Rajiv is a consumer specialist with over 16 years of experience around Consumer Insights, Marketing, Media Research, Customer Experience and Business Strategy. Currently he is working as Director – Disney Star India and based out of Kolkata where he is leading the insights and business strategy functions for the Eastern portfolio.
A graduate from Delhi University, Rajiv joined IIFM in 2005.
Linkedin : linkedin.com/in/rajiv-singh-21a3a05
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM so far?
A. Exhilarating, Exciting and Enriching. Three words that summarise the journey thus far.
I started my career as a market researcher with IMRB & Millward Brown after which I started working with Axis Bank in multiple roles (Consumer Insights, Brand marketing and media, Business Process Transformation) and currently employed with Disney Star (Programming & Business Strategy).
Q. What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
A. I think the best part has been the variety of industries which I have been able to work in – each having its own challenges and X Factor.
Marketing and communications in the banking industry (supposedly carrying an imagery of being Old School, tight lipped, serious folks) had its own charm. We needed to add the xing into finance and make it look and feel younger. These were also times when we were waking up to the entire social media phenomenon as a country. It was fun to make ads and create engagement platforms without really making ads (in its old school sense)!
Similarly, joining a media conglomerate like Disney Star at a time when we had lost out a 10 year long leadership phase (as fate would have it – this was to happen when I joined). Rebuilding the brand, content and the platform which engages the audiences and winning the leadership back again now for more than a year is something that makes one proud.
Also the work that we do as content creators, touches the lives of so many women around. While one can loosely say its entertainment but when you actually see women laugh, cry, get angry on your content – one realizes the impact it creates. Today some of the best shows in the country (Anupama, Kulfi Kumar Bajewala,Teri Meri Doriyan, Banni Chow, and many more in many other languages which have become household names) have come from the work we do here in Bengal. Similarly for our movie portfolio which is the biggest in the market or expanding the brand footprint with the latest baby we have launched in Odisha. These are things which boost you up to keep doing the good work.
Q. What is the most satisfying part in your career?
A. I think the core of all the work I have been involved in has been consumer behaviour and I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work where this aspect of the business is appreciated. Whether it was HUL (my key client during research days), Axis Bank, Disney Star – everywhere the consumer has been the focal point. And the entire experience is so enriching I must say to understand why people do what they do, their inner motivations, fears, anxieties and aspirations and how we decode these into something which can make our products exciting and meaningful for them.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. Well, the fundamentals of forestry, environment, etc. which are the center pillars of education imparted at IIFM aren’t much handy in my line of work 😊.
But most importantly, I think what IIFM has inculcated in me is the ability to structure my work and thinking process. Also, the several interactions on field is where I think I drew my love and liking towards consumer behaviour.
Q. Who (or what) are the biggest influences or drivers in your careers? What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles.
A. Have fun, don’t take things too seriously as they aren’t meant to be that serious. Keep absorbing what’s around you.
You are meant to do something meaningful in life, time will take you to that juncture. Till then keep asking the Why’s and searching for that purpose. Rest is all incidental.
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A. For me, each day spent during those 2 years is as vivid in my memory as it happened yesterday. There are just so many of them which still make you smile, laugh, feel sad at times but each of them precious. That by itself is testimony to the great time we had during our stint. Some of the best friends made (as if we all were destined to meet – brothers from another mother) and that bond is still as strong as it was then irrespective of how many calls we are able to make to each other. To just know that there is a gang of rascals who are there with you forever is comforting enough 😊.
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution (courses, faculty, library, friends, alumni.. Anything else!!) or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
A. I think it was the people who created that atmosphere. Like a famous dialogue goes “Asgard is where Asgardians are”. I am sure you pick them up and put them together in any other place, it will be the same. Right from the staff, batchmates, seniors, teachers. It all came together perfectly – like sugar takes to milk.
Q. The best buddies / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
A. Its like choosing between your children 😊 You just love them all equally.
Q. As an alumni, what’s your advice to freshers or those are joining IIFM to get best out of the 2 years there?
A. Load mat lo. And try to learn from outside the book – there is a far bigger pool of knowledge waiting there.
Q. What was your typical day at the work? And how does it look like while you are on a break?
A. Media is a fast pace industry and we re-engineer ourselves every week when our ratings come. So given the powerplay one lives in here (1 week at a time), its important to be updated with what’s happening around you as everything affects TV (rains, politics, sports, etc).
I prefer to actually divide my work schedule into different parts – number crunching and strategy, market landscaping and projections for the times to come, consumer and emerging lifestyle trends which input into storytelling, profitability and the monetary aspects. These are largely how the days go apart from the usual firefighting.
Q. And how about weekends, hobbies, family and anything else you want to add?
A. Breaks, weekends, are mostly around travelling. We travel a lot and almost entirely by road. Have been fortunate to have a family which enjoys long drives and it’s a stress buster for all of us. You also get a lot of time undisturbed. Then there are the usual culprits like food (I cook and have been told I do a decent job out of it), movies, reading (whenever I get the time).
Q. Favorite Books, movies, authors?
A. Mahabharata is hands down my favourite book. One can find something new every time you read it. I have tried at least 5 different versions of the epic and still feel there much more to grasp.
Guy Ritchie, Coppola, Tarantino, Kashyap, Bhardwaj, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Guru Dutt movies would top the list of favorites.
Q. IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni, students? Your engagement with IIFM Placement or OT/SI?
A. Am still trying to figure this one out but there seems to be limited immediate synergies. Happy to share my time and experiences if that helps.
Q. What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there?
A. Its been a while since I have been there but must say that the alumni engagement has been remarkable of late and credit goes to some good work being done by the alumni committee folks.