Although annually a fair percentage of determined young women enter the ad agency workforce, the attrition rate remains high as usual due to multiple factors that come in the way of ascending the ladder of leadership, including lack of appropriate human resource policies, dearth of work-life balance, family pressure and motherhood. However, refusing to succumb to the circumstances, some women leaders have not only demonstrated strong willpower as well as enthusiasm to reach the summit of success but also continue to remain enthroned to the leadership position and navigate the organization. One such leader is Vaanii Hiremath who is currently positioned as the Business Head of Vermmillion – an integrated advertising agency ruling the industry for the last 16 years and assisting the firm in its quest of brand building via her exclusive customized approach for individual brands. With a sturdy background in marketing communications, Vaanii keeps astonishing the world with the impeccable strategies that she executes owing to her acquired expertise at a young age. Equipped with deep knowledge of understanding about how advertising and marketing can be utilized as a platform for effective communication with the audiences, she has been successful in bringing value to the businesses and working as an extended partner to the brand by nurturing long-term relationships with the clients and partners.

In the latest feature of ‘Top 10 Women-Owned Ad Agencies’ by Women Entrepreneur magazine, Vaanii opens up about her professional journey, experiences, and more.

How would you define Vermmillion as an organization and its position in the market? What is the unique proposition that your organization offers to its clients?

Positioned amongst the top five Indian-made homegrown agencies today, Vermmillion is an independent agency started about 16 years back. Offering an array of solutions to our clients across the areas related to marketing communication and branding, we try to address their overall business challenges pertaining to brand marketing, meanwhile helping them grow and adapt to the newer strategies. Working with the brands at a global level, we want to deliver better results to our customers by brainstorming novel and innovative ideas that suit best this rapidly developing digitized world.

How does your prior industry experience help you in your current role at Vermmillion?

After completing my graduation in communication design, I picked up the semantics of communications design and started working with a lot of photographers, web designers, graphic designers, art directors, who are international award holders. Under their mentorship, I understood the nuances of communication and have had my exposure to the industry. Although the journey was extremely inspiring, what gave me the headway further on from there was to identify the existing major gap where communication does not translate into strategy. As a result of this, businesses fail to reach out to customers effectively. During my tenure with IPG Interactive Avenues, I worked with brands from various industry verticals including Reckitt Benckiser, Coca Cola, British Council, and so on. Apart from understanding how the business world is evolving along with its scalability, this also gave me a wider perspective on digital strategies because it was early 2015 and people were still warming up to digital.

As I joined Vermmillion, I understood the basic nuances of how dynamically the industry is evolving and what strategies I need to implement owing to my prior work experience. Remaining focused on the digital marketing needs of our clients, I am currently pursuing a course at IBS Hyderabad and garnering my skillsets to assist them intrinsically.

Throw some light on various responsibilities that you currently shoulder at Vermmillion and the most challenging aspects of your role?

As the Business Head, I lead my company and hold myself accountable for everything that happens in the business, starting from assisting the clients to map their journey, scale their business, understand the business dynamics, and grow exponentially. Working closely with my colleagues and team members, I try to help them understand the approaches as well as the strategies and work closely with brands to help them meet their business goals. Since digitization remains a crucial part of our strategies and the digital market can be very dynamic, I think that digitization is the biggest challenge in front of us. To tackle it, we are exploring more innovative ways to help businesses by driving conversions, enhancing their business growth, widening their digital footprint, simultaneously trying to reach out to potential audiences more effectively.

What are some of the key personality traits that have helped you through your career journey successfully?

I think the willingness to learn, evolve, adapt every day, has always been my motto and key to my success. COVID has taught us about the volatility of the market and how quickly everything can shift towards digitization. Starting from banking to shopping, medical check-up, movies, the course of everything has changed and we have become more adaptable as humans. I think change is good and, a similar mindset of evolving with time is important for running a successful business.

“Whatever compels you to wake up every day, do that and you will succeed.”

How do you keep yourself aligned with the periodic evolutions occurring within your respective industry and the technology domain?

According to me, the transfer of knowledge and constant up-gradation of what's happening around the world is very important. Being in my 20s, I have always maintained a persistent learning approach and as a student, I try to learn something new almost every day.

As a successful business leader, what would your advice be to the young women aspiring to become business leaders and entrepreneurs in the future?

I would say, believe in yourself, and be open to learning. Whatever compels you to wake up every day, do that and you will succeed. With consistency and eagerness to constantly learn, you can carve your path towards your goals.

Vaanii Hiremath, Business Head, Vermmillion

An alumnus of Springdales School, Vaanii has completed her Bachelor’s degree in Communication Design from Pearl Academy and holds a post-Graduate degree in Digital Communication and Media/Multimedia. Commencing her career as a creative designer in Mudra Group in 2014, Vaanii went ahead to join the Interpublic Group (IPG) as an account executive in 2015 and later take up the role of business head with Vermmillion in 2016.

Awards and Recognitions:

•DAC SAARC Awards

•7th CMO Asia Awards

•India's Buzziest Brands

•Foxglove Awards