Babita Baruah, Managing Partner, GTB India
In her 23rd year in the industry and with WPP, Babita Baruah now leads GTB India as Managing Partner.
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Overview
“The power of storytelling never changes”
In conversation with Mr. Garg, today we have with us Babita Baruah. She is the Managing Partner at GTB India and a master in the field of advertising. She has completed her MBA from Guwahati University. Mrs. Babita has been in the business industry for the past twenty four years!
She talks vividly about the various changes that have taken place in the advertising industry and how her work has adapted to it. She mentions the importance of consumer consideration and specialization. Mrs. Baruah explains the engagement of creativity, tools and technology. And how all these aspects have widened the field of advertisement.
When it comes to traditional media she believes that it is still very prevalent in India and is totally worth it. Apart from her professional projects, Mrs. Baruah has also started an initiative called “SheHour”. Which is a safe space for women from various sections of the society, to discuss their knowledge, issues and thoughts. Being the feminist that she is, her story definitely inspires many!
Profile
In her 23rd year in the industry and with WPP, Babita Baruah now leads GTB India as Managing Partner.
She joined HTA ( Wunderman Thompson ) in Kolkata in 1996. Over the years, she took on roles in the agency’s Mumbai and Delhi offices, as well as working with the Wunderman Thompson Unilever team in Bangkok on Sunsilk and Lux.
Her portfolio and experience extends across categores in FMCG, Finance, Technology. Besides being part of global agency teams on Nestle, Johnson and Johnson and Radiant & Knorr in Unilever. She led the team on Nokia India, before moving on to setting up a dedicated integrated solutions team for PepsiCo, India, in 2016.
Babita is passionate about the intersection of consumer behaviour, culture and technology, leading to creative solutions that shift the needle for the brand and business. Collaboration with WPP and non WPP partners has been key to her business relationships. She believes in the power of influence of the communication industry towards a purposive future.
In 2004, Babita was one of the 12 Indian women to be selected for the prestigious British Chevening scholarship in the U.K, on Women and Leadership. In 2016, she was invited to Harvard Business School as a speaker on Trends in India Marketing, in the India Conference. Last year, Babita was invited to speak on Women as Professionals, at the Women Influence Forum in Geneva.
Babita is driven by her efforts on diversity, mentoring young professionals, engagement with management institutes, initiatives for making the workplace culture conducive to inspired talent and strong partnerships. She has initiated programmes like SheHour and SheTime to connect and empower women at work in her workplace. Currently she is also one of the WPP Stella India mentors for WPP women.
