Hasta La Creative!

Born and raised in Mumbai, Arjava has a Bachelors degree in Mass Media with a specialization in Advertising. His first stints in the advertising field were summer internships at Ogilvy and Euro RSCG. Arjava joined FoxyMoron in 2009 as a junior visualizer when the team comprised of not less than 5 people. Currently, as the Creative Director at FoxyMoron, Arjava’s responsibilities include conceptualizing and executing strategic and integrated campaigns in the digital marketing space. When not busy in front of his Mac, he can be found planning a holiday he seldom takes or in front of the TV watching his beloved Manchester United. 

Why are you into Digital?
I guess it chose me more than I chose it. I originally joined Foxy as a print designer but as they say, necessity is the mother of invention. One day, our digital designer was backed up so I pitched in and made my first website layout. It was absolutely terrible, but I loved working on it.

Did you attend school for fine art or design or Communications?
I had a course on design in college but that’s about it. I’ve pretty much taught myself everything I know about design, by constantly researching, practicing, screwing up & fixing it. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but it’s the only way I’ve known.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
That would have to be my elder sister Priya, who is also a designer. I grew up seeing her do all these crazy things on Photoshop and was totally blown away. I wanted to do what she could, and today I’m happy to say I can.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in Digital?
Paritosh Ajmera, one of the 4 Co-founders at FoxyMoron. We have a great working relationship and have always challenged each other. You always need someone who questions you, who makes you think twice about whether the idea you have is the best it could be, because on most occasions it isn’t.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
I honestly don’t know, I’ve often wondered where anyone gets their inspiration from. But the simplest answer would be other people and their work. It could be anyone from packaging designers and architects to street artists and photographers. When you see great work, it always stays with you and pushes you to do better yourself.

Tell us something about the work environment at FoxyMoron…
It’s great. When I joined there were about 5 other people here. It was all about having great fun doing great work and 5 years and 175 people later it’s still about that. We’ve never had someone show us the way, that ‘this’ is the way to run an agency or approach a project so our attitude has always been “fuck it, we’ll figure it out.” We’ve gotten ourselves in some pretty tight situations with that attitude but looks like it’s worked out pretty well for us.

Do you have any kind of a program to nurture and train young talent?
I’ve always had a sink or swim approach with fresh graduates or interns. We have recently started a learning center with a dedicated resource to make the transition in agency life easier. I like to throw them straight into the thick of things because it’s really important for young people to feel like they matter, that they are equals and have clients banking on them, otherwise it’s a pretty terrible feeling doing menial work for 10 hours a day.

What about new and young film makers/photographers? Do you consciously keep looking for newer talent and try someone completely new?
You have a lot of young photographers and film makers who have grown up in the digital age, who approach their work with a focusing on consumable digital content, which adds a great diversity to the kind of work we are now seeing. I’m always looking for great people to work with; age has never been a factor.

What do you think of the state of Digital advertising right now?
While it’s certainly going in the right direction, I think clients still treat it as the less loved step child to mainline. While most are ready to pump in lakhs in online media, a lot of them still need convincing on spending that kind of money on the campaigns themselves. I don’t think too many brand managers have still understood the power Digital could have, I think in 5 years we will see brands do far more extensive and innovative work in India.

Can you give us two examples of outstanding Digital Creative from India?
‘Google Search: Reunion’ and ‘Oreo Dunkathon’. I loved the Google campaign because I think they did a great job of representing their services in our daily lives without being offensively obvious. They took a touching story and managed to weave themselves into it so intrinsically. It could have backfired massively, but they did an inspiring job. Oreo has done a great job with their message of appealing to one’s inner child through their recent ‘Dunkathon’ campaign. Their campaign was fun, witty and very well executed while still maintaining a consistent level of engagement and creativity through the course of it, which for us in digital, is incredibly hard to do.

More and more young people are web savvy and want to work on the internet or on more entrepreneurial ventures. Has that affected the quality of people digital has been getting?
That’s a double-edged sword. On one hand this newfound sense of entrepreneurship means a lot of people are coming up with innovative strategies and identifying gaps in the market. The downside is that everyone thinks they can be the next Mark Zuckerberg, that they all have that million-dollar idea. When they don’t see their job heading in a direction that could help them achieve that, they tend to lose interest, which leads to higher employee turnover.

Can you give us a case study of one of your campaigns?
(Find Images Attached)

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
Never do the same thing twice. Constantly challenge yourself and never settle for ‘good enough’. You’ll be surprised with the results.

What skill set do you look for when hiring digital creative talent?
Purpose. I don’t think creative people should treat their work as a blank canvas for self-expression. Every word, every colour & font chosen should have a purpose. It’s all about finding a method to the madness.

What is your dream project?
Nike. I think the company and its agencies have done a brilliant job of owning their message and exciting their customer. It’s amazing how decade after decade they maintain their place as the coolest brand.

Mac or PC?
Seriously ?

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
Jony Ive. Jennifer Lawrence for desert.

What’s on your iPod?
A lot of everything! But while working, mostly EDM stuff. A lot of Madeon, Myon & Shane 54, Hardwell.

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