Hasta La Creative!

My name is Rajeev Basu. I live and work in London. I work across advertising, design and products. I’ve worked at Fallon London and The Brooklyn Brothers. And currently work for Saint London.

Why are you into Advertising?
I like being creative. I like the idea that you might come up with something that no-one else has ever thought of. And how it might take shape as a piece of film. Or a book. Or a product. Or sometimes even as a piece of advertising.

You went to study Economics at University. What made you come to work in advertising?
Advertising allows me to laugh just as much in the week as I do at the weekend.

Tell us something about the work and creative atmosphere at Fallon and Saint…
We were lucky to be at Fallon when it was the place to be. Cadbury Gorilla was taking off, and the place was buzzing. It was amazing. I think it was one of those rare times when it was all the right people at the right place at the right time.

I like Saint London a lot. We started here when it was really small. About 20 people or so.  It’s nice because it’s a lot more hands on. And we get to work on pretty much everything. We recently did this title sequence for the Virgin London Marathon. We used a cool animator from Philadelphia called Andy Rementer. Love his style. Think these turned out pretty neat…

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
My dad. He is the smartest person I know. My mum. She is the most selfless person I know.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising?
Tony Cullingham at Watford copywriting school. You cannot describe this man in words. He has shaped so many of the most brilliant creatives around the world it’s scary. He is brilliant. And I feel privileged…

Where do you get your inspiration from?
I like funny stuff. I read and watch a lot of comedy. I like The Simpsons, Futurama… tv shows like The IT Crowd, Black Books and Father Ted. Oh, and I like the film ‘Man on the Moon’ too (it’s a film about a comedian ahead of his time).

Tell us something about your Rat Table project. What spurred this amazing thought?
I do a lot of independent projects outside of work. Rat Table is the biggest and most well known. It’s a sculpture. It’s a table that will be made entirely by rats. You can get all the info and see pictures on my site here. It’s an ongoing project. If you’d like to see how we get on, and see whether a huge number of rats can turn a big solid block of wood into a table – join the facebook group…

I’ve also recently launched my first product called Impossible Lamp. It’s a lamp made of wax that works without melting. You can read more about it here…

Do you get to see some of the advertising being created in India? Anything in particular that you remember?
I still remember the Levi’s stickmen press ads that came out of India years ago. I think I saw them at the Young Guns show here in the UK.

Do you think brands whose advertising wins awards, do well in the market?
I think where awards are rewarding creativity that has demonstrated that it was genuinely effective are good.

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
It’s better to be different, wrong and irrelevant than to be boring.
Go with your gut.

Mac or PC?
Mac.

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

What’s on your iPod?
I don’t own one.

Rajeev can be contacted via his website here