Catch up with Madhura Ranade, Isobar India Associate Director — IMPACT Magazine’s Top 30 Under 30

Isobar India’s Associate Director, Madhura Ranade, was recently named as IMPACT Magazine’s ‘Top 30 Under 30’, which celebrates the future leaders of Indian creative, media, and digital agencies. So we caught up with Madhura to find out more.

You were recently named to IMPACT Magazine’s ‘Top 30 Under 30’, congratulations! What do you think has been the biggest driver of your success?

Thank you, it’s a great way to begin the New Year. Being featured in the list of the Top 30 young talent in India is an amazing feeling. I would definitely attribute this success to the direction I have from great mentors in Isobar, and the responsibility and trust that has been vested in me to drive the Maruti Suzuki digital account.

Digital is rapidly evolving in India every single day. How do you stay ahead of the curve?

Apart from keeping up to date with the up and coming trends and news in the ad world, I think spending time with the right kind of people can help one see what direction digital is moving in. I really think communicating outside of everyday work is extremely underrated. There is so much talent in our workplaces and so much to learn from one another, it can definitely help one be at the top of their game.

What is the most challenging aspect of your job and how do you overcome it?

Keeping all the plates spinning. As the Client Servicing lead on the Maruti Suzuki account, I spend a lot of time in meetings, both with the client and within the agency. The portfolio of the Maruti Suzuki account is large and I’m responsible not just for ensuring that we do amazing work for the client, but also driving digital strategy across the client portfolio. When times get busy, it can be a real balancing act managing it all, considering limited time that can be spent with my team. There are long days and long nights, but I love it and wouldn’t have it any other way.

What has been your most exciting project so far at Isobar?

I’ve been at Isobar for close to two years now and there have been many great campaigns we have worked on, but one which I thought was really exciting was a series of digital films we worked on for Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, and we called it RealTime Social. It is a series of eight interlinked films, where four friends set out on a road trip to experience commonly used social media phrases offline. The concept of the digital films is based on a simple yet powerful insight that in the day and age of social media and technology, people have forgotten to connect offline. And so each film tries to draw a parallel between a common social media phrase and how it would manifest itself if friends experienced them in real-time.

What would your advice be to other young client servicing professionals looking to make an impact in the industry?

Be open to doing all kinds of work. As a Client Servicing professional, you will be presented with situations everyday where you might have to fill in for someone, or do something that might not exactly be in your job description. But these are days where you push yourself, when you learn something new, and take another step towards growth, both personally as well as professional.

And never stop being hungry. Success is only as big as you can imagine it. Never be satisfied in what you do, and don’t let the hunger to learn, grow and succeed die out.