 "When ad-preneurs break free")
Abhijit Avasthi quitting Ogilvy (O&M) was a news that sent shockwaves through the Indian advertising circuit last week. In his 15-year, successful stint with O&M, he has been associated with some of the best works like those on Fevicol, Asian Paints, Cadbury and more recently, headed the Google Renunion campaign team. 'Kinu', as he is fondly known, has resigned after growing to be a co-NCD (National Creative Director) at O&M. He has expressed his desire to create something of his own, work that is far more related to the culture and observations he has made on life and people, things that he always wanted to do and that pushes him more towards self-actualisation.
By quitting a job at the peak, in which he had settled in, Abhijit has joined the swelling list of ad folks who are treading a similar path. This trend serves a testimony to the younger generation being far more confident to express themselves and pursue what they want to really do.
In other arenas, we have seen a lot of individuals come out of large companies and start their own ventures. We have the likes of the Bansals who quit Amazon to start Flipkart, Jan Koum and Brian Acton who quit Yahoo and founded Whatsapp. We have even seen young students, just out of the best institutes, deny fat-salaried jobs for entrepreneurial ventures on the rise.
In the advertising world, too, four 19-year-olds from Mumbai started a digital marketing agency, Foxymoron, while still in college, with just Rs 64,000. Today it is a Rs 15-crore company and a leading independent digital agencies.
It is hard to bind creative people for long, and when matched with the restlessness of this generation, we see this trend clearly gaining roots in the ad world, too. I will do a top-of-mind recall to highlight some instances - Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi (Aggie-Paddy), bit by the entrepreneurial bug, started Taproot at the peak of their careers. Aggie quit as the NCD of JWT and Paddy as the national head and creative director at Leo Burnett. I knew Aggie did not want to belong to a large agency for long, he always wanted to have his own agenda and have the freedom to follow it, without going through a hierarchy. Taproot turned into one of the country's best agencies, with the founders' insights leading to immensely popular campaigns like Airtel's 'Har ek friend zaroori hota hai' (each one of our friends are needed) and 'Joh tera hai who mera hai' (What is yours, is mine too), the Mumbai Mirror's 'I am Mumbai' campaign, Pepsi's 'Change the Game' etc. Dentsu, when it finally acquired Taproot, had to convey that the entrepreneurial spirit would be left untouched.
Sajan Raj Kurup started Creativeland Asia after successful stints with the best agencies, winning multiple awards. Today the agency that he started in 2007, has been rated as among the world's top independent agencies, creating campaigns like the world's first fully-integrated 3D campaign for Audi and my favourite, the MTS 'Born for the Internet' ad, among other clutter-breaking work.
Rajiv Raja left behind his two-decade-long advertising career, ending as the NCD at DBB Mudra, to start a sonic branding company called BrandMusiq, which uses music as a part of the brand experience. Rajiv combined his passion for music (he is a well-known flautist), and advertising experience for his innovative venture.
B Ramnathkar, one of the most celebrated art directors and creative directors in advertising, started Umbrella Design after he left his job at Bates. His company is at the forefront of design companies in the country today. Veteran Lynn de Souza left the prestigious position of chairperson and CEO at Lintas Media Group to start Social Access in order to bridge the gap between corporate and non-profit sectors through effective communication and instigate social change.
Freedom has allowed these people to express what they are good at and do it on their own terms. The trend has picked up in the last five-six years and it is heartening to see most of them flourish.
It helps that most advertising people live a double life (as Alyque Padamsee's book title). Many find their catharsis outside to keep the freedom of expression alive. Prasoon Joshi and Piyush Pandey, for example, write poetry, Balki and Nitesh Tiwari make films, my second life is that of a painter, Alyque does theatre and Abhijit is interested in music and social observations. Here's kudos to Kinu, the entrepreneur, and wishing him all the best for his new venture.
By quitting a job at the peak, in which he had settled in, Abhijit has joined the swelling list of ad folks who are treading a similar path. This trend serves a testimony to the younger generation being far more confident to express themselves and pursue what they want to really do.
In other arenas, we have seen a lot of individuals come out of large companies and start their own ventures. We have the likes of the Bansals who quit Amazon to start Flipkart, Jan Koum and Brian Acton who quit Yahoo and founded Whatsapp. We have even seen young students, just out of the best institutes, deny fat-salaried jobs for entrepreneurial ventures on the rise.
In the advertising world, too, four 19-year-olds from Mumbai started a digital marketing agency, Foxymoron, while still in college, with just Rs 64,000. Today it is a Rs 15-crore company and a leading independent digital agencies.
It is hard to bind creative people for long, and when matched with the restlessness of this generation, we see this trend clearly gaining roots in the ad world, too. I will do a top-of-mind recall to highlight some instances - Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi (Aggie-Paddy), bit by the entrepreneurial bug, started Taproot at the peak of their careers. Aggie quit as the NCD of JWT and Paddy as the national head and creative director at Leo Burnett. I knew Aggie did not want to belong to a large agency for long, he always wanted to have his own agenda and have the freedom to follow it, without going through a hierarchy. Taproot turned into one of the country's best agencies, with the founders' insights leading to immensely popular campaigns like Airtel's 'Har ek friend zaroori hota hai' (each one of our friends are needed) and 'Joh tera hai who mera hai' (What is yours, is mine too), the Mumbai Mirror's 'I am Mumbai' campaign, Pepsi's 'Change the Game' etc. Dentsu, when it finally acquired Taproot, had to convey that the entrepreneurial spirit would be left untouched.
| Abhijit Avasthi: Did Cadbury (5Star's forgetful brothers), Fevicol, Asian Paints (Wah! Sunil babu) and more recently, the Google reunion ad. After 15 years with O&M, he is likely to forge out on his own, focusing on working with his social observations that he has made on life, people and their culture so far |
Agnello Dias & Santosh Padhi: They left JWT and Leo Burnett to create the hotshop, Taproot. Did some of the most memorable ads in the last few years, for Airtel ('Har ek friend' and 'Joh tera hai'), Pepsi (Change the game). When Dentsu acquired it, it mentioned that the entrepreneurial spirit would be untouched
Sajan Raj Kurup: After stints at Mudra (DDB), Leo Burnett, Orchard, Lowe and Grey (Pantene's 'You Can Shine'), and being rated as among the hottest creative people in Asia, founded Creativeland Asia. Did the world's first fully-integrated 3D campaign for Audi and the much-discussed MTS 'Born for the Internet' ad
Sajan Raj Kurup started Creativeland Asia after successful stints with the best agencies, winning multiple awards. Today the agency that he started in 2007, has been rated as among the world's top independent agencies, creating campaigns like the world's first fully-integrated 3D campaign for Audi and my favourite, the MTS 'Born for the Internet' ad, among other clutter-breaking work.
Rajiv Raja left behind his two-decade-long advertising career, ending as the NCD at DBB Mudra, to start a sonic branding company called BrandMusiq, which uses music as a part of the brand experience. Rajiv combined his passion for music (he is a well-known flautist), and advertising experience for his innovative venture.
B Ramnathkar, one of the most celebrated art directors and creative directors in advertising, started Umbrella Design after he left his job at Bates. His company is at the forefront of design companies in the country today. Veteran Lynn de Souza left the prestigious position of chairperson and CEO at Lintas Media Group to start Social Access in order to bridge the gap between corporate and non-profit sectors through effective communication and instigate social change.
Freedom has allowed these people to express what they are good at and do it on their own terms. The trend has picked up in the last five-six years and it is heartening to see most of them flourish.
It helps that most advertising people live a double life (as Alyque Padamsee's book title). Many find their catharsis outside to keep the freedom of expression alive. Prasoon Joshi and Piyush Pandey, for example, write poetry, Balki and Nitesh Tiwari make films, my second life is that of a painter, Alyque does theatre and Abhijit is interested in music and social observations. Here's kudos to Kinu, the entrepreneur, and wishing him all the best for his new venture.
The author, better known as Pops, is chief creative officer, Sapient Nitro, India