Yesterday afternoon, a colleague of mine asked me
“Machaan, have you heard of Viral Pandya (he pronounced it right..not like viral as in viral fever)”
I was like “Ya man…I’ve heard this name. Isn’t he some famous advertising dude.” Pardon me man, because my networking skills are really bad.
But I had heard of you…as this really kickass art guy who has won a lot of awards and all that.
But then he showed me your post.
And I was shocked. Like in Rangeela…Aamir says no..”I shocked”..ya..that kind of shocked.
I was shocked at various levels. Actually not shocked, but some mixed emotions.
One was…shit..why is this famous art guy accusing us of something which is totally baseless.
But then I thought about it from your point of view.
Yes. I admit..it does give you some kind of kick when you spot the original of something. Something that is generally popular. Like even when we suddenly spot the original version of a song or a TVC or a scene in a movie or a picture…we go like..”Dude…check what I spotted. and everyone gushes and bitches about it for sometime. I agree it’s fun. It’s a kind of a kick.”
So let’s leave that part.
But usually we do that with a few set of people we know…in private. Laugh about it.
But you decided to post it on FB. But that’s ok. It’s your wall. You can do as you please.
Infact, I am quite motivated by what you did. See how influential you can be man. I am also planning to post this on my wall, after completing this. I mean what the hell. If you feel something, you should say it. Say it openly.
But then you jumped the gun. Shot off your mouth. We all do it.
And when we realize we screwed up, we kind of shut up. Tuck our tails back…and say sorry whatever and get back to life.
So when we told you the actual story of what really happened, we expected you to kind of shut up, tuck your tail and get back to life.
But no. You seem to be of another type. This part onwards is when we start feeling a bit puzzled. Because dude, you are not like us normal folk.
Then we realize, oh yes, you are different. You are trained to think ‘out of the box’.
I really became inquisitive about you. So I googled about you. And stumbled upon some of your ads.
I must admit. Some of them are quite mind blowing. And yes, I share your feelings on this one. It’s sad that they had to be with strange logos. Like I wish the world got to see it. So much effort gone into it. But sadly, it’s only earning you awards.
Like the one where you have so painstakingly arranged grains, lentils and all, and it forms the image of a dog. And it’s about Vegetarian food for dogs, for some ‘SM Store’ in Pitampura. I thought it was quite kickass. I mean so what if this kind of a treatment has been done some zillion times where small small things are arranged, and the larger picture is then something else. Just out of curiousity…what was this? A poster? If it was, then was it instore. I don’t think so. Because if it was then the ‘Pitampura’ is totally unnecessary. Because they are already there. So it’s pointless. But if it was for other places outside the store. Then don’t you think its kind of too small to read. Ya, I agree it will totally screw up the layout. It’s for awards right. Then fine, because they usually see it from close quarters.
Sorry, I digressed. Ya, I also came to know you are the jury member for One Show. Yipeeee…congrats on that. It must be quite a proud feeling.
Just out of my experience, I want to just point out a few things. I don’t know much about awards and all. I haven’t won many. Since you are into it big time, I just wanted you to know a few things. What I hear from other industry folk, it’s a bit sad for some of them.
Apparently, a lot of young interns from art schools are engaged in doing these things. these pain staking things like arranging those grains and all. They sit and slog for many days doing that. Of course the idea isn’t theirs. They are only used for executing it. Because the ones who come up with that idea, don’t have the skill or talent to do it themselves. So they ask these young fellows to spend half their lives doing such stuff. They promise them credits. And they are made to believe that those credits can then give them a great career ahead. So poor chaps fall into this trap.
But no. Nothing happens. Because even after years, they don’t grow up in the system. They just remain mute executors. I’ve even heard that sometimes they don’t even get the credit.
I hope you are giving them their dues. Because they spend their lives doing only these kind of posters for SM Store, they are quite clueless about real brand work. Oh yes, going by your moral standards, you surely must be.
Ya, real brand work is boring. I don’t know if you’ve tried it…but it’s quite an uphill task. Because there are too many people with too many opinions. And you know budgets, market realities, building a brand, reaching out to consumers and all that jazz, can be quite a bummer.
But then there are a whole bunch of people out there who’ve dedicated their lives doing this stuff. Ramming their heads, killing themselves, to get their stuff through all this, and still manage to do some work that people out in the streets end up loving.
Sadly man, these chaps aren’t the ones who are celebrated. You know, they have never been to Cannes, drunk at the gutter bar, or seen their names on One Shows. Nothing.
The only thing that concerns them is ‘what’s good for the brand’.
And if they happen to spot something that seems like a good idea for the brand, they will find a way to make it happen for the brand. It could be a cause, a song, a play, a celebrity, anything. Or sometimes a picture.
They know their brand. And are passionate and pretty selfless too about it.
Those 86 people out there, are defending that my friend.
Lastly, I feel, it’s still better to search for a picture that suits the purpose of your brand, than search for a logo that suits the purpose of your award.
Remember….SM Store, Pitampura.
By the way, Viral Pandya is quite a cool sounding name.
And I’m not copy checking this shit. It’s not for an award.
November 5, 2016
Categories: Advertising, Uncategorized . Tags: Advertising, rant, scam ads, scams, viral pandya . Author: donraja . Comments: 3 Comments