MindShare Singapore's general manager Deepika Nikhilender is one of those media professionals, who after initiating their career in India, have managed to carve a niche for themselves in the Asia Pacific region. She has been with working with MindShare Singapore since 1998.

Nikhilender's tryst with multinational brands include Nike for over five markets, HBO & Cinemax, Nestlé , American Express, Lufthansa Regional, Mattel, Guinness, KFC, Pizzahut and Kimberly Clark among others. Besides this, she has great interest in research and tools and is fond of teaching.

"I have immense interest in research and tools, which led me to spearhead the proprietary software and research applications in MindShare Group. In 2002, I was given the opportunity to lead the 3D project in Singapore. Since, teaching is something I've always felt passionate about, I took over the group's training programme ASPIRE in October 2000 and have been leading it thus far," says Nikhilender.

In an exclusive interview with Indiantelevision.com's Ritesh Gupta, she speaks about her career, experience of working in Singapore and also on teaching experience at Singapore's IAS Media Planning School. Excerpts:

How has been the experience of working in Asia Pacific's leading media investment management company?
Working at MindShare has contributed greatly to my learning and has helped hone planning skills and develop strong management skills. Plus, I have a great team of people who are fantastic to work with. It has been an enriching experience and continues to be so.

Growing with MindShare in this market has been a great experience and I've never stopped learning. The economic downturns pushed us to rough it out. And we have always emerged as leaders.

How do you cope with economic downturn and with calamities such as SARS?
It has become part and parcel of our lives - we had one in 1997 and the current one has been made worse by the SARS outbreak. What it does is make you a lot more resilient and you learn to cope with it and move on.

Clients, during times of downturn, are looking to maximise even more their return on investment. And as agencies, we have to deliver the expected value plus more to clients without losing our cutting edge. Staff motivation as a consequence becomes very crucial and one has to constantly inspire and motivate.

How do you think the role of media specialist agency has changed over the years?
Media specialist agencies have become far more and 'truly' independent. A reduced reliance now, on a creative agency partner, when compared to a few years ago has led to growth of media only businesses.

Media agencies such as ours can now invest in a quality media product through proprietary insights and specialised tools. Also, accountability of media investment planning agencies has become a key deliverable - three years ago, quality of service, people and efficiency were mainly used as benchmarks for being chosen as media agency by clients; today accountability has become the most important factor.

Have you been involved in media from the beginning? Tell us about your career in India?
I started my career in advertising in account management. After a two year stint with Clarion in Bangalore, I joined a market research firm where I continued for a year. In 1992, I joined MAA Communications (now MAA Bozell) before moving to Initiative Media Bangalore. I left for Singapore in 1996, starting off with O&M.

I started my advertising career 11 years ago in India. It was extremely challenging to see the media market evolve from a simple situation to one of intense proliferation with over 75 channels and 21,000 publications in 1995. Needless to say, the complexity of the market made media-planning exciting and fun.

How was it working with Unilever in India?
It was extremely challenging to say the least. Working on Unilever helped me strengthen my fundamentals. The clients were extremely strategic and tended to keep you on your toes all the time. They demanded excellence and pushed you hard. I believe the time I worked on Unilever has taught me much.

How challenging is to shift to another market?
The culture, language and work environment are different - so it takes a little time adjusting to it. In terms of work, expectations and scope of work were very similar to India. The pace was a lot faster though. And the wide prevalence and use of IT and technology meant that one had to get into the "speed mode" very quickly.

Tell us something about `Adam King' Guinness campaign , which was so successful last year? What do you think was pertinent in its success? (the campaign won the advertising of the year: media award, handled by MindShare Singapore).

The creative developed by the agency was multi-phased. There were three core phases for the launch of Adam King. The first phase was a `tease' phase, where consumers were posed with the question: Who Is Adam King?

In the next phase, Adam King was revealed and so was his core attributes such as 'Inner Strength'. Thereafter the core values were reinforced.

The media challenge for us was to develop a strategic approach that could "Bring Adam King to life via innovative and exciting media channels and an intrusiveness that could ultimately making Adam King the most talked about dude in Singapore. The innovative approach to communication planning and highly intrusive multiple contact strategy was key to the impact of the campaign.

Do you still follow Indian advertising industry? If yes, what are you views on media industry, which has now 15 media specialists?
Yes, I do follow the happenings in the Indian advertising industry but not as much as I would like to. I think India continues to be a highly competitive and very challenging market. It is a great source of talent - the quality of strategic skills that are developed in India are amongst the top in the world. Indians are very highly regarded in the media scene here and in all Asia Pacific markets.