80th Anniversary of AAAI: Welcoming digital agencies and smaller players

I had barely completed what the media kindly described as a two-year dream term as President of the Advertising Club when the telephone rang and the deep voice of Arun Nanda said “I’ve been asked to be President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and I would like you to do me the honour of being my Vice President “.

And thus I was “parachuted” into a leadership role at the AAAI.

The very next year I was President and had a very senior Managing Committee of people like Anil Kapoor of ULKA, Ram Sehgal of Contract, Srinivasan Swamy of RKSwamy Goutam Rakshit of Advertising Avenues, Ranjan Kapur of Ogilvy, to name a few.

The first big issue that came up was the signing of an agreement with the IBF (now IBDF) and after much debate I saw immense merit in the stand taken by Swamy where he advocated a relationship of partnership and not one where we were the “agents” of the Broadcast media.

To cut a long story short he did all the heavy lifting and I had the privilege to sign the landmark agreement with the IBF. Something that endures till today.

One of the most important roles I took up seriously was to help member agencies recover overdue outstandings. And I could do this rather well because I had the complete support of the then Regional Chairman of the INS Pradeep Guha and the President of the IBF, Kunal Dasgupta.

That was also the time when the AdAsia 2003 was being planned and the AAAI fully supported the Indian effort to put up an iconic event.

I must record the fact that even then I was passionate about cause-related advertising to show that communication is a force for good and I was fully supported by my dear friend Goutam Rakshit.

Apart from the many activities to develop creative talent and groom aspiring professionals the one big contribution by the AAAI to the Marcom ecosystem was the creation of the GoaFest.

In an atmosphere which was turbid with politics this came as a huge breath of fresh air and the credit must go entirely to the current President Srinivasan Swamy who not just conceived it but also rolled it out when Madhukar Kamath was the President.

And one happy memory is of a phone call I received while on a boat in Venice, from the then President Arvind Sharma informing me that I had been nominated for the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the AAAI.

I am glad the Association is not just relevant today but also evolving by making itself more inclusive by welcoming Digital Agencies and smaller players as well who will definitely benefit from their exposure to the Association.

I wish the AAAI all the very best.