Remembering Piyush, in my own way: Jagdeep Parsram

Advertising veteran Jagdeep Parsram has paid tribute to the iconic adman Piyush Pandey, reflecting on his early days at Ogilvy & Mather and the lasting impression Pandey made on him and the industry.

What can one say about a legend of Indian advertising on his passing that has not already been said over the last few days by his colleagues, former colleagues, friends and admirers?

Tough call. But let me try.

Early to Mid-80s: Those were early days for Piyush in advertising, and early days for me as Account Supervisor in Ogilvy Benson & Mather. Yes, it was OBM then, became Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) and then just Ogilvy.

When I was told that a relative rookie in advertising would be my Account Executive, I thought that it was only natural for a younger, less experienced person than me to be in that position. Till in walked a man into my cabin. I say man because he was about 20kgs heavier than me, more man than me in build and presentation, who introduced himself in a bold and loud voice as Piyush Pandey, my Account Executive.

And quite casually, and without being told, he pulled the chair back from the other side of my desk and sat down, legs crossed as if to say “Let’s get started!”

That was our first meeting.

And that was attitude. Attitude was Piyush’s strength. He could walk up to anyone, without any arrogance, be forthright and even control the conversation. There was no prevaricating, hedging or fudging, be it with his colleagues across all levels, the head of the Agency, clients, vendors, family, friends…everyone he interacted with. In a way it was a ‘what-you-see-is-what-you-get’ attitude and which, once the opposite side understood, became a great means of building a relationship. Of which he made very many in a business that was all about people!

So, the first thing was to get our working relationship right. He was a few months older than me, yet had been asked to report to me due to his lesser industry experience. In the same forthright manner as his, I said to him, “Piyush, we have been put in this position, me senior to you, but I do not want to see it that way. You have your strengths and I have mine, which we will both discover. So, let’s make our partnership work well and let us have fun while doing that.”

That was the perfect ice-breaker and after that, we never had any issue about our respective levels. If anything, he would still defer to me, but I would always return that compliment, each time I felt his contribution would help. Incidentally, while almost everyone has referred to me as JP over the last four decades, Piyush always called me by my given name, Jagdeep. Even till as late as a few months ago, when he thanked me for wishing him well on his 70^th birthday!     

Another strength that Piyush had, and which I discovered quite quickly, was that he was very intuitive and had a way of grasping things quite quickly. That was strange for a newbie in the business, but it was uncanny how often he was one of the first to understand the needs of the brand and how to address it. While OBM prided itself as a process-driven agency where every assignment and project went in a linear fashion from Brief to Research (if needed) to Strategy to Creative execution, it was always Piyush’s instincts that played an important role in the workflow, making things faster, smoother and more productive. His ability to pick up the finer nuances of the client’s brief and communications, from the internal discussions and in casual conversations was an art that paid great dividends. Campaigns such as ‘Chal Meri Luna’, that was literally created while brainstorming on our car ride to the Client’s office in Pune, was one such. Similarly, ‘Kuch Khaas Hai Zindagi Mein’ for Cadbury’s was a very simple idea, but by adding the cricket element and the girl running on to the field, now that was inspired creativity. He was an instinctive genius! But that was fully backed-up by the conviction he had for the campaigns that were created by him and his team.  

It was also amazing how Piyush’s powers of observation and sensitivity to music helped him put some great campaigns together. What he saw and heard in real life became slice-of-life in many of his commercials, as is evident from his commercials for Fevicol. The commercial with the overloaded small-town bus with passengers safely clinging on, the stickiness being the Fevicol bond, was probably derived from his life in Rajasthan and re-purposed for this commercial. Even the voice overs in the commercials for Asian Paints, some in which he used his own voice, had the power of gentle persuasion, which he understood very well.

He set high standards for himself and expected that of all those who worked with him, both within and outside the agency, would follow suit. Selfless to the core, he could carry a team of youngsters and make them believe that they could be as good, if not better than him. Today, many who have been touched by him professionally, have watched him at work and been mentored by him would owe their career growth and success to him.

Piyush thought with his heart, even as his mind explored creative ideas. That carried his passion to even greater heights, campaign after campaign, award after award. He wore his recognition lightly, much as he did his clothes, always dressed in the trademark colourful bush shirts even at the most formal functions. And his unkempt moustache became another trademark of his, again a throwback probably to his Rajasthani roots!   

Every conversation with Piyush was bilingual. English and Hindi. To the extent that many of his team who favoured one language over the other, started becoming better at the language that they were weak at! It was not the highbrow Hindi but the more colloquial and common-use language of the man on the street and in many cases, the smart housewife. If anything, one would like to believe that the line for Asian Paints, ‘Har Ghar Kuchh Kehta Hai’ was targeted to the houseproud housewife. Such was his intuitiveness. Coming from the Hindi heartland, a large middle-class family and being a man of the world, such things were second nature to him. And it became the basis for all the brilliant campaigns he created, campaigns that were better understood, appealed to the consumers and helped do what they were meant to do. Sell!

Even as he moved from a cubicle to a cabin to the corner office and then the global board room, he never lost touch with his Indian roots. He remained the flagbearer of Indian advertising at global forums and brought Indian advertising to international standards. The ethos of India flowed through his bloodstream, even as he headed the global creative team of one of the largest multinational advertising agencies, Ogilvy.

Perhaps the best tribute that I can think of to Piyush, his work and his life would be this line from the popular Hindi song: ‘Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani!’ 

Alvida Piyush. You played your innings well. Off the front foot and without a false stroke. Just as it did with us, your wit, charm, stories and booming laugh will keep all those other advertising stalwarts waiting for you above in good humour.