All charged up and raring to go – Noor Fathima Warsia

You do not traditionally put out reports for a January 1 – that is a day off. Come on, with all that is going around, you need a day off. Well, we thought it different this year, and some of the decisions were different. So, here sits the entire exchange4media team, penning down (keying in rather), what it was like to bring the news of the media and advertising space to our readers every single day.

It is not easy to recollect at end of the year what 366 days (2008 was a Leap Year) were like. If I had to write of my experience covering some of the most high-profiled media and advertising events, and how India shone across, I could probably go on and on, and there would still be something left. Don’t think I am impressionable; but in the last six years (five and a half to be precise) of covering the Indian advertising and media industry, I have rarely been so excited writing on how much India was spoken of, or won on the various international platforms – NATPE, NAB, Cannes Lions… the list goes on.

The last quarter of 2008, however, shook things up completely – for the industry, for me. The impact of the global depression and the slowdown of the Indian economy meant many things were about to change. The industry fell quiet; friends from agencies, channels, radio, print – just about anywhere were worried on where it was all headed. From talent crunch, it was job crunch; from unbelievable salaries, it was pay cuts – everyone is worried. The industry stalwarts call this phase a correction, and yes, that makes you feel better. The international heads of various companies give the impression that even as there is cost cutting and just about zero investments in several other markets, India would see growth, and hence, would see investment. Yes, that too makes one feel better.

In a reply to one of our emails, Sir Martin Sorrell had said, ‘India will grow faster than here!’ – now that really makes one feel much, much better.

Even as this change in tones of reportage became the order of the day in the last quarter of 2008, for me it was also about ensuring that exchange4media.com is able to bring to our readers everything that is happening in our industry – good or bad, but saying it as it is. Our Editor-in-Chief, Anurag Batra, always tells each one in this office – ‘Fear none, favour none’. And that is what the core team of exchange4media.com – Group Editor Pradyuman Maheshwari, Senior Assistant Editor (News) Shanta Saikia and I – needed to drive down. Probably we are blessed because amongst the team are people who worry, irrespective of their own contribution, on what do we have for our readers the next day. On how we can give them information that helps them in the course of driving the growth of the Indian industry, entertain them to some extent, but most importantly, give them an accurate account of the developments in our industry.

The team that is taking exchange4media.com forward in 2009 is young, charged and energetic... not very different from the traits of young India. I am very excited – along with strong and steady heads on the one side, I have young and fresh minds that are not scared to experiment, that do not mind writing a copy three times over, that can sit and work day in and day out until what is expected is delivered.

exchange4media is all set for the year ahead.