An engineering graduate from the prestigious IIT Bombay, Nitesh chose advertising purely for the love of it. And he has enjoyed every bit of it for the last 14 years. He is currently working with Leo Burnett, Mumbai as an Executive Creative Director. Over years, he has worked on a wide range of clients. Tide, Heinz Foods, Sony Entertainment Television, Reliance Mobile, McDonald’s, Perfetti Van Melle, Bajaj Electricals, Axe Deodorants, Castrol, Amul, Ceat Tyres, just to name a few. Also he has just finished writing and directing a full length feature film with UTV, a well known Indian production house.
As a writer and creative director, he and his team have bagged numerous metals at international as well local Indian award shows like Cannes, Asia Pacific Adfest, Media Spikes, New York Festival, Abbys and Goafest India.
He was a print jury member at Asia Pacific Adfest, Pattaya in 2006. And a radio jury member at New York Festivals in 2009.

Why are you into Advertising?

This question gets answered in parts along with other questions.
Did you attend school for fine art or design or Communications?
No!

Describe your journey from being an engineering graduate at IIT Bombay to landing up in the field of advertising.
It was during my stay at IIT Bombay I realized what true creativity was. The guys out there demonstrated it in every field. Whether it was coming up with brilliant solutions to a problem or devising an innovative prank on someone, the atmosphere overflowed with non-stop creativity. Also, IIT Bombay has a very strong culture of extra-curricular activities, be it sports or dramatics. During my stay at IIT Bombay, I was very active on dramatics front. I used to write, act, direct and had loads of fun at the same time. Sometimes during all this I thought why not give it a shot as a career. If it works out great, if it doesn’t then I had my degree to fall back upon. So soon after I passed out, I got into advertising and since then there’s no looking back.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
I have grown up admiring Steven Spielberg and Amitabh Bachchan. And till date, they haven’t stopped surprising me with what they have to offer.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising?
There have been many. Balki, Priti Nair, Chax and Pops in particular.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
From real life. It’s full of stories that we love to connect with and fascinating characters that stay with us forever.

From your experience of more than 14 years in the industry, what according to you is the most fascinating thing about the field?
What’s most fascinating about advertising is that it’s not a boring 9 to 6 job where you do the same thing every day. Here every assignment comes with a new challenge. Every job requires fresh thinking. That’s why even after so many years, I look forward to every new assignment with the same enthusiasm of a trainee and give it my best shot.

Tell us something about the work experience at Leo Burnett.
Leo Burnett is like a close knit family. Not just in India, but worldwide. It’s full of energetic, enthusiastic and talented people who work towards a common goal: providing the best and the most creative solutions to our clients. But work is not the only fun we have. We have Table Tennis, Pool and a room dedicated to Counter Strike where people settle scores with each other, as if doing pranks on each other isn’t enough. Besides that, there are regular parties and get together to keep us in high spirits, literally. Our Burnett Premiere League (BPL) is now entering its fourth season this march, which all current and ex-burnetters keenly look forward to.

Share your experience on being a jury member at Asia Pacific Adfest in 2006 and also on being a radio jury member at New York festival 2009?
Both have been great learning experiences. You get to meet the best advertising professionals in the world, interact with them and get to know their perspectives on the work. It opens up your approach towards any creative piece, with a global perspective thrown in.

You have made some great creative be it KBC4 and MC Donalds… which one do you consider your best and why?
It’s like asking me to pick up my most favourite movie. I won’t be able to do it. There are quite a few out there which are extremely dear to me.

Where did the idea for the campaign KBC4 came from?
The idea is rooted in the game format itself. At any given point of time, if you don’t know the answer of a question, no matter how big or small it is, it may well be the end of your journey in KBC. It’s all about how much importance you give to acquiring knowledge at any stage of life. Like it’s said, “Koi bhi gyaan vyarth nahi jaata.” So if you have underestimated any piece of knowledge at any given point of time, it might come back to haunt you at the worst possible time.

Which was the most challenging project you have ever done in your career span and why do you think it was challenging?
It was Reliance Mobile’s first T-20 World Cup commercial. Before I started writing I knew I was dealing with the most used situation in advertising: cricket. And almost everything related to cricket had been exploited and told. In the middle of all this we needed an idea that was fresh and an execution that was clutter-breaking. I realized that although T-20 was a shorter format of the game, country’s expectations from the team were as big as they always have been.  Thus came the idea, “chhote match, bade sapne”. Still it needed an execution which would separate it from the rest. Then I dug deeper and realized that when I was a kid, even a small achievement on the cricket field seemed like a big deal. Like, I still remember my first six.  Now it may not look like a big deal but back then it was. So I decided to tell the story through the point of view of kids and their dreams which were small to us but not to them. Thus “Apun ka sapna” was born.

Do you have any kind of a program to nurture and train young talent?
I believe, in any field, best training is the on-field training. Like in my chemistry class, no matter how much knowledge we gathered from book regarding titration, it was only when the last drop changed the colour of the liquid in the lab, we realized what titration actually was. Similarly, the best way kids can learn is by working on the real briefs, make mistakes and grow in the process. Leo Burnett has a rock solid GPC system where senior most creative heads from across the globe meet on a quarterly basis and evaluate all the work that Leo Burnett Network has done. It’s a fantastic feedback program where you can get an opinion on any piece of work through the eyes of the best in the Burnett system. Apart from that we have various workshops for everyone and we also send some of our people regularly to international award functions so that they can gain vital knowledge.

What about new and young creatives? Do you consciously keep looking for newer talent and try someone completely new?
I used to do that when I was a creative director. Now my creative directors are doing the same.

Do you think brands whose advertising wins awards, do well in the market?
There are two types of advertising work which wins awards. First one is created only to win awards. The other one is an outcome of fantastic brand work which also gets recognized at award shows. The latter is where I put my money on.

Can digital media create a difference about a brand in the minds of the consumers? Share your opinion…
Of course yes. Provided the brand’s consumers indulge in digital as a medium.

Who according to you is a creative person?
A mother who surprises her kids with a new dish, a salesman in Mumbai local who fascinates you with his style and story and convinces you to buy what he is selling, a scientist who invents a new medicine, a hostel guy who cooks up an innovative prank which his unsuspecting wing-mate wouldn’t be able to guess. Creativity exists everywhere. It’s all about doing a relevant thing, but in a surprising manner.

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
Don’t choose advertising because that’s the only career option you have, choose advertising because that’s the only career option you can think of. If you don’t love advertising you wouldn’t survive in advertising. Don’t be different for the sake of being different, be relevant too. And most importantly, think about advertising as a career only if you are willing to live with rejections on a daily basis and survive on peanuts during early years. Having said all this, trust me, there is no better feeling than capturing the imagination of the entire nation with what you create.

What did you do with your first pay check?
Bought a black & white portable TV. That’s all I could afford with it then.

What is the most craziest thing you have ever done?
I have jumped from the 13th floor of a building without any protection to win a 100 rupee bet and dived into an ocean full of sharks to get back my chewing gum. How I wish, I had the power to write my own life  In real life, all the pranks that I was a part of during my hostel days were quite crazy. Once we lured a bull with a chapati and grass, pushed him from behind and took him all the way up to the second floor and locked him in a friend’s room, only to see how the friend would react when he comes back from lab.

What is your dream project?
Anything that can fetch me an Oscar.

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
Predictable as it may sound, but it would be my wife and kids.

What’s on your iPod?
I don’t have an iPod.

Mac or PC?
A: Mac, anyday.

 

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