1996-98: PSL McCann Erickson: Automotives

An ad done to cue the fact that Mahindra jeeps were suited to Indian terrain and conditions and therefore were used by law enforcement, military and essential services. After all its a son of the soil.!!

1996-98:PSL McCann Erickson, Tractors

The ad above was a huge success at Mahindra's. It was backed with a clear cut strategic recommendation that suggested a shift from naming tractors on the basis of numbers like 575 etc to a completely different brand architecture. Three segments were identified with the top segment being offered heavy duty models and the payoff being "status". The brand name was "sarpanch" and the TG were mostly well to do farmers who would use it also as a personal transport vehicle on occasions. The middle segment were sold on performance and in hard soil conditions the"senapati" was to be the choice. The entry level segment was to be wooed with sipahi and the value for money proposition was the recommended route.
The ads previously used to feature the entire range. It changed after the sarpanch branding. Media wise too it gave us a lot of flexibility with sarpanch being featured in Punjab and affluent markets while the medium range was aimed at AP etc.
Ganga and Nalesh again did the creative themselves. The pagdi was illustrated by R.Vanmali.

1996-98:PSL McCann Erickson: Forester

The Forerster campaign was done out of the Mumbai office, though it was a Delhi client. Amit Srivastava used to fly down and coordinate work with Ganga and Nalesh. Ganga's untiring work in terms of research deserves mention here. After hours in the U.S. Centre Library, he knew more about the heritage and processes involved than the client! The campaign that he and Nalesh Patil came up with won us a Finalist Certificate at the London International Advertising Awards in 1997 and was featured in the Lurzers International Archive, vol 6, 1997. Nalesh's wood cut feel for the campaign gave an old world feel for the brand that was claiming a pedigree which was 127 years old!!
The strategy of pitching it against scotch whisky was intelligent and backed with this campaign which harped on the history and heritage of Americana, (which had a lot of takers in 1997) the results were there to see.
The law did not permit alcohol advertising, therefore reprints of wood cuts of Americana were used as surrogates to promote the brand!!! It all fell into place!!!

The next set of creatives were for an event done with Sony Music on the launch of title from Oasis. The headlines were interesting and were done by Paul Menacherry. For the visual of the guitar it said "A music show were fashion pulls the strings" and for the ad featuring a saxophone, it went "Fashion, drinks and sax, what more do you want?"

1996-1998: PSL McCann Erickson, Mahindras,MRIDL

MRIDL had their first residential project in Ghatkopar an industrial area of Mumbai, called Mahindra Park. The project had slums in its neighbourhood, and was in a low cost locality with the passing aeroplanes being a cause of noise pollution. This campaign however, did wonders for the brand at a time when real estate prices were on the up in the anticipation of the Hong Kong handover and consequent demand for Mumbai as a destination.

The first ad showed the complex as being sold partly, with only the framed portion as being available.This ad cued that flats were selling fast and much like the "houseful" boards for a movie opening, it brought in bookings. In real estate there is a "herding instinct" very clearly working and it is never wise to keep something in the market, unsold for too long. People assume that there is something wrong with it! A marriage broker quipped to me that it was the same in the matrimonial market!!!

The follow up campaign cued the user profile of the Park. It cued a neighbourhood which was professional and though unintended, that it was full of South Indian Brahmins who are plenty in the financial sector!! Most flat owners here initially were of this profile.It cued to me an insight when it comes to real estate; the neighbourhood is as important as the amenities and facilities! People also have a tendency to form homogenuous clusters.

Ganga and Nalesh were the Creative Directors with Rajul Dhaimade doing the Art Direction. Reshma Kachroo was the Servicing resource on this. Clients were a lovely group with Narayan the CEO, Zaid Farooqui in marketing and Maohan Chellam handling the operations.

1994-1996: Lintas (Lowe), Unilever

In Lintas I was looking after the WHEEL franchise. WHEEL was HUL's response to the low cost detergents, NIRMA in particular. We did the relaunch of the brand to position it as a powerful cleaner since market research suggested that consumers rationalized the harm caused to hands by NIRMA as proof of its strength. SAFAI KA TOOFAN was the result. This was on TV and radio, given the literacy issues and media consumption habits of the TG.

My contributions were in delivering a superior media product with Kenneth D' Souza, the planner on the account. We got a high rating from Devinder Kishore who was the client on the account. Here to, the Launch Conference , was an exciting affair with music, jokes and dances being the mainstay in the content provided as AV support.

The next contribution was in systems.I did a reconciliation of MIS figures and Client Service figures on revenue and unearthed an unbilled amount of nearly 4 crores(40 million). The variance analysis later became a template for the rest of the HLL brand teams.

An idea to tap the rural markets also won me an EDISON award. It involved collaborating with the Milk Federations and using their logistics network which ran procurement trips to the villages everyday with the truck nearly or partly empty till the route reached the last procurement point.

1992-1994: Leo Burnett:, Procter &Gamble, Telco

This is an old poster that I preserved for sentimental reasons! My first national campaign of significance. P&G was a learning experience. I learned film making while on this brand. We did an intro and a theme commercial. Both were done by Mahesh Mathai . His wife Srila was the production in charge and here too, I picked up a lot about planning and costing a shoot. Ken Ghosh did the launch AV which was a musical and a fantastic hit with the sales team which included a lot of Godrej employees.
Arvind Sharma took a lot of interest and Chax was hands on as far as creative went. Anand Tendolkar was my boss and he gave me a lot of freedom. Sunil Balagopal was the Brand Manager with Raghuvesh Swarup and we got along splendidly. Sunil in fact was my client on Old Spice and on his request I was brought in on Camay!
Vivek Kapoor was the Category Head on this brand and he was brilliant. Hoshi Press was a storehouse of knowledge on the workings at the retail level and here too one learned a lot.

Amit Srivastava , who later went on to become a star in strategy planning, started his career with me on this brand and joined me as my executive. Was exceptionally bright and well read and a thinking man's ad guy even then.


Telco was my other account and we did a lot of work on recruitment, commercial vehicles and a bit of corporate. BVR Subbu was my client here and I happened to be one of the few agency reps whom he acknowledged as competent!! BVR later went on to make history with the launch of Hyundai as a brand.

1991-1992: FCB ULKA: ITC BHADRACHALAM

A calendar done for ITC Bhadrachalam is something I remember fondly. The VP Marketing was a certain Mr. Gupta. ITC Bhadrachalam decided to support local talent and foster good community relations. Paintings seemed to be a great way of showcasing the quality of Bhadrachalam papers and also to promote painters from the region. K Rajiah a well known folk artist, poet and theatre personality was selected. Mr Gupta and I went to Medak in Siddipet to meet K. Rajiah and to photograph his paintings. It was a trip I still remember and mostly because I got to know two refined souls who were successful in what they did and they treated a novice and a trainee like me with respect and regard.

The calendar was rendered brilliantly by Chandrasekhar Hinge by using strips on the borders which followed the folk theme and stayed true to the Nakashi style that Rajiah followed.

There are 4 that are featured:

1) Bonalu(last picture while going top down ) - is the village jatra of Telengana. Dappu beaters in this picture are leading the way for the woman who performs the pooja, called Shivshakti. Following her are women devotees carrying nevyedyam (cooked rice) in earthern pots as offering for the Goddess.

2) Milkmaids(second last top down) – The Golla women belong to the dairying community of Telengana. The saree is worn on the right shoulder and these women are known for their love of jewellery.

3) Wadar women (third last top down) – belong to the community that traditionally into
stone cutting. Women are known to be good at weaving carpets.

4) Sharada Kandlu(fourth last top down)– are the nomadic story tellers of Telegana. They
earn their livelihood by narrating stories about kings, gods and similar tales handed down
the generations through songs and narrations. They use instruments called Burralu,
Andelu & Thambura.