Hasta La Creative!

“I am a professional copywriter by day and an amateur masked vigilante by night. In the time that I find between the two, I write sports articles for various publications and poetry for no one in particular. I live in Mumbai, just above the poverty line.”

?Why are you into Advertising?
Low self esteem and a lower attention span. Joking. What brought me here? Don’t know actually. I wanted to be in advertising because it sounded cool, I guess. I didn’t know too much of what my plans were then, when I joined it. Heck, I was a servicing person for a little time before switching over to copy.

?Did you attend school for fine art or design or Communications?
I did my PGDBA in Communications, which it turns out, was a waste. Could’ve hung around as an intern for those 2 years in an agency, and still picked up more about advertising, than any course.

?Tell us something about your recent work?
A print ad for the Times Classifieds, and a film for TOI Chennai.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising?
There are many. My first bosses when I joined the creative department of JWT- two rockstar gentlemen by the names of Vispy and Debu. Two of the nicest bosses anyone could ask for. Vispy’s style was to coax you into bettering yourself. ‘Write, my friend, write. And you will get better’, he’d say. Debu used to say ‘Mooh main petrol daal aur g****d ke neeche lighter rakh, dekh kaise ideas aate hain’. Contrasting ideals, but both work.
Two other guys named who I worked with later in JWT – Ram and Sandy. They were more of friends, than ‘superiors’. They turned the fan off when shit was about to hit it. Or at least bought me beer if all else failed.
And lastly, Aggi and Paddy. They have the experience of NCDs and the enthusiasm of an intern. Even now, if you were to give them a boring brief with 15 minutes to go, they won’t just make it work. They’ll make it sing.

?Where do you get your inspiration from?
I want to say a bunch of cool stuff here, like everyday life, or the books I read, or the people I talk to, but I’m not entirely sure that’s the case. The truth is, I don’t know where my inspiration comes from. Because if I did, I’d have unreasonable expectations of it to keep feeding me everytime. Although, when all else fails, I look for inspiration at the bottom of an Old Monk bottle. I think it works. Anyone who’s seen my work after that, disagrees.

?Tell us something about the Taproot environment.
Let me tell you something about what sort of people working at Taproot. If you leave Aggi, Paddy and Manan(the Servicing Head)aside , I am the oldest at Taproot. And I’m only 27. So the environment is exactly what it should be when you put a few 20 odd year olds in the same place. More keedas than qualms. More daring than doubting. More ‘F*** Yourself’, less ‘Yours truly’.

Tell us about your 1st work as a copywriter in the field of advertising
My first campaign in Advertising was for PCRA Petroleum Conservation Research Association of India. I thought it was a depressing brief until the servicing person told me that Alyque Padamsee was a consultant with them and would be seeing the work. I worked my ass off, got a campaign approved and proudly stood in front of him, in a room full of 20 people. This was my moment. I thrust the layouts in his face. He paused mid-sentence and saw them, muttered an ‘All Right’, and continued talking. I quietly left the room. And removed his name from my will that day.

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?
I genuinely think the situation would be better if two things happened:
If clients understood that print advertising, or any advertising for that matter, is not about salesmanship anymore, it’s about entertainment.
Everyone’s a thinker. Everyone’s creative. But writers need to know how to write. It doesn’t have to be prose, it doesn’t have to be poetry, but enough to string an argument.

Do you think brands who’s advertising wins awards, do well in the market?
Not many. In fact, very few do. But the ones that do, give us hope. The Old Spice Campaign abroad. The Times of India does it here. As does Vodafone. And hopefully, it will get better.

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
Deadlines are like women. You may not understand them, but you have to accept them. And do your best.

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
Someone who foots the bill.

What’s on your iPod?
Don’t have one. But the Winamp on my computer (Yes, I still use it), has a liberal spread of Pearl Jam, White Stripes, Green Day, Bob Dylan, U2, etc.

Your upcoming campaigns if any?
A bunch of web films that we’re doing for Airtel. Shot with low budgets and high expectations. I hope they work.

Mac or PC?
I have a PC. But prefer a Mac. It makes me look arty.