I joined JWT in early 2000 after being interviewed by Sunil Gupta and Meera Patwardhan. I was the replacement for Vinay Ramachandran. Java, as Vinay was called, moved onto CitiBank. DeBeers was a great learning experience . DeBeers in the English tradition of advertising believed in planning and had a resident planner on their side. Nicola Ellis was the Client Strategy Planner overseeing the strategy planning for the region out of London. Subsequently, she was replaced by Srinivas Madani, who came on board towards the end of 2000. Or was it start of 2001?
My first project was an analysis of historical data of the last 6 years. It got me an effusive letter of appreciation from Nicola. This was followed by pre- test on Nakhsatra. Given the nonlinear nature of the creative, it was decided that the traditional testing methods would have to be debunked and we used NLP techniques to get feedback from viewers that were qualitative in nature. This proved to be the right thing to do because we had a clear idea of how the commercial was being decoded and what was driving interest and intention for trial. Nakshatra became a great success and we then moved onto analysis the diagnostics. The quantitative studies happened , which went off well. Then came the exploratory research for a new initiative and it gave us a wealth of insights and a clear way forward. Srinivas Madani was thrilled enough to send in a letter, since the agency was newly empanelled and it was an initiative from my part to rationalise the planning function in the market.
Appreciation letters did not stop with DTC. On BlowPlast, which had the luggage brand VIP, there was a threat of loosing the business. The Client wanted fresh ideas to thwart the competitor brand Samsonite. Both the head of the agency and the Client sent in their praise for the efforts. Neville and Narayan, who worked with me on this came out with two brilliant campaigns "be true to yourself" and "the world is watching". I was not in JWT when they were finally released ... but I believe it went through a lot of changes.
In the middle of all this there was an invitation to handle the Branding Concepts Workshop for the Ad Club. Given my background in teaching I helped Meera Patwardhan put together a 2 day workshop which was a huge hit. M.G.Parameswaran sent in his acknowledgement in the letter produced below and took us both to lunch!! Meera then arranged the same workshop for the JWT teams in Mumbai and my popularity in the agency grew by leaps and bounds.
The other client that I handled was Merril Lynch. That year due to a realignment, the account was to be handed over to Lowe. We however presented strategy and creatives and retained the business. I still remember a corporate branding presentation made to Timothy Cabbott which had Mike Khanna, Sunil Gupta present. We literally turned around the Client and a rejected creative (full page) for the 50 year celebrations was released, breaking the traditional habit of 60 cc ads in Front Page Solus which had become a blind spot for readers!! This ad had the headline :
" On our 50th birthday, we would like to wish you many Happy Returns!!"
With Rajan Krishnan reporting sick, I also shouldered the responsibility of presenting the retail strategy for HPCL. This too found favour with the Client.
Kelloggs was another Client. There was the usual copy tests and a lovely presentation on corporate branding. I met some great talent there and Rajeshwari Sheth was one such person. I did collaborate with her and took a guest lecture at Jamnalal Bajaj where I got a standing ovation at the end of it.
I did learn a lot about planning at HTA.But handling all this without any support staff other than a shared secretary was tiring and took its toll on my health. In retrospect the first symptoms of a thyroid malfunction and a relapse of jaundice happened here.
Appreciation Letters ( Summary)
1 De Beers- Analytical skills
From: Nicola Ellis AT CSOLON01@CSOLONDON_FWL on 2000-09-18 20:58 GDT
To: Vinod Natesan@JWT, Nicholas Graham-Smith ATCSOLON01@CSOLONDON_
cc: Raji Ramaswamy@JWT, Dhunji Wadia@JWT
>Subject: BTS Summary and ROI
Vinod,
>I have now as promised gone through your BTS summary and have to say it is excellent, very well thought through. It is great to have a new perspective on the results. Although many of the conclusions you came to have been discussed, I thought you clearly saw what issues we need to address and came up with some interesting ways to address them.
>
>I particularly liked you analysis of received versus giver as we have never looked at it that way, and I agree that the print could be used more effectively against men to give that extra push. We have always struggled world-wide with the balance between the messages to men and women. It is a tricky thing when you have one product which means such different things to two people.
>
>Anyway the debate will go on. Thank you for stimulating renewed thoughts onIndia
>Well done with your first full summary of research, I look forward to the next.
> Letter no:2 DeBeers -Research Coordination
>
>Srinivas.Madani@dtc.com on 2001-02-2022:07:33
>
>To: Vinod Natesan/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT
>cc: Nicholas.Graham-Smith@dtc.com,
>Subject: Research
>Dear Vinod,
>This is to express our appreciation for the excellent qualitative study
>conducted by you on the elite segment. The presentation of findings was
>very lucid and, I believe, addressed most if not all our queries regarding
>the concept we are working on for the elites.
>
>I would like you to thank Proact on our behalf - it is not often that
>qualitative research gives very clear directions, and I think they certainly
>deserve a pat on the back for this one!
>A lot of the credit also goes to the team at HTA for providing inputs on the
>stimulus material and discussion framework, and to you for co-ordinating the
>effort.
From: Nicola Ellis AT CSOLON01@CSOLONDON_FWL on 2000-09-18 20:58 GDT
To: Vinod Natesan@JWT, Nicholas Graham-Smith ATCSOLON01@CSOLONDON_
cc: Raji Ramaswamy@JWT, Dhunji Wadia@JWT
>Subject: BTS Summary and ROI
Vinod,
>I have now as promised gone through your BTS summary and have to say it is excellent, very well thought through. It is great to have a new perspective on the results. Although many of the conclusions you came to have been discussed, I thought you clearly saw what issues we need to address and came up with some interesting ways to address them.
>
>I particularly liked you analysis of received versus giver as we have never looked at it that way, and I agree that the print could be used more effectively against men to give that extra push. We have always struggled world-wide with the balance between the messages to men and women. It is a tricky thing when you have one product which means such different things to two people.
>
>Anyway the debate will go on. Thank you for stimulating renewed thoughts on
>Well done with your first full summary of research, I look forward to the next.
> Letter no:2 DeBeers -Research Coordination
>
>Srinivas.Madani@dtc.com on 2001-02-20
>
>To: Vinod Natesan/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT
>cc: Nicholas.Graham-Smith@dtc.com,
>Subject: Research
>Dear Vinod,
>This is to express our appreciation for the excellent qualitative study
>conducted by you on the elite segment. The presentation of findings was
>very lucid and, I believe, addressed most if not all our queries regarding
>the concept we are working on for the elites.
>
>I would like you to thank Proact on our behalf - it is not often that
>qualitative research gives very clear directions, and I think they certainly
>deserve a pat on the back for this one!
>A lot of the credit also goes to the team at HTA for providing inputs on the
>stimulus material and discussion framework, and to you for co-ordinating the
>effort.
> 2000-09-05 16:56
Sunil Gupta
To: Vinod Natesan/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT, Narayan Kumar/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT, Neville Balsara/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT
cc: Melwyn Dcosta/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT, Gopi Kukde/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT, Deepa Kakkar/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT, MeeraPatwardhan/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT
Subject: Very Impressive People !
Many thanks for the efforts and above all, patience! A special word for Vinod who worked tirelessly for many days, and especially on the research. I'm glad we did the research, as it gave our work and our presentation the added edge of confidence in our recommendations. And also for Narayan and Neville, who bore my incessant pushing with calmness!
We knew the world was watching, and we ensured we remained ourselves!
And you all know it's now a different trip!!!
Cheers
Sunil
Sunil Gupta
To: Vinod Natesan/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT, Narayan Kumar/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT, Neville Balsara/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT
cc: Melwyn Dcosta/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT, Gopi Kukde/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT, Deepa Kakkar/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT, MeeraPatwardhan/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT
Subject: Very Impressive People !
Many thanks for the efforts and above all, patience! A special word for Vinod who worked tirelessly for many days, and especially on the research. I'm glad we did the research, as it gave our work and our presentation the added edge of confidence in our recommendations. And also for Narayan and Neville, who bore my incessant pushing with calmness!
We knew the world was watching, and we ensured we remained ourselves!
And you all know it's now a different trip!!!
Cheers
Sunil
Appreciation Letter 4. BlowPlast Industries. Appreciation-Strategic Direction
>
> Kurien Pothan <kurienpothen@vipbags.com> on 2001-01-25
>To: Vinod Natesan/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT
>cc: Melwyn Dcosta/Mumb/J Walter Thompson@JWT
>Subject: (no subject)
>Dear Vinod,
>I heard from Melwyn that you would be moving out of the VIP account as
>part of a reorganisation of portfolios within. I have not been able to
>speak to you and hence thought it best to mail you since I would be
>travelling abroad across the next few weeks.
>This is to tell you that we appreciate your efforts in helping us find
>newer directions in our search for a new and better communication.
> I am sure you would stay in touch
>
>Regards and best wishes,
>Kurien Pothen.
>
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