Profile: Anant Pal Singh: "Life at ad agencies is full of drama, action and thrill!"

afaqs! caught up with Anant Pal Singh to chart his eventful career path, leading up to his recent move to Tata Teleservices as GM, brands.

Anant Pal Singh fell in love with the world of advertising right after his graduation. Singh talks about the "interesting" journey and how his love for advertising took him all the way to Mumbai from Bhatinda.

Singh spent his early childhood in a joint family in Bhatinda, Punjab. While his mother was a school teacher, his father was an army man and a strict disciplinarian, who decided to pack him off to boarding school by the time he turned six. Singh reminisces, "The most wonderful experience was accompanying my mother to the government primary school in a small village, where she was a teacher. It was a great relief to know that she left her stern teacher persona at her school."

For Singh, kindergarten at Bishop Cotton School in Simla was an exercise in ensuring never having to cross paths with Mrs Jacobs, the matron who "made my own mother at school look like angel." While he was unhappy about the thought of hostel life; eventually, Singh grew to like the culture of the school. Later, he graduated from DAV College, Chandigarh, followed by post graduation from Symbiosis Centre for Management and HRD at Pune in 1998.

It was after this that Singh decided to pursue his first love -- advertising. "David Ogilvy's influence was instrumental in pushing me into advertising. Having passed out of SCMHRD, I bundled my belongings onto my Bullet and rode to Mumbai in search of advertising."

Singh took the plunge with Raka, where he learnt the fundamentals. He then got a break in Triton and eventually moved to Ogilvy, where he worked for three and a half years.

It was the O&M experience which changed a lot of things for Singh, as he met some wonderful people and gathered some amazing experiences. "I was lucky to have worked with some of the best minds and people in India. I understood that it's well within every individual's capacity to translate the relationship with a client into actual partnership that transcends the margins of a brief."

From Ogilvy, Singh moved to Rediffusion - Y&R, where he played various roles. According to Singh, Rediff was a more challenging (and rewarding) experience than any other, "because you have more freedom than anywhere else in a strong entrepreneurial culture."

Next, Singh moved to Everest Brand Solutions as general manager and branch head of Delhi. After a short stint at Dentsu Marcom, he went back to Rediffusion - Y&R as vice-president and largely worked on two accounts -- Airtel and LG.

Life at ad agencies is "full of drama, action and thrill", which was why Singh chose to be in this profession. He explains, "We -- the agencies -- are a support system that brings a brand alive. As an agency, we need to visualise the exact way a consumer and the brand owner want the brand to look. And when one is able to get the correct visualisation, that is the most beautiful moment."

In his latest assignment as GM - brands, Tata Teleservices, Singh will work on Virgin Mobile. For him, the new role is not different from the earlier roles he had played in other agencies. However, as he puts it, "The new role comes in with lots of added responsibility and accountability."

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com