Titus Upputuru is National Creative Director, Dentsu Marcom. Based out of Dentsu India Group’s Headquarters in Gurgaon, he is a key member of the new leadership team at Dentsu India Group.
Prior to Dentsu, he worked with Ogilvy, New Delhi for over five years where he was responsible for key campaigns on Sprite’s Seedhi Baat, No Bakwaas, Hutch Dilli Half Marathon campaigns, KFC’s Institute of Lickonomics and Finger Lickin Good, Grasim Suitings’ Self Made campaign, Afghan Telecom’s Lets talk something new, among many other notable campaigns. At Ogilvy, he has won many major international and national awards including The One Show, the D&AD, Communication Art, The Abbys and also had his work published in Lurzer’s Archive. His print campaign for Afghan Telecom campaign has won the interest of the White House, U.S., where it’s exhibited. KFC’s Institute of Lickonomics campaign that he has done for its Indian retail chain has been globally adapted across 14,000 stores worldwide.
At Ogilvy, he had started the ‘Save the Word’ campaign, which got talked about across blogs and print media in countries including UK, New Zealand and the US. It was also featured in Campaign Brief Asia.
Before Ogilvy, he worked with TBWA Delhi and Mumbai offices for five years where he produced path breaking for on Sony, Somany Tiles, Electrolux, Larsen & Toubro and Inalsa. His work on JCB Earth Moving Machines won him a New York Festival. Prior to TBWA, he worked with Grey and Publicis offices.
A post Graduate in English Literature, he has the distinction of being a gold medalist twice.
Why are you into Advertising?
I guess to earn a living. Man is born to do labour thanks to what Adam did in the garden of Eden and earned the curse of putting sweat and toil to live. I wanted to be so many things actually. I wanted to be a singer for the longest time I knew in my growing up years. I used to sing in the bathroom while in the shower and hoped the door bell rang with the enquiry of who was singing in the house. I was hoping some music director passed by my house and recognized the talent! Then there came a time I wanted to be a doctor. I would wear the white lab coat and roam around in the house, prescribing medicines like crocin, disprin to everyone in the family. Interestingly, there was also a time when I wanted to be a body builder! Thank God, I didn’t go that path. Advertising happened because I loved writing letters. I used to write letters to everyone. Pen pals, to my cousins, to my school friends… People used to like reading them because I was sort of writing in interesting ways, trying to say things differently. And those who used to receive the letters, used to tell me later when I met them, that they enjoyed the letters. From letters, it became poems. I wrote many many poems, books after books. But my heart broke when an uncle from London leafed through one of the books like it was a magazine. I thought, here I was, hoping I would find audience in an English man, because those poems were written in pure English, in blank verse, and I thought he would appreciate, but he just turned the pages like it was a magazine. Kehte haina, ki har artist ko audience ki zaroorat hoti hai. Not that I fancied myself or fancy myself now as an artist, but I really felt at that time, that dude, no one’s interested in poetry unless it is for some purpose. While I enjoyed writing, I also enjoyed art. I sketched and painted like no one’s business. I wanted to be an art director and went to College of Art to give the exam but that year I was late for admission so I ended up signing up to study English Literature. I have no regrets. I loved the five years of literature. It took me into the centre of our being, into human heart. It was amazing.
Did you attend school for fine art or design or Communications?
No. I studied human relations during my five years in literature. That tought me a lot actually. Henry James’ Portrait of a Lady. I still remember how he described the lady at the piano. Or how she was dressed at the Cemetery. I saw the camera going from behind the shoulder at the cemetery to reveal the woman in a viel. I used to spend my entire day until evening at the South Campus, Dhaula Kuan. It was amazing. I used to sit with the books in the gardens. I had long hair then and I used to fancy myself as an 18th century poet. Sir Titus. Ha ha.
You have won so many awards etc. How has that impacted your career?
I haven’t won many. I am grateful to God what ever I won. The first award was the most precious and most memorable to me. It was also the most controversial. Back in the nineties, there were these awards called the PEAEN awards. And I remember I did a public service campaign for Delhi. I had written some very shocking headlines like ‘Anything that leaks on the road needs a repair’ The visual was the back of a man peeing against a wall. I was in Publicis then, my first job as a trainee. And this campaign I did for a friend in another agency. So when it won, I went up with him on stage to collect the award. I was very naïve. It didn’t occur to me that I was representing another agency. I thought, it was alright because it was for public service and I had informed my boss that I was doing this campaign for another agency, but I didn’t think too much. I came home with an award but the next day I was taken to task by the then management. I felt like Jesus on the cross. Because I kept thinking what’s my mistake. After all I won for the work I did. So to answer your question, my first award got me into trouble.
Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
There were several. I looked up to my brother Emmanuel who was doing some great work then in Contract. I used to love reading what Freddy wrote for the Indian Express old age campaign. It made me think how I was treating the elderly in my own life. I looked up to Alyque Padamsee who was then hailed as the god of advertising. I attended a workshop he had conducted and I learnt something that I passed to several writers. He had said ‘Don’t say. Imply’. I also looked up to Alok Nanda for his Mauritius Campaign. But the ones who had the biggest influence in my life were Neil French and Piyush Pandey. Neil French and I spent an entire night in the dunes of Jaisalmer, under a star studded sky, talking about advertising. We only realized after the sun hit us, that it became morning! And it wasn’t like I was drinking or something. He spoke of several things that night, about craft, about agencies, about work culture, about clients, businesses. And I was amazed because it was like he was putting all of his life experience into one night. Distilled. After that, I would keep sending my work to him and he would keep giving feedback. Piyush sir was amazing too. I was particularly touched when one night I was working late in bombay office and he called to ask if I had dinner. He was very encouraging. He taught me so much. Once, I remember, when someone pointed out something to improve in one of the films that I had done, he had said, it is untouchable. That was one of the best compliments I got!
Who was the most influential personality on your career in Advertising?
I would say, God. Whenever I look at people staring at sun sets, extending their hands into the water falls, escaping into the jungles, raving about the star-lit skies, it is just tells me that he is the best creative being ever. The fact that he created all of this. Including me. The fact that I could write, talk, look, hear, all of this is so fascinating to me. No two leaves look the same. There so many shades of green, of blue, of yellow, of Orange in the nature, it is incredible. Look at the packaging of a banana, of a walnut, of an orange. Everything so spectacular. I wrote an ode to this called ‘The world’s best creative director’. You should read it. You should read it for Him. So I draw inspiration from Him. I look up to Him. And he always helps.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
From God.
Tell us something about the work environment at Dentsu…
It is one amazing place. I like the way Dentsu is shaping up. We have done some good work last year and this year too we are pushing it. The work culture is amazing. Everyone has just one drive, one goal. And that is to do good work. Planning, account management and creative teams are aligned around this one singular goal. And everyone pushes towards this. Rohit is great to work with and he’s the one who’s got this work ethic going.
How do you think Advertising should move into a new age with severely segmented media, short attention spans and declining print and TV viewership amongst the young?
We must find better ways to engage. People should find value in what we say and do. Content is going to be of great importance. Not that it has never been. But what we create and plant in the ocean is going to be the differentiating factor.
Do you have any kind of a program to nurture and train young talent?
How I wish I could spend time training, specially in writing. Internally, we keep training our people on an on going basis. But we don’t find young writers of calibre these days. For that matter even art guys. Craze for Awards is responsible for this as much as all of us who have taught our people that single visual plus logo kind of work is advertising. Just the other day, we were looking at the history of advertising. The Think Small ad even has the price of the car mentioned. In most portfolios, what we see these days are two folders. One which says ‘regular’ work and the other which says ‘award’. We are responsible for this.
What about new and young film makers/photographers? Do you consciously keep looking for newer talent and try someone completely new?
Yes, one keeps looking for them. But the truth about our business is we get confidence from people who have done a similar kind of work before. I wish it weren’t like this but if you were going to be spending lakhs of money, I am sure even you would enquire and find out what the person has done previously. But there is talent. At Dentsu, we have started working with a production house in Delhi. This came after a long while. There was scarcity of production houses after Pradeep Sarkar, Dibaker and Sujit moved to mumbai.
What do you think of the state of Print advertising right now. At least here in India, the released work is most often too sad? Why do you think it has lost the shine? Why are the younger lot more interested in TV?
All is not lost. Now and then, I keep watching some print ads which show hope. Of course those times were different. The 90s. The typography, the neatness, the impeccableness was something else. But I do not want to lament about it. TV did steal the thunder from print. But I don’t understand the obsession with only one medium? I firmly believe that all media, no matter, how small, big or mega, is important. You can do amazing stuff with a leaflet and you can do a disaster with a TV commercial. The point is, clients are spending money and we must not waste it, whatever the medium. I would urge youngsters to give importance to everything they do. Media should not dictate. Ideas should. The ceiling at the Sistine Chapel is not a audio video medium, is it?
More and more young people are web savvy and want to work on the internet or on more entrepreneurial ventures. Has that affected the quality of people advertising has been getting?
I am not sure if many youngsters want to get into internet. It is still a black hole. I know of some who have gone into the digital waters from what is called the ATL, only to return after a few months. The quality of people getting into advertising is not the same as it was. There are more options now so that maybe one of the reasons. Also, the eye for detail or the willingness to push is just not there. There is no patience. But there are some good young people.
Do you think brands whose advertising wins awards, do well in the market?
Depends. Large brands do work that is real and inspiring. And that does well in the market. There are brands that don’t exist and they win awards. If they don’t exist, where is the question of them doing well in the market?
What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals?
Work hard. Have patience. Don’t be in a hurry. Don’t do alcohol or drugs. Creativity does not come from consuming alcohol.
What is your dream project?
I would like to work for the government.
Mac or PC?
Mac.
Who would you like to take out for dinner?
My wife Hephzibah. It’s been a while. Since the kids happened, we hardly have the time to go out by ourselves.
What’s on your iPod?
I don’t have one.
DS Group wanted to launch a chewing gum in a cluttered market like India. We couldn’t have pulled another lame joke. So we asked, “Aaj Lee Kya?”
This was totally God given. As was everything else. We went into the heart of terror and shot this film. With the years of abuse by Taliban, there was volumes of silence in Afghanistan. It was time Afghan Telecom (the national telecom) said, “Old things have passed away. Let’s talk something new” This caught the attention of America – the work got exhibited in the White House.
This is one in a series of 5. Each ad talked about a feature that the client wanted us to highlight. This for instance, demonstrated how the tiles were heat resistant because housewives were hesitant to use them in the kitchen. Those days, tiles were largely used in bathrooms and the client wanted to get them out of it in order to expand the market.
Na se Naya Jahan – What if all of us said ‘na’ to the various things that pull this country down? A song emerges. So does the promise of a naya jahan.
Indian School of Lickonomics. : I remember the day when the client and us were at the Saket Store in Delhi, when there was no Saket Store. We were standing on soil and thinking what to do with KFC in India. We came up with everything from furniture ideas, cutlery, menu board, to the Institute of Lickonomics campaign. We designed the crew uniform with ‘I am a student of Lickonomics’ on the back of the T-shirts.
The microwave suffered from perception problem. People saw it as a reheating machine. We went to every nook and corner of the world and showed people cooking. We just drew a line drawing around the food and I wrote ‘Imagine the possibilities’. We did the whole thing documentary style. The images were Nat Geo kind. This got into Lurzer’s Archive.
We had to announce a price-drop without damaging the brand. God helped again. The car was stunningly shot and the voice over said “You had been eyeing it for a while now, secretly, when no one was looking… You’ve been quietly nursing a desire that someday you will hold it, grab it, look into its eyes and say that you are mine.Today is that someday.”
Grasim wanted to showcase the fabric imported from Italy. We thought let’s shoot a great looking model in a great setting reading a magazine. Only lets have a bit of fun with what happens to the man in the magazine. This was a series of 3 ads. In another, he was applying jam on toast on breakfast table. The jam looked like curdled blood. Initially the client was hesitant but eventually bought this campaign. We shot it in cape town with Mr South Africa, Andrew Prince.
This won me my first advertising award. This is part of campaign which spoke of things that needed improvement in the city. One of the other ads had to with the killings of elderly people in the city. As I was writing it seated in a bus, my co-passenger peeping into my writing pad, asked if I was a crime journalist.
Honda’s latest offering, the 110 cc Dream Neo is for the man struggling to make his ends meet. We asked ourselves why show the mirror or why show an icon and ask him to follow a certain path. What if we enable the man to think he was starring in his own movie?
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