Hasta La Creative!

We had an interview with you 10 years ago, when you were at Ogilvy. You also worked at Meta…Now you run your own outfit Nash8. Tell us about this Journey.
Since we last spoke a decade ago, the journey forward has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. The evolution from being an Art Director to running my own venture has been truly incredible. Starting from traditional advertising with pit stops at W+K, Grey Singapore and Meta, it has been a journey of self exploration and growth, both professionally and personally.

With my multidisciplinary outlook: around 10 years in advertising, brand building and design combined with my last 6 year stint at Meta where I explored the world of mobile first storytelling and technology, it only made sense to bring all these learnings together under one roof and set up my own shop. Enter Nash8.

What made you start your own entrepreneurial journey?
Growing up is about having more freedom to do what you really want to do and do it your way. I always thought of setting up a space that nurtures creativity with a new age outlook. Nash8 is a place where like minded folks hang out and create something that transcends conventional communication. The idea is to foster creativity and partner with like minded folks, and ultimately solve business problems.

What is the 8 in Nash8?
It is my digital avatar.

What was your typical work like, at Meta?
As part of Meta’s Creative Shop (in-house global creative org partnering with top advertisers and agencies) my role was to inspire and push the Indian industry towards mobile-first storytelling.

From democratising the gateway to Metaverse – Augmented Reality, to creating meaningful conversations on Whatsapp & Messenger, to unlocking personalisation at scale using geo-targeting, to helping launch IG stories & Reels for brands, my work focused on connecting brands and people in meaningful ways while generating business results.

During these 6 years I partnered with tons of creators, innovators, gamers, influencers, directors, bot makers from across the globe for almost all categories of Meta’s top advertisers. Many of my projects for Amazon Prime, Flipkart, Eno, Vivo, Hyundai, Vodafone Idea etc. became case studies that redefined BLS benchmarks and also received accolades at Webby, Effies, Abbys, Indian Digital Marketing Awards etc.

What does Nash8 do that is different from a typical advertising/brand building agency?
We prefer the word ‘studio’ to ‘agency’ as it gives us more flexibility and freedom. There are lots of overlaps between what we do and what a digital advertising agency or a brand building agency does but that is not all.

‘Digital’ has been sometimes confused with or restricted to either optimisation/performance assets or campaigns that get stuck in social jail: where content is created to get likes and engagement only, ignoring the full potential of the platform or hoping that adapting a 16:9 TVC into 1:1 will suddenly make it work for Instagram. We don’t do that. We want to demonstrate how digital media can actually help build brands in a very strategic manner. This includes a big idea backed up by platform insights and consumer behaviour, supported by the right craft and tech resulting in measurable metrics.

In terms of ways of working, we are experimenting with a dynamic model where we remove multiple layers between clients and the core team, aiming to build a more efficient system. We also have flexible engagement models: depending on the client’s needs our engagement model varies.

In our first 6 months we are proud to have shipped a diverse set of work ranging from creating exclusive wallpapers for Whatsapp Global, Instagram AR filter for Airtel (collab with Ronin Labs), Whatsapp Sticker packs, brand consultancy, helping startups find an identity in the digital world, branding design and our favourite: full fledged digital campaigns. A lot more is in the pipeline.

You are a multidisciplinary artist. What are your mediums? We would love if you could share some of your work here with us.
I am not married to a medium, instead I choose a medium that best suits the concept. It may vary from walls to public spaces to digital to paper to old photographs to the conventional ones like acrylic and charcoal.

From wall art at Khidki Street Art Festival to painting an auto rickshaw in Delhi (got me a guest appearance on Netflix’s show ‘The Creative Indians’) to holding calligraphy workshops at Terra Gallery, San Francisco to building a huge community of Urdu language and poetry lovers @ishqurdu to experimental filmmaking, I have explored it all. And all of this has helped enrich my experiences and helped me grow as a creative person.

Do you hold exhibitions for all the art you create?
I have been part of a few group exhibitions and have been planning to do a solo show but it seems like Nash8 won’t give me enough breather to do all that anytime soon.

Do you feel more free as a creative strategist than a Creative Director in traditional advertising? We would love to hear you talk about the differences.
To be fair, a creative strategist at Meta can not be compared with a CD of a traditional advertising agency as both profiles and setups are very different.

As a creative strategist in a tech company I had the freedom and technical support to create a chat bot while as a creative director I can only sell the idea of a chat bot. As a creative strategist I could get my hands on Beta products like AR tools and other new products before public release. As a CD in a traditional setup I am occupied more with day to day challenges of a brand and usually not diving deep into tech.

However, as the industry is evolving the boundaries between different creative roles are blurring and every creative person has to wear multiple hats to solve new challenges of this overly complex digital age.

What motivates you?
The hunger to solve complex problems. Bigger the challenge, bigger the joy of creation, bigger the motivation.

Tell us something about Nash8 Creative Studio work environment. What is your vision for Nash8?
At Nash8, we believe in radical simplicity. Following the functional idea of business minimalism, we are focussing on becoming better rather than growing bigger.
The approach is to build a new age creative ecosystem that helps position brands in the digital age with the right strategy and with measurable business outcomes.

We are a lean team working closely with each other and with the clients. We also have a diverse set of collaborators ranging from tech developers to artists, writers, game builders, entertainment specialists to support brands on their digital journey.

We have just started (literally 5 months old) and are very excited about the journey ahead.

How do you get new clients? Do you pitch often?
We work with like minded partners with a certain vision who trust us to give us enough creative freedom. Also, 15 years in the industry working at top organisations gets one some leverage : )

What part of your work do you find most exciting?
Being a founder & Creative Director, I deal with different aspects of work from managing new businesses to creative thought leadership. What I find the most exciting is solving challenging business problems through creative thinking and crafting the hell out of it.

What are you listening to right now (Podcasts/Spotify)?
Yann Tiersen.

What books are you reading right now? Which show?

The Law of Mentalism: A Victor Segno
Immortality: Milan Kundera
Films of Bela Tarr (don’t have the luxury of binge watching)