Piyush Pandey who bridged India-Bharat divide steps down as Ogilvy India boss

“David Ogilvy our founder used to say, ‘Hire giants if you want to create a company of immortals.’ And, among our 15,000 employees, there is one giant who is the most legendary of them all, and that is Piyush Pandey,” she extolled before adding that Pandey,68, would continue in an advisory capacity

“You are here because you’re looking for a juicy angle, but I’m going to disappoint you because there isn’t one, but, there is an announcement,” said Devika Bulchandani, global CEO, Ogilvy, at a media briefing on Tuesday. Piyush Pandey, the agency’s chief creative officer worldwide and the executive chairman of its India office, she announced, was stepping down after a 41-long-year association with the agency.

Pandey, who grew up in Jaipur and played cricket for Rajasthan at Ranji level, started his career in advertising at Ogilvy as a client servicing executive. This was the late 80s television was booming in India. Doordarshan was creating a slate of exciting Hindi programmes—Hum Log, Buniyaad, Ramayan, Tamas-- and ad agencies needed writers who could think and express in Hindi for their television commercials (Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

“David Ogilvy our founder used to say, ‘Hire giants if you want to create a company of immortals.’ And, among our 15,000 employees, there is one giant who is the most legendary of them all, and that is Piyush Pandey,” she extolled before adding that Pandey,68, would continue in an advisory capacity.

Pandey’s decision to step down from the everyday business of advertising brings the curtain down on one of the most illustrious careers that reshaped the Indian media landscape.

“In many ways, you could say that there was a before-Piyush and after-Piyush era in advertising. Because of him, and along with him, we (copywriters) changed the way we talked to Indians at large. He’s no longer just an individual; he’s a milestone. If you chronicled the history of Indian advertising, he would be a marker of time. That is his biggest achievement, that he defined a time period, rather than just be the creative head of an agency. On the other hand, for younger creatives, he’s been someone who gave us lofty targets to chase. Because of him, we climbed the rungs of global advertising much faster than we would normally have,” said Agnello Dias, former chief creative officer of Taproot Dentsu.

Pandey, who grew up in Jaipur and played cricket for Rajasthan at Ranji level, started his career in advertising at Ogilvy as a client servicing executive. This was the late 80s television was booming in India. Doordarshan was creating a slate of exciting Hindi programmes—Hum Log, Buniyaad, Ramayan, Tamas-- and ad agencies needed writers who could think and express in Hindi for their television commercials. Until now, Indian advertising’s burra sahibs were dominated by anglophones. “I was given the offer only because television had gone mad (in scale) reaching into people’s homes, and other copywriters were not ready for it,” said Pandey. “It was not easy for people to accept a client-servicing person in creative so they gave me all the accounts they didn’t particularly like. Fortunately, one of them was Fevicol. They didn’t know it then but they were handing me a lottery ticket.”

The campaign stuck in people’s minds and Pandey sealed his reputation as a copywriter of talent and imagination. His rise in advertising bridging the communication divide between India and Bharat. The Fevicol campaign was followed by several other memorable ones including ‘Chal Meri Luna’ for India’s first moped, Cadbury’s ‘Dancing Girl’; Asian Paints’ ‘Har ghar kuch kehta hai’ and MP Tourism’s ‘Hindustan ka dil dekho.’ But while each of these campaigns was wildly successful commercially one of the campaigns closest to his heart is the one he did for the Pulse Polio campaign, ‘Do boond zindagi ke.’ “I wept the day India was declared polio-free in 2014,” he said. This public service campaign had been preceded by the equally memorable ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’ campaign.

Now, as Pandey takes a step back from the active running of the agency, he said it was time for him to don the hat of a coach. Hepzhibah Pathak, who has been with Ogilvy India for 25 years is the new executive chairperson and VR Rajesh is its new CEO.

“I’m not moving to Goa, or to the Himalayas, as many in the industry would like to believe,” said Pandey. “I love thinking of ideas: even when no one has asked for them. So, my life, my hobby, my work, my relationships--everything is in there (points to Ogilvy office). There was no burden earlier, and there’s no relief now.”

“These things (his stepping down) should not be taken that seriously. For as long as Tendulkar played, people said there was only Tendulkar. But then Dhoni arrived, and then came Virat Kohli. When talent is coming up, you have to provide the opportunity and hope that someone gets better than you. Otherwise, what have you created?”