Piyush Pandey was born in Jaipur, Rajasthan, on 9 April 1955. He rose through the ranks of the advertising world, starting as a client servicing executive at Ogilvy & Mather in 1982, and eventually serving as its chief creative officer (worldwide) and executive chairman (India).
A wordsmith and cultural icon who earned the sobriquet ‘doyen of Indian advertising’, Pandey created paradigm-changing campaigns like Cadbury’s ‘Kuch meetha ho jaaye’ and Fevicol’s unbreakable glue, combining desi humour and storytelling that captured hearts and sparked a creative renaissance in the industry.
He died on 24 October 2025, at the age of 70.
In this 2015 episode of Walk The Talk, Pandey had an engaging chat with ThePrint Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta. He reflected on his unlikely rise from a trainee account executive to a global creative star at Ogilvy, the value of brave clients paired with simple, people-focused stories that create lasting brand appeal, and his dedication to mentoring young talent in advertising while supporting social causes like polio eradication and gender equality. With his signature wit and honest charm, he opened up about career lows, such as the tough early pitches that challenged his grit amid industry doubts, his blunt take on empty ads that lean too hard on celebrities, and his love for keeping creative briefs simple and idea-led rather than loaded with over-the-top flair.
Here is a complete transcript of the interview, edited for clarity.
SG: Hello, and welcome to Walk the Talk. I’m Shekhar Gupta at Mumbai’s Marine Drive. And before I tell you who my guest this week is, if I told you who my most valued spectator or bystander is—this little pug named Coco—I think you can guess who my guest is. Piyush Pandey.
PP: Hi Shekhar.
SG: You made the pug immortal, and I must say you gave the pug such a big head start over all the other breeds of dogs. Believe me, we didn’t organise it. I think the pug heard that you were going to be here.
PP: I think the pug is trying to tell us that you didn’t make me famous; I made myself famous.
SG: And frankly, we tried to get the pug to look at at least the camera, but he won’t because he’s a dog.
PP: I think the dog mistook me for Rajiv Rao, who is the creator of the pug.
SG: Your colleague. I mean, this is the power of advertising. The power of brand positioning because you were positioning Vodafone, but you positioned the pug.
PP: We were trying to do a very simple thing of saying, like a dog follows its master, the network follows you. And they found a very simple analogy, and people loved it. It was so simple, and it reinforces my belief that the simpler the better.
SG: Although I must say these days—and this applies to all mobile companies—the network doesn’t follow anybody like a faithful dog.
PP: I only make the ads.
SG: I mean, I have to be careful, the network may be like a stray cow, you have to go searching for it.
PP: I will not comment on that.
SG: Anything to do with cow, careful, but still.
PP: Yeah, you know, cows and dogs and network—I’ll stay away from.
SG: So you are a doyen of the advertising industry.
PP: Practitioner!
SG: A practitioner, who is known because of a kind of dog, because of a couple of products, a paint, a glue and many other things, but these are the big ones. And one famous song which is not a Bollywood song. Tell us the story of each.
PP: See, I think if you look at it, all credit goes to clients who are brave. For Asian Paints to accept a scenario that we will not talk about paint, we will talk about the pride of ownership of a home. It’s a big thing! There is not a single shot of paint in that Har Gar Kuch Kehta Hai.
For Pidilite, for Fevicol, M-Seal, Fevikwik, with the chap with the fish. There is nothing to do with Chashma Jodta Hai, Ki Juta Jodta Hai. It is all about that this is the ultimate bond. So these were brave people, Asian Paints, Pidilite or Cadbury’s to do that girl dancing on the cricket field.
And when you come to Mile Sur Mera Tumara, it was late Mr Suresh Malik’s concept. And somehow, he had some faith in me. I think he was a cricket lover and loved me. So he gave me the opportunity to write those lyrics for him. And he guided me and made me work very hard. I wrote that entire song 18 times till he approved it. And then when Pandit Bhimsen Joshi sang it, he made some ordinary lyrics into magic.
SG: Well, I mean, yes, the whole overall effect was magical. And I won’t say they were ordinary lyrics, but you are surfing for compliments. Having said that, there is something about you ad people; you dabble in many things. Do you have a lot of spare time? Or do you think like that?
PP: I am a believer. I have dabbled with a number of things, like Indianising Walt Disney’s films like The Lion King and Aladdin. I have dabbled with the film Bhopal Express, which was about the Bhopal gas tragedy.
SG: You’ve acted in one. Recently!
PP: Which was because my good friend Sujit Sarkar thought that I would look like a cabinet secretary. My mother would have been very happy. She wanted me to be an IAS.
SG: That was the root.
PP: But your question is a very important one. And I encourage all my colleagues that have three or four things where you are not the expert, but you have a great interest. Meet the experts. There is a cross learning that happens all the time.
I go and see a lot of my sister’s theatre. I go for music concerts. Some people have acted in movies. Like my colleague Sumantra Chattopadhyay acted as Buddha in one of the movies. So people must have varied interests. Because end of the day, you are an observer. And you’ll bring something to the party which you can’t get in an office.
SG: Because you acted in one, Madras Cafe. I must say you look like the cabinet secretary.
PP: I don’t know what it looks like.
SG: But it’s a good film.
PP: Cabinet secretaries will complain, they’ll say that I’m better looking.
SG: I think we’ll let them know. That film was very realistic. In fact, it’s one of my favourite films. But do you have any favourite works in advertising?
PP: Yes. I mean, they change all the time. Very early in my advertising days, I used to love Hamara Bajaj. Before my advertising days, within Ogilvy, created by Suresh Malik, was Gale Mein Khich Khich, Kya Karoon. I used to love that. Later on, the work that was done by McCann on Coca-Cola.
SG: I must tell you, a lot of kids would call Vicks ki goli Khich Khich Goli.
PP: Hahaha! Then some of the stuff was done on Happydent and Coca-Cola. Not by us, but by our competitors. It’s commendable work. The work done for Times of India.
I mean, my brother used to do a lot of Times of India work. Absolutely exemplary work. In fact, if you ask me, my favourite commercial is not an Ogilvy commercial. It is a commercial for another agency, which my brother shot for Times of India, about a file.
The file goes around the office, and each one says, Take it here, take it there. And ultimately, money is given. And it’s done over a hockey commentary.
SG: Right!
PP: Fernando passed it. Yes, of course. He kept it in his pocket and said, Goal! India has won. So there’s sarcasm. It’s almost like recreating the work of Mr R.K. Lakshman. So that’s a great film. I wish I’d done it.
SG: Generous of you to say so. But you know, it seems to me that politics and society have not stayed away from you.
PP: Either way. Two years back, I was very angry one day when I saw the state of Parliament. And I called up The Hindu, and I did that commercial where the teacher says, I want everyone to use parliamentary behaviour.
SG: The youth are watching.
PP: Yes, youth are watching! So I’ve done politics that way. And then, yes, what you’re leading up to is, yes, I’ve done BJP last year. So for me, end of the day, it’s the consumer. I want to create some stuff that reaches the consumer, whatever the desire of the client may be, as long as I agree with what the client is selling.
If I do not agree with that, then I don’t take up the job.
SG: Piyush, you have worked with a lot of celebrities. I know that a lot of the ad people use that as a shortcut, and a lot of the clients also. Bring someone! Bring Mr Amitabhji, bring Priyanka Chopra, bring Deepika. Everything will work out. So, tell us your experience with celebrities.
PP: I think dealing with celebrities, Shekhar, is a huge responsibility on you as a creative person and as an extension of your client. Celebrities should not make you lazy so that your brand suffers. Nor should you do stupid scripts so that the celebrity suffers. It has to be a win-win scenario. So you have to think harder.
You have to think of ideas. Ideas that make the brand look good and make the celebrity look good. Otherwise, the brand is not remembered, and people say, Why is this celebrity doing this kind of stupid stuff? So it’s a no-brainer that you have to work hard.
SG: Can you recall any campaigns where people would have said, where am I stuck?
PP: A lot, Shekhar. If I start naming them, I lose a lot of friends. But you know the ones that stand out as good ads. If you look at the work done by Aamir on Coca-Cola and Titan.
SG: Thanda matlab Coca-Cola.
PP: Yes, and Titan. Titan is us.
SG: Right.
PP: If you look at Mr Bachchan on Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, how he pulled them out of trouble. Yes, and Pappu passed! Or you look at Mr Bachchan in the polio (campaign). I mean, these are solid ideas.
SG: How would you bail Nestlé out today? Since we talked about Cadbury coming out of that hole.
PP: I think each one is a unique problem. And I think there is no bigger answer than dialogue. You don’t have to talk to each other through media. I think Nestlé should have responded a little faster. They should have addressed their problems a little faster. And if you want to know a little more detail about how I would handle it. I think it will cost Nestlé about 5 million dollars.
SG: You won’t have them get it for free. You also quoted the price now. No soliciting!
PP: You always, when you dream, you don’t dream of being one promotion higher. You dream of being the king.
SG: So, the book now! Pandeymonium.
PP: Yeah.
SG: Pandemonium is an expression that nobody quite knows the meaning of. In fact, if you took a poll among young people, what is Pandemonium? Pandemonium is what happens in Parliament?
PP: Correct.
SG: Because otherwise, in the English language, that expression is not in use.
PP: It is chaos. And I think out of chaos, out of the churn, ‘Amrit’ comes out. And I think chaos is a beautiful thing rather than being process-driven. I think process, I always have a saying, that if you hold too many workshops, you will only get mechanics. Do some free thinking.
SG: Right. And in your case, thinking continued as you moved, say from college to cricket.
PP: Yeah.
SG: Cricket at a high level. Ranji Trophy was at a high level. To tea tasting.
PP: I took every day as it came to me. Tea tasting was a very interesting decision.
And I sometimes tell young people that don’t take me as a role model for career planning. Because that decision was taken in college between Arun Lal and me, who is a very dear friend of mine—that no matter where we work, we will work together.
SG: I see.
PP: And Arun, being one year my senior, had gone and become a tea taster. So I sent my bio data to him. He gave it to his boss. And I also got the job. So we were tea tasters. Had he gone and become a railway vendor, I would have been a railway vendor also.
SG: So, I am very fascinated with the life of a tea taster. Because I am a tea drinker. Except I can’t be a tea taster because I only drink one kind of tea. So what does a tea taster do?
PP: It’s almost like advertising. Tea tasting can’t be learned by the book. You taste with a taster. You are an apprentice. He walks ahead of you. He comments on the dry leaf and the liquor, and gives a price to it and tastes it. You walk behind him and you do the same thing, and you remember what he said. And over a period of time, you get the knack of it. It’s same like advertising. You talk to people who do great work. You work with them. And suddenly you discover that you are probably better than them. So, that’s the way it works.
SG: I see in your book, you talk a lot about social service advertising. Do we do enough of that in India?
PP: Not enough. Not enough and not with enough sense of purpose. A lot of good work is done to win awards. And I am a believer that God has given you a pen, which is probably better than 5 billion rupees that an industrialist may give to charity. Give your best. Can you own a cause? I have made it into a kind of practice in the office. Own one cause and follow it up.
SG: So, what’s your cause?
PP: Every year, you pick up some cause. For 10 years, I chased polio with Mr Bachchan. And last year on 12th of February, when India was declared polio-free, it was the greatest day of my life. If you ask me which is your best piece of work in your life, it is polio. Because there is a tangible result that you can really feel good about, that you are able to change. Or play one small part, because that job was done by hordes of people, by doctors and workers at the ground level.
SG: So, what is it about that campaign that worked?
PP: I remember the day that I spoke to Mr Bachchan, and I said to Mr Bachchan, I said people know you as the angry young man. Can you be the angry old man? Like when your father fires you up, he fires you up out of love, not because of disgust. If my driver doesn’t get his girl child to school, I’ll say, Samrat, I’ll give you one rap. I’m saying it out of love.
And that’s the role Mr Bachchan played. He actually scolded the audience for not taking it. And he applauded the audience whenever we got a good result of people going to the booth. So, it was not a simple thing of some celebrity saying, you should do this and you should do that. That is the difference.
SG: But Piyush, celebrities are also in trouble now, you know, post-Nestle. It seems to be that celebrities are now being held accountable for the quality of the products.
PP: Completely unfair! Completely unfair! Because a celebrity has seen a product sell in this country for 20 years. You would like to believe that authorities know better. A celebrity is not qualified to go and check the quality of a certain product. If it is sold in the market, approved by the Government of India, I don’t think we should blame the celebrity. I think it’s completely wrong. And now the celebrities are putting it as clauses, I’m not going to sign something where the burden comes on me.
SG: Right.
PP: If the celebrity were a great noodle maker, he would sell his own noodles there, why somebody else’s noodles?
SG: We have yoga teachers who are great noodle makers.
PP: They know how to twist and turn.
SG: I know. Yoga teachers who are celebrities, but also great noodle makers.
PP: Yes, they have been brought up turning their bodies into noodles.
SG: Absolutely! Into spaghetti. Piyush, (talk about) your cricketing years, because your contemporaries, many of them, became cricketing stars.
PP: Lots of them.
SG: Arun Lal, Kapil, Vengsarkar
PP: Sandeep Patil, Raman Lamba, Surinder Khanna, all of them. I think they were smarter than me. When I was selected for the Ranji Trophy, I thought it was a destination. I went and got new clothes made. And all these other people that we have named, they said this is the opportunity that I’m getting for the next level. So they went and worked hard. Well, I was very complacent about where I’d reached.
SG: You thought Ranji was the destination.
PP: And things will happen.
SG: Ranji was a national level then.
PP: That complacency of saying, I made it. Well, you had only arrived at the next milestone, from where you start from zero.
SG: Because the team you played for then, Rajasthan…
PP: It was a big team. It was a damn difficult team to get into. They gave me all opportunities.
SG: Hanuman Singh was the captain. You scored a century on debut.
PP: I screwed it up. Hanuman Singh told me on day one, don’t feel the pressure. Even if you get zeroes, you’re bound to play three matches. I’m not going to drop you. So they made it easy for me. I just went around and screwed it up.
SG: So when you meet your old cricket friends, do you still talk cricket?
PP: Oh, we talk a lot of cricket. Because, at the level of knowledge of cricket, we are the same. At the level of performance, they’ve reached greater heights. We are still the same friends. One day, if you and I play together, and you get a hundred, and I get a zero, doesn’t mean that next day you don’t talk to me.
SG: Hahaha! Unless I ran you out.
PP: That is true.
SG: I think you had one player in your team who was a specialist in getting other batsmen out.
PP: And Farooq Engineer got after him.
SG: Parthasarathy Sharma
PP: Yeah, Farooq Engineer was the guy who got run out because of him. And he never forgave him for that.
SG: Because I remember when the Indian team was going to the West Indies and he was 19, (audio unclear) wrote that Gavaskar will score a lot of runs in the West Indies if Sharma doesn’t get him run out.
PP: I think the coach got somebody run out twice, and the stamp was put.
SG: It’s a bit like Inzamam-Ul-Haq. Now it becomes much worse.
PP: Correct. But he was Pakistan’s fantastic cricketer. Maybe he didn’t. Maybe he took his getting into a test match like I took my getting into Ranji Trophy. Maybe!
SG: What’s the story of the Mooch (moustache)?
PP: Mooch, there is no great story. Only one story I can recall—when I was 16, 17 years old, somebody told me that if you shave your moustache once, it grows better.
And I went and shaved it off. And my mother fired me up. She said in our family, those whose fathers are alive don’t shave their moustache. So then I didn’t shave for a long time. And thereafter, I don’t know when it got branded.
SG: Because it’s a cartoonist’s delight.
PP: Absolutely. It is like Indira Gandhi’s nose and that white streak.
SG: That’s become your trademark.
PP: I never planned it. My mother always fired me up in later years, saying “trim to karo!” and I used to forget. And then this dishevelled moustache became a thing that people liked. I said okay, that’s easy for me, I don’t have to trim every morning.
SG: You’ve done all your business in English. But you’ve done most of your creative work in Hindi.
PP: 99.9%.
SG: So how do you switch gears?
PP: I think Hindi, I laugh Hindi, I cry Hindi. I emote in Hindi. And English was my parents’ gift to me—St. Xavier’s School, St. Stephen’s College—to learn the language of business. I think the language of business in my industry is English. The languages of the people are the languages of India. It’s not just Hindi. There are people who want to emote and they think in Tamil or Bengali or whatever. And I have to respect that.
SG: And it’s easier to move from Hindi to those languages than from English.
PP: Absolutely! Because those are closer. I mean, our analogies are fairly similar. Our muhawaras are fairly similar. So, I’m very proud of the fact that I speak the people’s language.
SG: And I notice in the book, and also from everything people say about you, that you really rank those lyrics, Mile Sur Mira Tumhara, as right up there in terms of your own achievements.
PP: It is, absolutely. Absolutely.
SG: Up with Zoozoo and the pug.
PP: Oh, yes! I think anything that the people love.
SG: And the fishermen.
PP: Everything that people love is what I love. I’m not keen on winning awards, where I have to go and explain to my neighbour, actually, you know, this is a very beautiful ad.
SG: So, do you also sing?
PP: I don’t. I’m the worst singer in my family.
SG: We know better singers in your family. We know your sister, Ila Arun.
PP: My brother will say himself, but I’m a good singer. So, if you want me to sing, I can sing one of the songs that he sings. Which seems like self-glorifying, but I didn’t write it. I promise you. It’s a kind of song which is supposed to help people memorise.
It goes, ‘Oh! bolo jaipur ne raja ni waah re waah’ And then other people say, ‘wah re wah!’ and then the guy adds on to it, ‘Oh bolo Jaipur ne raja ne rani ne kubiri ni dasi ne waah re waah‘. Then people start forgetting. And it becomes a great fun and games scenario.
SG: And I believe you carry it with you to…
PP: …international festivals where we get the French guys to participate. It’s a participatory song. It doesn’t matter what they are singing. It just brings people together.
SG: But you know, I think it also comes from having a family like that.
PP: Yes, that is true. I mean, I owe everything that I have achieved today to my family.
SG: I think we have to stop this, you are beginning to sound like Miss World.
PP: Oh, speeches!
SG: Not to say you are… you may not be as pretty as everybody, but you are more fun.
PP: I didn’t say that I want to be Mother Teresa.
SG: You will make a very bad Mother Teresa.
PP: I salute her. I will never try to imitate her.
SG: Never try to become one. Nobody expects you to be Mother Teresa. Thank you very much for being who you are.
PP: Shekhar, thank you for being who you are and thank you for a lovely chat with you. God bless you.
Also read: Piyush Pandey brought the language of small towns into ad agency corridors: Prasoon Joshi