A flashback of the Kumaon boy with Prasoon Joshi

Inspirations see no background, no boundary. Anyone who stands different in his work field from any industry can become an inspiration for today’s young minds. Understanding this, the International Advertising Association (IAA) India Chapter conducted the fourth round of IAA Young Turks Forum with Prasoon Joshi, Chairman Asia Pacific & CEO of McCann World Group India who shared his multi-faceted professional journey. The session was moderated by Kaushik Roy, President, Brand Strategy & Marketing Communication at Reliance Industries Limited who tried to uncover this journey, which was followed by discussions with the young audience.

Taking a journey down the memory lane, Joshi began the conversation by shedding light on his early days of Kumaon in Uttarakhand and said how those days were the formative days where he imbibed the values of freedom of creativity and trust in humans which still live deep down inside him. He said that his parents, who were creative individuals themselves, offered him the best of growing days. “I never saw them fighting, I think jugalbandi was they shared their difference of their opinion! I was never afraid of them, I was made to feel normal if I failed; I was never under the pressure of ‘society’ or ‘world’”, he said.

When he was quizzed about the birth and growth of the new media and its impact on traditional media; he strongly opined that, “I do not see a reason why television or print have lost or should lose importance. The impact that an audio-visual and wide-reaching medium like television has is for obvious reasons, much higher than a growing yet niche medium like digital and social. For existing brands who do not need more efforts in building image, what better medium than television or print or radio? New media can be of high importance for newer or to-be-launched brands so as to reach the newer consumers. The new medium can extend and enhance the mainline media impact in a lot of ways; however, the time when new media becomes the priority media is still yet to come”. He however, acknowledges, the virility that new media offers; citing the case of Happydent commercial that he worked on.

Wearing many hats, Joshi has a soft corner for writing, irrespective of the genre or purpose – jingle, copywriting, song lyrics or film story. He said, “I write every day, regardless of its usage in some commercial form or no. I feel when ideas translate to words, the impact is amplified multiple times.

Answering to many young aspirants seated in the audience, Joshi shelling out words of advice said “Never take yourself too seriously, for you are the you are not the electricity, but the wire, for you ought to be a good conductor and be receptive. Please note, the minute you start feeling that you know everything, it’s time to think, because you actually don’t!”

The young audience not only questioned the ad guru about his liking towards writing and marketing, but also had poetic exchanges, leaving the evening to be a memorable one.

Srinivasan K Swamy, IAA India Chapter & Vice-President, Development Asia/Pacific Region of IAA said, “IAA Young Turks Forum in its three prior events has shown how the young professionals find this very useful. We are happy to have brought out this series, which is giving an opportunity for them to listen, learn and get inspired by successful communication experts from different genres.”

“HBO has always had a strong connect with youth audiences and we are delighted to be associated with this platform that gives young professionals a chance to interact with experts from different fields,” said Monica Tata, Managing Director HBO South Asia, and Presenting Partner of the IAA Young Turks Forum.

“The IAA Young Turks Forum is very excited to bring two well-known speakers from Media, Advertising and Communication background who will connect to the audience to share a few lessons from the world of creativity and strategy and what actually inspire them, on how they could use these inspiration in their business personal & professional dealings,” added Manish Advani, Head, Marketing and Public Relations, Mahindra Special Services Group, and Chairman of the IAA Young Turks Forum Series.