Adgully Exclusive | Naked to start India Ops. with small & tight team: Gitanjali Sriram

"Mommy runs Naked, say my kids" she bursts out laughing. Full of vim and vigour, Gitanjali Sriram, started her corporate life at the tender age of 21, and there's been no looking back ever since. Gitanjali got her break with Titan where she was the chief person to work on the "Raga' brand and introduce it into the market. "I called myself as the "Mummy of Raga' and it was the first big thing that I did completely on my own," she chuckles. She was also a part of the team that launched Tanishq.

Although she was raised and studies in the US, she strongly maintains that she doesn't see herself as an American. There was always a desire inside her to come to India and work here. "I always had arguments with my family and friends who were famous doctors and engineers. I would always ask controversial questions like why you would take advantage of the Indian education system and then take your talent out and work abroad. That's not very smart; and my parents would go red in embarrassment. I still don't understand why 80% of the IIT graduates go outside India and work," she says with an expression of surprise on her face.

She says that there's no fun if everyone says "yes' to everything you present. The actual job only begins when the client says "no', Geetanjali believes. After Revlon, Geetanjali moved to Hong Kong and went on a hiatus for a couple of years. But obsessed with work that she is, the sabbatical became unbearable, and soon she saw herself working with China.com ' the first really large Chinese digital company out of China. China.com was about several verticals and nation-specific and centric portals, namely HongKong.com, China.com and Taiwan.com.

She worked there for three years, contributing substantial amount of business to the company. It was during this time, Geetanjali says, that she gained a healthy knowledge of everything that existed in the digital world. "The technology that everybody is taking for granted now, was getting formed then. It was an excellent learning curve for me in the digital space," she explains.

Having given birth to a child in China, Geetanjali quit working for China.com as she wanted to be a full-time mother. However, her brilliance was such that the corporates did not really let her be one ' she kept working as a broad brand content broker from home between content providers and people who actually serve the content.

She then moved to Malaysia and worked at Leo Burnett in the planning department. She also worked on Arc ' Leo Burnett's non communicational business division ' where she was associated with the global and regional teams and started to understand and realize her planning instincts. "I also realized that the world is not that disparate as people make it out to be. I came in doing planning for different verticals. During that time they called it as engagement planning," she said.

After handling key global brands like P&G and McDonald's etc, Geetanjali, moved to Hong Kong and then Tokyo. Leo Burnett were keen to have her in their team, so she continued to work for them in Tokyo; her responsibilities being almost similar to what she was doing in other countries. Following this, she moved on to Lowe Lintas.

Adgully then quizzed her about how her association with Naked Communications began. "I had known Naked since my Hong Kong days. I got very interested in what they did. I couldn't quite understand it completely, but it sounded really interesting. Leo Burnett organizes a conference once in a year which is called as "The Engagement'. Once we had Naked coming in. I heard Ivan speak in the conference. When I went to Tokyo, John Willkons came down to meet me and asked me to come on board. I refused as they didn't have any plans to live in Tokyo for the rest of my life. But then, later I joined in," Geetanjali said, sharing details about the start of her life at Naked Communications.

With Naked Communications, the team is coming in as a neutral consultant for brands. Geetanjali reckons that the job, though challenging, will be extremely enriching and fun. She refuses to call Naked an advertising agency. Naked Communications is about integrated communication and to provide brand strategy. Naked stands on three pillars ' brand strategy, integrated communications and creative expression. For the Indian market, there is a conscious stress on integrated communication as that will help establish Naked as a media unit unlike any other.

Geetanjali says that Naked comes with amazing econometric tools and will form a link between the client, brand, agencies, media and sales and marketing team. It will bring forth what's the best thing to be done with each brand.

Sharing her thoughts about web becoming the most indispensable element of humanity now, she said "Web would be useful for specific task profiles. It is very powerful and with the 3G coming in, many people are going to have the access on their phones. That will transform the digital medium."

Naked Communications would be looking aggressively at Retail sector ' it is one business avenue that the company wants to explore as there is great scope for it. Retail is also one place where, most large companies drop the ball and give it to the vendor. "We have really blind spotted a very critical point where the actual decision happens. The other area that I think has been design and by design I just don't mean the printing design, I am talking of the design language that ties the brand together. It could be a sound, a visual, a font or anything. Designs are actually what the consumers first grasp," she says.

"We create the consumer journey so no task is very going to be complete without knowing how the consumer is going to react. So we make an account as to what is the action going on during its journey and depending on that we create the communications and recommending mediums," Geetanjali explained.

Naked is a ten year old company with a pool of young, talented individuals and with India, Geetanjali intends on building a core team of smart professionals; "small and tight with right people in the right place," as she says, stressing on the fact that she isn't necessarily looking at people from the agency world. The focus will be to get down strategically creative people who want to do something different.

Naked Communications currently operates out of twelve countries, including India now and is powered by a team of 300-strong creative junkies globally. Geetanjali is optimistic about Naked's India operations and says that though she doesn't see the team size going beyond 15 people, the ones who will make it will be the best in class. She expects break-even in two years, when asked about percentage growth expected from Naked Communications, India.

Describing Naked, she essentially gave one word to us ' objectivity. Naked Communications will work with brands as an integrated communication and strategic consultant. Geetanjali is kicked about her association with Naked Communications and says, "They are real from-the-heart people and there is obviously the whole business aspect that drives the unit. The work they do is all based on principles. They are driven with right things where we will not have to bull shit about anything and just be real."

Having ditched MBA during her time in the USA, she surprised not only her near ones, but managed to shock her MBA counsellor too. "I said, even Bill Gates was a college dropout," she says with a grin on her face. Geetanjali confessed that if she had to a degree, it would be in English Literature.

She is fascinated by Tokyo and finds the city "extremely pure in culture". At 43, it seems as if life just about starting afresh for Geetanjali. "It is about technology, about new ways and always knowing there's a better way out," she signs off. We at Adgully, wish you the best in life and a great time with Naked Communications.