Kamlesh Pandey & Bugs Bhargava Krishna to amplify creative focus at Rediffusion-Y&R

For 40 years, Rediffusion-Y&R has been where some of the best and most creative minds in advertising have sharpened their skills and evolved to become names to reckon with in the industry. Today, two such prolifically creative personalities, Kamlesh Pandey and Bugs Bhargava Krishna, who had their early tenures at Rediffusion, will begin a new phase of creative collaboration with the agency.

Rediffusion-Y&R announced today that Kamlesh Pandey and Bugs Krishna will be working closely with the agency’s creative leadership team as creative counsels in an advisory role.
Bugs Bhargava Krishna will work closely with D Rajappa, President India & Sri Lanka of Rediffusion-Y&R, as Creative Advisor. In his earlier stint at Rediffusion, Bugs was instrumental in creating some memorable and award-winning campaigns such as the Give Me Red campaign for Eveready Batteries; Thums Up’s Taste the Thunder; Kingfisher’s King of Good Times; Kerala Tourism’s God’s Own Country; and India Tourism’s Discover India Discover Yourself.

Bugs also created the award-winning Movement Called Telco campaign and more recently the much-awarded 100 years of Tata Sons commercial Football with Values (see YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqMB1xqSOUs).

After Rediffusion, Bugs moved on to work with JWT and then finally with Saatchi & Saatchi as their National Creative Director. Then, he shifted his focus to films, television, and theatre and gained much acclaim as actor, director, and playwright. You can watch him in popular Bollywood films such as Taare Zameen Par, Kaminey, Dum Maro Dum, and Delhi Belly. His latest play is The Bureaucrat, which is currently stirring up a lot of interest in India and abroad.

Kamlesh Pandey is a veteran of mass media and has over 30 years of diverse experience in advertising, television, and films. He will also work closely with Rajappa and the creative leadership team in the agency as a Creative Consultant.

As one of India’s few successful, bilingual, advertising copywriters, with roots in rural India as well as a prolific career in metropolitan India, Kamlesh Pandey brings expansive perspectives into the lives and aspirations of Indian consumers across all socio-economic and cultural categories. He has won hundreds of awards from the Commercial Artists Guild, Advertising Club of Bombay, RAPA, IAAFA, and other organizations. Kamlesh won the “Best Copywriter of the Year Award” for four years in succession ever since the award’s inception in 1978. After that, he stopped entering the contest.

His career in films is equally spectacular: He has written more than 45 Bollywood films till date, including hugely popular ones like Chaalbaaz, Tezaab (for which he also won the Filmfare award), Rang De Basanti, and Delhi-6. His list of accomplishments across television, advertising, and films spanning 30 years is not only prolific but also consistent.

Commenting on the announcement, D. Rajappa, President, Rediffusion-Y&R said: “Bugs and Kamlesh are exceptionally creative professionals and the young talent at Rediffusion will benefit greatly from this engagement. Through their wide-ranging experiences and exposure across films, television, theater and advertising, they have developed a flair for identifying great ideas and creating timeless works of communication, because they deeply understand the pulse of the Indian consumer.”

Speaking about his intimate relationship with the agency, Kamlesh Pandey said: “Rediffusion is more like a family to me. Which is why even after I left Rediffusion, I continued to maintain a close relationship with the agency. This is a personal involvement for me, not just a professional commitment, unlike what other consultants do. I take personal joy in seeing that the best and the most creative works always continue to come out of Rediffusion.”

Bugs Bhargava Krishna said: “For me Rediffusion has always been the cradle of the truly creative. That’s the agency that pioneered delight in advertising. I'm lucky to have started working there when I was 21. It set me on a course of joyous discovery. Working there taught me a lot of what I still use in advertising, theatre and film. Rediffusion is undergoing a breathtaking transformation with lots of exciting things happening in there, and I am happy to be part of this great agency that has created some of the most iconic brands in this country.”