Sunil Gupta: The man who remembered the stories behind the ads

Some people build brands. Some build agencies. And then there are people like Sunil Gupta, who build memories. That is perhaps what has always set him apart. While the advertising industry often celebrates campaigns, awards and business wins, Gupta has spent much of his career celebrating something less tangible but far more enduring, the people, conversations and moments that shaped Indian advertising long before PowerPoint presentations and LinkedIn posts became the industry's preferred way of documenting history.

As Sunil Gupta celebrates his birthday, it feels like the right moment to look beyond the impressive designations on his résumé and appreciate a career that has quietly influenced Indian advertising, brand consulting, theatre, literature and even cricket commentary over nearly five decades.

His journey into advertising began in 1978, shortly after completing his MBA, when he joined JWT India, then known as Jhande Walan Thompson, as a management trainee. What followed was a remarkable 23-year association with one of India's most influential advertising agencies, where he rose through the ranks to become Executive Vice President while working with some of the country's largest multinational corporations and Indian business groups. Those were defining years for Indian advertising as liberalisation transformed consumer markets, and Gupta found himself at the centre of that evolution.

Yet, unlike many advertising professionals who moved on with little documentation of those years, Gupta chose to preserve them.

In 2009, he published Living on the 'Adge' in Jhande Walan Thompson, a book that remains one of the industry's most loved memoirs. Rather than celebrating famous campaigns or creative awards, the book captures the personalities, office culture, humour, friendships and everyday moments that made agency life unforgettable. It became less of a corporate memoir and more of a time capsule for an industry that rarely pauses to record its own history.

His love for storytelling, however, was never confined to advertising.

Over the years, Gupta has established himself as an author, consultant, teacher, actor and commentator, proving that curiosity does not recognise professional boundaries. Since leaving JWT in 2002, he has represented two London-headquartered advisory firms, Results International Group LLP and Aprais Worldwide Ltd, helping agencies and marketing businesses across South Asia navigate growth, partnerships and transformation. His consulting work has taken him across borders, including several assignments in Pakistan, where he has advised agencies and conducted brand communication workshops.

Education has remained another constant. Gupta has been a guest lecturer at several of India's leading business schools, including IIM Lucknow, sharing practical lessons from decades spent inside boardrooms, agency corridors and client meetings. Unlike textbook theories, his sessions are often remembered for the stories that accompany every business lesson.

Writing has continued to occupy an equally important place in his life.

Following his advertising memoir, he contributed to The Phoenix Rises: Lockdown Chronicles, an anthology published during the Covid-19 pandemic that brought together reflections from distinguished writers and public figures. In the same year, he released Final Innings, a psychological drama set against the backdrop of cricket, combining two lifelong passions, storytelling and sport.

If advertising gave him one stage, theatre gave him another.

An accomplished theatre actor, Gupta has performed in more than 50 productions, taking the stage not only across India but also in Moscow, St Petersburg, and at the prestigious Rafi Peer International Theatre Festival in Lahore. His acting journey later extended to the screen with roles in films such as Talvar, Mom and Vijaynagar, followed by appearances in acclaimed streaming series including The Family Man and Breathe: Into the Shadows.

Cricket, too, has been an enduring thread running through his life. Gupta has served as a commentator for All India Radio, featured as a panellist on the BBC's cricket podcast Stumped, and lent his voice to Star Sports' Pro Kabaddi League, demonstrating the same ease behind a microphone that he once displayed in agency conference rooms.

Despite this remarkably diverse career, advertising remains the profession most closely associated with his name.

Perhaps that is because he has always viewed advertising as more than marketing. For Gupta, it has been a window into human behaviour, culture and relationships. His observations have never been driven by nostalgia alone. Instead, they remind younger professionals that while technology, platforms and consumer habits continue to evolve, the industry's greatest asset has always been its people.

Today, as artificial intelligence reshapes creativity and retail media rewrites marketing playbooks, Gupta's journey feels more relevant than ever. His career is proof that while campaigns come and go, stories endure. The best professionals are not remembered only for the businesses they built, but also for the generosity with which they shared their experiences.

That may well be Sunil Gupta's greatest legacy.

He did not simply spend more than four decades in advertising. He ensured that an entire generation would remember what those decades felt like.

Happy Birthday, Sunil Gupta. Thank you for preserving the stories that made Indian advertising what it is today.