Ex | We wanted to influence 'Pop culture', Naidu & Panjabi

The Ad world has been seeing a lot of agencies ‘pop-up’ in the last few months. Creative people want to move into their own space and give the best possible experience to their clients. They want to be in a free world and not in the boundaries of an organization.

In a high profile suburban event last weekend, the creative world witnessed the birth of Naidu & Panjabi, a boutique creative agency which is headquartered out of Mumbai. With clients ranging from personal care, to hospitality to technology and e-commerce, the agency is helmed by Keshav Naidu and Kahini Panjabi.

Panjabi is a second generation art director, who literally grew up in the creative department. Her Mother worked at Lintas in the 90s. She hates advertising, and that’s what drives her to make it better. An Art Director by chance, and a Drummer by choice.

Naidu has been in the advertising industry for about 15 years. He has worked with agencies like Lowe, Creative Land Asia and Wieden + Kennedy to name a few. He has worked in 3 continents and has produced advertising for over 60 markets. He has been voted by Clio as one of the Top 12 Global Creative Directors under 30 and his accolades include One Show, Cannes, Clio, Effie, AME. Not only that Naidu has been a part time stand-up Comedian with over 50 shows all over India.

In order to get deeper insights of the newest baby in the Ad World and know about their plans in the way forward, we at Adgully caught up with the Founders Keshav Naidu and Kahini Panjabi.

Brand Philosophy

Naidu & Panjabi is not going to be like any other creative agency. It is a revision of what the current agencies are. The agency was born out of a dire need to harness the creative restlessness. Traditional advertising and creativity needs to be challenged as the world gets smaller by the day. With Naidu & Panjabi we hope to create the perfect conditions for path-breaking, creative collaborations.

For instance, the ‘selfie’ or the ‘hashtag’ is a phenomenon, but brands are still using it in their marketing strategies. Brands are using it and not producing it. It is easy to take it from somewhere, for instance the word ‘wassup’ was first used in a Budweiser ad. They are the ones who are responsible for that word. Many of them might not know about the origin. We don’t want brands to use phenomena’s, we want them to produce it and we want to help them in doing that.

Our agency is different from other big networks. We are a small team of young people and we want to create something out of the box.

Clients

Naidu & Panjabi won the Ziffi account after a multi-agency pitch in February 2015. Within weeks the Ziffi brand was re-born, complete with the heart-of-five-senses logo. The campaign broke across radio, press, outdoor, digital and saw a 50% jump in week on week traffic to the website - number of appointments went up 4 times since December 2014.

Naidu adds, “Ziffi is the kind of new digital service that we don’t realize we need, until we use it. Once you’re hooked, you wonder how you ever managed without it. The real challenge however is to get people to try something like this. How do you get people to try something they don’t consciously need?”

Apart from that the agency is working with brand, on their logo and name which will compete with Localbanya. The Founders have worked with renowned brands like Nokia First, IndiGo and Godrej to name a few.

The agency is open to clients across categories. The agency is under look out for new businesses.

Expertise

Naidu & Panjabi will be a full service digital and creative agency. It won’t be a typical media buying agency. Their expertise in the digital and creative space is remarkable and they will also be acting as consultants to some of the clients.

They believe in a lean team and hence will not be over crowded with people.

Work

The launch saw the first look of Naidu & Panjabi’s work with Ziffi. An excited Kunaal Roy Kapur, Directorial Debutant for the Ziffi ad film remarked, “The script and treatment which Naidu & Panjabi came up with was fantastic. I couldn’t have asked for a better video to debut with as a commercial director. The experience was enriching and I do hope to put our heads together for a lot more work!”

Panjabi describes how they didn’t want to make something that would look like an ad. “We didn’t set out to make an ad film. We wanted to make a funny video that young, urban India would enjoy as entertainment. And somewhere along the way we bumped into Kunaal Roy Kapur who totally gets this demographic.”

Client Speaks

The launch was nothing but oozing creativity in all aspects. The presence of the talented Kunaal Roy Kapur along with many other creative minds assured a continuance in the trend of designing beautiful and innovative creative projects by Naidu & Panjabi.  Attended by closed ones and likeminded people, the launch was a close-knit affair.

Shantanu Jha, CEO Ziffi.com was all praises. "Naidu & Panjabi are an amazing team to work with. Their understanding of the product and audience is spot on. Their creativity and freshness in thought process is refreshing and often sets the campaign apart from the clutter. Loaded with experience, Naidu & Panjabi team goes the extra mile to get work done and deliver things. They are just the right partner you need for the fast paced delivery timelines. I am sure, Naidu & Panjabi are here to make a big dent and we wish them all the very best."

Way forward

Sharing plans on their way forward Naidu said, “We’re a boot strapping agency. We’re independent and want to work with brave marketing managers, and brave people who take brave decisions. We’ve delivered quality work and will continue to do that.”

He adds, “We wish to expand in Bangalore and Gurgaon in the next 2-3 years.” By Archit Ambekar | Twitter: @aambarchit