Adgully Exclusive | Two words that keep me going after 25 years- Grow Young: Contract's Ravi Deshpande

Contract Advertising, one of India's leading integrated advertising agencies, is joyous about being in its 25th year of operation. With offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai, Contract advertising delivers solutions which includes traditional advertising and speciality solutions.

Adgully caught up with Ravi Deshpande, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Contract Advertising, to find out more about the festivity, celebrations and the way forward for the agency.

Talking about the agency's glorious 25 years, Deshpande says, "The last twenty-five years for Contract have been memorable. We have had the most fantastic people, at every level, in every department. For ex-Contract blokes, we have been much more than an agency. We have been a place they have always wanted to come back to, give back to and also learn from."

He further shares how in 1992/93 Contract pioneered the "Windows" training program by Mr. Ghoshal.Contract was the first agency to make alternate revenue streams by producing Malgudi Days on television.

"Contract was one of the first agencies to have won first ever Lion for India in 1996.

We have won several Lions thereafter and we also pioneered the first Design cell (DesignSutra) as well as the first Digital cell (iContract)," he adds.

However Deshpande points out that being at the top means consistently having to fight problems, always having one's ear to the ground and one's mind alert enough to know what new frontiers are being broken in the world of communication every day.

"Because let's face it, things are more dynamic today than they have ever been. And that's a good reason to not be comfortable but always be restless, alert, eager to learn and experiment with new ideas. There are just two words that keep me going after 25 years: Grow Young. I think these words open up a world of possibilities. There's so much to be done, so many realms to explore. It's important to stretch time and have a fresh approach to life," he adds.

Elaborating on what has worked best for the agency to be successful over the years, Deshpande says, "I think it's our resilience and consistency with creativity. Contract has always been busy producing responsible creative work over the years and that has always worked well for our clients. It is this attitude that has helped us build some great brands such as Shoppers Stop, NIIT, Cadbury Celebrations, Dominos and American Tourister to name a few. What has also helped the agency to go this far is people's passion. Our past and existing members of the organisation have given it all and worked very hard to make Contract truly an agency of high value. And we have always believed in doing things the hard way for the work to have the maximum effect."

As a part of its 25th year celebration the agency is about to hold an event and invite the industry to share its view on creativity.

"We are celebrating our success with the clients and our past and present employees.

While signing off we ask him what are some of the focus areas for the agency starting this year, he says, "Our focus would be two-fold: lift the quality of our product further and do more work in digital media for all our clients." | By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]