Hello World, this is how I flow.

This folio is a little tour through the lands of growth, the wilderness of labour, the hot sands of writer's anxieties, the turbulent waves of midnights spent hunched over cracking a pitch and the hidden corals of ideas that reveal themselves only when I go scuba through the depths of the product, the TG using the currents of my mind, the cross-currents of my emotions. This folio is a proof of my complete immersion in the pleasure and love of the art of persuasion called advertising.

 

I still have deeper to travel to. Because there are many more corals to find. The few that I have laid my hands on lay bare the fact that I don't believe in volume. Being voluminous a.k.a. 'prolific' to some -- is far less important than being compelling and gripping, than being effective with my creativity and strategic strengths. So yes, I may have produced less than many others, but I'm sure I've stayed away from producing hogwash too.

 

I believe my work needs to speak to the audience for long after they've watched it, felt it, experienced it for the first time. Why? Because our TG doesn't change overnight or even every year. It takes a world of time to alter, no matter how fast the pace of tech being driven by a few voracious and greedy technocrats and TechTheists.

 

Yes, TechTheists. It's the new God around, technology. And its priests and worshippers can so easily be seen. As can be the unquestioning followers who believe in being a part of the crowd because that's what the dominant narrative is -- 'Be a part of the mob, and lob, whatever the mob lobs.'

 

But just as the absence of God is deafening in this world, so are the ill-effects of this new TechThiesm. Fake news, paid reviews, hell, even paid views, because you can't have real ones...! That's sad.

 

And the unending whelp, "People's attention spans are not the same...!" I think as someone with autism and ADHD since birth, I have enough of an experience of fleeting attention spans. But that never takes me or my ilk away from a beautiful and remarkable piece of story-telling. The same goes for a stark insight expressed in an inimitable way or a memorable spin put on a real-life anecdotal observation. We listen to and watch these with rapt attention, full of wonder, curiosity, suspense, because of the 'remarkability' of the way it's done. It compels us unconsciously to pay heed to it without any outside or overt instruction to do so.  

 

So you see, fluctuating attention spans don't prevent you from remembering.

They cannot come between the mind and the memorable.

 

Now let's go back to the world of "Cheeku, the Rabbit" from Champak, "Chaacha Chaudhary, Sabu & Raka," "Nagaraj," "Super Command Dhruv," a magazine called "Suman Saurav," another called "Nandan," and yet another called "Tinkle." And in Tinkle, let's travel to the world of "Supandi" and "Shikara Shabhu," of "Tenali Rama." Remember, "Srimati Ji," from Manorama magazine for women... the one that every middle and lower-class house got every month...?

 

Ever wondered what's so special about these characters -- (Brands themselves? Also, campaigns for these magazine every month? Also, something akin to a brand property that both the magazines and the readers could own...? So multifarious, weren't they?) -- that we all bought magazines year after year just to read them again and again?

 

It was the 'remarkability' with which they told us things we understood and enjoyed. Or... as is harped upon in 'addy' lingo... they made it 'relatable.' 

 

Yes, my references are all from the world of Indian animation. Somewhat askance, isn't it? But then, a) I love it, and b) it would be so boring quoting campaign lines to people who create campaign lines, day in, day out.

 

So yeah, why do we remember the above mentioned, shall I say, intellectual properties...? Much like the online properties of today, the apps we can't live without...! It's because they were so memorable that they gave us our life back, a bit twisted, funnier, sarcastic, surprising, charismatic and magical.

 

They stirred us, and we laughed with them, spoke about them, wanted the next edition of them, thought about them. They became one with our minds.

 

Remember the internally experienced mental hype that kept building in our minds, that heavy feeling of waiting for the next issue? (SinChan could have done the same for today's kids. If it was delivered not in volumes, but with a significant waiting period.)

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So yes, I want to create work that stays... that brands the mind, rather than just an Outdoor Space or a Phone, Computer or TV Screen. Because better work has that power. Yes, Better Work.

 

Better Work borrows from culture and the product both, and lets the audience, the consumer, reshape their worldview by engaging with it in a way above just what it literally is. Better work is more than the basic, but relevant, engaging and entertaining. Better work makes you step into a store, online or offline, and check your object of desire out. Because the underlying principle of Better Work is that when it hit you senses, something has to happen, something has to give, something has to explode, something has to corrode, something has to scratch your mind's furrows.

 

The fundamental principle of Better Work... is that... it better work.

 

And if the above happens, thought, desire, consideration, action, sale and the act of ownership align like ping-pong shots by drawing you into a world of wants, expectation, promises and fulfilment. (Or the lack of it, thereof, if the product is really bad, and the advertising, impactful.)  

 

I want to create more and more of Better Work. Because I like it. Because only Better Work is Impactful Work is Real Work... and is its own reward... it's own award. Better Work is Stellar Work.

I know that this is an unpopular conviction in today's uncertain times because a lot of people think of advertising as a stepping stone or gateway to something else... In fact, for so many, it's time-pass. And what better way pass time than by conquering award for awards sake that agencies tottering on their hind legs want for PR.

 

But if you confer with Art History... (Why art? Because Art Pieces are very high value commodities with a very strong investment potential that lasts and escalates for decades and centuries, not just years. Ask any Super-HNI, and you'll know they don't do mutual funds or SIPs. They do Art, Gold, Land, and Real Estate. And they do oil fields, entertainment platforms, bridges, airports, airlines, train stations.) ...So yeah, a brief study of art history clearly reveals that just like the "Art for Art's Sake" didn't work... in an over-enterprising, chaos-ridden India full of "Cheeku Rabbits," Award for Award's sake won't either. Also, I hate the short-term thinking and the waste of potential and time, this practice entails.

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And I know that only if my work matters to the consumers, the customers, the brand and my own vision for the brand's growth and impact in business and cultural conversation, would I continue to matter.

 

Bill Bernbach, David Ogilvy, David Abbott, J Chiat, David Droga... did these guys build advertising empires on work built for getting trophy for trophy's sake...? No naa...? They simply did their best for their clients in their markets decade after decade, and made history, rewrote formats of advertising, and birthed not just companies, but huge conglomerates. I want to do the same... 

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So yes, the myriad ideas, poetry, lines, films, stories, insights, positionings, anthems, spots quibbling under my skin keep me restless. And I'm best that way. It "brings out the dog" in me...! (Sorry, Ben Stokes, but I can't forget that.) 

So yeah, if you're someone who's looking to do Better Work... who'll empower me to unleash my full howl (the dog in me...!), my full potential and range of work that I can create for your brands' best interests, do give me a call. Do WhatsApp me. Call me over to see my writing and ideas. And decide if you want to work with me...

 

Also, one thing about me is that I fight to get the best work out in the best possible form it can acquire in pre, post and release stages. So yes, I stick my nose into everything... costing, the talent we need to use, the music we need to create to make a piece of communication stand out... I push and push and push... I don't like compromises... Because once you agree to start making one, once you're happy making one, there's no stopping you deserting quality work for lopsided, loose 'unwork,' time after time. It's a virus worse than Corona.  

 

I've seen my parents and my brother, and many advertising forbearers and brethren, being consumed by a compromise-driven, compromise-habituated work ethic. Most of them, aren't in advertising anymore. The few that are, are just there...! And I... don't want to just be there. I want to matter...! Really, matter.

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If you too really want to matter, maybe we could sit and talk... and do some better work, some stellar work...? 

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And yeah, for all those who love Tommy Hilfiger... do you know about his first campaign when he was just a boot-strapping designer, fresh out of training...? Well, now that you've got AI, finding it will be a lot easier, I bet. 

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So yeah, go ahead, and just do it...

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