to see in the future? What are you doing to make that change happen?
Well, there are a lot of changes that need to happen in the future. I for one am trying to attract more women in the industry and make advertising a career choice for women.
I am focused on providing a safe working environment where women can enter and thrive on their own rights. I would say that there needs to be more women on the marketing side as well, as right now there is not a fair gender balance that exists.
I want to encourage women to step out of their comfort zone and challenge misogyny and stereotypes and I am willing to lead that brigade from my capacity.
As a person who is engaged in the communications industry, it is also my responsibility to ensure the messaging that we are doing across our brands has a higher purpose and is not perpetuating patriarchal views.
I also realize that our role is changing. We are no longer just an advertising agency.
We have become more of a solutions provider to our clients, and we are trying to add value or provide insights and inputs in our client’s businesses in more ways than one.
We are just not about making a creative advertisement for our client anymore. We are everything about making effective connections with people.
It is something we are practicing and learning on the job – and we are stretching ourselves and pushing the boundaries so that we can be more innovative and effective in giving solutions to provide a competitive advantage.
