What’s a lawyer doing in advertising?
Good question. Actually I never wanted to get into advertising. My life long ambition  was to be a police officer. That’s why I did law. I also filled in my papers for the IPS exam. But as fate would have it I got myself seriously injured on a rowing adventure on the high seas where I got into a mini storm and broke some ligaments in my back. So I couldn’t do the exam that year.

While I was waiting to appear for the IPS next year I took up a job as a management trainee. So I used to do morning college and work the rest of the day as a management trainee. It was while I was working with an allied Forbes company that I got interested in advertising as a subject.

And you wouldn’t believe this – I went to practically every agency that you can think of - small, big, nondescript, stupid. Practically any body who was looking for someone. The toughest thing in advertising is getting into advertising. No body wants you. So I had to make a decision of working as a management trainee or quitting and beginning a fresh job hunt in the advertising circles.

Then how did you land up in Da Cunha associates?
As luck would have it Da Cunha Associates were looking for a client servicing executive. So I met Sylvester Da Cunha the chairman and requested me to take me on. I told him I would settle for lesser than I was getting as a management trainee. He was kind enough to take me on and paid me as much as I was making as a trainee.

So how did you make the shift from client servicing to copy writing?
At Da Cunha the person I was working under left the company in a month’s time. So there was no one to train me and I was thrust into centre stage of advertising without knowing the difference between layout and artwork. But that was the best way to learn.

I was handling clients like LIC, Britannia, Glaxo and Amul. As I came from a Marathi medium school I couldn’t speak English. But I could write in Hindi, Marathi and even Gujarati. I had some ideas for LIC which I penned down. And the client liked it. Then I realised that I could write. Since I understood my product very well it was easier for me to translate those into ideas. So rather than coming back to the agency, briefing copywriters and things like that, I started writing the copy myself. Being a small agency I was allowed to do this. Eventually I started writing more and moved on to Amul hoarding and Indianised them.

Was the fact that you came from a Marathi medium school prove to be a hurdle?
It was a hurdle initially when I went to college as I couldn’t speak English. I thought in Marathi. So I answered all the questions in my mind in Marathi, then translated them in English, spoke it aloud in my mind in English to check the pronunciation. All this took a long, long time. And so I was the strong and silent types for a long, long time.

However, advertising is communication. It’s not how well you speak a language but how well you communicate. You are communicating to Indians and I realised that most Indians don’t speak English the way it is supposed to be spoken. They add their mother tongue and also some English to it. So I started writing in that kind of language. Initially I was criticised a lot but now it is a fashionable thing to do.

When did you start your own independent advertising agency Zen Communication?
I worked with Da Cunha Associates for 14 years, which is considered a long time in advertising where people hop jobs every six months. I started Zen in 1991. It existed as Zen for nine years and two years ago we linked up with Publicist which is the 5th largest agency in the world and we came to be known as Publicist Zen. And now we are Publicist India.

Tell us a little about the Amul hoardings?
You see Amul hoarding was not my concept. It existed when I joined Da Cunha associates. We used to change it once with pun on English words. I started changing them more often – every 10-15 days. I also Indianised them. So the girl was not always wearing a short polka dotted frock but a saree, ghagara Choli or a pavada. I started regionalizing the hoarding. So if I was doing a hoarding for Gujarat I would do it in Gujarati a Tamil hoarding for Chennai and a Marathi one for Pune.

How should students who want to get into advertising prepare themselves?
I wish I knew! I would have got into advertising much earlier. But now it is much more easier. You can do a part time course in advertising. A few of us from the advertising fraternity along with some academicians from the university have come together and introduced a new course in advertising called BMM – Bachelor of Mass Media, a three year full-fledged degree course. It can be done after 12th.

The course prepares you for a job in advertising and it also shows the agency that you are keen on it. These courses are held at 17 colleges including Xavier’s, Sophia, HR, National, KC and some other colleges.

But how relevant are these courses as most people who have made it big in advertising don’t have a formal training in it?
Agreed, but the scenario keeps changing. In the olden days if you spoke English you got into advertising. This field is getting more and more professional now. So what happened 15 years ago doesn’t hold true any more. Now people will look for experts in advertising. It is so much more marketing oriented. You have to understand what your marketing guys are saying.

So what do you look for when you recruit for Publicist India?
It depends. For client servicing we look for someone with management or marketing background. Somebody who can take a brief from a client and understand what his needs are. Client servicing executives are supposed to be brand custodians. You are supposed to own that brand. Even when you are woken up from your sleep, you should know everything about your brand – competition, history, etc.

For the creative side we don’t ask for any specific educational qualification. Anyone who has an idea is good enough. Writing creative is not about writing great slogans. It’s about having great ideas.

You are into advertising, theatre, films, pets, fitness and much more!How do you pack so much of activity in a day?

Actually I still have some time to do some more things. I wish I had something else to do. I never get tried at the end of the day. I can pack so much as I never take myself too seriously. I am willing to try anything new. I don’t mind looking stupid. I also compartmentalise things.

- Nivedita Jayaram Pawar