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Soumitra Karnik bids adieu to JWT
Karnik, also known as the 'Pepsi boy' for handling the Pepsi account for about five years, ends his eleven-and-a-half years' journey at the agency. His next destination remains unknown.
Soumitra Karnik, executive creative director and vice-president, JWT, has put in his papers at the agency. Karnik, also known as the 'Pepsi boy' for handling the Pepsi account for about five years, ends his eleven-and-a-half years' tryst with the agency.
Karnik, who is a college drop-out, has been inspired deeply by the working styles of Trikaya Grey (now Grey Group), and Piyush Pandey of Ogilvy. He claims to be a self-taught creative director in the world of advertising.
Karnik started his career in 1991 as servicing manager with a small time agency in New Delhi, where he also played the dual role of a copy writer at times. He joined Percept in 1993 as creative group head. After two years, in 1995, he moved to the boutique agency Rightangle, initiated by former HTA (now JWT) employees. He worked at Rightangle for two years.
Subsequently, he joined Lintas in 1997 as associate creative director, and worked with the agency till 2000. Next, he moved to JWT as creative director -- level two, and was later promoted as executive creative director and vice-president.
At JWT, he mainly worked on the Pepsi business, apart from working on the Airtel account for a brief period. He conceptualised three Airtel 3G commercials based on the older positioning of 'Dil Jo Chahe Paas Laaye'.