AgTalk | Red Ice has carved a niche for itself: Robby Grewal

With more than a decade of experience in the advertising industry, Robby Grewal, Co-Founder & Director, Red Ice Films aims to bring about a change in the way the ad industry functions. He is confident that change will happen in the industry in the years to come and is already taking small steps. Getting filmmakers like Anurag Basu (Micromax, Visa and Fair and Lovely), Anurag Kashyap (Hero and Titan), Shimit Amin (Nissan Sunny and Evalia), Ayan Mukerjee (Pepsi, P&G and Nissan Micra) to tell a story in 30 seconds has been a remarkable feat His opinion is that with proper communication and guidance a good storyteller can tell a story in any format and duration.

“Movies are dreams you see with your eyes open, and I always want to be dreaming”, is an adage religiously followed by Grewal. With his unmatched directorial and production sensibilities, Robby decided to take over the TV commercial division of Red Ice and revamp the way the industry worked. An Economics graduate from Delhi University, Robby always had his heart set on making films. After a short stint with Romesh Films; he joined hands with Gary and Sameer to launch Red Ice Films in 1999.

His rich industry experience and understanding of brands has been a huge advantage. Red Ice has taken up challenging campaigns in the past, like the Hero commercial that was completed in only seven days after receiving an approval from the client.

To his credit, Robby has directed and produced “Samay”, a crime thriller starring Sushmita Sen, which was not only critically acclaimed but also won several awards including national awards. He has also produced “Yahaan” a film based on Kashmir, which received rave reviews and accolades.

Adgully caught up with him, to understand his vision and wanted to take a look at his journey and challenges he faced in the industry.

Following is the excerpt of the conversation.

Adgully (AG): Please share with us your journey with Red Ice films and also brief us about the success that it has achieved in this time span?

Robby Grewal (RG): The journey started in 1999 with a team of passionate professionals from different walks of life, who emphasized on the importance of a creative team, who can get the best out of mere paper ideas and had the ability of machines. I would say till now, with all the ups and downs; Red Ice has carved a niche for itself. Today we have some of the well-known brands with us like Britannia, Coca Cola, Dell, Dabur, Pepsi, Saffola, Slice, Titan, Visa, and Vaseline - just to name a few. In the process, we have created over 1000 memorable ad films and have experimented with newer ideas, giving the industry a qualitative growth chart.

AG: As you said, Red Ice films has produced some best works through ad campaigns for several brands and very recently it won a Bronze at Cannes Lions 2013 for Adidas campaign. So what is the process/strategy involved in producing such great forms of work?

RG: I feel the content used should be good and innovative. The most important fact is that to produce any good work there should be passion of doing that work. If the idea is attractive and innovative it would lead to good creative work which in turn would lead to a great story for any brand. We have been working on this philosophy since our inception and will continue doing that.

AG: Can you brief us about the viral campaign of Adidas that made you win the Bronze at the Cannes 2013?

RG: The brief given was to enhance the passion of cricket in India. Cricket is religion in our country but in the smaller towns children still feel the scarcity of land and pitches to play cricket. Hence we thought that why not do something so that the passion doesn’t stop and at the same time we can encourage children to play cricket. So we added a new feature to the streets. Cricket stumps. Adidas went around and pasted the Adidas Wall Cricket Poster in skinny alleys, quiet corridors, empty parking lots, lonely bus stops and every possible strip of land in the city. And overnight urban landscapes turned into cricket pitches. With this we wanted to touch the roots of the country and the passion that our kids have.

AG: You’ve brought feature film directors into advertisement space which was a big step and was a remarkable feat. What was the idea behind getting them to tell story in ads?

RG: The step was a sign of innovation and I believe that with proper communication and guidance a good storyteller can tell a story in any format and duration. The success actually changed the mindset of people in the industry.

AG: What kind of change you have noticed in the ad industry then and now and how is the industry growing in India?

RG: The industry has grown quite phenomenally. I think the trends which we generally used to look forward to have changed drastically over the years. Example, 5 years back shooting anything for digital platform was a task and challenge, now if we see everything is shot keeping in mind the digital platform. There is a huge paradigm shift in terms of technology which has lead to the change in taste and liking of people.

AG: You have produced films, ‘Samay’ and ‘Yahan’ for Bollywood. Are you planning to produce any more films in future?

RG: Yes we will be coming out with some more films in future. We would be rolling our next film may be by the end of this year or early next year with some of the leading star cast.

AG: You’ve have sense of knowledge both in direction and production, how you would like to elaborate your responsibilities?

RG: Yes, so when you are the director and producer of the film, you know the exact grammar of the film which is in anyway helpful. In such a case I know how to take things forward and at what pace thereby easing the challenges and communication.

AG: What have been the challenges that you’ve faced while working for big brands and strategies that have worked for you?

RG: Every moment is a challenge and being in a city like Mumbai shooting everyday is a big challenge. (hahaha). As for the strategies, I already mentioned earlier the philosophy that we have stuck to while making ad campaign. The same has paid us rich dividends.