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Tag: Prahlad Kakkar

  • Named Dining Table Creative Services, the marketing, communications and business consultancy will cater to family-owned and small to medium-sized business owners

    Raj Kurup & Prahlad Kakkar launch agency for SMEs and family-owned biz

    By A Correspondent

     

    Creativeland Asia’s Sajan Raj Kurup (Founder and Creative Chairman), and Prahlad Kakkar (Chief Mentor) have launched ‘Dining Table’, India’s first marketing, communications and business consultancy for family-owned and small to medium-sized business owners.

     

    Speaking on the launch, Kurup said: “In my personal experience, I have seen most SMEs and Indian family-owned businesses struggle a lot trying to navigate the creative and media agency models that exist today. Leading to an environment of mistrust, doubt and mismatched expectations. These businesses finally end up roping in trusted individuals to navigate the confusing world of marketing communications and media based more on their comfort rather than their competency. The Dining Table is designed to become perfect balance of competency and comfort for these business owners. The Dining Table will customise and aggregate everything an SME/Family Owned Business needs. The idea is to first create solidarity and trust, where the darndest questions can be asked without the intimidation of a boardroom. Then arrive at tailor-made solutions that the business needs in the most cost-effective manner. This is a place of comfort, a place for friends and family, and a place where crucial decisions are taken. Hence, we have curated a space, wherein there is no need for complex words, egos or formalities. From finding the right agency fit, arriving at right research methodology, restructuring marketing departments, choosing the right business consultants, to a complete design refresh, IP creations, Dining Table will be a business owner’s go-to place to find exactly the right fit or all their marketing, communications and brand transformation needs.”

     

    Added Kakkar: “When Raj discussed the concept with me, I jumped at it and I’m excited to kick start this unit with him. Dining Table Creative Services is a great refreshing concept and exactly what business owners require today. I have been closely involved with SMEs for the last 10 years and I am also the chairman of the SME forum in India Having spent bulk of my time consulting and convincing them on the value of brand creation, I have realised that most of them are very savvy business owners but are uncomfortable about investing in building brands because they think it is going to cost a lot. Dining Table is the just the right place for them to get exposed to more cost-effective ways, discover newer brand building models and meet the experts of their choice and talk business in the language they are most comfortable in. And all this over my greatest passion, food!”

     

     

  • The veteran ad film director Prahlad Kakkar will be Creative Mentor for the CLA group

    Prahlad Kakkar joins Creativeland as Creative Mentor

    By A Correspondent

     

    Prahlad Kakkar and Sajan RaJ Kurup

    Creativeland Asia has today brought on board veteran ad film director Prahlad Kakkar as Creative Mentor for the group.

     

    Kakkar’s Prahlad’s mandate includes creating training modules for creative teams across all levels and develop stronger storytelling, scriptwriting and film-making capabilities internally. He will be involved on strategic marketing communications projects as well. Kakkar will also play an active role in the content division Creativeland Pictures, which is gearing up to create more original content for OTT video platforms, after its first docu-series “The Legend of Jagannath” made its debut on Netflix last month.

     

    Said Sajan RaJ Kurup on bringing Kakkar on board: “I haven’t just opened the doors of Creativeland to a 70-year-old iconic person. I have opened my doors to a significant chapter in history of creativity in Indian advertising. Prahlad is an encyclopedia of creative anecdotes and tales of ingenuity. His wealth of experience and his notorious approach to ideas is of great value to Creativeland where we are now straddling between long and short format storytelling. I hope the combination of his white druid-like beard, child-like enthusiasm and taboo-free madness will rub-off in the corridors of Creativeland as a reminder that – age is an illusion, creativity is real.”

     

    Said Kakkar, on joining Creativeland Asia as a mentor: “I’m extremely delighted to work with Raj and his team of young creative mavericks. What sets Creativeland Asia apart is their hunger for taking the path least taken. In a world where the importance of film making and creating original relevant content is taking precedence over traditional methods of ad making, I look at CLA as a breeding ground for great talent to groom and take on the world. I have spent the best part of my life teaching, training and guiding young talent and am looking forward to share my experience in this new innings.”

  • In Freaking News, which appears every Tuesday and Friday, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare in the morning papers and the nightly news. And sometimes the afternooners, the newsmags and all that's on the Web

    [MJR] TV journos prove Katju is right

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Journalists have evidently signed a pact to prove Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katju right – 90 per cent of Indians are idiots. There seems to be no other reason for this enormous media reaction to the late night fracas between film star Shah Rukh Khan and a security guard at Wankhede stadium two nights ago.

     

    Of course, the shenanigans of film stars are exciting and when they behave badly it’s even more fun. But is there anything to justify front page headlines and TV debates for two days? What exactly is there to debate? Khan arrived last the stadium around the time Kolkata beat Mumbai, with a bunch of kids. The kids ran into the field. A security guard stopped them. Khan intervened. Words were exchanged and some apparently not very polite ones and then Khan left.

     

    For this, the world has come to an end. We are discussing politeness, propriety, banning, apologies, role models, respect for the uniform, high-handedness, diplomacy, official inefficiency, entitlement or the sense thereof, protection of children and the decibel level of whistles.

     

    If we went to war with China, I cannot imagine more being discussed on television. The journalists on TV cannot seem to distinguish between a security guard and a policeman. Rahul Kanwal almost burst a blood vessel when on Headlines Today veteran adman Prahlad Kakkar tore into the behaviour of security guards: “You have to respect the uniform”. I would really like to know how any of these TV guests react when faced with the officiousness of a security guard.

     

    Kakkad was a rare voice of sanity as was Rohan Gavaskar who said: “Banning Shah Rukh Khan from Wankhede is like banning Sachin Tendulkar from PVR”. Meaningless, in other words. Except for Arun Lal on Times Now, no one wanted to discuss whether officials of the Mumbai Cricket Association, who called for a ban on Khan entering Wankhede, were not over-reacting. Lal said it’s a question of contesting fiefdoms – with Khan as an IPL team owner against MCA officials with their hurt pride at being event managers rather than stakeholders.

     

    The levels of self-righteous on Times Now were staggering, with anchor Arnab Goswami, veteran columnist and author Shobhaa De and not-so-veteran columnist Simi Chandok leading the way. Goswami kept bringing up police action against Hollywood stars Nicholas Cage and Russell Crowe, again unable to distinguish between security guard and a policeman. (Hint: different uniform.)

     

    Former Mumbai police commissioner MN Singh tried to point out that criminal charges against Khan were not possible and this led to him being dragged over hot coals by Goswami. When the nation wants to know, let no man or woman try and douse the fire.

     

    Commentator Charu Sharma however poured cold water on Rahul Kanwal’s spectacular rage – mainly it seemed because uniforms were not being respected, apparently a prime concern in his life – by forecasting that an amicable resolution would be reached and the incident would soon be forgotten. The truth is that everyone knows that that is what will happen.

     

    As a matter of interest, after all the hot air expended over the fight which Saif Ali Khan had in a restaurant at the Taj a few months ago, can anyone remember the names of those self-righteously hurt complainants from South Africa? Hmmm.

     

    * * *

     

    On NDTV, I watched another somewhat circular debate over whether PA Sangma could become the next president of India. These speculative discussion with weak premises only illustrate our emptiness of thought. I greatly admire Divya Marathi editor Kumar Ketkar for his fortitude and level of tolerance as he sits through so many TV debates these days, trying to inject a little sanity into proceedings.

     

    It seems amazing to me that no TV people seem able to realise that all this political hoopla over the next president is just a diversionary tactic from all the political problems this country is facing.

     

    Goswami even wants a debate between Sangma and Vice-President Hamid Ansari, since he possibly believes that India has a presidential form of government. Contestant 1: I will plant 400 varieties of roses in the gardens. Contestant 2: I will conduct the tours of Rashtrapati Bhavan myself. Contestant 3: I will never build a large retirement home for myself. Contestant 4: I will never bore school children with my poems and ideas.

     

    Please, somebody, save us!

     

  • Kakkar talks about people who have redefined the face and brains of advertising

    The Anchor: 5 faces that define Indian advertising

    1. Piyush Pandey

    He provides creative leadership to one of the leading advertising agency of India. He leads by example and the interesting bit is that most of his creative education came by travelling in trains. He was playing for Ranji Trophy and they could only afford train travels for their players. During these travels he got insight into the small-townIndiawhich he uses in his creatives. Trains give a glimpse into different types of people and their lives which can weave into beautiful stories.

     

    2. Prasoon Joshi

    He is a brilliant music writer besides being an excellent advertising professional. He has made it on his own from a small town inIndia. He is the original bilingual copywriter ofIndia.

     

    3. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

    We had launched her with a three-second presence in Pepsi commercial where she said: “Hi, I am Sanju”. Her presence made every male from 8-80 get into a tizzy and they wanted more of Sanju. She has become one of the most recognizable face of the Indian advertising, besides being that of Indian film industry.

     

    4. Katrina Kaif

    She made it fashionable for foreign faces with an accent to make their presence felt in Indian advertising. She is every director’s dream come true and a face that is not easy to forget.

     

    5. Me

    Beauty is only skin deep but my motto is ugly is forever. So I am immortal face of the advertising industry.

     

    Prahlad Kakkar is an ad filmmaker and CEO, Genesis Films

    Photograph: Fotocorp