The advertising industry in this region has plenty to shout about when it comes to gender diversity. We recently interviewed a number of female executives for our annual Women in Advertising issue and there were lots of positive comments about the progress being made.
But no-one will deny there is a lot more work to do in leveling the playing field. We will be publishing these interviews online at Campaign Middle East and in our September issue.
Raksha Khimji, Managing Director of Team Red Dot
Born in Singapore, educated in Australia and now residing in Dubai – I started my career in 2003 at TBWA’s Asia-Pacific HQ before moving over to the client side to MTV Asia (Viacom Media).
My journey in the ad world teaches me something new every day, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. In my current capacity as Managing Director of Team Red Dot, I lead strategy & operations across all three departments within the agency. In the last 20 years, I’ve had first-hand experience in all aspects of the marketing mix – with brand, creative, media, social media strategy and most recently tech at the forefront.
Running an independent agency in a region of network giants, I am passionate about providing brands the blueprint that truly helps them understand their consumers’ needs to ensure they stand out in this ultra-competitive environment.
Do you think the industry has become more inclusive?
Absolutely. If you are benchmarking against the Mad Men days when there would be a handful of women, working exclusively in admin roles, then it has. The enforced Covid lockdown that led to the growth of remote working has further accelerated this inclusion.
More women have stayed on in their careers after having children due to much higher acceptance and flexibility of hybrid working, as well as technological advancements enabling this. Personally, in my 20 years in advertising – I have never felt ‘excluded’ in this industry.
What has been your high and low point as a woman in advertising?
My high point has been owning and running a very successful independent agency in this region – and seeing it not only survive, but flourish post Covid. I think a woman’s natural tendency to look after those in her care was my driving force to ensure that no one was let go as a measure of cost-cutting.
My low point was when a client, during his annual renewal, demanded he have someone ‘hotter’ manage his account instead of the client servicing personnel assigned to his account, and even took it upon himself to name a few contenders in our office.
I was utterly disgusted at how blatant he was, and once I got to the bottom and understood that the request had nothing at all to do with performance or competence – and was purely based on looks – we dropped the client.
What advice would you give to women starting out in the industry?
You have two types of women in advertising. Those who play on the idea of being disadvantaged from the outset; and the ones who show up, speak up, and grow up with every challenge placed before them. Please be the latter. To be successful in this industry, you must possess fortitude and stay true to your belief system.
Also, it needs to truly excite you. The days are long, and the work can often be thankless. You need to love it enough to get yourself out of bed and into the office day after day. Advertising is a marathon, not a sprint. Choose the right set of people to guide you, cheer you on, and pick you up along the way.
What message would you like to give men in advertising?
Sending a message to men in the industry would be strengthening the gender divide. There is no running away from the fact that there are two genders. If you leverage their nuances (strengths) across the various functions and stakeholders, then you’re in pole position to embrace the new realities which continually present themselves to us.
Whether it was the advent of digital, social media, the metaverse, or now AI, there’s greater things ahead than worrying about the gender of the person at the meeting table (or on the Zoom call).
What more can be done to support the growth of women in the industry?
It would be great if an agency-agnostic forum of women in the industry at all levels of their career met monthly to discuss the good, bad, and everything in between, and the steps they took to overcome or deal with issues that they faced through the years.
This has given me food for thought – perhaps a good way to give back to the industry.
What excites you about the advertising industry currently?
I don’t even like to call it advertising anymore. And that is why it excites me. Ads are such a small part of what we do. Our role today is truly to understand how brands can bring value to a consumer’s life and then create connections and interactions which bring ease to the consumer while ensuring the experience resonates back to our client.
The challenge is that there are a million ways to do this. Different things work for different consumer sets and industries. Every day is a new day to learn which wheels to set in motion. AI has opened even more avenues for us, we shouldn’t see it as a threat, but rather revel in the possibilities that we never thought possible just five years ago.
