Navigating the Digital World

In his career journey of 18 years, Akshay Salaria, Director-Product, Tata Digital has more than a decade’s experience in digital marketing, working across industries in large Indian conglomerates like Tata, Idea Cellular and ZEE5 and unicorns too. In tete-a-tete with Corporate Citizen, he speaks about his academic life, work experience in telecommunications, e-commerce, new challenges in digital marketing field and much more

Corporate Citizen: Tell us about your education. What made you to pursue your Master degree in Marketing Management after completing your B.Tech in telecommunication?

Akshay Salaria: I have a PGDM from IMT Ghaziabad, a B.Tech in Telecom Engineering from VIT Vellore. I did my entire schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Mumbai. After completing B.Tech, there were broadly three options – pursue post graduation in engineering or management, or take up a job. The first thing I did then was to take up a job and I started working at Honeywell, Bengaluru. It was my first job and Honeywell was a great organisation. After working for a while, I thought that a management degree will add value to me and help me do better in life—I went ahead and did that. Thankfully, the decision has turned out well.

CC: You started your career in Idea Cellular, a telecommunications company, then shifted to ZEE5, a streaming service company, and currently you are in Tata Digital, an e-commerce company. How did you cope with the challenges of working in different sectors?

I have worked across telecom, OTT, ed-tech and e-commerce. Luckily, the nature of my roles has been largely sector-agnostic, allowing for the transferability of core competencies and skills. Each industry required a specific understanding, and I was willing to learn. My skillset in marketing has been primarily shaped by the cumulative experience gained across these various sectors.

CC: You were selected in the Tata Group for a course in London Business School, to be groomed as a future leader. What learnings did you get from that leadership course?

I am grateful to the Tata Group for its confidence and faith in selecting me for the course called Blue Mint. It is conducted jointly by Tata Management Training Centre and London Business School. In response to the opportunity, I dedicatedly attended all the classes, diligently completed the assignments and tried to grasp as much as I could. I have learnt some lessons for a lifetime – psychological safety, act-to-change, negotiation, signature strengths, activating best-self etc.

CC: The usage of AI has begun in every industrial sector. What changes have occurred due to AI in digital marketing sector?

A lot of work done manually will be done by AI. Many of the insights that took us a lot of time to find out, AI will do that very quickly. AI will also help us in understanding concepts much easily than searching on Google and then reading up. AI will help us write better. This is how I see AI in my sector in the near future.

CC: With increase in digitalisation and digitisation there is tremendous increase in data availability. How is this increased data flow impacting the marketing sector?

More data does not lead to more knowledge and actionables, unless someone puts in the effort to process that data and come up with insights. To come up with insights requires holistic understanding of the business and the ability to stitch disparate sets of data. When both these skill sets are applied, data becomes meaningful.

CC: The marketing world can no longer rely on third-party cookies to track user behaviour, personalise experiences, and measure campaign effectiveness. So, there is a talk about cookieless future. How do you look at it?

There are two parts to the answer – how will the customer feel and what will happen to the advertising industry. In my opinion, the customer might feel assured that their data is not going to be utilised to show ads, but the quantum of ads are unlikely to reduce. So, the experience is not likely to get better.

For the industry, it would be a challenge because the efficiency of spends will go down.

The winners though, in my opinion, will be the brands that have put in sustained effort to build themselves over the years. The impact on them would be lower than other brands whose sustenance is dependent on ad efficiency.

"The outcome is not in our control, but the input and the process is. If you concentrate on what you can control, the journey will be fulfilling"

-Akshay Salaria

CC: Based on your vast experience, what advice would you give to MBA students pursuing marketing specialisation for excelling in their career and personal life?

Work hard, because there is no substitute for hard work. Smart work is not a choice, if you are smart you will work smart. IQ is not a choice, you are more or less born with a level of IQ. Talent is also not a choice—if you were born with bad hand-eye coordination, it is unlikely that it will change much with time. But, whether to work hard or not, is a choice.

Sweat saves blood: By investing time and energy in preparation and practice (sweating), one can avoid the more severe costs (blood) in the future.

Focus on and enjoy the process, try to worry less about the outcome: The outcome is not in our control, but the input and the process is. If you concentrate on what you can control, the journey will be fulfilling. Also, equanimity is a virtue, regardless of the outcome.

Multitasking is a myth: One thing done at a time and that thing done well, is the best way.

CC: There is a vast gap between the academia and industry fields, as a result the industry feels that the students getting passed out of universities do not have the required latest skills to work in industries?

The industry moves faster, and academia moves after a while. The lag, in my opinion, is systemic. I don’t know what is the solution, I think it will take many more minds with a lot of insights and experience to come up with some.

CC: How do you bring in work-life balance in your busy work schedule?

I have prioritised two aspects for myself – health and fitness along with teaching. Together with my work, I plan and devote time to each of these aspects. For health and fitness, I am currently training for a half marathon. Before this, I was practicing Ashtanga Yoga. For teaching, I teach at multiple ed-tech institutes and B-Schools. Fortunately for me, in both these aspects, I like going through the process or the inputs more than achieving the goals or the outputs. This has helped me to keep finding time to do these activities.

I teach budding digital marketers at various institutes—I do this because I like doing it. I enjoy preparing for a class, taking a class, answering questions, taking feedback and then working on the feedback. So, I plan and allocate time for this activity. I believe that one must do more of what one finds joy in (as long as it not illegal and not unethical).