AgTalk | Great thinking coupled with craft skills is the way forward: Alok Nanda

With changing times, communication – messages, modes of communication and devices through which messages are created and received have undergone immense transformation over the years. However, experts in the communication business like Alok Nanda maintain that creativity in communication has and will have to remain constant and consistent, more so for brands that need a singular feeling to be conveyed and felt – luxury.

Alok Nanda and Company was set up by Nanda back in 1999, as a communications company single-mindedly focused on creating successful lifestyle and luxury brands. The company is titled as an advertising agency, a design firm, a communications company and brand strategists the company asserts to work on all of these things, but their key focus and years of expertise lies in building brands in the gilded sphere of lifestyle and luxury. Today the company focuses on developing areas of knowledge using advertising, graphic design, packaging, identity development, web design and retail design, dealer relationship programs, corporate and shareholder communication.

In December 2011, the company launched their design store Filter, in Kala Ghoda, Mumbai which the curated works of photographers, artists and designers from all over and also the products conceptualized by in-house team that range from chocolates and mayonnaise to t-shirts and stationery.

Adgully caught up with Alok Nanda, Creative Director and Founder, Alok Nanda Company who briefed us about the company’s journey, new trends in the domain, success factor and much more…

Adgully (AG): What was the need gap that triggered the birth of Alok Nanda Company?
Alok Nanda (AN): We started as a boutique by product of advertising agency which found its own feet’s and it’s a full-fledged domain today. The scales of business and number of people have grown up. We are more segment focused company based on lifestyle and luxury space. It’s imperative to have designs as both the sectors demands certain level of finish. My background is advertising, so we do advertising but luxury and premium brands need design.  We bring both advertising and design into our business.

AG: How according to you had advertising as an industry has evolved over the years?
AN: I think advertising as an industry changes with time and evolves. Advertising is a product of popular culture which demands new changes in terms of trends and pattern. So, the kind of trend we are following today which is more of visuals will again change in the years to come.

AG: Your company has bagged a few awards at the recently concluded Goafest 2014. What according to you led the company to that success point?
AN: It’s always good to get recognition but notion of awards is not everything, ultimately it has to work for your clients. Strangely, it’s the strategies that we follow and not the design. Because thought process should be clear and with the help of good talent and designers it’s easy to achieve success and that is what we believe in.

AG:  How do you view the Indian advertising and design domain viz a viz international players?
AN: In some ways design in India is getting better certainly but in some ways the production and design will still take time to establish. The question is, does Indian design get space? I don’t believe in Indian designs in terms of space being an Indian.

AG:  If you have spot few major aspects that Indian advertising agencies need to learn from their global counterparts, what would they be?
AN: I think the thought process and strategic insights. Design motivates people to take direction and shift.

AG: Which category do you think has shown maximum growing adoption and trust in creative designing, both in India and internationally?
AN: I think the corporate identity and re-positioning of brands is more strategic designs. Which is been done in India and in western countries, we too do that.

AG:  Talking India specific, how are the top metro markets different or similar to tier II and tier III towns and cities? How does the strategy modulation happen then?
AN:  At Alok Nanda Company, we work with clients from different markets but we work from only one office, the reason being we don’t want to be all over the place from quality perspective. Given the fact we are into the luxury space, we do work for tier II and tier III cites too because we never know from where the clients will come from. We don’t decide according to the markets but sectors like lifestyle and luxury.

AG: If you have to pick best of your works through the years, which would they be?
AN: The first one is BLK Hospital design in Delhi, which was inaugurated by Jawahar Lal Nehru, we do packaging for Sarda milk farm and apart from these, there are many more..!

AG:  How has the development and swift of adoption of new media changed or influenced the advertising and designing domain?
AN: I think as our company we need to do lot more and we need to get our feet into new media. For us, its an area we need to focus on and I don’t think that the thought process changes with the entry of new media but how it manifests itself certainly will change, we need to learn that. It’s a positive opportunity.

AG:  What does it take to become an art director? What should aspiring creative directors keep in mind?
AN: I think great thinking along with technical and craft skills, one should never stop learning. I think everyone in this space should have capability to make right judgement and winning the trust of client.  [By Ranjana Gupta| Twitter: @RGrightsreserve]

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