India's Ad Maverick

Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman and Creative Director for Ogilvy & Mather India and South Asia, Talks About Being Our Country’s Favourite ‘ad’ Guy, His Love for the Common People and Eternal Zest for Life!

- Kanika Dhawan

Before he became the most illustrious man in the Indian advertising industry, Piyush Pandey was busy, playing cricket and tasting tea for TM & MC. The latter activity was part of a friendship pact between him and his dear friend, the cricketer and commentator Arun Lal. “We decided that whenever we work, we will be together no matter where it is. That’s how I joined him as a tea taster in Kolkata,” shares Pandey, who eventually said bye to chai, after a two-year stint. He also gave up cricket after realising that he “wasn’t good enough to play beyond Ranji Trophy.” But he still has deep affection for the gentleman’s game. “For the last 10 years, I have worked on the IPL, Mumbai Indians and World Cup campaigns. Today at my age, I may not be able to play it but cricket is in my blood!”

After being bored of tea leaves and the bat-and-ball sport, Pandey entered advertising by chance and a little encouragement from his wingman Arun and his wife Reena. “They both observed that I was very good at writing one liners and asked me to try my hand at it. Since nothing was planned, I decided to give it a shot.”

In 1982, Pandey was interviewed by then Ogilvy boss Ranjan Kapur. Since he couldn’t decide which department to put him in, he joined as an account executive. “I was doing well in client servicing. In 1982, with the advent of colour television, a lot of people couldn’t come to terms with writing for the masses. I used to write for clients who wanted ads in Hindi. My bosses Mani Iyer and Suresh Mullick got a whiff of it and put me in writing copy.”