Hasta La Creative!

I love the sea. It calms me. And I am often in need of calming – seeing as I go about for the most part of my life, excited, dramatic and impusive. I am a seeker. Whether it is a spiritual quest or one to find the perfect balance between science and design, I am always asking questions. On a separate note, my friends also say I am a space cadet.

I work as an Associate Creative Director with DDB Mudra.

Why are you into Advertising?
It seems to be the only place where there’s freedom to come up with almost any idea across any medium and watch it come to life while it solves a problem, makes something easier to do, changes perception, enlightens or just entertains.

Did you attend school for fine art or design or Communications?
I didn’t go to art school, but I’ve always been inclined towards design, art and creating things since I was in school. After two years of science, I studied BMM (bachelor of mass media), explored cinematography for a year and then felt at home once I started working in the creative department in advertising. I’d say my school was training in JWT for a few months and then my time in Ogilvy. There’s so much to learn that I’d say I’m still in school.

Tell us about a recent campaign you worked on?
Here’s a little bit about The Hinglish Project created with the DDB Mudra Group.

More than 5.7 million tourists visit India every year. They’re faced with a million signs everywhere, most of which are in Hindi. I wanted to demystify it and have fun while doing so. And so I designed a typeface. The Hinglish Font. A typeface that would make Hindi less intimidating and more friendly.

Through this unique fusion-font design, you can tell the phonetic sound of a Hindi character by looking at the corresponding English alphabet superimposed on it. While this font cannot teach you how to read words as they are spelt in Hindi, it demystifies individual letters.

Despite the superficial distinctiveness of English and Hindi, the two borrow from the same phonetic pool – the Indo-European group of languages. This type design playfully highlights these commonalities. To quote a now-popular phrase, “We’re same same, but different!”

We created a website, www.thehinglishproject.com, you can type whatever you want in the Hinglish font and share it with your friends. You can also download the entire font here for free. The sound aid gives you the corresponding phonetic sound of the alphabet you type and you can explore colour combinations too.We also created a quickflick book for easy reference. And a series of cool merchandise that was given away at places frequented by foreigners that can all be viewed on the website as well.

The novelty of the idea has got an overwhelming response from around the world.

Fan mails are still pouring in from across the globe by foreigners who visited India or are residing here or who plan to visit india.The Indians love it too. We have a lot of requests for merchandise. And a few Design Schools from across the world want to make it part of their curriculum to teach design and language scripts. There have also been enquiries from people asking if they could use the font to brand their restaurants and companies.There have been several articles in the media across tv, press, and the web. We have also had enquires from other countries about using the same concept to create a similar experience across other languages.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
There’ve been loads of influences at every stage and they’ve kept changing. Some, I may even be unaware of! So many people whose work I follow makes me itch to do something fresh. I’ve always admired people who’ve done breakthrough innovations and changed the way the world looks at a concept and also product innovators and inventors. That’s where I want to be!

Who was the most influential personality on your career inAdvertising?
There´ve been many but i was lucky to learn a lot from Rajiv Rao in the three and a half years i was in Ogilvy. But i think i´ve also been influenced at every step of my career by Amit Akali, Malvika Mehra, Keegan Pinto, Elizabeth Dias, Sajan Raj Kurup, Anu Joseph, Venkatgiri Rao, Louella Rebello to name a few.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
Everywhere. Books, blogs, websites, all the fantastic creative people around me, random conversations, movies, backpacking, ideas that happen when I’m half asleep, epiphanies, my parents and a lot from my spirtual teachers and experience.

Do you have any kind of a program to nurture and train youngtalent? What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
I think a young creative should know that firstly its ok to experiment and be interested in too many things at the same time and most creative people are. But it’s also important to pick something and channelize all your energy and love into learning about it and creating fresh work within that at some point. I’d say speak to as many people whose work you love. When you see a piece of creative that you like, observe and understand why you like it. Keep up with new creative work across media and hang out with people outside of the media world too!

Tell us something about the Mudra environment.
There’s so much talent and energy at DDB Mudra- come visit us and see for yourself! Its an organization with a big heart that always supports potentially good ideas from the beginning to the end.

Pick and tell us about one of all your past campaigns, your personal favourite…
Although I did it a couple of years ago when I was with Ogilvy, I still like the HSBC swimming pool installation, which also went viral. HSBC wanted to increase awareness of their website about global warming solutions as they are the worlds first carbon neutral bank. We glued an aerial view of a city to the base of a swimming pool. Consecutively shocked swimmers and onlookers witnessed how global warming could destroy our world someday.

Tell us about your experience at Cannes 2012, and your recent success at Cannes on winning gold for ‘The Hinglish Project’
This was my first year of attending Cannes and what an experience! Meeting and hanging out with creative people from various parts of the world, hearing some great minds speak, seeing some of the best new work and meeting the brains behind it, swimming in the blueness of the Mediterranean, the beaches, the pretty town, the parties and the best of course – winning the gold and going up on stage to pick it up with the DDB team was an ecstatic moment!

Do you think brands whose advertising wins awards, do well in the market?
To create advertising that’s refreshing, original, loved by the people who it’s meant for and does well for the brand is ideal and rare and there are a few brands in India who’ve achieved it. Ideally, every brand has the potential if the creatives and their clients aim for that and see eye to eye but with so many other variables in play that doesn’t always happen.

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
Oooh. Rushdie. Aamir Khan. Steve Toltz. Dan Weiden. Bill Waterson.

What’s on your iPod?
It’s a range as wide as my mood swings. A lot of rock, alternative rock, folk, folk-rock, easy listening, punk, house, classical, belly dancing, electro, ambient, oldies, soul, progressive house, breakbeat, the blues which I’ve started loving lately, techno pop, dance, hip hop, rap, bollywood of course, some 70’s French music too.

Mac or PC?
Mac anyday.

The Juicy Mango Surprise Project  & Frooti Film Campaign