Advertised brand: 10 Downing Street Pub, Chennai Traffic Police
Advert title(s): Had a Drink? Think!
Advertising Agency: Dentsu India Group
Executive Creative Director: Ashwin Parthiban, Shiv Parameswaran
Creative Director: Rathish P Subramaniam, Sachit Sadanandan
Art Director: Rathish P Subramaniam, Shiv Parameswaran
Copywriter: Sachit Sadanandan, Ashwin Parthiban
Additional credits:
Production House – Silent Picture Company
Director – Mark Manuel
Executive Producer – Balaji Selvaraj
Camera – Anbu Dennis, Vignesh Vasu, Jagadeesh Ravichandran
Assistant Director – Al Hoon
Music – Timothy Madhukar
Sound Engineer – Sean Bout
Post Production – RGB
Offline – Manohar
Online – Mohan
Computer Graphics – Velu
Short rationale (optional): ‘Don’t drink and drive’. Its a message that is so ubiquitous in big cities, it has actually become a blind spot. What this jaded ‘public’ message needed was a personal touch. An emotional connect that would not only make people notice this message, but act on it. Had a Drink? Think!
Le studio français Fink a récemment dévoilé son showreel 2013 résumant avec talent et dynamisme les différentes réalisations de l’année 2013. De belles références diverses et variées démontrant une maîtrise des effets visuels et de la 3D. A découvrir en vidéo, sur la bande son de Nosaj Thing, dans la suite de l’article.
Pensée pour promouvoir The Young Director Award, un prix soutenant les talents créatifs dans la production de films depuis 1998, cette vidéo « Whisper » imaginée par Gioacchino Petronicce et produite par Moonwalk Films est une magnifique création utilisant le langage des réalisateurs dans des situations enfantines.
From Payyanur, village in Kannur, Kerala. Started career with JWT Bangalore and now working as a senior visualizer at O&M Bangalore.
Why are you an Illustrator?
Because i love illustration, more than being an illustrator, i would like to be an art director
Did you attend school for fine art or design?
Yes i did. Got graduated in Applied Arts from college of fine arts, Trivandrum. Kerala.
Tell us about your recent work campaign?
Ginger poster campaign. Ginger is a fashion brand. The campaign about promoting their accessories. I can undoubtly tell, that it was one of my best campaign I was involved in so far.
Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising?
As I mentioned earlier, I started with JWT Bangalore, i have been there for about 2 years.?As a beginner, it was a wounderful journey with the most inspiring minds at JWT.
You have a distinct style of illustration. How long did it take you to develop your style?
I never tried to stick to one style, I always tried to figure-out a style which has more potential to convey the brief clearly and more interestingly.
Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
My father, he taught me a lot in my life as a person & as an artist.?.
Are many advertising agencies getting illustrations made these days? Do you work more with agencies or publishers?
Oh Yes. I would work more with agencies.
Was there any time when you wanted to quit Illustrations?
Never, I never consider doing illustration as a job. its like a part of me. I love to do illustration and will keep doing it.
Have you considered turning your illustrations into toys?
Yes, its a wounderful thing to give more dimension to your own creativity.
Any other Indian Illustrators who you admire?
Raghava KK, is a contemporary artist living and working in Bangalore.
Do you have any favorite fellow illustrators or resources relating to your fields?
Lots of people!!!… Sameer kulavoor, Deelip Khomane their style, innovation and experiments inspire me alot.
You have such a wide experience as a top working professional. What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals? Would you advise them to take on Illustration as a career option? Is it paying well enough?
I dont think i am the right person to advice. Because i am just a beginner but just loving what i am doing & always trys to pull out the best in me. Yes, money is important more than that be passionate.
Who would you like to take out for dinner?
Scarlet Johanson, Penelope cruz
What’s on your iPod?
I dont have an iPodbut I love Pink Floyd, Bob Marley & Instrumental tracks.
Mac or PC?
My first preference is a paper and pencil than mac.
Just like it says on his website, Karthik M is a guy who loves to make things, who lives with his musical better half, and who sincerely believes that one day both his feline sons will start talking to him. He loves doing side projects, just like Ji Lee and SwissMiss. He’s the author of @mysmallstories on Twitter. He keeps a thick beard to hide his double chin, and will often scratch it while pretending to think. He finds it very, very difficult to write about himself, be it in the third person, or out of that person.
Why are you into Advertising?
Because it lets me revel in my misfit-ness, and pays me for it too. Did you attend school for fine art or design or Communications?
Yes. R. A. Podar College of Commerce and Economics.
You are an illustrator, graphic designer and copywriter. Which of these best describes you.
None. An unromantic, absent-minded husband. That sure does.
Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
N.A. (Not grown up yet.)
Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising? In Illustration and Design?
The Internet.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
From everyday life, and my very tolerant wife.
Tell us something about the work environment at your agency Catalyst SMC.
Leg-pulling 30%, Laughter 30%, Talks on Food 20%, Eating 10%, Alcohol sessions 5%, Abuses 5%.
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?
It could be so much better. Right now, it’s a clear case of too many cooks spoil the broth. Everybody wants to have their say in it. “Hey! It’s just advertising. Even I know a thing or two.” seems to be their thought process. And you can’t argue with that. The result? Well, we all know what that is. But I admire Taproot’s approach. They do really good ads, and most of them are released work. So hats off to them, especially the person who sells it, and the client who buys it.
Do you think brands who’s advertising wins awards, do well in the market?
Well, there cannot be so many scam ads year after year, right? There are clients out there who are brave enough to put that work out into the market, and also intelligent enough to check whether they are working or not. So I’d love to think
that yes, they do work well in the market. And I also think that “Make a great product, and you won’t
have to worry about advertising”.
What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
To all aspiring creative professionals (which includes me too), I’d suggest: Learn, unlearn and relearn.
Who would you like to take out for dinner?
My wife. She’s had way too many takeouts with me.
What’s on your iPod?
iPad chalega? Some Coke Studio, Dewarists, The Shruti Box and Bollywood.
Mac or PC?
Hey, thanks! Mac. Which model are you giving? Is it the new iMac?
I work as an art director in Ogilvy and have worked with TBWA and Rediffusion as well. Am a bit zonked out and have goldfish memory. I often forget my illustration styles and come up with new one every time : ) I like experimenting with fonts in addition to helvetica and get twitchy while using lot of bright colors together.
Why are you in advertising?
I figured out this is the only place where you can be unorganized, wear whatever you want to and get a chance to create good stuff : )
Coming back to the point, the work we churn out here has extremely short shelf life hence its fun to match up the speed. I love the unpredictableness of this place, it just doesn’t let you get comfortable with your state of mind.
Did you attend school for fine art or design?
Yes, I did. But school doesn’t teach you as much as your work place does.
When did you start illustrating?
I always preferred blank sheets over ruled.
I don’t draw/sketch as much as I use varied textures, materials and create art graphically. Its 1:5 hand:computer ratio in most of my work..
You have a distinct style of illustration. How long did it take you to develop your style?
Fortunately, I don’t have any distinct style of illustration. I come up with styles according to the campaign but mostly according to my mood and time I intend to spend on the idea… I love to create characters and detail them out in my own way to make myself happy.
I strongly believe that art directors in advertising shouldn’t have distinct style of art to keep each campaign contrastive. Your work can get predictable if you get trapped in your art style.
Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
I’m still growing up But yeah, I get influenced by almost everybody and everything around me if things are counted in ‘role models’. As a kid I got influenced by my toys, board game, art teachers, bulletin boards outside every section, my mum, blank paper, kitchen napkin, colourful cloth and now by intricate patters, mc donalds toys, Rob on M.A.D art show, t-shirts, books, ffffound.com, other peoples work : ) etc etc.
Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising? And in Illustrations?
No one in particular. I love to learn and make sure I absorb best from my seniors and people around me including my interns.
Tell us about the work culture at Ogilvy.
Its same as any other agency apart from the fact that they have more people working here and have a bigger cafeteria : )
It is easy to get addicted to this place because of the space and freedom you get here. I believe its us who create work culture in any organisation. Over 5 years of my work experience I’ve seen the same set of people moving from one agency to another maintaining the work culture.
Was there any time when you wanted to quit Advertising and become a full time illustrator?
Every second weekday and every sunday. Though I would never want to quit art but my restless mind takes me here and there and makes me think all the time.
Who is your favorite Art Director in India for Advertising?
No one in particular. But I love the art of lot of people I work with. I envy their sense of ideation, their sketch books, their color sense and the way they detail out their work.
You have such a wide experience as a top working professional, for both advertising and illustrations. Would you advise anyone to make a career out of illustrations?
Haha, I don’t have such a wide experience in advertising. I make graphic illustration/illustrations for my ad campaigns and at times for fun but don’t work as a professional illustrator, so don’t really know how is it to take it as full-time career option.
Being an illustrator or an art director in advertising or both is their personal opinion. All these career options have bad days and good days… It is more important to be creative and curious in life. It works for me!!
What’s on your iPod?
Jack Johnson, Harry Belafonte and latest bollywood music.
Anil started his advertising career close to 18 years ago and has worked with agencies such as Leo Burnett, Enterprise Nexus, Ambience Publicis, SSC&B Lintas and Percept Hakuhodo. Along the way, he has helped build brands such as Canon, Panasonic, Pantaloon, Taj Hotels, FedEx, Killer Jeans, Westside, Raymond, Siyaram, The Times Of India, Femina, The Economic Times, Brand Equity, Indiatimes.com, Pierre Cardin, Thums Up, Lakme, Vicks, Nerolac Paints, Park Avenue, to name a few. Anil’s work has been featured in several award shows and advertising festivals. His work for The Times Of India was the first Indian campaign to have won the Campaign of the Year award at the Asia Pacific Adfest; the campaign also picked up the same award at the Abby Awards. His work for Vladivar Vodka and Georgia Gullini clothing was showcased in the international Archive magazine. At SSC&B, Anil’s creative work helped the agency win the ‘Most improved agency of the year’ title, moving up from Rank 52 to Rank 18 in less than a year, within the Lowe network. As Bombay Creative Head at Percept, his work helped the agency garner more than 40 awards over a span of 2 years. Anil has been a member of the jury at the New York Festivals, Goafest and the Outdoor Advertising Awards. Anil regularly contributes articles to FHM magazine and is also working on his first fiction novel.
Why are you into advertising?
When I was a kid, my father owned an ad agency. Back then, there were no computers and he used to manually cut typefaces printed on bromides. He used to cut it very carefully, with a pair of scissors set the type for each ad with his own hands. As a teenager, I couldn’t help but get fascinated by the whole process. Often, I used to help him source typefaces from Letraset and various international magazines and I think that exposed me to the wonder of advertising; unknowingly, it helped me find beauty in typography, writing and art. Thanks to him, I could tell a Bodoni from a Futura, while I was still in school. In retrospect, this went a long way in defining the future. As it turned out, a few years later, my father got a job and so we had to move out and I found myself in Bombay and that marked the turning point of my life. I remember, a long, long time ago, while I was still wet behind the ears, I visited the CAG exhibition where I happened to see the Mauritius Tourism campaign and an electric sort of feeling ran through my spine and that was when I decided, I should be in advertising.
Did you attend school for fine art or design or Communications?
I did a Copywriting Course from AAAI and yes, I even graduated from the Mohammed Khan School of Advertising.
With your busy schedule as an ECD, do you have enough time left to indulge in Creative?
I follow a hands-on approach to work. I believe it’s the only way to stay focused on the creative output and the only way to keep your work fresh and contemporary. I’d be restless if I didn’t do at least an ad a week.
Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
I’ve had no role models but I’ve certainly had the good fortune of meeting and working with a whole lot of wonderful and incredibly talented people. Some of them include Mohammed Khan, Rajiv Agarwal, Sharmeen Mitha, Arun Kale, Agnello Dias, Ajay Chandwani, Elsie Nanji, K V Sridhar, Prashant Godbole, Zarvan Patel, Anand Halve and Vikram Gaikwad, among many others. Since I spent years working with these people, it’s quite obvious that they’ve had an impact on my work.
Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising?
Mohammed Khan. Without a doubt, he’s still the greatest Creative Director India has ever had. He’s easily the most honest, the most stylish, the most awe-inspiring and the most passionate advertising person I have ever met. I wish life had a rewind button and I could simply go back to the years I spent in Enterprise. Why can’t we have more creative directors like him?
Where do you get your inspiration from?
Arty museums, seedy bars, twitter, wikipedia, coffee shops, wherever I can get it from.
Tell us something about the work environment at Percept.
Percept has had a unique culture and a unique way of working. Since I had moved to Percept with my earlier boss, Ajay Chandwani, I found it a lot easier to bring in a creative culture, so to speak. We had a lot of fun producing some good work, some of which went on to win prestigious awards at Goafest, New York Festivals, Graphis and Montreux. It was quite exciting being part of the transformation, since it was the first time Percept had won so many awards.
Do you have any kind of a program to nurture and train young talent?
Percept does have knowledge sharing sessions every weekend, wherein renowned professionals are invited from the industry to share their knowledge and help train young talent.
What about new and young film makers/photographers? Do you consciously keep looking for newer talent and try someone completely new?
It depends on the nature of the project and the skill-sets required to execute the job. Obviously, the creative output is sacrosanct and if someone younger can bring more value to the table, I’ll be open to it.
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? Why do you think it has lost the shine? Why are the younger lot more interested in TV? Is it because TV creative (after the script of course) is outsourced to a production house?
I think it’s really sad to see print and particularly, writing for print, die in this country. It’s equally sad to see the younger lot ignoring print completely. There was a time when we used to fight among each other to work on a print campaign, but quite apparently, all that is now history. I think it’s bullshit when they say people don’t have the time to read, I think the real reason is that quite evidently, most writers are not writing any more and most planners and juries are not supporting writing any more. A premier Indian newspaper supplement once carried an article titled ‘The Death of Copy’. Ironically, the article was over 600 words in length. The article contradicted the very premise it was based on; that people don’t read any more. Last I checked, newspapers were still on the stands, blogs are gaining more importance and we see more and more bookstores than ever. The fact is, when you write copy that is relevant and intriguing, people will read it; when you have fun writing an ad, someone out there will have fun reading it.
About 12 years ago, all IIM and other B-School grads had advertising as their first choice of career option. Today it does not even feature in the list. How does that reflect in the quality of non-creatives in the industry? Is that one reason why the current print work sucks?
Great advertising is born out of a collaboration between a business insight and a disruptive idea. Obviously, it would be horribly wrong to have one without the other; that would most definitely affect the quality of any creative work and not just print alone. Now, more than ever, this industry needs as many bright thinkers as it can get.
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 advertising has been getting?
On the contrary, it’s helped push the envelope. It’s always good to have young, web savvy creative talent around, considering it’s common knowledge that the internet will gain even more ground as a medium, in the days to come. It’s also refreshing to see so many creative people start out independently. I firmly believe the next big creative revolution will be digitized and more often than not, the big ideas will come from
independent creative hotshops. Traditional advertising and beliefs will undergo a massive transformation and it will be exciting to witness a paradigm shift.
Do you think brands whose advertising wins awards do well in the market?
Without a doubt. According to The Gunn Report, more than 70% of the brands which win awards go on not just meet, but exceed sales targets. Advertising which wins awards obviously stands head and shoulders above the ones which don’t, and therefore gets noticed better and therefore, results in sales. It’s quite simple, really.
What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
Stay hungry. Stay foolish. Never, ever waste money on an expensive portfolio case;
all your employer cares about is what’s inside.
What is your dream project?
To work on a campaign for Volkswagen.
Mac or PC?
Mac. Dead argument, innit?
Who would you like to take out for dinner?
Salman Rushdie. He’s got to be the most fascinating man on earth.
What’s on your iPod?
Jack Johnson, Pearl Jam, One Republic, The Fray, GMS and good ole’ Pink Floyd.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
But yeah, I get influenced by almost everybody and everything around me if things are counted in ‘role models’. As a kid I got influenced by my toys, board game, art teachers, bulletin boards outside every section, my mum, blank paper, kitchen napkin, colourful cloth and now by intricate patters, mc donalds toys, Rob on M.A.D art show, t-shirts, books, ffffound.com, other peoples work : ) etc etc.
