Deekiyeh ish shaksh ko. Yeh bacchpan sey observe karta aya hai. Ghar mai Bahaar bhi. Friends- Family or cobbler -carpenter 0r Bus – train. Koi bhi nahi baccha ishki nigaho se. Isney kisko bhi nahi chooda. Aap ishkay hastey huyeh chaharey par mat dhyaan dey. Aur sambhal kar rahiyeh nahi toh aapka character bhi kisi nayeh ishtehaar mai dheekega. Yeh toh Lajmi hai. Ish se kuch kaha ya share kiya toh zimmedhari aapki.
‘Cheeky fellow’ a book happened so naturally to you.
PANDEYMONIUM is a simple book on advertising or Pandey School of advertising. That is much nearer to his heart. Fortunately he is one advertising person who treats the audience neither as his wife nor a moron. The ‘Y’ makes all the difference between Pandemonium and Pandeymonium.
Pandeymonium is a one time unputdownable easy read.
This is a book of on-going affair he has with brands. Here he opens his heart out in a very naked way. The emotions are apparent when he speaks of relations and gratitude. It is easy to read and simple to digest book. At the end of each chapter there is a net take out in a very matter of fact way. It amplifies the unstated philosophy of ‘this is what worked for me, it works for you- go enjoy take a jump and find out for yourself’.
Pandey gives a hardbound treat.
You do not need to be in advertising, media or marketing to enjoy it. Font is big and easy for his age group readers, which would be many. The quality of visuals leaves much to be desired. Such hazy pictures do no justice to a book from living legend of advertising ‘Piyush Pandey’. For the acid test when the real audience outside media-marketing-communication fraternity it needs a paperback edition.
So, where does all the work come from?
Jokes apart, there is huge memory bank filled with incidents, emotions archive in an easy to retrieve fashion. This is what his advertising is all about. Success and failure together. There is passion and an attitude of it is not over yet. Now you know the origin of his work. And he is liberal in sharing or giving credits where they are due. That is so much Pandey.
A peep show in to world of Piyush Pandey.
It is all there. He takes you in a non-stop journey that is smooth. With hindsight it all looks so simple. Success always looks that way. Enough space is rightly placed on the need for passion and self-conviction. Living life as if it belongs to you is silently sprinkled through out the pages. You catch the draft as he takes through one example after another.
Did I miss something?
I was surprised that the Kelivinator campaign did not feature anywhere. I am not sure how that campaign happened in O&M Delhi but there are anecdotal stories of Piyush Interaction with Ramsundar at that time Electrolux head. I am not even sure if those are true.
Problem of plenty. Lessons to pick.
In the first three sections Everyone and everything around you is a teacher’, ‘Kinder garden truths about advertising’ and ‘So much complexity is found in simplicity’ are loaded with wisdom. There are too many of them. Quite a few look like Hindsight but that is quite a lot of successful advertising.
Average professional Vs. Pandey
Pandey is a perfectionist and he has demonstrated it with examples. It is clear that he has imbibed all of them. For a normal reader or an average professional it seems an endless list and that adds the awe in the simplicity of lessons. But then things can only look up as you work toward setting new benchmarks.
The Curator made a difference.
I would believe that Anant Rangaswami, a simple man have been a great curator of the content. He has been able to further simplify Piyush’s simple words.
The Book Meter
Initially the book works through an easy pace and once you are acclimatised to it, suddenly Pandey becomes a bit serious towards the end pages. These pages are something out of frame in terms of tonality but a necessity. Pandey being what he is had to devote time and pages to two section which are very industry focussed. ‘Ogilvy and Me’ and ‘Advertising today and tomorrow’.
BEFORE I END- I SHARE FEW EXAMPLES THAT DEMONSTRATE THE OPENNESS YOU WILL ENCOUNTER IN PANDEYMONIUM
Sharing is the need of the hour.
Here I quote from page 87. And I believe that people who have worked with him vouch for this attitude. “A lot of creative people don’t share ideas. Thanks to some fear that I’m quite unable to understand. What is it we are working on? We’re certainly not in the nuclear science business. Share the idea to as many people as you know and Trust. Imagine for a moment that an idea you share is ‘stolen’ by the person you shared with. But even in situation, there is an upside. You learn that this particular person is not trustworthy’
Good Clients get good work.
Something that has been near to my heart. Many a time I have not been the best of the creative buyer but I did explain to my agencies. Sometime we dictated. Neither my agencies nor me were as committed and convinced about things as Pandey seems to be. But the truth as I quote from page 89 ‘unless you find support, unless you find a balance, you can’t do brave things. David Ogilvy once said. ‘Don’t keep a dog and bark yourself’. It is the same with clients who dictate advertising…. If the client eaves us to do the barking, which is what they sign us on the first place, the relationship is much richer- for both the client and us’. I know I barked a few more times then I should have.
Pressure of freedom.
Quoting page 94.’Its high pressure. There is no pressure that is greater than great freedom and the consequent responsibility that comes with it’
And a slow pitch
Quoting from page 116. ‘This brings me to a personal failure, In all these years, we haven’t worked with one of the finest family run businesses in the country, we’ve never worked with Anand Mahindra.
‘Pandeymonium’ by PIYUSH PANDEY. Published by Penguin Random House. Pages 242. INR 799. Available at 595 at Amazon
