PUJOSONKHYA MAANEI ANANDABAZAR PATRIKA (Festive issue is synonymous with Anandabazar Patrika)
Anandabazar Patrika is a most read and widely revered newspaper in Bengali readership worldwide. And the Pujosonkhya or Special Festive Issue of this daily is extremely popular for its wide range of quality literature base. It is almost unthinkable to avoid reading this issue if you love Bengali literature. Hence, the baseline itself is ‘Festive issue is synonymous with Anandabazar Patrika’. This year, we created the campaign based on the Mount (Vahana) of the Deities as depicted in the old Hindu scriptures. The use of the mount signifies the annual arrival of the gods and goddesses. We used this idea of arrival as the homecoming of literature and cultural writings. Peacock, owl and swan are the mounts of Kartikeya, Lakhsmi and Saraswati respectively, with whom, arrives the best quality literature.
Client: Anandabazar Patrika Agency : SoS Ideas Executive Creative Directors: Souvik Misra, Soubhik Payra Senior Creative Director: Joy Aichbhowmik Creative Director: Biswarup Nath Copywriter: Arka Arkajyoti Bharadwaj, Dhriti Raychaudhuri Studio Artist: Malay Roy
Advertised brand: The Hindu, India Advert title: Just Gossip Translation to English: NA Advertising Agency: Pipe Bomb Advertising, Bengaluru, India Creative head: Vishnu Moulish Copywriter : Vishnu Moulish Published/Released: July 15 2021
Are you feeling the whole world is doing something amazing while you are just twiddling in your pajamas? Worried that your clients’ reluctance to spend money is putting everything on hold for you? Feeling that you have lost out on two precious years and thus wasted many creative lives because of the pandemic? Were you amongst the first ones to adapt to the new normal of working and yet have nothing much to show for it?
Let me give you some good news. You are not alone in this feeling. This indescribable ‘blah’ that you are feeling is what a lot of creatives are feeling. The guilt of not being productive and being stuck in a creative limbo where you are simply replaying the tragedy that the pandemic is, sitting by the side of a road and watching the world play out its drama. It is not an active form of depression rather a more subdued aimless, joyless existence. It’s time we spoke about this languishing behavior that many of us creatives are dealing with.
This sense of disorientation comes from being unable to go back to what you once were. You could be working for a brand that can’t advertise right now. Or can advertise but won’t. You could be amongst the ones who found themselves without a job. Or you could be someone who has every intention of doing the usual great stuff but aren’t being able to bring yourself to do it. Or you could be simply someone who isn’t feeling it anymore, who is having difficulty restarting your engine.
Well, here’s a positive affirmation for you. Your creativity isn’t dependent only on the brand work that you do. Yes, this is your chosen medium to express. Yes, this is what you love doing and it is your challenge to find answers that make your brands shine, maybe even win accolades for it. But if you have missed that addictive high of getting a great campaign out thanks to the times that we are living in, do not fret.
Remember the reason why you were drawn to this field. Remember the thrill and joy of creating something new. Remember your creativity isn’t tied to the confines of your work desk or zoom calls. Maybe it is time to write the song you always wanted to. Maybe it’s the pictures you love clicking. Maybe it is an old love that you let go off because of the other career milestones.
In my case, after languishing for several months, half in disbelief, half waiting for this dystopian dream to get over, I decided to act on my creative instincts. It might not have been a proactive step on my part to do something positive, but it gradually became something very important to me – I launched my debut book, ‘What The Pandemic Learned From Me’ a hilarious retelling of my personal blunders and my observations of baffling human nature in general. Without any knowledge of the publishing world, and a constant drone of mental resistances created by me, and some very practical challenges created by the pandemic.
But quite frankly, it may not be possible to do anything at all. And if that is the case, if adversity doesn’t stimulate your creative soul, so be it. It’s okay to languish in this post covid inertia and not be able to churn out one mind-blowing campaign after another. You deserve this break, this freedom to not do anything, to not feel the burden and guilt of being less than your usual-productive-self and simply breathe. Like everything else, this will get over, but your creativity won’t.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Anindita Das is a Senior Creative Director at Wunderman Thompson Bangalore and has extensive experience working for leading advertising agencies across the country. As a collateral, she often switches between her multiple personalities – that of a top mobile brand to a warm hospital to a young airline to a hip fashion brand to an Indian masala, amongst others. ‘What The Pandemic Learned From Me’ her hilarious debut book received a bestseller tag on Amazon within two days of its launch. She is also an alumna of Indian Institute of Mass Communication and her work has been awarded several times for creativity and effectiveness.
I am a concept artist and a visual designer. I have been in this field for the past 8 years and enjoy what I’m doing. I love photography and travel. I especially like visiting new places.
Why are you an Illustrator? I have liked drawing since my childhood. I feel fortunate that I have this opportunity to do what I love.
Did you attend school for fine art or design? I did join an Institute for fine arts after completing my graduation.
You have a distinct style of illustration. How long did it take you to develop your style? I was always fascinated by water colour paintings. That style was hard to achieve digitally but I kept working on it till I got the desired result. I’m still working on that style and improving on it.
Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up? There were many role models. The person whose work influenced me the most was R.K.Laxman. I was inspired by the simplicity of his life as well as his work. I liked the social aspect that he touched in his arts. Another person who has inspired and influenced my desire to be a professional artist, is Bill Watterson. He was the cartoonist and author of Calvin and Hobbes. He always worked for personal fulfillment and that influenced me.
Advertised brand: Google Advert title: Save Our Stores Media: Integrated, Social Advertising School: Miami Ad School, San Francisco Art Directors: Aarti Thamma, Katelyn Gelfand, Darian Ghaznavi Copywriters: David Webb
Synopsis: Small businesses compose 44% of the US economy. But the pandemic could change that forever. Over 100,000 small businesses have permanently disappeared during the COVID-19 pandemic. They desperately need help but don’t know how to ask. So how do we help small businesses get customers into the store while being cautious?
Well, sometimes the only way to get help is by being transparent about the problem. The pandemic has caused a lot of suffering across the spectrum. In times when everybody needs a helping hand, those who can help are confused about who they can help. In such times, if you don’t ask for help, you may not get it.
So, let’s use the world’s most popular map to show us which businesses need help and how one can map their impact. Google Maps releases S.O.S Mode allowing small businesses to map their financial health in real-time during the pandemic.
70 million stray cats live in the US. Most people know you can adopt them, yet there is a lot of misinformation about the subject.
What’s the best way of making people empathize with stray cats? A video game where you play as the stray cats themselves! An open-world game where you’ll have various missions which revolve around the daily lives of stray cats like scrounging for food, harsh weather, etc. Stray cats are social, and we use that to add multiplayer to our game.
The cat you play with will end up being found by an animal shelter. This shelter and the cat you played as will actually exist in the city you play in, waiting to be adopted. PAW is not just extremely fun to play with, but also serves our purpose: a safer world for stray cats.
Team Members Creative Technologist: Sukratti Jain, Paras Juneja Art Director: Shadab Wajih
In the past year, time ticked backward to a cleaner, brighter planet. As we move forward from these trying times, let’s take a pledge to continue giving our planet the time it needs to heal.
Agency: 22feet Tribal Worldwide Client: Titan Group Creative Director: Janardhan Nataraj Group Creative Director: Mansoor Jamal Creative Director : Balamurugan Subramaniam Creative Director: Debdatta Bajpai Group Creative Partner: Tejas phansekar Content Strategist: Arjun Raj Client Solutions Director: Neha Shaw
