“Today, I stand at the helm of digital-first natives who are constantly redefining brand communications to help businesses build stronger identities.”
Muskaan Arora (Founder & CEO, 11 Ouest)
Young entrepreneurs and their innovative ideas are spearheading a significant change in the business landscape. This success is driven by their unrelenting dedication and commitment to make the best of every obstacle. Muskaan Arora, the Founder & CEO of 11 Ouest, is one such new age leader. Her philosophy revolves around the timeless connector that is storytelling. “Be it stories narrated by our parents or tales of travel that we discuss with our friends, stories have always been the pillars of human connection,” says Arora. Her journey from New York to New Delhi is a culmination of many such stories, which led her to establish 11 Ouest.
While age is no bar for any entrepreneurial venture, many assumed her young age to be a potential barrier. However, her ‘less experience’ turned out to be a double-edged sword. In her own words, “For every professional who doubted my capabilities, many more took a chance on us and appreciated the new ideologies & working culture we brought to the table.”
After graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology – New York, Arora’s first step in the industry was guided by seasoned retail marketers. In her association with esteemed companies like Reliance Brands Limited, Havas Group India, and Spike Brand & Content Studio, she honed her craft of digital storytelling. Arora adds, “Each of my prior experiences played a vital role in laying the groundwork for setting up my own creative agency.”
Today, she stands at the helm of a team of digital-first natives who are constantly redefining brand communications to help businesses build stronger identities. The CEO adds, “While we are an equal opportunity employer and are agnostic to gender, it so happened by coincidence that today, we are a women-run & women-led company and this is a matter of great pride for me.”
THE 11 OUEST JOURNEY
In today’s business era, where most communication is digitized and human touch is minimal, the element of authenticity is all the more important in interactions between brands and consumers. Arora iterates, “Every brand has its own story waiting to be unleashed and our job, as brand custodians, is to get that story to the hearts of their audience.” With exceptional branding, insightful strategies, and memorable content, 11 Ouest augments such brand stories, influencing hearts and minds alike.
11 Ouest specializes in boutique branding and marketing services for brands in the RE (Real Estate) and Retail space. The company’s two-pronged service model focuses on Brand Consulting and Digital Storytelling to offer end-to-end brand communications and innovative positioning for every client they take on. “Our portfolio spans across corporate names such as Unison Group and PVR Cinemas, while including newer players like Mi Arcus and Liberty Lifestyle. No matter who the client is, 11 Ouest emphasizes high quality output accompanied by personalized attention, dynamic collaboration, and a deep-seeded understanding of the brand; this is how we have built the 11O family”, says Arora.
THE COMPANY ETHOS
The company’s USP lies in the ethos of humanizing brands and crafting lovemarks not just trademarks. In founding this team, Arora employed three key values: Emotional Intelligence, Dynamic Risk Taking & Adaptive Agility. Combining them with a shared sense of ownership and collective growth, 11O’s dream team was established. Her thought process is deeply rooted in a desire to do more than just optimise the efficiency of the teams.
She believes in empowering individuals to hold their own, thereby fostering a positive work culture. At first glance, autonomy and collaboration may come across as contradictory; however, the team strikes a perfect balance between the two. Each of the executives are responsible for making decisions for their respective teams, while also engaging in creative discussions when working on a project. The team at 11 Ouest believes that creative collaboration and collective effort are the core values that drive the organization’s operations.
Arora also believes that being a team of young digital-first natives is an asset of immense value to the organization as well as the clients. “Our team constitutes of people who have grown up with the social media, the era of digital influx has been our natural habitat. So, we understand the pulse of digital India and the pace at which it has been evolving in terms of the consumers’ priorities, expectations, and aspirations.”
THE WAY FORWARD
Arora concludes, “The ‘digital future’ is now our present, which is why 11 Ouest has curated a team of new-age storytellers who are not only a significant part of current consumer group but will also be major decision-makers in the near future. This is where the natural talent of Team 11 Ouest lies such that the team brings with itself a primary understanding of the digital landscape which in turn strengthens the connection brands want to establish with their consumers online.
Every brand is transitioning to this novel landscape, allowing us to explore new horizons faster than ever before. I’m grateful for our team’s stronghold in the Real Estate & Retail space, which continues to grow every day. As we embark on our next growth phase, tech enablement and product development of this business shall be our unique proposition moving forward.”
