Creative Director & Ideator at RUBBERSTAMP
Started his career in the August of ’92, as a Jr. Visualiser with TRITON COMMUNICATIONS. Was hired as an Art Director, a year later, with HTA in Bangalore (now JWT).
Returned to Bombay and joined Saatchi & Saatchi. In the formative years of Saatchi in India the team consolidated the agency winning many clients and growing the business.
This bug made him start DIGITAL NIRVANA, as a partner, dabbling in new media. It was one of the first digital studios providing design solutions. Some of the projects involved designing a restaurant, a fitness gym, even an interactive presentation for Mercedes Benz.
RKS BBDO asked him to come onboard to improve the creative process. But the agency inertia made him move onto a fast paced CHANNEL [V], as Head of Design. Out there, he not only served the channel’s advertising and promotional needs, but was also the Design consultant for many on-air shows. The channel outpaced MTV moving onto first slot. The resultant success made the network offer him a position at its very base, STAR TV, Hong Kong, to help them out on all their channels (STAR PLUS, STAR WORLD, STAR MOVIES, CHANNEL [v], STAR NEWS, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, STAR PHOENIX and STAR TAIWAN). He won the Silver BDA PROMAX for the Best Consumer Promo for Star Movies.
Back in India, leaving the world of television behind, he experimented with art directing television commercials. Soon though, he was consumed by the endless possibilities of the Direct Marketing world and joined Theory M to try his hand on BTL and CRM.
But the advertising bug never really left his system and sooner than he anticipated he was working with JWT Mumbai as a Senior Creative Director on accounts like; (DTC) Diamond Trading Corporation, DIAGEO – Smirnoff (Red, Twist, Black), Godrej Appliances, Johnson & Johnson, Ireland Tourism, Life Insurance Corporation, Monsanto, BIG FM, Sri Lanka Tourism Cluster, Times Of India, Reliance Money, Hindustan Petroleum, Shapoorji Pallonji Builders, Ahuja Builders, Unilever, UTV (Hungama TV), Standard Chartered Marathon, Philips CTV, SBI Mutual Funds, Godrej Sara Lee, DeBeers, Philips Televisions, Wonder Cement, Reliance Capital, UTI Mutual Funds among others. He quit from being the Executive Creative Director & Vice President to start working for his own vision.
RUBBERSTAMP- A Brand Design and Innovative Solutions shop! Creating content and communication as entertainment is what he does. The roster of clients who have come on board is truly eclectic. Garodia International School, Godrej Appliances, Illumine – a knowledge based company, Shakti Tours and Travels, SmileBar, in8motion, FourthAmbit and more. For Garodia, the entire communication package comprised everything from the school’s logo down to the uniform the kids will wear. He just finished designing the franchise model of the school- BEEHIVE. He has put the entire package together; starting at the name, identity, uniform to the interior and the exterior of the franchise school model. The commitment even extends to putting a system of teaching that takes into account, a modern environment. Rubberstamp also has the proud distinction of designing the entire Brand Identity for PDM (Percept D’Mark), which in itself boasts of a fairly large agency set-up.
He has been a Finalist at Cannes for Print Craft, One Show, ADFEST AsiaPac, Silver at Ad Club Mumbai, AAAI, Featured in The Work for the Ideator. Awarded Silver (TBA) at Asian Travel & Tourism Awards, Singapore for Sri Lanka campaign and at the Colombo adclub. His pack designs for The Smirnoff Trail was a finalist at Adfest and was so loved by the client that it was introduced in various other regions in the world. His most celebrated work has been the LEAD INDIA Campaign for the Times of India which won India’s first ever GRAND PRIX at CANNES 2008 in the Direct category as well as an Integrated Lion. The campaign was one of the most talked about and highly awarded pieces of work at award shows locally and internationally. Besides Cannes, it picked up 3 Golds and a Grand Prix at Goa Fest, a Gold at Asian Marketing Effectiveness, 3 Golds at the Indian Effies, Best Of Show in two categories (360 and Direct) at WPP Whipped Crème, NY, a Jay Chiat Planning Gold, a Finalist at Ad Fest. He won another Grand Prix at Goafest for the TEACH INDIA campaign, a finalist at the Cannes and 2 Emvies in Hong Kong. The MUMBAI CARE campaign got silver and a bronze at GOAFEST and finalist at the Cannes, so on and so forth.
He was ranked at 10th among the best creatives in India and 110th in Asia by Campaign Brief Asia.
His design was chosen for the cover of the 3rd Anniversary issue of the Rolling Stone magazine. His cover art is included in the Rolling Stone 4th, 5th & 6th Annual Issues.
He was on the panel of judges in two categories (Design & Print Craft) at the ADFEST
ASIAPAC 2008. He is a judge at various college level competitions. He also has been a guest lecturer at the Bombay University and has helped in creating a new Post Graduate Diploma Course in Management. He did a round of lectures in Sri Lanka Adclub also. He judged the Integrated Category of Goafest 2013.
In his spare time, he squiggles tee shirts and nurses the idea of launching a website that spans out into merchandise with his quirky brand of humour. Five short stoires have been waiting for his time to convert them into short films. He is currently writing and illustrating short stories for his son.
He has always focused on the brand and moved beyond the brief. However small the communication objective, it has to have a lasting impression on the brand. Currently he is deliberating about innovative use of alternate media to communicate with the target audience in a entertaining way! He has worked out campaigns on facebook and, twitter. He is currently working on several ideas with the mobile platform and some disruptive activation ideas with radio.
