CEO Insights Magazine

The way a corporate leader will perform the duties can have a significant effect on their team's effectiveness and performance, also a leader has to keep engaging himself in a continuous learning process that will help him in managing the different organizational circumstances. CEO Insights interviewed Rohit Bharadwaj, a leader who has a high interest in learning new skills and he enlightened us with his corporate journey as a Founder of a company.

What were the initial challenges that taught you the basic lessons of managing diversified functions of organizations? Also, how did you manage to achieve the success that you had in the later phase?
I just see the trust that the brands put with this agency every month and that's a huge win in my book, according to me and I describe success as both the agency and the brand are equally satisfied year after year with each other daily. I think the bond between brand and agency is kind of a best friend, a confidant of sorts, the kind of relationship built on confidence and being transparent and straightforward with each other, and under no circumstances should that be shaken, definitely not to make a fast buck off each other.

How does your experience in Corporate help you to chalk-out efficient business modules at Lucid Space?
A few years ago, I pursued corporate jobs, which didn't work well for me. Felt more like a caged bird, I needed to fly and the only way to fly is to start your own business! I like interacting with corporate out-casts, dropouts from college, and

unconventional minds that have been rejected by companies & conventional minds and with them try to develop some-thing that changes the game. It's not like I go hunting for them, I'm naturally drawn to them and them over time by my personality and culture! It's just the way that nature works.

A founder undertakes various roles such as a leader, visionary, decision-maker, manager, board developer and others. What different roles have you been undertaking at Lucidspace?
From the beginning, I have been a jack of every-thing, never said no to learn anything even though studying or even paying attention to it was boring as hell. These include tasks such as hiring, taxes, IT filling, cash flow management, business growth, innovative solutions, media planning, ideation of creative content and what not! I started this business as one person who could probably manage all of the above tasks and later began to hand off responsibilities over time to other members. I'm not unfamiliar with one job, it can be menial, tedious and of less worth, but I know how to get it done by now. Since starting this agency, keeping reliance on external resources to a minimum is my main takeaway.

What are some of the new age challenges confronted by this market and how do you safeguard your clients/customers from these flaring challenges? Does your approach contribute towards trend setting?
To be frank, not many brands have the chops to take bold decisions and set trends, 99 percent of them like to follow a trendsetter and a safe way to deal with marketing challenges, so convincing a brand to do something wacky and which may

need a size-able budget is not a practical way to spend your time and effort these days! I rather listen to the brand as a doctor, diagnose their pain points, gap areas and prescribe an apt creative solution or a media plan. But I would be excited if a brand comes to us with an open mindset and would want to do something game-changing in the market and can back that up with the resources required to execute it as well! That is always a nice problem to have! We thrive on dead ends, brain drains and burnout because after all that is done, the real ideas start coming in with the tunnel vision we have acquired over time.

What are the differential factors that set your services a class apart from your competitors’? Please explain your USP.
The USP Lucidspace Creative Media Agency brings is being able to handle creative services and media all in one place. Creative brand solutions, storytelling getting into a video ad and getting that same ad to the people the brand cares about in a finite amount of time is what we excel at. To be honest, we are a run of the mill ad agency that you can find any place in India for sure, we are not unique, we are not special, we are not even the best! But what we are is, we are an honest and trustworthy partner to all the brands we service and plan to serve in the future. Like I said before, keep it simple, do the basic things well and the person in front will appreciate it and remain with you for good. Being ordinary today is more difficult than being extraordinary. I live by this simple and honest logic all my life, as a person and as a business-man as well!

Rohit Bharadwaj, Founder, LucidSpace
Rohit Bharadwaj has completed his graduation in Visual Arts from Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath under Bangalore University and has always been a liberal philosophical & artistic follower. He is experienced in Brand Strategy and Creative Content with online media planning and is specialized in product Launch campaigns, and has established LucidSpace, a Creative Media Agency.
Location: Bangalore