Nandini Dias was recently appointed chief executive officer (CEO) of Lodestar UM after holding the chief operating officer?s (COO) post for several years. Armed with more than 20 years of experience, Dias has been with Lodestar UM for almost two decades now. At Lodestar, some of the clients have stayed with the agency for as long as Dias? career in the agency spans. She has worked with a host of Indian and multinational brands that includes L?Oreal, Johnson and Johnson, Henkel, Renault, SC Johnson, Bayer, Sony Pictures, Samsung, Cadbury, The Times of India, Diageo, Tata Group, Mahindra Group and Amul amongst others. In a conversation with FE Brandwagon?s Anindita Sarkar, Dias looks back at her career in Lodestar UM and the challenges that await her in her new role. Edited excerpts:

How does is it feel to be the CEO of the organisation which you joined as a young supervisor?

Well, it?s a wonderful opportunity that the organisation has given me. The best part of my professional journey is that it has been at the pace that I have desired. The transitions in my professional and my personal life have a strong connect. After taking a break for a year after my first child was born, I joined FCB Media as a supervisor, After the birth of my second child, I again took a break and when I came back I was given the responsibility to start the second media agency, Interface Media, And this year my younger son finished schooling so I am ready to take on the responsibility of a CEO. Many women fall off the radar because of personal milestones such as the birth of children, children?s studies, etc. The organisation has allowed me to take career breaks while enabling me to continue my professional journey thus keeping a great work-life balance. Needless to say, I have worked hard and tried delivering to their expectations.

As you move from the COO?s chair to that of the CEO, how do you see your role changing?

As a COO, I was focused on the internal operations and the day-to-day business needs. I prided myself on knowing every employee, was part of every birthday, and was party to the highs and lows of the organisation. I was

inside focused. With the CEO?s role, I am aware that the volume and intensity of external demands will increase manifold. Whether it is international meets, discussions with industry groups or as a brand ambassador of the agency, the interaction with the outside community will be a major part of my responsibilities.

What will be your key agenda as the CEO of Lodestar UM?

Lodestar UM is a well-run organisation and I have been part of all decisions for the longest period of time. The desire is to make Lodestar UM a really strategically strong agency and a destination for clients who are looking for quality output. We are committed to uncover insights, spot trends and help our clients become high performing businesses with pace, strategic agility and ultimately delivering value.

How big a role does research and analytics play in creating media plans for your clients?

Most products and services are reduced to commodities in less than two years these days. So it is imperative that we unearth insights faster, either through mindset or mood mapping, discover needs and wants, plot trends or dive deep into the existing data through analytics to find the next thing now. In fact, media planning is all about predicting well. For example, three years ago we predicted the need to measure the impact of online, offline, and engagement driven activities and how they build each other. We invested in a continuous panel of over 17,000 people.

We see growth coming from being better able to deliver integrated

communication planning across offline, online, technology and data analytics, innovation and ideas, collaboration tie-ups, content, and being globally synergized, compared to a lot of other organisations who work in silos.