5 Minutes with… TJ Lightwala
With 18 years of experience in the industry, Accenture Song’s growth markets marketing services lead, TJ Lightwala, certainly knows how to prioritise business growth. Having worked across WPP, Dentsu and making her move to Accenture Song, she’s been most interested in delving deeper into performance-led business programmes and growth hacking.
As businesses look to prioritise real consumers, revenue, sales and brand growth across the board, this year brings with it discussions of AI and its developments - meaning, utilising data has become more vital, as retail media networks have continued to grow in significance. With this in mind, it’s purposeful growth that’s key, according to TJ. “When you think about customer relevance and purpose, it’s all about harnessing creativity and finding out ways to solve their problems so that you are additive to their lives.”
To discuss this, LBB’s Nisna Mahtani sat down with TJ, to learn more about , her journey into the industry, the experiences which have shaped her, and what 2023 holds when it comes to growth marketing in a meaningful way.
LBB> Let’s start at the beginning, with your background and when you first started in the industry. Can you tell us a little about that?
TJ> I started in the industry 18 years ago as a non-media marketing consultant. I moved from the medical field to international banking before venturing into e-commerce and performance marketing with WPP, Dentsu and now, Accenture Song. Throughout the years, I’ve always been interested in two areas: performance-led business programmes, and growth hacking – driving impact on an organisation’s overall business.
LBB> You’ve worked on the client side and the agency side of things. From your experience, what are some of the important things to keep in mind across the board?
TJ> Businesses want growth. Real customer growth, revenue growth, sales growth and brand growth. If programmes – whether executed as a client or as a partner – are not focused on helping drive growth or impact in any form, then they’re missing the goal. Brands, and partners to brands, must always think about the objective and relevance to their customers. Who is your customer? What is the consumer insight? What is the value and experience to be created? Only then can you accurately determine the strategy, creative, and other enablement aspects of the programme you want to execute.
LBB> With 18 years of experience in digital, customer experiences, consumer and data analytics, can you tell us about some of the trends you believe will shape the second half of 2023, and beyond?
TJ> Developments within AI are hitting the market at an astonishing speed, and this is an incredible breakthrough across a wide range of functions including creative, marketing and supply chain. Our recent research has demonstrated 97% of CMOs are very inspired by the new capabilities offered by AI foundation models. Brands are starting to see its potential, and we can expect greater experimentation of AI applications across the industry. In fact, the top five areas CMOs expect AI to benefit their organisations in the next three to five years include accelerating innovation, faster decision-making, better customer experiences, better internal or external communications and more streamlined processes.
Data is essential, but intelligence is king. Brands that use data to effectively understand their consumers will be able to glean insights to connect experiences across channels, which will differentiate high-value marketing strategies and campaigns. Data-led marketing approaches are increasingly sought after to achieve real business impact.
Retail media is upon us. It promises new reach, relevancy and sources of incremental value from advertising. With budgets under greater scrutiny and pressure, there is a growing appetite for businesses across industries – from retailers, grocery stores and telcos to hotels – to explore data monetisation partnerships with retailers. We’re seeing new growth areas in the retail media network space as businesses explore new revenue streams through data and asset monetisation.
LBB> You’ve previously spoken about brands ‘staying relevant and driving purposeful value’. Can you delve a little deeper into how brands can achieve this in the current market and the impact it achieves?
TJ> Driving purposeful growth and value are central to the work we do. For instance, when we work with clients in the financial services or retail space, we look for ways to extend our canvas and inspire areas of work to include underserved communities or individuals. Likewise with content and educational platforms as well as citizen services, we create ecosystems that can include women-owned startups to become key partners to support our clients together, to create better and more connected ecosystems for residents with greater ease of access and speed. When you think about customer relevance and purpose, it’s all about harnessing creativity and finding out ways to solve their problems, so that you are additive to their lives.
LBB> What does good leadership mean to you and how do you implement this within your role?
TJ> Leadership is not a title, it’s a state of mind – a commitment to creating a conducive environment and respectfully doing right by the people, clients, and communities. It’s about showing up every day and setting an example. Leadership is also about bringing others up and along the journey with you. I strive to nurture new leaders so that they can, in turn, create new things and effect bigger and better growth across the company.
It's especially helpful for my role that my leadership style complements my entrepreneurial background. I’m a risk taker and don’t believe in pre-set moulds. What works for one geography or client is not the same for another. Likewise, with managing people and teams, it’s about being adaptable and finding ways to value-add whatever you do, and wherever you are.
LBB> As a female leader in the industry, can you tell us about some of the diversity and inclusion challenges that you believe need to be prioritised in every organisation? What are some of the tangible changes which leaders can make to support DE&I in the workplace?
TJ> The definitions of inclusion and diversity (I&D) have evolved, and it is also different across markets. The good thing is that there is a growing focus placed on the importance of various aspects of I&D beyond gender equality to include cross-cultural diversity, disability inclusion, racial and ethnic equality, social mobility and equity too. Organisations have also made changes to enhance I&D efforts across people initiatives, embedding it into business growth strategies, creation and investment of gender-focused programmes, learning and development initiatives, mentorships and coaching platforms, and exposure to cross-industry and rotation training. Great strides have been made across industries, but from a future workforce perspective, we must continue to work towards gender diversity, especially in the boardroom.
LBB> You’re sitting on the Creative B2B Cannes Lions jury this year. What are you looking out for in the work you see?
TJ> I’m looking for work where its strategy and execution reflect clear consumer and business insights. The ‘why’ behind the work. There is a lot of disruption happening in the B2B space, so it’s extremely important to see the value that will be created. Many themes are explored in work submitted this year – from climate change and sustainability to AI – so I’m excited to see how it will play out in the awards too.
LBB> What are some campaigns which you believe have given brands the edge in their respective markets?
TJ> Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ campaign is empowering and has embedded human values into beauty, meaningfully reframing the notion of beauty.
Cadbury India’s campaign is another - it’s memorable and human-focused with an emphasis on empathy.
LBB> If you had to share one piece of advice, what would it be?
TJ> Marketers must have an experimental and explorative mindset to accelerate brand impact and value. This often means needing to connect across the c-suite leadership to find synergies and tap into creativity, insights and appropriate technology to bring solutions and experiences to life. Real transformation happens when skills and talent unite, and all functions move towards a common goal.
