INTERPRET THE WORLD

Barely two years into your advertising career, when you are invited to be a part of the team pitching for one of the most celebrated brands of all time, known for its award-winning copy, and you win, that feeling can help you get through a lot of brochures and sales meet mailers. 

The Economist was launching in India. But first they had to combat the misconception that the magazine is limited only to business news, so ‘Interpret the world’ was conceived. To illustrate this fact creatively, we gave several current global phenomena a modern spin. 

Agency
Ogilvy, Mumbai

WOMEN FOR CHANGE

According to a 2017 survey a whopping 32% of girls in India drop out of school by the age of 14. One of the biggest causes of this dropout rate is a severe lack of basic amenities like safe, clean toilets for girls in schools. As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, Stayfree launched a movement to build awareness and build toilets. In just under a year, we gained the momentum needed to get the Supreme Court of India to pass a law that made it mandatory for schools across the country to have toilets for girls.

Agency
McCann, Mumbai

Awards

·       Integrated Gold, Goafest India, 2013

·       Silver, Asian Strategy, WARC, 2013

·       Gold, Effie, India, 2013

·       Best Social Advertising Initiative, McCann Worldgroup Internal Awards, 2013

ASSET MANAGEMENT

The year was 2008 and the world was still very much in the clutches of ‘The Great Recession’. Goldman Sachs was looking for a campaign that reminded people of their expertise and business acumen, one that was succinct but understated. A campaign that reassured their customers that in times of financial hardship, they continued to be market leaders and could still be counted on to deliver. These were the campaigns we delivered.

Agency
Ogilvy, Mumbai

BEFORE TIME. BEYOND DESTINY.

Traditionally, in India, the pursuit of wealth and success was looked upon as something to be ashamed of, as unworthy. And yet, to a changing demographic, money gives you the power to follow your dreams and give your loved ones security and comfort. Wealth is now increasingly seen as a sign of ambition and drive. That is precisely the insight we chose to tap into.

We relaunched CNBC Awaaz, a major television business channel in India, by taking well-known adages and turning them on their heads. The channel spoke to a young, restless, stubborn India that was tugging at the boundaries, eager to succeed, eager to make money and eager to fly.

Agency
McCann, Mumbai

A SMALL MIRACLE

What would you call a tiny island country that has as much to offer as some continents, we decided to call it a ‘Small Miracle’ . 

We were pitching for Sri Lanka Tourism and wanted a campaign that would portray a tiny island country, packed with experiences, landscapes and history with its Buddhist, Portuguese, and Dutch influences, and cuisine combining all three. Many work-filled nights and a few dozen Powerpoint slides later, we won.

Agency
Ogilvy, Mumbai

L’Oréal gave me my first taste of the beauty industry, and much to my surprise I liked it. Selling creams, potions and lotions comes with a lot of constraints; it’s a tight-rope walk, you have a very narrow space in which to make an impact and yet that in itself makes for an interesting challenge.

Agency
McCann, Mumbai

REINVENT

Lakmé is India’s oldest and largest cosmetics brand. It has the most market share and has consistently been rated as one of India’s most trusted bands.

I joined Publicis to lead the Lakmé Skincare team and collaborate on cosmetics. In a little over a year I launched six campaigns for them as well as a campaign for Lakmé Fashion Week, India’s most prestigious fashion extravaganza.

One of the activation ideas we designed for Lakmé went on to be a runaway success, ‘The World’s Longest Ramp Walk’. We invited women from across the country to send in videos of themselves ‘walking the ramp’ and soon we were flooded with responses.

During my time on Lakmé, we hit every target set for us, including becoming a brand worth $150 million.

Agency
Publicis, Mumbai

THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES

For the first time in history, India had been given the honor of hosting the Commonwealth Games. The excitement was palpable and everyone wanted to be a part of this momentous event. As did our client, Bank of India. The question we asked ourselves was, how do you connect a conservative financial institution with the world of sport. The answer was simple, by celebrating the relationship a sportsperson has with their chosen sport. Much like the bond Bank of India shares with its customers, one that goes beyond daily transactions, one that involves faith, commitment and passion.

Agency
Ogilvy, Mumbai

FABULOUS, AS I AM.

With the relaunch of Enamor, we dared to go where no brand had gone before. We wanted to create work that defied a culture of fat-shaming, oppression and victim-blaming. A brand of lingerie that encouraged women to own their sexuality and feel good about it. We believed the time had come for a brand to do just that and to the client’s credit, they ran with it.

We released the pitch campaign we had created to win their business. And what a runaway success it was.

Enamor was granted Superbrand status twice in a row.

We revolutionized the brand and changed everything from the logo to the stores. ‘Fabulous, as I am’ was the new slogan and it hit a chord with the audience. 

Agency
Publicis, Mumbai

The Light of Life Trust is a little known Indian non-profit that works with homeless children, trying to ensure that they have a place to live and a basic education. My art partner and I were small cogs in the giant machine that is Ogilvy, and our team was approached by the NGO in the hope that we could help their cause gain some publicity.

Armed with good intentions, a zeal found only in the young and naive and a non-existent budget we proceeded to create a campaign. With the help of an amateur production agency we shot the film with a grand budget of $500. 

It may not be the slickest campaign, but it was well worth the effort.

Agency
Ogilvy, Mumbai

PAPER BEDSHEETS

In a country of 1.4 billion people where the vulnerable fall through the cracks, it’s hard to imagine anyone more defenseless than the homeless children of Mumbai. We decided to create a disruption to get people to notice them, to underline the stark difference between their own children and these less fortunate ones. 

We noticed that newspapers are all these street children have to sleep on. So we packaged newspapers to look like bedsheets and placed them on store shelves along with fancy branded bedsheets, to bring home the glaring difference between the two, and ‘Comfy Kids’ sheets was born.

Agency
Ogilvy, Mumbai

By far my favorite campaign to write and execute. Kansai Nerolac Paints wanted people to know that they had a wide variety of colors, in every shade you could imagine. So that’s exactly what we did, with the most cringeworthy situations you could picture. 

Agency
Publicis, Mumbai

Awards
Radio, Bronze, Goafest India, 2015