Titus Upputuru is National Creative Director, Dentsu Marcom. Based out of Dentsu India Group’s Headquarters in Gurgaon, he is a key member of the new leadership team at Dentsu India Group.
Prior to Dentsu, he worked with Ogilvy, New Delhi for over five years where he was responsible for key campaigns on Sprite’s Seedhi Baat, No Bakwaas, Hutch Dilli Half Marathon campaigns, KFC’s Institute of Lickonomics and Finger Lickin Good, Grasim Suitings’ Self Made campaign, Afghan Telecom’s Lets talk something new, among many other notable campaigns. At Ogilvy, he has won many major international and national awards including The One Show, the D&AD, Communication Art, The Abbys and also had his work published in Lurzer’s Archive. His print campaign for Afghan Telecom campaign has won the interest of the White House, U.S., where it’s exhibited. KFC’s Institute of Lickonomics campaign that he has done for its Indian retail chain has been globally adapted across 14,000 stores worldwide.
At Ogilvy, he had started the ‘Save the Word’ campaign, which got talked about across blogs and print media in countries including UK, New Zealand and the US. It was also featured in Campaign Brief Asia.
Before Ogilvy, he worked with TBWA Delhi and Mumbai offices for five years where he produced path breaking for on Sony, Somany Tiles, Electrolux, Larsen & Toubro and Inalsa. His work on JCB Earth Moving Machines won him a New York Festival. Prior to TBWA, he worked with Grey and Publicis offices.
A post Graduate in English Literature, he has the distinction of being a gold medalist twice.
Why are you into Advertising?
I guess to earn a living. Man is born to do labour thanks to what Adam did in the garden of Eden and earned the curse of putting sweat and toil to live. I wanted to be so many things actually. I wanted to be a singer for the longest time I knew in my growing up years. I used to sing in the bathroom while in the shower and hoped the door bell rang with the enquiry of who was singing in the house. I was hoping some music director passed by my house and recognized the talent! Then there came a time I wanted to be a doctor. I would wear the white lab coat and roam around in the house, prescribing medicines like crocin, disprin to everyone in the family. Interestingly, there was also a time when I wanted to be a body builder! Thank God, I didn’t go that path. Advertising happened because I loved writing letters. I used to write letters to everyone. Pen pals, to my cousins, to my school friends… People used to like reading them because I was sort of writing in interesting ways, trying to say things differently. And those who used to receive the letters, used to tell me later when I met them, that they enjoyed the letters. From letters, it became poems. I wrote many many poems, books after books. But my heart broke when an uncle from London leafed through one of the books like it was a magazine. I thought, here I was, hoping I would find audience in an English man, because those poems were written in pure English, in blank verse, and I thought he would appreciate, but he just turned the pages like it was a magazine. Kehte haina, ki har artist ko audience ki zaroorat hoti hai. Not that I fancied myself or fancy myself now as an artist, but I really felt at that time, that dude, no one’s interested in poetry unless it is for some purpose. While I enjoyed writing, I also enjoyed art. I sketched and painted like no one’s business. I wanted to be an art director and went to College of Art to give the exam but that year I was late for admission so I ended up signing up to study English Literature. I have no regrets. I loved the five years of literature. It took me into the centre of our being, into human heart. It was amazing.
