Deepa Kakkar bids adieu to HTA; is "weighing the options"

Deepa Kakkar, vice-president and executive creative director, HTA, is in the process of clearing her desk at the agency - an unexpected development that is bound to have peers, colleagues and industry watchers doing a double-take. Speaking to agencyfaqs! last evening, Kakkar confirmed the news. "I told Mike (Khanna) on June 6, that I wanted to move on. That's almost two months ago. Technically, I'm with HTA till mid-August." She adds that she shared the news with the rest of the agency and her "team" yesterday.

The development is all the more startling because Kakkar has always been known as "a diehard HTA person". One look at her career graph tells you why. Kakkar started her climb to the top of the advertising pile as a trainee in HTA (back in 1985), and has been associated with agency ever since (except for a longish sabbatical in the latter part of the eighties), adding on creative responsibilities at every stage. And with National Creative Director Ivan Arthur's imminent retirement, Kakkar was being seen as the Brave New Face at the agency's creative helm.

So what triggered this sudden decision to leave the agency? "There comes a time when you have to leave home, and explore the world outside," says Kakkar, a trifle whimsically. "HTA has been home for me. But it's time to live by my own rules." She draws attention to the fact that her reasons are purely personal. "I just got up one morning and pressed the rewind button on life. I was getting too comfortable at HTA. I thought to myself, I have just one life. I can't let it get over in Act I, Scene I. I must live a little dangerously."

She moves with a heavy heart, Kakkar adds. "Breaking the news to my team was most traumatic. Some of them have grown up with me. But they know I will always be close to them, wherever I may be. And the thought of leaving Mike isn't easy at all. After all, he's seen me grow up here. He'll always be a very important part of my life. I'm going to miss everything about this agency. The people, my team, my eager-beaver secretary, Shirley… The sloshed liftman who still calls me ‘Baby!' The missal… Everything."

For all that, it's going to be hard quelling all the speculation that is bound to arise about her ‘not being happy with the creative direction at HTA'. As it is, tongues have been wagging. "Maybe I was marching to a different beat," Kakkar shrugs. "An agency's product is its creative. And everybody must back it. It cannot be the dream of one or two people. Only then can it be of a certain standard. Mike is serious about enhancing the product. And he was the reason I stuck around this long. He's made this the most successful agency in the country. I'm sure he will soon turn everyone around to his way of thinking."

Perhaps, but the more immediate concern of the agency would be to find a suitable replacement. Kakkar, of course, doesn't reveal anything about her successor. "Nobody is indispensable. I don't know who's going to take on my responsibilities. But I'm sure it will be somebody better than me," she laughs. A direct consequence of Kakkar's resignation could be an extension for Arthur (who is scheduled to retire this very week). Here too, Kakkar answers in riddles. "Ivan is going off to the beaches of Goa. But the tide always comes back. It may be a good thing for HTA."

She is slightly more disposed to talk about her own future. But only just. "There are exciting possibilities ahead. And I'm weighing the options." She does admit that in the short-term, she would be occupied with "an advertising-related book that I've been commissioned to write".

The one thing that Kakkar reveals with certainty is that Indian advertising hasn't seen the last of her. "I am too passionate about advertising to quit it," she says. "Besides, it's the only thing I know. I think what is needed today is not just clutter-breaking but category-breaking creative. That's what excites me. Creative that will reposition not just the brand, but also the category in the mind of the consumer. That, in my opinion, is cutting-edge creative. That's what I want to do. And I will definitely be looking at working with like-minded people who share the vision. Till then, I will catch up on all the things I never found time for. Music, literature… And the book."

Click here to read an interview Deepa gave agencyfaqs! in April 2002

© 2002 agencyfaqs!