MxMIndia

Tag: Kawal Shoor

  • The campaign talks about the edtech major providing ‘Sirf Naam Ki Nahin, Kaam Ki Degree’ for working professionals

    UpGrad unveils new TV & digital campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    UpGrad, the online higher education company, has unveiled its latest mass media campaign. The TV commercial, featuring a donkey, draws from the cultural insight that in the corporate world, everyone wants to climb the ladder and choose various ways to get ahead – one of the most common being the tendency to ‘lick ass’.

     

    Shot in Estonia, the film has been developed by creative agency The Womb and has been directed by Shashanka Chaturvedi, aka Bob, co-founder & director, Good Morning Films.

     

    Said Arjun Mohan, CEO – India, UpGrad: “Our primary objective is to define the kind of education UpGrad provides, that is not constricted by the mode of learning – which just happens to be online. The next ambition was to compellingly summarise all the types of courses we provide – post-graduate degrees, certifications and diplomas. We chose the word ‘degree’ because in India, the concept of a ‘degree’ holds emotional and practical heft across all socio-economic classes. While degrees are available a dime a dozen, the conflict occurs when they tend to be generic, outdated and from not so credible institutions, that are ultimately not valued by employers. Thus, the genesis of ‘Sirf naam ki nahin, kaam ki degree’ – upGrad’s promise to provide outcome-oriented specialisations that help learners to achieve the ROI on education – job/profile switch, increment or promotion, in other words, Employability.”

     

    Talking about the campaign, Kawal Shoor, Co-Founder, The Womb added: “UpGrad and The Womb got together a few months back to start working on building its brand and business in India. COVID-19 has hastened the need for edtech as a category. UpGrad is a very substantive brand in the midst of many lightweight educational institutions that have mushroomed all over India. It has a great culture, knows how to teach, and has tie-ups with some of the best universities in India, and the world. It can fulfil the learning needs of working professionals and undergraduates. We had to bring its various offerings under one, clear positioning idea for the brand that stems from and can influence culture. This spot introduces that idea, along with a clear proposition for working professionals.”

     

    Added Navin Talreja, Co-Founder, The Womb: “UpGrad’s Data Science and Management programs for working professionals have great pedigree with tie-ups with institutions like IIIT Bangalore, IIT Madras, and Deakin Business School. To make this resonate culturally, we borrowed from culture – work/corporate culture to be specific. We uncovered a very rich insight – in organisations, those who’re not good enough to find other means to rise. We built our proposition around this insight. What was even more challenging was to find a way to execute this in a lockdown – so what you’ll see, are Indian-origin actors from the UK, performing in an office in Estonia, being remotely directed from a villa in Goa. The clients at UpGrad have to be complimented for believing,”

     

     

  • Along with TV and Cinema, other media including retail, digital and social will amplify the brand’s new point-of-view

    The Womb unveils new ad campaign for Sunny

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Womb’s latest campaign for Sunny Oil focuses on addressing tough situations faced by women at home which most often are pushed under the rug.

     

    Commenting on the new campaign, Prashant Sarwade – Head of Marketing, Frigorifico Allana said: “Being a challenger brand in a highly undifferentiated commoditized category, Sunny needed a narrative that could strike the right emotional chord with today’s woman, helps build preference for the brand and in the process also builds a differentiated emotional territory that could be leveraged for multi category play in the future. Our new campaign Life Aapki, Recipe Aapki brings in a fresh perspective and attempts to break the stereotypical “smile karti hai, khana pakati hai” imagery of the women. It is a life inspired progressive conversation that depicts real life everyday situations and acknowledges the difficult choices women have to make in such situations. We believe Sunny can be that positive voice which helps build a deeper connect with the new age women.”

     

    Added Kawal Shoor – Founding Partner, The Womb: “As Sunny readies itself to become a multi-product, multi-category brand, our task was to transition it’s positioning from ‘oil-led’, to brand-led. That demanded us to come from a contemporary cultural space from within the lives of modern women. Contemporary brands are helping resolve conflicts than just fulfill needs. We picked on a conflict that most of us, and especially modern women face – daily situations that have no single right answer. What we didn’t want to do was sermonize her. Rather, we felt that the brand should encourage her inner instinct – to do the right thing. What Suyash and his team has done beautifully is to link Sunny’s point-of-view with the category seamlessly, with ‘Life Aapki, Recipe Aapki’”

     

     

  • The campaign was released across TV, digital as well as IGP.Com owned social media channels in India and international markets

    The Womb partners IGP.com on latest global campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Online gifting store IGP.com has got on board The Womb as partners in their business and brand growth journey. The Womb partnered IGP.com to roll out its first multi-platform International campaign, for the upcoming festival of Raksha Bandhan that celebrates the bond between a brother and a sister. The campaign was released across TV, digital as well as IGP.Com owned social media channels in India and international markets like USA, Canada, UK, Europe and Singapore.

     

    Said Tarun Joshi, CEO & Founder, IGP.com: “Gifting is a huge thing in our country. People just love gifting for birthdays, festivals, anniversaries and just about any occasion. But when the near and dear ones are not in the same city, there is a certain inconvenience that comes in the way of gifting. This is where IGP comes in, as an enabler. To make the entire act of gifting easier by removing the inconvenience which distance brings in. Especially in today’s India, it is not uncommon for one to have their loved ones in faraway cities, be it any part of the world. And so, that’s IGP’s purpose, to simply make gifting to any part of the world easy and hassle-free.”

     

    Added Kawal Shoor, Co-Founder, The Womb Communications: “As the young migrate away from their homeland in search of prosperity and leave their dear ones behind, relationships feel the stress. Thankfully India has rituals like Raksha Bandhan in place that can keep the bonds strong. And now, modern, online brands like IGP are emerging to keep those rituals alive, and through that, reduce the emotional distances between people as they physically move apart.”

     

    Said Navin Talreja, Co-Founder, The Womb Communications: “India is a 30bn USD gifting market and yet despite the advent of various e-comm portals there isn’t one that specializes in gifting. IGP.com has this opportunity and we intend to leverage with various pieces of occasion-based marketing. Rakshabandhan is our first campaign in making IGP.com synonymous with gifting in India and across the world. This film with the cultural angle of mooh bola bhai we felt would break the wall paperness of Rakhi advertising that has been done for years in India.”

     

  • The Womb will work on Axis MF’s strategic direction as well as on its creative expressions

    The Womb to manage Axis MF creative

    By A Correspondent

     

    Axis Mutual Fund has found The Womb to grow in the fast-growing mutual funds space. The Womb, which bagged some accolades at Campaign India’s awards last evening, will work on Axis MF’s strategic direction as well as on its creative expressions.

     

    Rohan Padhye

    Said Rohan Padhye, Vice President – Marketing Communication & Digital Marketing: “The mutual fund category is witnessing inevitable growth. In the context of changing consumer preferences and market dynamics, we wanted a strategic firm to be associated with us.

     

     

    Navin Talreja

    Said Navin Talreja, Co-Founder, The Womb: “I have done CMO duties at a bank before, and this gets me back into the business of money. So I am excited. We have to, as a team, up Axis MF’s mindshare and business in the extremely competitive mutual funds category. The brand teams at Axis MF, and the agency team are raring to go. Our mandate is deep and wide – to define the Axis MF brand’s core within the ambit of the overall Axis brand, create its own unique positioning, as well as integrate communications across the wide set of stake-holders they address.”

     

    Kawal Shoor

    Commenting on the win, Kawal Shoor, Co-founder, The Womb said: “Clearly, as returns from other traditional asset classes like real estate, gold and fixed deposits climb down to realistic levels, mutual funds will inevitably become a strong alternative to invest in. It has already started happening, and the timing of the start of The Womb’s association with Axis MF couldn’t be better. We will aim to garner for Axis MF a disproportionate share of investible assets from the progressive Indian families, by garnering a disproportionate share of attention and relevance for Axis MF thru’ our communications.”

     

     

  • The Womb has won this business after extensive conversations with the Honeywell marketing teams

    The Womb to partner Honeywell’s consumer play in India

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Womb, the agency set up early last year by former Ogilvy senior execs Navin Talreja and Kawal Shoor, has been appointed by Honeywell India as brand strategy and creative partner in building up its air purifier business in India.

     

    Sudhir Pillai

    Commenting on the agency’s appointment, Sudhir Pillai, General Manager – India, Homes at Honeywell, said, “At Honeywell, we value innovation, creativity, and an ability to engineer solutions that address the toughest challenges and unique needs of our customers. The Homes business of Honeywell aims to provide products and solutions that make the consumer’s life comfortable, convenient, at the same time ensuring their safety, health & well-being. The Womb’s approach to marketing and creative solutions is similarly innovative, and we value that greatly. ”

     

     

    Navin Talreja
    Kawal Shoor

    Said Talreja on the win:”We shared our point-of-view with the team at Honeywell; and our customer-centric approach, and the vibe our entire team shared with their counterparts at Honeywell eventually won us the business. With this play, Honeywell is about to demonstrate its strong intent to build its smart/connected homes business in India. And we are proud to partner them in this journey.” Added Shoor: “The Honeywell team absolutely floored us with the openness they showed in our conversations – whether they were about the state of the category in India, or the potential customers, or even the kind of ideas and initiatives that might work. And that makes us happy, as we are keen to work on creating new categories – which means creating new needs, new attitudes and behaviours, and new experiences.”

     

  • They put in their papers last week and will serve notice till the end of April

    Navin Talreja & Kawal Shoor quit O&M to launch agency

    By Pritha Mitra Dasgupta

     

    Senior Ogilvy & Mather executives Navin Talreja and Kawal Shoor have quit to launch their own advertising agency. Both Talreja, president at O&M Mumbai & Kolkata, and Shoor, national planning director at O&M India, confirmed the development. They put in their papers last week and will serve notice till the end of April.

     

    The industry is abuzz with speculation they will join hands with Abhijit Avasthi, erstwhile national creative director of O&M who quit to launch his own venture along with ex-colleague Sonali Sehgal. Talreja and Shoor, however, denied it. “Let’s get the elephant out of the room. Kinu (Avasthi) is a great guy, but at the moment Kawal and I would like to go at it alone and start our own company and be on that adventure,” he said.

     

    Shoor said, “Navin and I are still talking about how to shape our new shop. And I desperately want to refrain from clichés (‘different’, ‘new kind of agency’, etc). We will let our work speak. The one thing we’re clear is that we will not chase numbers.”

     

    While Shoor has spent 21 years in O&M, Talreja has worked with the agency for 18 years. Overall, they have 40 years of experience in advertising and communications business with expertise in planning, business development, client servicing and administration. The duo is now looking for a creative partner for the new venture. “A creative partner (or partners) is crucial, and, thankfully, a few good minds are keen, but it’ll take alot more to build the kind of place we’re dreaming of. Navin and I will try to find some unconventional partners, as unless you have new kind of people, you won’t get new kind of work,” said Shoor

     

    A senior agency head, talking on condition of anonymity, feels Talreja and Shoor should join hands with Avasthi because they don’t have the creative expertise to start a new agency. Also, the duo shares a great rapport with Avasthi, the person said. “It only makes sense if they come together,” he said. But all the three have said there’s no chance of that happening. “I am not teaming up with Kawal and Navin to form a new agency,” Avasthi said. The news of Talreja and Shoor exiting O&M came to light on the eve of the 60th birthday of Piyush Pandey, executive chairman at the agency. “I have been out of Mumbai for the past five days and, hence, Navin and Kawal are yet to tell me what they are planning to do. But they are not joining hands with Abhijit,” Pandey said. “I can also say that they won’t do anything that is against the interest of O&M.”

     

    Some top officials, meanwhile, suggested Talreja quit because O&M recently went through a senior management restructuring following which Kunal Jeswani was made the CEO of the agency and Talreja didn’t get any prominent role. But Talreja said, “The reason to move on is a feeling that the time is right to try and do something new and exciting on my own.

     

    Do it at our own pace and scale and to enjoy a different kind of journey by challenging oneself.” Talking about the two exits, Jeswani said, “Change is inevitable. It keeps us sharp and makes us stronger. The transition is being worked out and should be completed in a month.”

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • Interesting accounts from the big boys and girls of the advertising business

    What ad veterans have learnt from the younger lot

     

    By Delshad Irani

     

    At work, like in any human tribe, there are two kinds of people – the Elders and the Young. The latter, of course, are eager to conquer the world. The elders, who have been there and done it all (or so they’d like to think) remind the impatient youth, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

     

    ‘No schnitzel, Sherlock!’ is the response, generally. While it’s not the elders’ job to shatter the young’s exaggerated sense of self-belief, it is however their duty to voluntarily impart pearls of wisdom and teach a lesson or twelve. That is if the children aren’t of the know-all variety with brains like sieves.

     

    However, at no other point in history has there been such a high premium on youth and the mad dash to make everything from buttocks to board rooms look younger is testimony to that fact.

     

    Yet, rarely are inhabitants of corner offices conscious of the learnings they’ve gathered from the younger tribe. It might not seem so but there are some important lessons to learn. And we’re not talking about teaching grandma to text and abbreviate every word known to man here.

     

    In advertising agencies, there are endless corridors of hormone-fields. It’s one of the youngest industries, where millennial minions slave day and night to create ads for unrelenting and often unreasonable clients so their award-winning bosses can scale the Palais in June, every year.

     

    So whoever said the millennial is fickle or needs constant validation and expects “Look maa, I drew within the line!” to be followed by a treat and a cuddle or that they are as loyal as a mercenary is nucking futs.

     

    Well, there are exceptions. But amid the myriad of contradictions, millennials have come to represent quite effectively, the new generation of adwallahs. They too have priceless wisdom to share with the generations that preceded them, even if they aren’t quite aware of this yet.

     

    In an attempt to bring these to light, Brand Equity asked advertising’s “seniors” about the valuable lessons they’ve learnt from their juniors.

     

    Striking the right work life balance, not being averse to risk and cultivating a very low embarrassment threshold, are just some of the beautiful learnings but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

     

    Read on to see the lessons advertising’s heads have learnt from the legs that prop them up.

     

    Prasoon Joshi, Chairman Asia Pacific & CEO of McCann Worldgroup India

    What I have learned from the younger generation, is the work life balance. My generation (or at least speaking for myself) were very extremist, single minded and did too much work. We’d go to Cannes and it was like a project: go and return.

     

    The younger lot tie it up with travel and exploration. With youngsters, right from the start, there’s a more holistic approach to life. They believe it’s good to take breaks, even short ones. And so to someone like me, with a crusader mentality, I’ve learned a lot.

    Moral of the story: Take as many breaks as HR will allow.

     

     

    Bobby Pawar, Director and Chief Creative Officer, South Asia, Publicis

    The lessons I’ve gathered from my youngest colleagues? Holy-moly, where do I begin? Tenacity. Irrational passion. Being curious of the changing world. Trusting my instincts as much as my experience. Experiment. When to step in. When to sit on the sidelines and applaud. Rediscovering that this business is supposed to be fun. Patience. The list grows almost every day.

     

    I believe, if you aren’t learning from the people you are with, you have the wrong people, or more likely you have the wrong attitude. One day at work we were discussing ideas. It was a big brand, big brief, big budget, big stakes. This kid had an idea that sounded cool, but it was pretty much out there. And I said, I don’t think we can take a chance like this on a billion dollar brand. The kid looked bummed. He remained quiet for a bit, while we chatted.

     

    Then he said, “Bobby, failure is temporary, success is permanent.” I said, “Getting fired is temporary too, but it stings.” Everybody laughed. What he said haunted me. The next day I caught up with him and we spent time trying to make his idea work. Let go of your professional prejudices. A new marketing order is coming and it will be shaped by those willing to shape it and be shaped by it.

    Moral of the story: Don’t save your precious aphorisms for Twitter, try it in conference. Even if it sounds dumb. Never stop being bold and curious. Christopher Columbus wouldn’t have gotten far if he weren’t a nosy fella.

     

     

    Ambi Parmeswaran, Executive Director and CEO, FCB Ulka

    The youngsters taught me how use technology to solve problems. Sometimes what looks difficult is really a piece of cake.

     

    The younger lot have innovative skills that they bring to the table. It’s great interacting with trainees from management and creative. They are supposed to make a 20 minute presentation to us at the end of their stint, and I remember a boy making a video presentation in the form of a daily diary to his mom. It was great because of the ‘We haven’t seen this before’ feeling.

     

    Their approach to work is very different, which we often criticise, but there are plenty of takeaways. I remember the time when an employee was moving on from our agency, and I asked him to give me a call in case he wasn’t happy at the new place. I told him there was nothing to be embarrassed about and we could definitely work something out for him if he decided to return. “Why would I be embarrassed?” he asked me. And he was back in six months.

    Moral of the story: Never criticise before thinking. And if one is ever in need of a smashing presentation, commission the millennials in your employ.

     

     

    Joseph George, CEO, Lowe Lintas

    Their belief in the spirit of “moving on”, it allows you to not get stuck with any issue (good or bad) for too long. It allows you to accomplish a lot more. And it makes you a lot less emotional and more objective. It also allows you to stay focussed in meetings and conversations instead of the hangovers of an earlier issue or a previous meeting still clouding your head.

     

    Many times, we seem to dismiss and brand this trait of the youth as being fickle and superficial. Or even accuse them of being disinterested. It took me a long time to realise that those were erroneous and lazy conclusions. I was interviewing this young planner ( I personally interview all planners coming into Lowe Lintas ), and as we concluded with me saying that HR will get back to him, he said in a matter of fact way “to not let his youth come in the way of his salary or indeed his designation!” There are three brand lines that sum them up “Move on”, “Impossible is nothing” and “Poochne mein kya jaata hai”?

    Moral of the story: Life’s too short to cry over yesterday’s headlines, delusion of grandeur is a millennial condition and there is no such thing as a stupid question

     

     

    Josy Paul, Chairman, BBDO India

    One of the greatest things that my youngest colleagues have taught me is to be more authentic. They value that in themselves and they seek that from me. It helps me relax in their company and be who I am. It brings out the best in all of us. I feel the younger generation is a reminder medium of who we once were. They remind me of the strengths that I had, and have now forgotten. They revive and rejuvenate my authentic side. They point out things I once told them when I was a visiting faculty in their colleges. And they don’t let me forget. It’s a great source of energy.

     

    “We work differently from how you work. You guys work really hard and are obsessed with excellence about work. But excellence for us is how we manage both work and life. We need more breaks, more away-time. That’s how we create excellence at work. For you work is everything. We work for life” – Hemant Shringy, senior creative director, BBDO Ashram, age 29. It’s an insightful jolt and a beautiful truth, and I have accepted it. It is important to me. Which is why I remember it. Reverse internship, osmosis and learning are part of my world. I spend at least two hours a week speaking at colleges. The best thing that an experienced generation of marketers can learn from millennial marketers is to let go! The best way to contribute is to get out of the way.

    Moral of the story: Be real and weekends are not just Saturday to Sunday.

     

     

    Kawal Shoor, National Planning Director, Ogilvy & Mather

    I like their naivete and candour the most. I especially love their language, as yet un-corrupted by the dreaded ad lingo. And fresh language is often a window to new thoughts. No ‘target audience’, no ‘strategy’, no ‘360 degrees’ no bullshit. When they talk formally, they are pretty predictable and ordinary ; maybe they say what they think they’re expected to say, but when they let go, when they just chat with you, when they talk about how people are, and why they are the way they are, is when they can really say interesting things.

     

    The biggest life lesson is that there are no rules. Yes, there are a few rules on how you anchor a thought f o r clients to feel comfortable with them, but for creation of new thoughts and ideas, there are absolutely no rules. I also think today’s young are a lot more confident, sometimes even before they’re able.

     

    Exactly the opposite of how I was, or still am. And then I have a 14 year old at home who’s my anti-aging insurance. There’s a daily crash course I get on staying young. There are times I fail, times I pass, but I can’t say life’s boring.

    Moral of the story: Speak without thinking.

     

     

    Sunil Lulla, Chairman and Managing Director, Grey Worldwide India

    “I work harder.” It was a simple statement made to me by a fresher at JWT in the late 80s. It expressed the strength of the individual and the difference one can make to one’s success. i.e. Work Harder, than anyone else, until success is yours. He was working really late hours and was undertaking very simple and humble tasks. It was late and I asked him to stop working and go home and complete it the next day. This response, “I work harder”, got me to agree, smile and adopt this attitude.

    Moral of the story: Forget what was said about frequent getaways, work your backside off.

     

     

    Subhash Kamath, Managing Partner, BBH

    There are many lessons I’ve learnt from some of my young colleagues. Most importantly, I’ve realised that their youth is very different from how mine was. They’re growing up in a very different society, they’re far more optimistic and daring, far more capable of taking risks and exploring newer things than I was. And thanks to the digital age, they seem far more connected and have much better access to information than I did.

     

    Sure, it’s much more competitive now than it was in the 80s, but I think today’s youngsters are upto it. Our generation was taught to play safe, hold on to our jobs, save for a rainy day etc. Today’s youngsters have grown up in a more plentiful society. They have many more options to choose from, more entrepreneurial opportunities.

     

    Talent and ideas get rewarded more easily today than it did in my time. So the same values and priorities that I had don’t necessarily work for them. The one anecdote I remember very vividly that would perhaps illustrate this change was when, some years ago, I was doing an exit interview of a young star who’d decided to leave the agency. She had been doing extremely well, her colleagues and clients loved her, and she’d just been promoted with a hefty increment. But a month later, she put in her papers. I was completely taken aback. When I asked why, she said the job was keeping her too busy and that she was not getting any chance to spend time with her family and friends.

     

    Trying to give her some sagely advice, I explained that even I had to go through this phase in life. That it was important to give it one’s all at this early learning stage to build a long term career. That one day she’ll be able to balance it having come on top of this service business.

     

    To which she coolly looked me in the eye and said “But what makes you think I want to lead the same life as you did? I want to do it differently and enjoy both work and play now, not later.” I honestly had no answer to that. Just the strong realisation that things have indeed changed. This generation looks at things very differently. And the worst thing a senior person like me could do was to think of my own upbringing and youth in evaluating today’s generation.

    Moral of the story: Don’t evaluate the world through the prism of your life. It’s not that great a life, after all, if a millennial doesn’t want it.

     

     

    Rahul Jauhari, National Creative Director, Everest Brand Solutions

    I guess the number one lesson is that these kids don’t take shit for too long. They are not as tied down by stuff like loyalty to boss/agency as we used to be. So if they don’t get a good deal (monetary or opportunity) they move on. They have innumerable options – advertising copywriting is not bigger or smaller than content writing or opening a wedding ideas shop with friends or something else.

     

    I guess fundamentally, they are experimenting more than we did, they take less load than we did/do. Long ago, after I finished seeing a complete fresher kid’s folio, he asked to see mine. I kicked his butt for not doing his homework, but loved the attitude. We are in a people’s business.

    Moral of the story: You can’t take designations and dignity to the bank.

     

     

    Mythili Chandrasekar, SVP & National Planning Director, JWT India

    The youngsters absorb so much from the world around at a blistering pace, and are intuitive culture and technology experts. They challenge conventional wisdom and it is good to be constantly tested. Free flowing and lateral thinking is something we can learn. Some very young colleagues have stunned me with their depth of work and speed of learning.

     

    While one cannot generalise, I do find disrespect for dress codes, time and casualness in tonality ends up working against youngsters being taken seriously. They certainly seem to have better work life balance, and are able to switch off far more easily – too late to learn that! After a point it’s not about age, but character. Those who are tenacious, unrelenting, passionate, bold, and thorough are those who stun you and teach you every time.

    Moral of the story: Study hard, study fast. Dress for comfort, but save the ‘Frankie Says Relax’ t-shirt for under the comforter.

     

     

    Pratap Suthan, Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer, Bang In The Middle

    This was when I was a CD in Grey Delhi in about 1999. I had a trainee for about six months – he was really good at his job and had a lot of spunk. I wanted to hire him as a junior writer, but apparently we didn’t have the budgets. I kept delaying telling him because I wanted him on board, till the time he asked me what the status was.

     

    When he realised that the branch head couldn’t bring him on board, he walked into his office, gave him a piece of his mind and got out, only to start his own agency. That boy is Sidharth Rao of Webchutney. That day I learned that if you are convinced about something, you should stand by it no matter what anyone says. All it takes is belief and some spine.

    Moral of the story: Never listen to your branch head. And go with the gut every time. (At your own risk.)

     

     

    Sumanto Chattopadhyay, ECD – South Asia, Ogilvy India

    The most obvious fact is that the young colleagues are digital natives and we are digital dinosaurs. That is one area I have learnt everything from my juniors; I harass them and pick up a lot of internet and socialmedia related things from them. I can now ideate on digital campaigns today, and the only reason I can is because I had juniors who were complete whizzes at this. They’re born into it and have been using technology since the time they were in school.

     

    Another thing that is amazing is their comfort level with all kinds of apps and software to get things done. They find ways to easily put together a little film for a presentation, for instance. These little things seemed so difficult but they’re not; they helped me break that barrier. We belong to the doctor-lawyer-professor-bano generation, where we were told to pursue our passions only after first securing an academic degree and a steady job.

     

    Our mentality was to stick it out whether or not you’re enjoying your job. While there are good and bad sides to this way of thinking, I am going to say that the changes in the world and economy give youngsters the option to not waste their time at a place they aren’t having fun. The flipside is that they decide in three months that they don’t like advertising and quit. Three months! At least give it a year?

     

    Sure, go ahead and explore if you like something or not, but three months is too short a time. Some people are too hasty in deciding if something is working for them. They just need to find their happy medium. I like that they explore and have the confidence, but just take your time.

    Moral of the story: It’s never too late to learn.

     

     

    Narayan Devanathan, Executive Vice President and National Planning Director, Dentsu India Group

    The natural ease with which they carry themselves, knowing their place in the world (at the centre). Their ability to keep me grounded with an “Ae, kidhar ja raha hai, pehle good morning toh bol de.” Knowing how to be wrong with complete confidence, and most of the times, with a good idea of what failure looks like. Being completely comfortable with uncertainty, with “maybe” as a valid life choice.

     

    Work hard, party harder (I haven’t been able to apply this as effectively as them though.) But time and again, the young ones have taught and reinforced to me the idea of embracing uncertainty. “We’re dating currently, but he’s at IIM Ahmedabad and I’m here in Delhi, and I’m not sure if we’ll be in the same city after he finishes. I might find somebody else by the time he comes back. Or he might. Ya, I know we’ve been together for five years, but who knows what will happen tomorrow? I’d like to marry him, but that’s too far away.”

     

    This was a 20-year-old intern who worked with me several years back. I have no idea who she is with right now, but I don’t think she’s worrying about it. The value of persistence: A girl applied for a position in a previous job of mine, and after I met her, I was pretty sure I wanted to be on the same team. Except we didn’t have the budget to hire her then. So I told her, “Listen, I’m pretty bad at keeping in touch. But call me regularly. And if I don’t answer, message me. And if I don’t respond even then, email me.” She did all three for three weeks continuously.

     

    I managed to wrangle a budget out of the management to get her on board after that. I hope I apply these lessons regularly. But those who work with me will probably be able to better speak about the impact. In life, I definitely am more actively trying to embrace the uncomfortable, the uncertain. As I said elsewhere sometime back, I’m discovering the joys of confusion. Clarity is overrated, if you ask me.

    Moral of the story: Don’t date anyone at IIM-A. Embrace uncertainty and confusion every morning and there’s no shame in being stalkerishly persistent. However, try and stop short of a restraining order.

     

     

    Pratap Bose, former COO, DDB Mudra Group

    I remember once going through my worst crisis ever on the IBM account, and by the end of the evening it looked like we would lose the account through a horrible mishandling which had the worldwide IBM CEO and CMO threatening hell and high water.

     

    At 9 o’clock in the evening, when I was in the depths of despair and totally at my wits’ end, a young colleague came over and said to me, “Sir, why don’t you go home and sleep on it? It never seems so bad in the morning after you wake up.” To this day, I follow that advice I learnt from my younger colleague. In life, no matter how disastrous or how enormous the problem, it always seems smaller after you have slept on it.

    Moral of the story: Snoozes, not weekend getaways are the pillars of success.

     

    (With Inputs from Ravi Balakrishnan, Amit Bapna, Shephali Bhatt, Mukta Lad & Priyanka Nair.)

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.

    All Rights Reserved, Licensed to republish

     

  • For the second consecutive year, Ogilvy Mumbai has been found to be the Most Effective Agency Office globally

    Ogilvy Mumbai is most effective agency office in world yet again

    For the second consecutive year, Ogilvy Mumbai has been declared the Most Effective Agency Office Globally, in the 2013 Effie Effectiveness Index. Effie Worldwide and Warc, the global marketing intelligence service, revealed the global results of the Effie Effectiveness Index in Cannes on Friday.

     

    Said Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & Creative Director, Ogilvy South Asia: “I am truly delighted for Ogilvy Mumbai and all our clients who we have partnered in achieving this unprecedented recognition of being ‘the Most Effective Agency Office in the World.”

     

    Said NavinTalreja who heads Ogilvy & Mather’s Mumbai and Kolkata offices, “To do it once is good. But to be awarded the Most Effective Agency Office in the world for two years in a row is a staggering achievement. This only further underlines our philosophy of deep collaboration between Creative, Planning and Account Management helping us deliver on the twin peaks of creativity and effectiveness. This would not have been possible without the support of our clients so a big thank you to all our clients who continuously repose faith in our ideas.”

     

    Kawal Shoor, Head of Planning – Ogilvy Mumbai, said, “We didn’t plan for this. Couldn’t have. It’s impossible to know what hundreds of other offices across tens of agencies are doing globally. Only in hindsight have we figured the reason Ogilvy Mumbai has been honoured with this accolade, in successive years. And the reason is – great work that works, not for a few, but for a very wide set of brands, across different clients. I think Ogilvy Mumbai manages the depth-versus-width issue beautifully because we’re blessed with a unique mix of skill sets, our creative culture, and a genuine desire to motor each other’s thoughts forward.”

     

    The Effie Index was launched in June 2011 and is led by Effie Worldwide.  It was predicted to become the industry standard and according to industry influencers, it is now considered to have attained this status.  The Effie Effectiveness Index identifies and ranks the marketing communications industry’s most effective agencies, advertisers, and brands by analysing finalist and winner data from Effie Worldwide competitions.  It is the world’s most comprehensive ranking of agency and advertiser performance and a valuable resource for anyone interested in marketing effectiveness.