Rising Star: Maitri Ramkumar, Copy Supervisor, Isobar Bangalore

Hailing from an advertising family, Maitri Ramkumar, Copy Supervisor, Isobar Bangalore, is no stranger to the world of advertising. Ramkumar knew she wanted to make her name in writing right from when she was a kid.

“My father was in advertising and so I have always been familiar with the field. I always knew that I wanted to write but I was torn between advertising and journalism. That is when I interned with JWT.”

A triple major from Christ University, Ramkumar did an internship at JWT to gain some practical knowledge of advertising. She was told to try her hands at the servicing side of the business and it was there she realised her love for the creative part of advertising. She then went to MICA to study copywriting.

“From MICA I got placed in a company called DigitasLBi in Mumbai. From there I joined Isobar, Mumbai and later shifted to Isobar, Bangalore. So, I have been with Isobar for almost two-and-a-half years now.”

Ramkumar believes that she has grown as a professional at Isobar and that the organisation has given her a lot of opportunities to hone her skills and gather new experiences.

“I was sent to Tokyo for The Young Innovator's Workshop by DAN. It's a three-day workshop where you collaborate with creative minds from all over the world come. For the workshop, I represented Isobar India and worked alongside Art Directors from Austrailia and Singapore and our team was mentored by the Isobar APAC CCO Tim Doherty.”

Trained in mainline advertising, digital happened as a mistake to Ramkumar.

“If you see my portfolio, it is filled with long copies and crafted lines. Digital was actually a mistake. I was placed in DigitasLBi because they came for campus placements and campus placements have that rule where once you are placed with a company you can’t opt out or they take out of the process. I had no idea about what digital was when I joined and then I fell in love with it.”

Speaking about her most challenging project, Ramkumar said, "We did a launch for Myntra's YK Organic which introduced organic clothing in the infant category. It was challenging because we had to make mothers aware of the benefits of organic clothing for their baby's skin - something that Indian parents never thought about before. Using the insight that organic clothing soothes a baby's skin just like a lullaby soothes their mind, I wrote a bed time rhyme and we shot a stop motion video created entirely out of organic clothing."

According to Ramkumar, the one thing she likes best about her advertising is storytelling.

“Advertising is about engaging a person in a conversation without putting your brand agenda forward and that is all about telling a story and engaging the consumer in a world you create for them.”

“Advertising for me is all about starting a conversation that is not about your brand but getting people as excited to talk to you about that particular topic and then kind of bringing in the association with the brand.”

Ramkumar believes that her strength lies in insights and understanding human behaviour and her biggest weakness is her inability to switch off.

“I take my work everywhere. I guess that is one of the reasons I do well at work but at the same time that does take a toll on me.”

A huge fan of stories, Ramkumar likes to spend her free time watching TV shows and reading books.

“I am a huge Game of Thrones (GOT) fan. We sneak out to the conference room and watch GOT on Mondays during lunch hour. I am also a huge Potterhead.”

Ask her what she would be doing if not advertising and the answer is something to do with stories.

“If not advertising then I would have either gotten into screenwriting or writing a book. In fact writing a book is something I want to do later in life. But I think I would have always been in the field of storytelling.”

Her work:

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