Simran. Sardarni. Army kid. Odiya husband. Identical Twins. Writer. Painter. Dreamer. Blunt. Happy.
Why are you into Advertising?
It lets me be a different person and do different things everyday. One day I am a fashionista writing for fashion. The next i am a nerd writing for technology and the day after, I am an old man writing for health insurance.
Did you attend school for fine art or design or Communications?
No. B com Honours, Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University.
Tell us about your XYZ Award? How has that impacted your career? Do clients listen to you more?
Too many to list. But yes, Cannes Gold. Clio gold. One show Finalists. Adfest Gold, Silver, Bronze. Abby Gold Silver Bronze, Spikes, Abbys.
No clients don’t listen more 🙂
Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
David Abbot. Piyush Pandey. David Droga. Dan Wieden. Shahrukh Khan.
Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising?
Anuja Chauhan. Adrian Miller. Sachin Das Burma.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
Wish i could say the mountains and the sea and the countryside. But no. Everyday life moments.
Tell us something about your agency work environment.
Goddess is only here to create conversations. Every piece of our work we believe, if not talked about, is crap and is not worth doing.
What do you think of the state of Print advertising right now. At least here in India, the released work is most often too sad?
I think regular print advertising world wide is sad. I don’t think clients are interested in being creative for a print ad. And I don’t think consumers have time to decode creativity in a print ad. It pretty much transactional.
Apart from video, any interesting digital campaigns you have worked on?
Working on a couple now.
Do you think brands who’s advertising wins awards, do well in the market?
No there is no empirical evidence that the Fuji Film cameras campaign which we picked up the world’s top awards for, is selling more in the market 🙂
What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
Be creative 🙂 Remember why you joined advertising and not a bank. Never underestimate the power of your ideas. Your idea is like you new born baby, don’t let the morons kill it. Fight for the right.
And yes at the end of the day, we are in the business of advertising, not into saving lives or the world. So chill.
Don’t take yourself too seriously. Remember that when an ad break comes on TV, people get up to go the loo!
Who would you like to take out for dinner?
The Dalai Lama.
What’s on your iPod?
Beatles. U2. Kishore Kumar. Bryan Adams. Neil Diamond. The Rolling Stones. Gulabo!!!
Mac or PC?
Mac.
Whats your Twitter Handle?
@idon’thaveoneyet
