The stinker mail was in the form of a legal notice: Gautam Reghunath

Gautam Reghunath, the co-founder and CEO of Talented, has waded through floods to collect ‘proofs’ from a printer and received a legal notice in the form of a stinker email. Now that’s a rich advertising agency life experience, or is it the usual stuff? 

What is the most Not Safe For Work (NSFW) thing you’ve done or seen in your career?

I’ve got a literal NSFW one. I remember having to wade through the Mumbai floods in August 2007 because the ‘proofs’ simply had to be collected from the printer’s place. Utterly insane priorities in hindsight.

When was that time you thought, “Oh no, I’m getting red today”?

We’d just completed a two-day shoot with a major celebrity and a legendary photographer for a brand that was about to launch a few months later. We're talking major brands, major stakes. Two days of perfect shots, multiple CDs packed with raw file gold. 

The company had another brand to release before this particular one, so naturally this particular brand campaign was down the priority list for a while. Until it became the #1 priority again a few months later when we were ready to prepare for its launch, and I'm hit with a gut-wrenching moment: those precious CDs under my watch? Totally MIA. 

I hear the photographer's assistant casually drop the nuclear bomb that "we delete all files two months after the shoot” making me certain that it was my last day on the job. Turns out the CDs were catching dust in the finance team’s cupboard or some such.

What is the worst stinker email you’ve ever received?

I once committed what can only be described as a monumentally naive act of rebellion that would make lawyers salivate. Picture this: a noob account executive (read: me) decides to play vigilante against a client who'd been dodging payment for six months. 

My brilliant strategy? Pulling the digital equivalent of changing the locks—I yanked their website backend access faster than you can say "legal notice." This was a public company—a fact that completely escaped my rookie brain at the time. And the stinker mail was in fact in the form of an actual legal notice.

What is the best feedback someone has ever given you?

“Look around. There’s an entire team around you. Ask for help when you need it.”

Have you ever asked a client for a discount on their product or service?

Of course. Real perks of advertising when I was growing up. I didn’t have to purchase soap for a good couple of years during my early career.

What are the top two social media websites you use?

Twitter and Reddit.

Do you still read, or has watching videos taken over this habit?

Yes, I read. What’s changed, though, is my patience with books that aren’t doing it for me. I give up on books much easier than I used to.

Smartphone, computer, or TV: where do you stream your content?

I watch next to nothing on my laptop by choice.

Are you a cord-cutter, or do you still subscribe to cable television?

I’ve still got cable, yes. But I haven't turned it on in a few months, so I probably should end the subscription soon now that you’ve brought it up.

Have you ever fallen for advertising’s lures and bought something you shouldn’t have or that was incredibly expensive?

All the time. Not very expensive, but I just got myself one of those BlendJets the other day because the reels had me convinced I wasn’t living my life to its fullest without the BlendJet in it.