If one were to ask the advertising professionals in the country, who have in any way been associated with Ogilvy India, they would be quick to tell you that Ogilvy is not an agency, it is an institution. And last week the principal of that institution decided to pass on the baton to his favourite pupil, Hephzibah Pathak. CSO Prem Narayan and CCOs Kainaz Karmakar, Harshad Rajadhyaksha, and Sukesh Nayak will join the Ogilvy Board, while VR Rajesh be the new CEO, and SN Rane will additionally play the role of Business Advisor to Ogilvy Asia Pacific. To announce that monumental change in leadership and succession, the Global CEO of Ogilvy, Devika Bulchandani was present in India.
After 40 years of association with Ogilvy, Piyush Pandey, who is still known to exude childlike excitement over advertising ideas, will take on the role of the Chief Advisor at Ogilvy. He is the man behind campaigns, ‘Ab ki baar Modi sarkar’, ‘Kuch khaas hai hum sabhi main’, ‘Kuch din toh gujariye Gujarat main’, ‘Har ghar kuch kehta hai’. So iconic are some of the campaigns that he has written, that one doesn’t even need to mention the brands they were made for, the recall is instant, even after decades. There are several client relationships which have withstood the test of time for Ogilvy, like Fevicol (Pidilite). While it was a client won before Pandey came into the Ogilvy ecosystem, he was responsible for the transformation of products in a low interest category like adhesives into one of the most memorable brands in advertising history. Any person who grew up in the 80s, and 90s has cherished ads like ‘Dam laga ke haisha’, Fevikwik (Fish), Fevicol (Egg), etc.
When Indian advertising was suffering from a colonial hangover, Piyush Pandey, a big fan of Hindi literature infused some fresh air into it, and the result was instantaneous and massive. Advertising in India is a proud playground for Hindi vocabulary even today. Pandey has many firsts to his name, like being the first Asian Jury President at the Cannes Festival or being the first person from WPP to be awarded a Lion of St Mark at Cannes Lions.
Author of books like Pandeymonium (2015) and Open House (2022), this creative genius whose catchy taglines have made brands stick in consumers’ minds for years had interestingly joined the advertising industry as a client servicing executive. He was moved to the creative department only six years later. One of the first ads he wrote was for Sunlight Detergent Powder featuring Supriya Pathak. Pandey has time and again credited Ranjan Kapur, the former Ogilvy India head as one who gave him wings to fly and over the years he has in turn done the same for many professionals who joined the agency, inspired by his name on the door.
Ogilvy’s ascend in India has been steady over the years under Pandey’s watch, some of the brightest names in advertising today have worked under him at one point or the other. He has been a mentor to many, and thus it is hardly surprising that his fan following transcends Ogilvy boundaries.
‘Our new leaders are like Ghar Ka Khaana, much superior’
Devika Bulchandani, Global CEO, Ogilvy, and Piyush Pandey, the Chairman of Global Creative and Executive Chairman of India at Ogilvy, who will take on the role of the Chief Advisor at the agency tell IMPACT why they have changed the batting order at Ogilvy India, betting on the younger players.
Pandey in his inimitable style goes on to equate the new elevations, namely Hephzibah Pathak, Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Kainaz Karmakar, Sukesh Nayak, Prem Narayan, SN Rane, and VR Rajesh to ‘ghar ka khaana’ which is far superior to outside food, highlighting why Ogilvy India has traditionally only elevated leaders who have spent substantial number of years at the agency, to top roles unlike the elevations on a global level. Bulchandani adds, ‘Agencies need outside blood only when they need to pivot’
By Neeta Nair
Q] Was it a tough decision to forgo charge at Ogilvy, an agency you have given your heart and soul to for 40+ years?
Piyush: We’ve been discussing it for the past many months. It was time to get the best players to play that role and give a chance to those who are ready for it and be around to help them wherever they need help. Not with authority, but with love, affection and mentor’s advice. In fact, there was no discussion, we knew exactly who we wanted to elevate as the next in line and they were people who have red in their blood, that’s Ogilvy red. It was a simple decision really.
Q] Piyush has nurtured many relationships in India with clients like Fevicol, now that he’s going to be in an advisory role, how are clients reacting and how do you think it’s going to really impact Ogilvy at large?
Devika: We are not announcing some major change. Succession is a very natural process of evolution for any organization. And the other thing is, Piyush is not going anywhere. He has spoken to a lot of senior clients this weekend, and the reaction has been very positive. The beauty of a chief advisor is that he is available when advice is needed. So, whether it is the internal team, the new leadership team that we’re talking about, or clients. Piyush will be there in an advisory role. What he’s not going to get involved in is the day-to-day administration of running the agency. So, it’s actually the best of both worlds.
Q] You have picked Hephzibah Pathak in India as your successor. What were the factors that went in her favour and were there any wild card entries in the succession battle?
Piyush: Hephzibah is the brightest and the best person for this role. It was very clear to all of us.
Devika: Even the first time when Piyush brought it up, I said yes, Hephzibah in this role makes the perfect sense. And I want to give credit where it is due. The reason it was so clear to everybody, why this was not a belaboured discussion and why clients are not sitting here and panicking is because Piyush has architected this over years, so that there’s not one person, but a team that is ready to take over, be on the board and move Ogilvy forward without ever forgetting where they came from. It is a manifestation of Piyush’s leadership. We often forget that as leaders our job is also to make sure that as we take on different roles, which is the natural form of life, the agency has the stability and also the momentum with which it can move forward.
Q] A very peculiar aspect of Ogilvy India is that all people in leadership roles like Sukesh, Kainaz, Harshad, Prem, VR Rajesh, who have been elevated and many before them, were homegrown or have spent considerable time within the agency. This is unlike Ogilvy Global, where Devika Bulchandani joined from McCann and Liz Taylor from Leo Burnett. Why hasn’t Ogilvy India ever considered any talent from outside for top roles?
Piyush: We didn’t look outside because we have great talent inside. Devika’s was a different matter because we needed someone like her to lead the agency. Here we have so many stalwarts ready to rock, so we didn’t feel the need. Of course, we are not closed to the idea. ‘Ghar ka Khaana ghar ka khaana hota hai,’ you don’t buy from the market unless necessary.
Devika: Liz Taylor came back to Ogilvy from Leo Burnett, more like a boomerang. The whole world is hoping to rope in our people, why should we go outside. It also depends on what is happening at an organization, this is not about a leadership change. This is about succession, two very different things. We’re not at a stage where we’re saying, ‘We need to get outside blood because we need to pivot considering that we don’t have the people who can do it’. This is more of an evolution of this company which is already in action and it’s a moment of succession.
Q] Piyush, according to you, is an advertising agency a personality led business, where clients come to an agency because of an advertising great; or is an agency just as good as its last piece of work?
Piyush: It’s the second one. See, personalities are based on their work. And there are personalities who may be celebrities but that is not going to last. You are only as good as your last piece of work and the team that you work with, because you can’t do it alone. The personality of the agency is larger than the personality of the individual.
Q] But does that hold for Ogilvy? Your name is synonymous with Ogilvy in India, and revered by everyone in the industry, after all.
Piyush: See, I’m only interested in Ogilvy, and these people are ready and they’ve been my partners, so I have no fear about whether they are capable. The world knows that I had these people around my arms and they are going to lead. So, I am not worried about Ogilvy at all.
Q] An ex-Ogilvyman had posted this comment on a video celebrating 75th years of Ogilvy on LinkedIn which highlighted how David Ogilvy had not written a word of copy till he was 38 and by the time he turned 41 he was the most respected copywriter in the world. This person said that today David’s own agency may not hire him. My question to you is, would you consider hiring someone who’s not from the advertising background, someone older, perhaps an engineering college dropout, for a job at Ogilvy?
Devika: Liz Taylor, our global CCO said this beautifully that ‘we should hire on potential and not portfolio’ and that is core to Ogilvy’s culture. And frankly, it has to be core to any sort of creative industry because creativity at the end of the day can’t be put into a box. So, we don’t have any rules. In fact, we have talked to our hiring managers to hire on potential and not on portfolio. So, we are very open to people who are 38 years old, with no previous experience in advertising or an engineer at 24 who wants to be a creative person. And we’ve got lots of people like that who we hired, for e.g., sneaker designers with a creative soul, chefs, etc.
Piyush: But I would like to point out a difference. Hiring a 38-year-old is different from a 38-year-old starting his own agency, that was David Ogilvy (laughs).
Q] Piyush, you’ve never been the kind of person who watched a match from the pavilion, you have always been the opening batsman in most cases. Does advertising excite you just as much as it did 40 years ago?
Devika: I want to answer this for Piyush. Ogilvy India is an office that is so prolific in producing some of the most brilliant work. I asked the team how do they know that they have a great idea. I think it was Sukesh or Harshad who answered, “Very simple. We go and show the work to Piyush. If he laughs, it’s great. If he cries, it’s great. If he has no reaction, then it is a no-go.”
Q] Will you be content about coming in much later in the game now, with the new role of an advisor?
Piyush: You should know when you should change your batting order. When you have got younger, fantastic batsmen, try and come in later. And play in such a way that you are meaningful to the team. You can never be a captain unless you have the ability to stay in the team. Batting order doesn’t matter.
Q] Devika, what is the biggest contribution of Piyush Pandey to Ogilvy?
Devika: Piyush Pandey is Ogilvy.
Q] What are your expectations from Hephzibah, Harshad, Kainaz, Sukesh, Prem, SN Rane and VR Rajesh. Where do the two of you want them to take Ogilvy?
Devika: It’s to continue to build on the legacy and take it forward and not just to keep the legacy. This leadership team has to put their own mark on it, that’s very important. And I do feel for them because they’re following in the footsteps of Piyush. But I think it’s going to be important for them to create their own leadership voice to be out there in the world, and not just as somebody who is in the shadow of Piyush. It’s not just an expectation, it’s going to be something we need to encourage them to do. That’s the support and push that we both will give them. They will always have that love and respect for Piyush and so would I.
Piyush: And they’ve given us enough examples of that. For e.g., The Shah Rukh Khan campaign for Mondelez. I don’t know anything about AI, these people did it by themselves. The content team that VR Rajesh has set up here is commendable, and I know nothing about content either. So, they have got the soul intact and are trying the new body which is fantastic. That’s what we’re looking for.
