Hasta La Creative!

Simran Nanda is a Communication Designer specializing in illustration. She will be graduating from The Pearl Academy of Art Design and Fashion, New Delhi this year. She loves spending time with her family, friends and her pets. She wishes to get married to the city of Bombay in her near future!

Why are you an Illustrator?
Since I was a child, I’ve always been fascinated by cartoons. I had a collection of stuffed animals! I think this is where my vision to create different characters came from.

Did you attend school for fine art or design?
I’m studying at The Pearl Academy of Art Design and Fashion. I will get my degree in B.A Communication Design this year.

You have a distinct style of illustration. How long did it take you to develop your style?
I have always wanted to sketch but initially I was afraid to do so. I have been observing the work of various illustrators over the years. Some of them have different styles of illustrating. It took me a while to find my own style. I feel it came from practice and a lot of passion for the work I do.  I love digital work in particular, playing with different shapes and colors to create my characters. I love robots and monsters!

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
My role model is and always will be Shah Rukh Khan. I admire the passion he has for his work. I have always looked up to him. Even though he doesn’t know me, I hope he does someday!
 
Who was the most influential personality on your career in Illustrations?
It’s difficult to choose one in particular but I remember going to Bombay for the first time and I was fascinated to see Mario Miranda’s work on the walls of Café Mondegar. I am truly inspired by his work.
I also love Mattias Adolfson, the German illustrator. Observing his work and made me pay attention to detail in my illustrations.

What made you decide to become a freelance illustrator? When did you start freelancing? Do you illustrate for advertising?
I was motivated to do so by my mentor in college.  After building on my portfolio, I have done some freelance work as an illustrator. I have illustrated characters for social media icons and graphics for toys. I haven’t got a chance to illustrate for advertising as yet.

Tell us something about your graphic design work.
My work is mostly digital based. I have a particular style that has developed over the years. I love illustrating for children in particular. I am very fascinated by monsters and robots!

Are many advertising agencies getting illustrations made these days? Do you work more with agencies or publishers?
I think it depends on the brief given to us. If the ad requires illustration as a medium, then yes. I have mainly worked with design houses and advertising agencies.

Was there any time when you wanted to quit Illustrations?
Not as yet! I hope I never do. But I have always wanted to see my characters in motion. So if I ever plan to divert from illustration, I would want to specialize in animation.

Have you considered turning your illustrations into toys?
I have made graphics for paper toys that are used as night lamps! It was a concept based on reusable packaging for children. So the packaging converts into a paper toy or a lamp.

Any other Indian Illustrators who you admire?
I love Prashant Miranda’s work. He was called to our college for an interactive session where he showcased his work. It was great seeing his travel logs. I love his use of watercolors.

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’m just about to graduate! So I think its too soon to give my view about taking Illustration as a career option but I think it depends on person to person. You need to be connected to your work that makes a big difference. It pays well with the amount of experience one has.

Mac or PC?
I use a Mac

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
Shah Rukh Khan! I want to take him out for dinner and thank him for singing for me on my birthday!

What’s on your iPod?
I listen to The XX and Phealeh while working. I love music that helps me work in peace.  Also I love bollywood!

The post Simran Nanda: Interview with a Student Illustrator appeared first on desicreative.

Dharmesh Shah is a Creative Director at Draft FCB Ulka, Bangalore

Why are you into Advertising?
I am a trained diamond grader, have learnt jewelery manufacturing, tried selling/marketing diamond jewelery. I joined a science college to become an engineer. I don’t think I can do anything else.

Did you attend school for fine art or design or Communications?
No. I did my b.Com from Bhavan’s Andheri- Mumbai. Then a one year course in advertising by Noorul Islam.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
Kapil Dev.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising?
Can’t name one. I read a lot about David Ogilvy and Bill Bernbach before I joined Advertising. In my career though, Chax has been a big influence. 

Where do you get your inspiration from?
Everything. I am big copycat. Everyday life gives you so much to use.

Tell us something about the work environment at Draft Bangalore.
I have never seen anyone really do work here. Yet we end up doing a lot of work. I wonder how.

How do you think Advertising should move into a new age with severely segmented media, short attention spans and declining print and TV viewership amongst the young?
We have to move from loud and in-your-face to subtle and less intrusive. Media segmentation is one problem. Larger concern is people hate advertising. When I was growing up advertising was fun to watch, sing along, remember and talk about…if we can achieve that again…tv, print, internet or outdoor is just means to reach. If people like us they will hear and see us.

Do you have any kind of a program to nurture and train young talent? 
Yes we do. We have Star One. It is the only program in the industry today that inducts creative as well as account management and media trainees in the a real way. It is a two month process that teaches you what colleges and management institutes do not.

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? 
I think I have partly answered this above. It will take a while before print gets better. I do not like the way our industry, especially the seniors around look at the decline of print and sort of blame it on youngsters. The fact is we live in a country where we are selling to a major illiterate population or people who do not read even if they are literate. Kids grow up watching television and make their choices based on what they see. Written content in general is poor. I hate reading the newspaper for the sheer bad quality of news and journalism. So why will I read ads or rather where will I read ads. Also visuals stories reach more people irrespective of language/region. So we all watch tv. So there are more tv ads.  So why complain?

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?
To a certain extent this is perception. The numbers really are not that large. More people talk internet than actually living it. Also internet/web is really restricted to FB or youtube. How many of us use internet beyond that? The entrepreneurial ventures yes, but for every one online venture that succeeds…how many fail to even take off?

Do you think brands whose advertising wins awards, do well in the market?
No always.

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals? 
Know what you are good at and what you want. Do not join advertising because you want to become a lyricist in Bollywood and need a job to sustain while you struggle. Or you want to become an artist but no one would buy your stuff.

What is your dream project?
Where the client is willing to use common sense and not common knowledge.Where ideas are need not be restricted to certain individuals’ sensibilities. Powerful ideas are judged by powerful minds.

Mac or PC?
PC.

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
My wife.

What’s on your iPod?
Sa Trincha, AR Rahman, Amit Trivedi, Gregorian Chants, Bhimsen Joshi, KishoriAmonkar, Anoushka and Ravi Shankar and a lot of fusion stuff from Talvin Singh, Zakiretc

The post Dharmesh Shah : Interview appeared first on desicreative.

Sujata Keshavan
Chairperson: Ray+Keshavan/Brand Union
Judge, Branding, D&AD awards 2014.

What does your role as a D&AD judge entail?
The D&AD awards are highly respected and are widely regarded as the Gold Standard of awards. It really means a great deal to creative professionals to win a pencil. The best thing about being a judge, is that one gets the opportunity to see the most recent, most brilliant work, the best of the best. It gives you a sense of the state of design in the world.

What are you hoping for and expecting from the entrants this year?
I have heard that D&AD attracts the very best entries of all competitions. I have very high expectations. I will be looking for innovative ideas that reflect creative thinking which is not gimmicky or attempting to be clever in a facile way.

How did you get involved with the work that D&AD do?
While I have judged competitions in many countries, I have not really been involved with D&AD before. I was delighted to have been asked to judge this year. I think it reflects the fact that D&AD is probably looking to extend its reach more substantially in India and other regions in Asia.

What do you think of the Indian Creative Industry?
There is a huge amount of talent in the 1.2 billion people in India. It is a deep civilization with a culture in art, craft and literature that goes back thousands of years. What people lack is access to a good design education and an overall exposure to great design. If only more people had this, there would be a huge creative renaissance.

What are your hopes and where did you think the Indian creative industry will be in 10 years?
Liberalisation of the Indian economy, combined with globalization and the internet revolution has led to incredible opportunities for the Indian creative industries. There is so much to be done, and design is an integral part of the growth story. Young people today are breaking out of traditional boundaries and I see a great deal of enterprise and innovation bubbling up from the grass roots. Instead of taking small steps, technology and access to information enables people to leapfrog. In 10 years, I think that the creative industries will have matured and reached the critical mass to have great impact. I am extremely optimistic about where India is headed.

What steps did you need to take to get to where you are in your career today? E.g. Qualifications, work experiences.
I was one of those lucky designers who had a textbook design education. I did my undergraduate training at NID (The National Institute of Design) in Ahmedabad, India. The brainchild of Charles Eames, the 6 year programme was strongly influenced by the design schools at Ulm and Basel. It gave me a wonderful understanding of what design is and how powerful it can be to change things. I then did a graduate degree in graphic design from Yale. I returned to India in 1987 to set up Ray+Keshavan, the first professional design firm in the area of brand design.

Do you have any advice for anyone trying to break into the Indian creative industry?
I honestly think that this is one of the easiest industries to break into. The entry barriers to the creative industries are extraordinarily low. Unlike architecture or engineering, one does not need to have a qualification or to be certified by an association to become a designer. All one has to do is to focus on developing a strong portfolio of work. Again, the industry promotes a liberal non-hierarchical environment, and is most welcoming of newcomers. As India develops, there is huge opportunity for design so I would very much encourage young designers to break right in.

At Yale, I was fortunate to study with some great designers who have shaped design vocabulary and thinking in the 20th century. They included the legendary designer of Corporate Identity, Paul Rand; the gentleman designer Bradbury Thompson who redefined print, the iconic swiss teachers Armin Hoffmann and Wolfgang Weingart and the celebrated font designer Mathew Carter. They often presented divergent points of view, but what each of them did was to up the ante and inspire us to reflect more critically on our own work.

In particular, Paul Rand was hugely inspiring, and fostered my love of identity design. He was the most intelligent of my teachers, and I understood from him the importance of intelligence in design. Other great heroes of mine have been Andy Warhol and Alan Fletcher.

But above all else, the art and craft traditions of India are astonishing in their depth and breadth and continue to be an abiding source of inspiration.

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Sameer has been in advertising for 11 years now. From taking up a job without a contract to creating original work across 6 countries, he has come a long way. He is currently, as he likes to put it, ‘fabulously jobless’ since his last company Commonwealth, APAC went houdini on him. He keeps busy sauntering from one beach town to the next while waiting for a challenging, integrated role and dreaming of a multimillion dollar contract. He has worked in Mumbai, New Delhi and Kuala Lumpur.

Why are you into advertising?
I wasn’t smart enough to do anything else. With my modest performance through school, my mom knew it was best not to leave me to a more conventional future. Which back then used to be some form of medicine or engineering.
She took me to meet some of her friends working in advertising. The prospect of escaping math forever appealed to me. As soon as I enrolled in college, I fell in love with advertising. My mom had seen something in me I hadn’t. Thank god for making moms! And giving me an especially gifted one.

Tell us about your recent ad campaigns.
The last major project I worked on was for Chevrolet, South Korea. We shot in Seoul in -15 degrees. I swear, on the sets you had to repeatedly call for silence, cos you could hear the entire team’s bones clattering.
The clients involved were based in Shanghai, Seoul and Canada. So we used to have the craziest meetings trying to match time zones. 7am and 11:30pm video-cons were everyday to us. That’s what makes working in a regional hub exciting. It’s a crash course in global culture, it puts you out of your comfort zone and forces you to think of ideas that don’t need a passport to travel.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
Dave Droga. I call him Dave cos I wish to be on a first name basis with the man. What a powerhouse of talent.
There are many great philosophies, scientists, filmmakers, writers and books that continue to provide an ideal worth pursuing. However, there is danger in trying to be ‘like’ somebody.
Your ideals ultimately have to make you more of you. There is great merit in standing on the shoulders of giants, but stand on your own feet you must.
There is no joy in being the second Sachin, or the second Piyush. You must be the first you.
I think I have slipped into a meditative mode here. Which reminds me, why hasn’t my halo been delivered yet?

Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising?
I have been very lucky to work with some of the legends of our industry. Piyush Pandey, Sonal Dabral, Prathap Suthan, Rajeev Raja, Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, Bhupal Ramnathkar from the home turf.
And some South East Asia heavy weights like Adrian Miller, Edwin Leong, and Steve Hough who have won precious metal by the truck loads!
They have all inspired me and I have learnt much from them.
Some of my lesser known colleagues have even taught me a thing or two of what not to do in advertising. I must say, even that was precious learning.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
As with beauty, inspiration has got everything to do with the seer. It’s everywhere. You don’t need a TED talk, a speech by a tech genius or a thorough dressing down by your boss to feel motivated. Although, all of them work too.
Find a new adventure, a new experience everyday and you will never lack for inspiration. Or smiles.
Do you have any kind of a program to nurture and train young talent? 
Absolutely! Advertising has a great training program for people of all ages and experience levels. It’s called a ‘job’. Find yourself one and feel free to experiment all you want. Create something fascinating.
It’s your boss’s responsibility to make sure you don’t mess up big time and your responsibility to make sure your ideas shine. Give it your soul.

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. Are agencies ignoring released print?
You can’t bore someone into loving you. The problem with print is it has become exceptionally dull. In advertising, irrespective of the medium, you have to be interesting.
Sure, the game has changed. The focus is on integrated today. Print still has a part to play, but unfortunately it is overshadowed by other more exciting mediums. And it’s happening all over the world, not just India.
We certainly need to show some love to print. At the end of the day, it’s such a fun medium. That said, great print ads are being made even today. Pity they can’t be seen anywhere but award show blogs.

Pick and tell us about one of all your past campaigns, your personal favourite…
As with children, it is impossible to pick favourites.

Do you think brands that win advertising awards, do well in the market?
Certainly not if no one but the jury sees the advertising. My definition of great advertising is stuff that sells and brings home serious metal.

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
Your ideas and craft will get better with time. Till then let nothing stop you from outworking the best brain in your agency.
What is your dream project?
I want to build a car unlike any made before.

Mac or PC?
Really?

What’s on your iPod?
Dust and something that looks like a dead spider. My phone plays great music, don’t use my iPod anymore. Let that be a lesson for the pro new media evangelists out there. Technology comes and goes. Content still rules. Don’t make the mistake of putting technology before content. Tech used smartly is great.

The post Sameer Kochure: Interview with a Creative Director appeared first on desicreative.

A keen observer, a doer, and a humble guy at heart. His work reflects his ingenious ideas and lateral thinking. Even the smallest of jobs rolled out from his desk have a sense of sincerity and a sense of design. Apart from being his creative self he is also a team player and a leader, who supports his subordinates and teaches them every little bit he has learned over the years. There are very few people who have the gift and so willingly share it with others and Prasad is one of them.Working with him in a team is not only fun but also very gratifying. (I made my copy partner write this last part, haha!!)
Why are you into advertising?
I’ve always loved to think, read and ask questions in school. I used to discuss any subject, loved to argue and debate, loved to day dream, loved to observe the people around, loved to make stories, loved to draw and paint, so advertising was the closest where I could do all of this. So here I am today, doing what I wanted to and I am lucky to be also getting paid for it. So it’s been a great journey so far.
Although very few know that I wanted to be a lawyer when in school.

Did you attend school for fine art or design or communications?
Yes I did my Applied Arts from L.S.Raheja School of Arts, Bandra. But my real school were the teachers at Raheja, from whom I learnt the basics sans the syllabus. They were willing to answer my questions and I had a lot of questions then (even now I do). Those answers have built me brick by brick and they were the ones to shape my mind to get into business.

Tell us about your recent campaign?
1: My recent campaign is a footwear series for Mochi shoes, it’s a series in print which speaks about the awesomeness of the wearer and his or her actions. Awesome people are fun loving, whacky and crazy bunch of people who love to look beautiful in whatever they wear. They do things differently. Be it having a hairdo or reading a newspaper, they have their own way without being stupid.

2: My recent campaign is a print series for Swiss made watches, Swiss Eagle. The brief was to present the range of watches in India, so we thought of speaking about Swiss Precision that’s legendary. Swiss engineering, the swiss eagle eye and the bell were used as visual metaphors to compose these visuals. Loved working on this 3 ad series with my copy partner.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
My parents, my friends, my teachers have been my role models in life. In fact I have picked up something from everyone I have met. Goran Ivanisevic, the guy who used to serve only aces in tennis was my hero then, but this guy used to lose in the finals to either Andre Agassi or Pete Sampras. In cricket, I used to admire Rahul Dravid, he was a guy who worked like a wall but Sachin or Saurav used to score better and they took away the man of the match. One day Goran won Wimbledon, one day Dravid won the man of the match. That day I realised patience is very important in life. Skill and hard work will never go unnoticed.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in advertising?
I have grown up (in advertising) observing the works of Agnello Dias, Santosh Padhi, Manish Bhatt, Raghu Bhatt, Kapil Tammal, Akshay Kapnadak, PK Anil, Mahesh Parab, Denzil Machado, Preeti Nair, Niteesh Tiwari, (from India) and Dan Wieden, Alex Bogusky, Marcelo Serpa, David Droga, Eric Vervroegen, etc. ( can go on and on) So it’s hard to pick someone who has been most influential. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to work amidst Kapil and Akshay, although I didn’t work much with them, but still they were great guys to be around in my growing days. Rajneesh Ramakrishnan (Osho) was like a teacher more than my copy head, in fact I can say he was my teacher after school days. He had opinions and answers to everything in the world. Still miss his guidance. He was our Google

Where do you get your inspiration from?
From the people around. For me observation, is the key. You’ll see many TV commercials and campaigns coming from the finer nuances of life, from our experiences, from family bonding, from friends, from our work styles, from our lifestyles, from our reading, our learnings, etc. Inspiration is everywhere, (I know it sounds clichéd, but somewhere it’s true). Coming from India, we’ll never fall short of inspirations. Sometimes the biggest ideas can be the simplest, the smallest and most obvious, inspired from life.

Tell us something about Makani Creatives’ environment.
Makani is a place I have grown up with. I started with makanis, moved on to McCann and after my brief stint with McCann Erickson, I joined Makani again. It’s a place with great talent and the craze to do well in advertising. A place that doesn’t believe in Hierarchies and cubicles and cabins. We have a beautifully laid workplace, where we come to have fun and to do good work. (Preferably in the same order). At work we are a bunch of people almost in the same age bracket, so we love to compete for good work, we are all here to do well for us, for Makani Creatives. I hope this place does well in the years to come cos it’s a great place to be and work. Tell us about your first brief as an art director in the field of advertising. It was a Monday, and I was asked to sit with the brand head of a garment brand (since she had come to our office) for a new brief for their summer collection. Her brief was “summer collection hai, bright colours hai, we need to do a rocking campaign, need to make tags, labels, etc.” and in the next five seconds she was gone. That was when I said to myself “welcome to the real world Prasad”. That was when I realised why a brief is called a ‘brief’. A brief doesn’t last long

Do you think brands whose advertising wins awards do well in the market?
Definitely. Yes! I respect the business of communication that we are in. I respect awards too and they win it only because they are worth it. Nike, Cadbury, Perfetti, as clients have been doing wonders in the market, and agencies like Ogilvy,
JWT, McCann have been creating magic with these brands. Their work is real, it’s aspiring and brilliant too.

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
Work hard, put in your best every day. Don’t wait for ideas, work towards it. Learn to take rejections and denials in your stride, cos not all ideas are lucky to see the light of day. Opportunities are there, ideas are there, you never know when you bump into one. So, keep your eyes open, brains wide open and be ready to kill your own ideas.

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
No one from the advertising field. Because they’ll never land on time for it.

What’s on your ipod?
Sorry! I don’t have one. But I love listening to old tunes whenever I get that little time for myself. Right from Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey to KK and Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, I can spend hours listening to then if time permits.

Mac or PC?
I am happy with either one. Unless and until it functions properly.

The post Prasad Rao : Interview with an Art Director appeared first on desicreative.

Aneesh Jaisinghani, an Applied Arts graduate from Delhi College of Art, joined advertising in the year 2000 with a creative hot shop called Dhar & Hoon. He worked with agencies like Grey, Lintas, Bates, Cheil, Contract before becoming a part of Eleven. He likes to keep things simple and lives life by the philosophy- Be nice to people on your way up because you will meet them again on your way down!

Why are you into advertising?
Two reasons. First one- My mother was an artist with a very popular children’s magazine of the 80s called TARGET and then with Teens Today. I loved what she used to do and wanted to be an artist myself.
Second Reason: I did my one month summer training while I was still in college, with Leo Burnette (at that time, Chaitra Leo Burnette). There, I came across a man who used to walk into office at 2 in the afternoon, wore pink colored bermudas, sported a long white colored pony tail, yet used to call all the shots. He was the creative head of the agency. And I was convinced that that was the life I wanted for myself!

Tell us about your recent ad campaigns.
We did the launch campaign for SportsFit, MSD’s gym. It was quiet challenging as there are hundreds of gyms offering the same product. How do you differentiate yourself in the clutter. So we came up with the idea that a great body is not the one that just looks good but a great body is the one that is fit. So, STOP POSING. START PLAYING.
Also, we took up a public service initiative in association with the Delhi Police on the New Year’s Eve to curb accidental deaths caused by drunken driving. We designed paper bags (Bad News Bags) which had Newspaper headlines reporting deaths caused by drunk driving accidents. We distributed these bags to the alcohol vending shops in Delhi and Delhi NCR. The liquor vendor handed over the alcohol bottles to the consumers in the “Bad News Bags’. The ‘Bad News Bag’ served as a reminder to the consumer about the consequences of drunk driving. The activity was very successful and the number of accidents came down significantly.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
Not really.
Who was the most influential personality on your career in advertising?
I believe that every person that I have worked with in my career so far has influenced me in some way or the other. Having said that, I would take this opportunity to thank a few art people who I worked with and who truly inspired me- Arindam Sengupta, Abhinav Dhar (My bosses at Dhar & Hoon), Nitin Beri (my boss at Bates) and Viral Pandya (My boss at Grey and Cheil Worldwide).

Where do you get your inspiration from?
By looking at all the great work that is happening in our industry in our country and around the world.

Tell us about your biggest challenge as the creative director of Eleven Brandworks.
When you are a big network agency and have a plethora of clients, you can afford to take it easy on certain briefs/ clients. But since we are a growing and a young agency, every brief/client is very important and the biggest challenge is to keep the standards up whether it is a 30cc ad or a 60 sec commercial.

Tell us something about the agency environment. With such a large team, how does that affect individuality and creativity?
We are a team of about 15 people out of which 10 are officially in the creative department and the rest of them are creative in their own ways! So, we are not really a big team! There’s no hierarchy. We know each others’ strengths and weaknesses. And in the end it is just a matter of using every individual’s strength to create a great creative product.

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. Are agencies ignoring released print?
To my mind, print advertising has become a game of great executions. India also has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 5-6 years but we are still way behind our counterparts in Europe, South East Asia and America.
I won’t blame just the agencies for the quality of print but also clients who more often than not, believe that their consumers are not intelligent enough to understand the simplest of things. And, in the process of creating advertising for this so called ‘unintelligent consumer’ one ends up creating work that is too straight, too boring and as you said, simply sad!

Pick and tell us about one of all your past campaigns, your personal favourite…
There are many actually! I’ll pick two.
One was a print campaign for Nokia N93i with 8X zoom. This was created in 2008, I think, and while these did not even get a shortlist at Abbys, the same idea and execution, created by an international agency won at Cannes the same year!
The second was a ‘Thief’ film for Samsung Hero phone with mobile tracker. It was a simple idea that was executed beautifully by Rajesh Krishnan.

Do you think brands that win advertising awards, do well in the market?
Yes, why not! Vodaphone, Cadburys are great examples!

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
Don’t take advertising too seriously! Both, when you are creating it and when you are watching it!

Mac or PC?
Mac

What’s on your iPod?
Don’t have one!

The post Aneesh Jaisinghani – Creative Director and Partner at Eleven Brandworks appeared first on desicreative.

Titus Upputuru is National Creative Director, Dentsu Marcom. Based out of Dentsu India Group’s Headquarters in Gurgaon, he is a key member of the new leadership team at Dentsu India Group.

Prior to Dentsu, he worked with Ogilvy, New Delhi for over five years where he was responsible for key campaigns on Sprite’s Seedhi Baat, No Bakwaas, Hutch Dilli Half Marathon campaigns, KFC’s Institute of Lickonomics and Finger Lickin Good, Grasim Suitings’ Self Made campaign, Afghan Telecom’s Lets talk something new, among many other notable campaigns. At Ogilvy, he has won many major international and national awards including The One Show, the D&AD, Communication Art, The Abbys and also had his work published in Lurzer’s Archive. His print campaign for Afghan Telecom campaign has won the interest of the White House, U.S., where it’s exhibited. KFC’s Institute of Lickonomics campaign that he has done for its Indian retail chain has been globally adapted across 14,000 stores worldwide. 

 At Ogilvy, he had started the ‘Save the Word’ campaign, which got talked about across blogs and print media in countries including UK, New Zealand and the US. It was also featured in Campaign Brief Asia.

 Before Ogilvy, he worked with TBWA Delhi and Mumbai offices for five years where he produced path breaking for on Sony, Somany Tiles, Electrolux, Larsen & Toubro and Inalsa. His work on JCB Earth Moving Machines won him a New York Festival. Prior to TBWA, he worked with Grey and Publicis offices. 

 A post Graduate in English Literature, he has the distinction of being a gold medalist twice. 

 

The post Titus Upputuru : Interview appeared first on desicreative.

Pravin is a Senior Art Director with Leo Burnett, Kuala Lumpur.

A few words about yourself: This one is as challenging as doing a self-portrait. But this is what I’ve heard from my friends and colleagues that yes, I’m a simple person. Very passionate about my work and ?my profession. Some of my friends think that I’m a workaholic kind of guy, which is very right. ?I believe in being a good listener, I guess that’s a great way to grow.
With name and fame in advertising, there is one more thing which will keep following you every now and then and it’s called the STRESS. I keep the stress away, listening to music. I’m also addicted to the movies. Now days cooking is a new hobby of mine.

Why are you into Advertising?
Being random and spontaneous always works in advertising and it has worked for me as well in my life. After school, I took the admission in Parla College for further studies. I joined commerce. I realized I’m bad with numbers. I realized that this number game is not my cup of tea. At the same time, I use to look at my elder brother Mahesh Sutar, who is also from advertising. He used to work for the big agencies like Lintas, Network, and Mudra.
I use to look at his dedication and passion about advertising and I got even more charged up. ?I realized that there are more challenges, more excitement and there’s more satisfaction working in advertising compared to any other occupation. And I was right. Though I was contemplating between becoming a chef versus doing advertising. My eldest brother Kiran and my mother was the one who helped me clear the haze in front of me and I decided to follow what I liked the most.
Now I’m happier and satisfied when I see my ideas shaping up the brands.
Advertising helps you learn new things every day. Advertising is for people and about the people, that’s how you start learning the insights and human behaviors.
Advertising for art people is much more challenging, I feel. Now days, Art directors have to ?play a different role. Calling them art directors would be wrong. They are more than that.
The new age of advertising clearly has a touch of technology. So there is a need to adapt yourself digitally. When I say digitally I mean, the possibilities are endless in that craft.?At the same time its fun because you are creating something different from the usual stuff.

Did you attend school for fine art or design or Communications?
I was always fascinated by the paintings done by my father Mr. Vilas G Sutar. He was a great artist. My father was known as S. Vilas and was very well known for his mythological paintings. ?I used to get amazed by seeing the passion and the dedication of my father and my elder brother Mahesh towards their profession.
So these people are the main reason because of whom I convinced myself to go to the art school.
So quickly I made up my mind and took the admission in the art school. It was a five years course. I did my Diploma In Applied Arts from Raheja School Of Arts, Bandra.
But I believe the learning is still not over yet.

Tell us something  about your most recent campaign?
My recent campaign was for Samsung Galaxy Grand. Another brilliant product from Samsung. ?Which comes with a bigger screen. So the idea was very simple. ?The idea was “See The Bigger Picture.” We really had fun when we were writing the scripts. There were plenty of ideas. It was difficult for us when we had to freeze on one idea. We somehow managed to seal one idea, which our client also appreciated. We went ahead and shot the TVC and we got a good response to it. Its not only the creative team that is responsible for good creative, but I believe you need to have an understanding client with you.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
Yes. There were lots. As I mentioned earlier any person who brought the change for the human kind and the one who really changed the game are my role models. And that list will just go on.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising?
As I said it all began with my father Vilas G Sutar. After that when I started strolling in the creative land I came across the great minds of the advertising. I read about the legends and game changers of the advertising business. And I really respect all of them. So I think its unfair to name one particular person. For me any creative person with great potential to give a different perspective on advertising is an influential personality.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
My inspiration is always been around me. Everywhere I see it. I like to observe it and ?study it. All I need to do is keep my eyes open. My inspiration is nothing but the “PEOPLE” around me. The hawker, the rich man, the poor man, criminal, young, old, boy, girl, dogs, birds, etc… I think calling them “people” would be wrong. For me they are stories.
They are the source for the insights. Their behaviors are the key ingredients to make your idea stronger and bigger. I believe that’s the ultimate soul of the “IDEA”.

Tell us something about Leo Burnett, Kuala Lumpur environment.
When I accepted the job from Leo Burnett, Malaysia, I was really skeptical about my decision ?of moving from Mumbai to Malaysia. I was bit worried about the culture, people and lots of other things. I was confused yet very excited. I use to think how am going to survive over there. But, I really want to thank, my friend Tejali Shete who really helped me gather my courage. She really pumped up my confidence.
Leo Burnett, Malaysia is a place where you look around and you will find that the pure talent and the people full of skills surround you. It’s a place, which has the stronger foundation of Yasmin Ahmad’s values. It’s a place that has been driven by the pure passion of Eric Cruz. He has added a new edge and a dimension to this organization. There is a lot to learn from him. People like Iska Hashim (Creative Director) are the real boost up for any creative people.
I’ve been able to learn a lot with people around me in LB.

Tell us about your 1st brief as an art director in the field of advertising.
I started as a trainee in FCB Ulka. After completing 2 years in Ulka, I got an offer from Everest advertising. They wanted me to join the agency really quick but I was serving my notice period in Ulka. One fine day, my creative director from Everest called me and told me that we need to do one campaign for the pitch and we are running out of time and we have to deliver it. Being a junior guy it was difficult for me to say no to him. I was scared and confused.
So finally I told him to brief me. As a junior art guy I only use to get briefed on leaflets, brochures, and stickers. But I got charged up when I got briefed on the print campaign. My excitement was multiplied when I heard that its car brand. I got excited so much that I spent my entire night thinking about the ideas and the execution on that brief.
Next morning I woke up early and went with my ideas and execution to meet my new creative director. He was very happy to see some new directions and thinking coming from a junior art guy. He gave me some very encouraging talk and I felt very confident after that. As a junior person, for me that entire episode was very adventures.

Do you think brands who’s advertising wins awards, do well in the market?
Sometimes they do. I strongly believe that awards are a form of reward for winning the hearts of consumers.

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
On my journey of advertising I have noticed one thing, which hurts me a lot. That is, some creative people think, just because they are “creative” we are special and they tend to loose respect for others. They need to understand that ideas come from anywhere and from anybody. So earning respect from your client and from the people around you is the key.?Another thing, which is missing now days is the patience. I understand it’s a fast world but patience will plays a major role. The key Mantra is “Never Say Die.”

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
Each person has a different way to look at life. That’s why I would defiantly want to go out with random people. Strictly no no to any person from the advertising background. Because I feel the stories, which comes from the ad person, are very structured and composed or else it will revolve around the advertising world.
What’s on your iPod?
My music, and the pictures of my loved ones. For me that’s the ultimate stress buster.?The notes to write the ideas and poems.

Mac or PC?
Mac always.

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Anantha Narayan is a Mining Engineer turned XLRI Grad turned light bulb salesman turned account executive turned copywriter turned blogger turned short film maker turned columnist turned word-minter turned Facebook junkie turned Delhi Daredevils supporter. In his free time, he runs the Republic of Anantha, doubles up as Creative Director of 1pointsize, plays Chief Devil at Lucifer Labs and lends a hand in steering Albert Dali Naming Consultants.

Why are you into advertising?
It’s the only field that views restlessness as kinetic energy, laziness as potential energy, lack of diplomatic finesse as honesty, bad dress sense as irreverence, and sense of humor as creativity. For a chap like me who has a healthy disdain for hierarchy and the rat race, it feels like home.

Tell us about your recent ad campaigns.
Chennai is probably the toughest market for a creative person in India. Out here, there are way too many talented people chasing brands that rarely believe in doing good work. So for creative jollies, one has to look beyond Chennai. At 1pointsize, we work on a wonderful brand called Stori. It’s based out of Bangalore. To launch their new line of full cotton clothing, we arrived at the theme ‘Supernatural cottons’. The accent was on the supernatural. The print campaign featured supernatural beings flipping for the Stori man. If you’ve seen the kind of apparel work that gets released these days, I would classify the new Stori campaign as stand-out work. Another campaign that was deeply fulfilling was our un-real estate way of launching Akshaya Today. The campaign created a record of sorts by selling 1000 apartments in 3 days. In my view, the Akshaya Today work should easily rank as the most effective campaign we’ve created in recent times.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
When you’re not the sharpest kid at home, you do look up to your siblings. That said, my mom and dad are my biggest role models. My mom for her ceaseless creativity in whatever she does. And dad for staying humble and pure, no matter how high he rose.

Ivan Lendl used to be my childhood hero for his epic dismissal of Wimbledon with his ‘Grass is for cows’ statement. Like all Tamilians, I used to adore Rajnikant for starting as a bus conductor and ending up as the giga mega super star of the multiverse. When I became a copywriter, I became a fan of David Ogilvy – not for his writing style but for entering advertising at the ripe old age of 38 and become its best known icon.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in advertising?
I had the fortune of working with four giants who proudly chose to work in South India:

Rajesh Ramaswamy (Ex-ECD, McCann-Erickson South): The man who gave me my first job as a writer. The effortless ease with which he spouts ideas and the supreme elegance of his prose is the benchmark for so many of us, down South.

Sharad Haksar (CEO, 1pointsize): His ability to solve complex advertising problems with a strikingly simple visual, his intuitive marketing genius, his ballsiness and relentless reinvention of self, has often left me in total awe.

CP Sajith (My art partner for 13 years): He taught me the power of typography and the class that art direction can bring to the table. He was the first demonstrate to me that it’s possible to do inspiring work sitting in Chennai.

Thomas Xavier (the Seer of Orchard): I haven’t seen a higher mind in advertising in India. In my view, he should be THE thought leader of our industry. Deftness in cracking the communication strategy, translating the concept into a beautiful advertising idea and expressing it with anecdotal brilliance are a few things one learnt from dear Thomas.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
I don’t know. I think there must be some thoughtmosphere out there. All of us just download ideas from that realm. And pretend that we came up with it.

Tell us about your biggest challenge as the creative director of 1pointsize.
Like I said, Chennai is the not the best of places for a creative soul. Everyone wants bread and butter advertising. No one wants the wine and cheese. In such a constricting creative environment, it’s difficult to keep the faith. Even more testing, is the challenge of finding, grooming and retaining talent. Big ad agencies have abandoned the task of talent management. So smaller agencies like 1pointsize have to bear the cross. Given these constraints, producing work of international caliber, year on year, is a mighty challenge. We’ve been managing fine for 11 years now.

Tell us something about the agency environment. With such a large team, how does that affect individuality and creativity?
Correction. We’re not at all large. 1pointsize is small by definition and design. We’ve willingly opted to keep it that way because we wish to enjoy what we do. The bigger you grow, the more diffused you get and you become one more factory. 1pointsize has never been a factory. Never will.

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. Are agencies ignoring released print?
There was a time when people used to collect print ads in India. I doubt if it’s happening now. What we see all around us in newspapers and magazines is lazy advertising that no one reads or remembers. Clients and advertising business heads have to take the blame for this mess. The obsession for creating stock photo led template ads has to stop if we have to change the game. If you don’t have the moneys for a shoot, for god’s sake try illustrations, typography, long copy or just a good old sparkling headline-led campaign. Instead, all that is dished out is wallpaper.

Tell us something about Albert Dali naming consultants.
Albert Dali Naming Consultants is a venture founded by PC Muralidharan and me. To my knowledge it’s the only homegrown end-to-end naming company in India. From pins to planes, and pets to planets, we have the skill sets and tie-ups in place to name anything in any language. We truly believe that a name is the shortest story of the brand. Thankfully for us, many start-ups, and even MNCs have bought into our thinking. We have the largest players in switches, cigarettes and information technology working with us. It can only get better from here as naming is huge abroad. In India, we’ve just scratched the surface.

Pick and tell us about one of all your past campaigns, your personal favourite…
One advantage of being in a small agency that’s finicky about its work is you get to do a lot of fun stuff. Good stuff. Instead of picking one favourite, I’d choose three: the Stori ‘Clothes with a twist’ campaign that continues till date, the Perri Alley ‘Leaves’ campaign and the category-defining work we did for Beissel sewing machine needles.

Do you think brands that win advertising awards, do well in the market?
For all those gentlemen, who somehow seem ashamed of winning awards, and tar genuine ideas-based work with the silly label of ‘scam ads’, here’s news for you: 1pointsize has built truckloads of small brands with award-winning advertising. We’ve done this for 11 years now sitting in godforsaken Chennai. Each of the brands that we’ve helped build are now leaders in their own right in their market of operation. They would never have reached that destination without their desire to create award winning advertising.

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
Never listen to a word of advice. Find your own mantra.

Mac or pc?
Mac is for the verbally challenged. PC, any day!

What’s on your iPod?
The Sound of Silence.

The post Interview with Anantha Narayan – Creative Director, 1pointsize appeared first on desicreative.

Abhinav is a crazy person when it comes to his passions which include art, visiting new places and looking at the world through his illustrations and art.

Why are you an Illustrator?
I started out with fine arts and found out that I love illustrating as well. There was no clear cut transition but I feel that my grounding in fine arts has helped me with my illustrations.

Did you attend school for fine art or design?
I studied fine arts at Raheja School of Art.

You have a distinct style of illustration. How long did it take you to develop your style?
There is no specific timeline that I took to develop my style and I don’t believe in different styles but I believe that all styles are ingrained from the basic fundamental shapes.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
My class teacher Balaji Bhange was a great influence and a role model while I was growing up.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in Illustrations?
There have been influences but what I really feel is that each and every artist that I come across has his own style and every one of them has something new and amazing that I can learn from.

Are many advertising agencies getting illustrations made these days? Do you work more with agencies or publishers?
I mostly work with advertising agencies like Maccann and Grey doing illustrations for them.

What made you decide to become a freelance illustrator? When did you start freelancing? Do you illustrate for advertising? Are many advertising agencies getting illustrations made these days? Do you work more with agencies or publishers?
It was not a fixed decision, I generally drifted towards freelancing because it gave me the freedom to choose the kind of work I want to do. I have been freelancing for the last 5 years now.

Was there any time when you wanted to quit Illustrations?
I love illustrating too much to ever think that, so my answer is no never.

Have you considered turning your illustrations into graphic novels?
Yes I have thought about that I think I would enjoy doing it. But for now I am concentrating on illustrations. If one day I wake up and think that I want to do a graphic novel then I’ll do it and I will enjoy doing it.

Any other Indian Illustrators who you admire?
Arnaylay Chinchpure and Vikrant Bhise are two personalities that I admire a lot and both have influenced me greatly in my illustrations.

Tell us something of your personal projects.
My personal projects right now include a mix of photography and illustrations based on everyday life.

What is your dream project?
My dream project would be to travel all over India capturing the different facets and cultures of India, the real India.

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
Someone I can enjoy talking to.

What’s on your iPod?
I don’t own a iPod.

Mac or PC?
PC.

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