Viral Pandya, creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi, quits

Viral Pandya, creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi, Delhi, has quit after 10 years of association with the agency. Currently, Pandya is serving his notice period; he will continue to work for the agency till December 31.

Regarding his future plans, Pandya says, “Currently, I am evaluating the few offers that I have. I will decide on this by next month.” Pandya confirms though that he will remain in advertising and is not looking at opportunities beyond this.

On his experience at Saatchi & Saatchi, Pandya says, “It has been a fantastic experience to be a part of Saatchi & Saatchi. As a global agency, it gave me an opportunity to not just interact with talent in India, but also abroad, through our network conferences.”

Citing his reasons for quitting, he says, “After serving the industry for the last 15 years, I am looking for a certain kind of growth.”

According to Pandya, 95 per cent of the creative work happening in the industry has nothing creative in it. He says, “We are adopting the same tested formulas, opting for safe ads or info ads – all so clichéd. This is precisely why I am quitting. I want to start afresh with great creative ideas in real creative work.”

Pandya continues, “The beauty of building a brand has been lost somewhere and has become a mundane task. The ‘fun element’ in advertising has gone. It has been reduced to just winning awards for below average creativity. I want to break away from falling into that trap.”

In his career spanning 15 years, Pandya first worked with Mudra and Interact Vision from 1991 to 1995. He then moved to Saatchi & Saatchi and has been with them ever since. In between, he did a short stint with Grey Worldwide in 2003-04. He rejoined Saatchi & Saatchi in April 2004.

Pandya has worked for brands such as Mother Dairy and Hyundai brands such as Getz, Santro and Elantra.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!