Piyush Pandey steps down after bringing Bharat to Indian advertising

Cadbury’s iconic Kuch Khaas Hai Zindagi Mein campaign by Ogilvy & Mather (now Ogilvy) had just released in 1993. The funny, heartwarming 30-seconder of a girl running onto a cricket pitch eating a chocolate helped reposition it as a grown-up indulgence too. In a rapidly liberalising India stepping out of its ‘Doordarshan only’ days, the thought was so different that A&M (Advertising & Marketing), the magazine I had just joined, asked me to interview the man who created it. Piyush Pandey and his colleague Sonal Dabral were such regular joes that one wondered: In a world dominated by creative giants like Alyque Padamsee, Ivan Arthur, Mohammed Khan, who was Piyush Pandey?

A (then) pan-masala chomping man notorious for putting down management theories, strategic thinking, and all the stuff that agencies thought was going to save them.

“Piyush not only changed the face of Indian advertising, he gave confidence to Indian ad folks that they could be compared with the best in the world,” says Shashi Sinha, chief executive officer (CEO), IPG Mediabrands, an arm of the $11 billion Interpublic Group.

Earlier this week Pandey, now 68, announced that he will be stepping down as chairman of global creative at Ogilvy and executive chairman, Ogilvy India. He will stay on in an advisory capacity.

On Pandey’s watch, Ogilvy India became one of the largest and most creative agency groups in the £14.4 billion WPP’s fold. Pandey was the first Asian to chair the Cannes jury in 2004. In 2006, he was inducted into Ogilvy Worldwide board and later was made global chief creative officer for the agency.

Why clients loved Pandey

Throughout the late nineties, marketers were attempting to push growth in smaller towns and mass markets. But the creative men and women in Mumbai and Delhi did not know how to talk to that consumer. Pandey, a Rajasthani and a St Stephen’s boy who had played Ranji cricket, was a complete outsider to the world of advertising. And very comfortable with who he was. It was this everyday comfort that he brought to advertising. His ads were touched by an Indianness that was new at that time. His secret sauce was just common sense. He and his team usually travelled into small towns or metro India, figuring out what the people who bought these products and watched these ads were like. At that time, creative directors, sitting in air-conditioned cabins, rarely worked directly with advertisers. They had no idea what the guy using, say, Lifebuoy was like.

Pandey showed that creativity could be sustained across a large array of brands. He connected the creative to what was happening out there at a scale and with a simplicity that worked almost every time. That is why clients trusted him completely.

When the Star Sports Pro-Kabaddi League launched in July 2014, not too many advertisers were keen on it. Pandey thought Fevicol — a brand Ogilvy handled — would fit well with the sport. “It (Kabaddi) was bang on with our proposition as a brand,” said Anil Jayaraj, chief marketing officer, Pidilite, the owners of Fevicol to Business Standard then.

Sinha says: “My best moment at Cannes was when he had a drink with me just before he was to meet Martin Sorrell (then WPP chairman). He was wearing the India team jersey. I asked him if he should not be a bit more formal. His response was ‘I love cricket and am proud of India... let Sir Martin know that.’ ”

That is the pride in his background and his work that has brought him all his accolades.