Being Piyush Pandey - The ad man, his creative thinking and his formidable legacy

Come January 1, 2024, Piyush Pandey will be taking on the role of Chief Advisor at Ogilvy India. A veteran of the Indian advertising industry and an integral part of Ogilvy for over four decades Pandey has built up a formidable legacy over the years that is hard to match.

After Ogilvy India announced important leadership transitions in the agency that will come into effect at the beginning of 2024, there has been an intense relook at Pandey’s contribution to the Indian advertising industry. Such is his body of work that it is difficult to decide where to begin. The pinnacle of his career was when the Lion of St Mark lifetime achievement award was conferred on Piyush Pandey and his brother Prasoon Pandey at Cannes Lions 2018.

Starting his career in 1982, Pandey is the man behind some popular campaigns like Fevicol, Cadbury, Fevikwik, Asian Paints, Hamara Bajaj, Pulse Polio, and many, many more.

The importance of being Piyush Pandey

Pandey completed 40 glorious years with Ogilvy India on August 2, 2022. He started his career in account management and spent close to over five years managing brands at Ogilvy Mumbai. But while he was in account management, he sported a double hat and was simultaneously involved in working on lines and translations in Hindi for some of the brands and helped the servicing teams who were struggling to get some quality original Hindi translations.

He was encouraged by the then creative director Suresh Mullick who later on asked Piyush to head the Indian languages cell which he then expanded into a full-fledged creative team that included bilingual people fluent in their own language and who came out with original concepts. The approach to language campaign was redefined and every campaign was conceived independently to address the audience of that region. He was then promoted to a larger role and piloted the creative function at the national level.

On the completion of four decades with Ogilvy, Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group, had his to say about Pandey, “When Piyush pens his thoughts, he is no different from how he is in person – simple, direct, insightful”.

Click here to read more on what industry stalwarts have to say about Piyush Pandey’s contribution and legacy.

Mentor or new venture?

Apart from his multiple-award winning works, Pandey has also mentored several advertising professionals, who have gone on to become industry leaders. Some of the best talent which came from Ogilvy, later on joined other agencies in the industry to lead the creative of their respective agencies. Sonal Dabral, Prasoon Joshi, Bobby Pawar, Rajiv Rao, Abhijit Avasthi, Ajay Gauhlat, Pushpinder Singh, Ramanuj Shastri and Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, to name a few, had worked very closely with Pandey at Ogilvy.

As Chief Advisor, Piyush Pandey, currently Chairman Global Creative & Executive Chairman of Ogilvy India, will work closely with the leadership team to ensure the impact and richness of the Ogilvy legacy transcends all functions and levels of Ogilvy in India. He is on a mission to make certain Ogilvy’s rich creative heritage continues and makes an impact particularly on the creative product and the digital transformation that has already seamlessly integrated to make Ogilvy India a modern marketing powerhouse.

In this role, Pandey will continue to work closely with major clients and the agency’s executive team to ensure that Ogilvy India maintains its important leadership role in India. Along with the leadership team, he will be involved with key Ogilvy clients and new business prospects and the creative product of the agency. He will also continue to participate in various industry bodies and award forums.

But, will we see Pandey don the entrepreneur’s mantle some time in the future? In an earlier interaction with Adgully, when asked whether he had ever thought about starting something of his own, Pandey had replied, “Sometimes these ideas did come to my mind, but then I woke up the next morning and told myself how stupid I was.”

He went on to add, “There are just 2-3 reasons to have a company of your own – having your name on the board, but I can say that my name is around my work and not on the board; secondly, if you are short of money, but I was never short of money; and thirdly, if anyone stopped you from doing what you are doing, but I haven’t faced any such issue. I have never had a reason to move out. Sure, at time my friends have given me such suggestions, but I have given them my reasons for staying. So, these kinds of things did come up during my career, but like I said, I woke up and said no to myself and not to anybody else.”