Thriving In The Age Of Adaptability

Goafest, the advertising world's annual celebration, took an unexpected turn this year with the change in its venue. The reimagined 17th edition unfolded in a city that never sleeps – Mumbai, bidding adieu to Goa's sun-kissed beaches this year -- a setting that has traditionally hosted the celebration of creativity, excellence and camaraderie in the advertising world. 

While the move from Goa to Mumbai seemed oxymoronic, the overarching theme, ‘The Age of Adaptability’ proved befitting as the festival itself adapted to change. However, industry's top leaders showed how pivoting to changing circumstances is the key to not just surviving, but thriving.

Adapt or Perish

“If there's a disruption, you don't have a choice but to adapt to it,” says Harit Nagpal, Managing Director & CEO, Tata Play. Drawing from personal experiences across industries like commodities trading, music retailing and entertainment, Nagpal stresses that disruption is nothing new -- from the invention of the wheel to the Covid-19 pandemic. What is pivotal is the ability to adapt quickly.

He illustrated this through examples like his grandfather, who swiftly transitioned from a tobacco trader to selling groceries after being displaced, displaying the mindset required to adapt. Similarly, an enterprising cassette seller from Delhi in the 1970s made his basement operation into a full-fledged music production business by adapting to a disruption.

“Either you disrupt or somebody else is going to do it to you. It's better that you eat your own lunch because somebody else will,” warns Nagpal. He advocates disrupting around the consumer rather than existing industry models. Backing this up, he pointed out how Tata Play has pivoted during the pandemic which he termed ‘the mother of all disruptions’, served as a powerful example of adaptability at Tata Play -- from 23 per cent online recharges earlier to 76 per cent subscribers now recharging digitally, operating with a hybrid remote workforce, and 80 per cent customer calls being handled by home-based agents.

Building Adaptive Capacity

Echoing similar sentiments, Sanjiv Mehta, Executive Chairman, L Catterton India, stressed the need for leaders to ‘prepare for and adapt to the increased turbulence’ brought about by the convergence of global trends. He advocated for building adaptive capacity, robust processes to adapt and resilience in the system as critical leadership imperatives.

Mehta elaborates on the core concepts underpinning adaptability in his discourse, with a more philosophical perspective on cultivating adaptability through vision, flexibility and an organisational purpose. “Adaptability involves flexibility -- having an open mind, willingness to change and agility, which is about proactively anticipating change and responding rapidly. It involves being open to change and having the capacity to quickly modify strategies, operations and resource deployment to thrive amid changing circumstances," he explains. 

Mehta stressed that the convergence of turbulent global trends like climate change, geopolitical upheavals, technological disruption and the after-effects of the pandemic has ushered in an “era of great moderation being over.”

Tenets of Adaptability

To navigate this tumultuous age, Mehta prescribed five key leadership traits - preparing for increased turbulence by building adaptive capacity, having the critical ‘sense-making’ ability to create plausible context from complexity, leading with care and compassion, unleashing the collective genius of teams over relying on individual brilliance and being purpose-driven & collaborative while responding with speed and agility.

Underscoring the need for advertising to reflect and shape societal values, Mehta urged, "Develop campaigns that highlight the commitment to sustainability." 

Purpose – The New Star

Both leaders strongly emphasised the rising importance of a clearly defined purpose that goes beyond just profit-making. "Purpose has to be authentic, coherent and have integrity - underpinned by performance," stated Mehta.

He advised three steps for embedding purpose -- ensuring widespread understanding (purpose knowledge), enabling employees to relate personal values to the company's purpose (internalisation) and nurturing a culture of contribution to the larger purpose.

Mehta notes, "Companies with strong purpose drive have more engaged employees, loyal customers and better financial performance." 

Takeaways For Adland

For the advertising industry itself, Mehta highlighted focusing on tech integration by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and big data. "Though technology is vital, storytelling remains core to create emotional brand connections," Mehta stated while underlining sustainability and social causes as focus areas for campaigns. 

Mehta also emphasised investing in adopting an omnichannel consumer-centric approach with personalised, real-time marketing; new skills and partnerships and enhancing effectiveness through open transparency about metrics and ethical practices. "With data and analytics, we can't get away with the old notion that 'half the advertising works and you don't know which half'. Now you need to prove the attribution of growth," he added bluntly. 

Both leaders drew from a pedigreed lineage of previous disruptors. As Nagpal summed it up, “Disruption is not something that is new. Disruption is not something that has ended. Disruption is something that will continue.”

As the curtains closed on Goafest 2024, the message was clear - in the age of adaptability, businesses must evolve and those who embrace change and cultivate a culture of constant evolution will be the ones to thrive. 

Reema Bhaduri

BW Reporters The author is the Editorial Lead at BW Businessworld. Majorly writes on marketing, advertising, experiential marketing and retail. She closely looks upon the vertical of BW Marketing World and BW Retail World.