Kinnari Gala's romance for advertising turned her into an entreprenuer

Growing digitalization has opened new gates for creative minds desperately looking for an opportunity to cast life into a rather unconventional thought, open to innovation and experiment which often fails to see light. Thin-i is a product of one such ardent ad mad creature Kinnari Gala. She gave up her job as Group head at an advertising agency to develop a platform for ‘ ‘adromantics’ where creativity meets opportunity. She believes in client satisfaction through a ‘supernatural formula’ of understanding and analysing the client need and their budget to present an economical strategy to achieve that goal. Being a woman in this field has never been easy, we ask Gala how has her journey been so far and how does she envisage to empower women given the changing dimensions of the new digitalised world.

Q.1 What's your story - How did you choose to be in design?

I was always fascinated by TV Commercials ever since I remember. Packaging of chocolates, cereals, jams n biscuits always mesmerised me. I always wanted to be the one to create this and wanted the world to see my work!

Q.2 When did you first decide that you wanted to start your own Advertising agency?

Ever since I knew I wanted to get into this field I wanted to start my own ad agency. Some good hands on experience was gained as I worked for about 6 years in various agencies and handled variety of clients from FMCG to pharma industries and many more.

Q.3 How did you manage funds and other resources to start your own set up?

Managing funds was not easy; out of my savings I started Thin-I in a small space. My biggest challenge was that I was from the creative side, never knew a thing about how will to get clients on the table. All I had was faith and confidence that Thin-I is going to make its mark in the Ad world soon! I did my homework and initially managed both Business development and Creative execution. I started meeting a lot of like-minded freelancers who could support me in executing projects. Slowly but steadily, we grew and today I have a team of 6 girls who operate with complete freedom and bring out their best in everything at Thin-i.

She gave up her job as Group head at an advertising agency to develop a platform for ‘ ‘adromantics’ where creativity meets opportunity.

Q.4 How do you see the role of women changing in the advertising agencies?

 Advertising is all about expression, expressing all kinds of emotions.  Women have now started expressing a lot more than before, so the possibilities of women impacting advertising world is right up there. There is only one thing that I have always observed in women ‘freedom of expression’ this is their real beauty Give them the wings they deserve and they will change the world.

Q.5 Do you think the growing digital penetration can embolden women in design?

Digital penetration is one of those wings which will surely take women entrepreneur’s growth graph to greater heights. This is a platform where women can express and showcase their potential. Growing trends in digital marketing has helped my company as well, we have been sharing our projects, our work culture via social media. My team members get calls from their colleagues asking if there is any opening at Thin-i. This truly is the power of digital penetration.

Q.6  You are a team of 6 creative women having these 'supernatural' powers. Have you ever faced any discrimination by a client because of your gender?

Well, yes, since Thin-I is growing we have our well-wishers telling us to start hiring male candidates to our team,  especially in the marketing and business development division, because according to them- ‘males can perform and get more business for the company than a woman’. However on the other side 90% of our clients have highly appreciated our all women Team. We've had clients coming to our office just to meet our team and experience the awesome work space that we have created. Our clients, who come over, interact with our team well, and leave as confident and satisfied individuals.

Q.7 Men usually look down upon women entrepreneurs in design and since most of your networks are male, Is it difficult to communicate or rather put forward your proposal? If yes, how do you deal with it?

This was the scenario initially, but now it has changed to quite an extent. In fact, I have experienced that now the decision makers look more towards the talent, passion and dedication than the gender. I believe it’s all about what value you can provide while putting forward your proposal that will create the difference for their company. I just let my work do the talking.

Q.7 How did you distinguish yourself from your competitors?

Culture, team bonding and impactful communication is the key. 75% of time on a project is spent in ideation & strategy & 25% in creative impactful execution. The culture of creative freedom at Thin-I has resulted in winning over projects from our competitors. We have a whopping 90% client retention rate.

Q.8 Your communication mantra is ‘Visuals communicate. Words Fascinate’.What is the trick or idea behind this unique integration?

 We strongly believe creating a good piece of advertising is all about the creative blend of words and visuals. When you see a film's poster you start cooking a story in your mind, and when you read a book the words picture a scene in your mind. The tricky part here is to pen down your words, craft a picture or the mix of both in a manner that the receiver visualises the same drama that you have in mind while creating it. And when you do that, you convey your message in the most accurate way and create an impression that hits the right chord in the receiver's mind. This is how we try to hit that right chord and create success for the brand.

 We strongly believe creating a good piece of advertising is all about the creative blend of words and visuals.

Q.9 As a woman, how do you think aspiring women entrepreneurs can establish themselves in the rather male dominated industry?

For aspiring women to establish themselves in a male dominant industry all they require is a perfect balance in their lives. Being a woman, there are multiple responsibilities which she has to take care of. And each responsibility is equally important to her. So, in order to win this balance she has to experience her inner strength and strategise her business with disruptive thinking. Talking about advertising industry, to a certain extent it is a male dominant sector till now. All the famous creative directors and writers of this industry are mostly males. But women entrepreneurs have now started coming out of their den.

The world has opened its arm for such aspiring women entrepreneurs. All they need is confidence and a powerful idea to ink their own script in the years to come.