Megan Shatrughan
Position:Senior Art Director, Minds FCB Pvt Ltd,
Sri Lanka Qualification:Bachelor of Arts (Advertising),
with Distinction, 2005,
RMIT University Megan Shatrughan (formerly Nithyananthan) works as the Senior Art Director at Minds FCB, an advertising agency in Sri Lanka. In 2004, she took a break from work to live and study in Australia. Megan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Advertising), with Distinction, from RMIT University in 2005, and has been back at Minds FCB since January 2006. Megan’s role involves conceptualizing and executing advertising ideas for a variety of products and services. "I’ve worked on brands such as Triumph, Eva, Kelsey Homes, Standard Charted Bank, Toyota and New Zealand Milk. Never won any awards, but I’ll be up there soon!" In March 2006, Megan and a work colleague represented Sri Lanka at the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival's (ADfest) Young Lotus Competition, held in Pattaya, Thailand. "My greatest career achievement to-date was being selected from a host of other creatives in Colombo to represent Sri Lanka at the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival's (ADfest) Young Lotus Competition, together with my partner at work Charith De Silva. It was an amazing experience and although we didn't come home victorious we’ve made a heap of friends from all over Asia as well as gained the exposure that we really needed," said Megan. "The thing I enjoy most about working in the advertising industry is the fact that we are constantly learning - about consumer behaviour, about different products, about almost everything. It also makes me feel good to know that we have a sort of 'power' to influence people into making purchase decisions. We get to build brand loyalty and makes brands successful," said Megan. Megan's career was always going to be in a creative field. During her school years, she considered becoming a fashion designer or a journalist, but then chose to study Multimedia at Arena Multimedia Colombo. "I stumbled into advertising quite by accident, when I was 18. I was learning graphic design and wanted to get into animation, but I was offered a trainee position at Minds and I tried it out. It was a huge culture shock, but since then, it's been the most fun recovery ever!" "RMIT was a ball! I made so many friends through being involved in the student leadership program and the RMIT choir. I love singing and it was great to find a place where I felt I belonged, especially since I was so far away from home. My qualification has definitely been a catalyst in my career; I still use my uni notes to teach others what I've learnt and to share knowledge about how things work in countries like Australia - very different from how things work in Asia." Megan stays up-to-date with ideas and trends in the advertising industry by watching lots of ads, reading internet blogs, subscribing to email newsletters from design magazines and "watching people". Outside of work, Megan is enjoying being newly-married and is looking forward to the final Harry Potter instalment. E-mail: fiveninedarling@hotmail.com RMIT Advertising: www.rmit.edu.au/appliedcommunication/advertising May 2007.
