A person
who has a mind of her own, must have alternatives. I decided not to put all my
eggs in one basket. This meant developing multiskills. Communication was to be
my chosen field but I would dabble in its many forms. Unlike the proverbial
rolling stone, I have been able to gather some moss on the way. When I was a
part- time lecturer in Bangalore , I had
nothing to do during summer vacation. Having been introduced to copy writing, I
went to ASP, an ad agency and sought an interview with the branch manager,
George Paul ( He now has his own agency, PARADE).He was kind enough to sign me
on a part- time copy writer. That is
where I learnt the ropes of advertising.
The Delhi branch of ASP wanted a focus group discussion to be conducted in
Kannada for housewives on instant coffee. George wanted me to handle it as I
speak Kannada and my teaching experience helped me feel comfortable as a
moderator. My earlier stint with Org as a market research field investigator (
where I fudged answers !) helped me understand the concept. One thing lead to
another and I have moderated over 500 focus groups on products as diverse as
paints and pencils with respondents ranging from school kids to executive. I
worked with stalwarts like Ranjan Kapoor (Ogilvy & Mather) Usha Bhandarker
( creative genius) and Rhoda Mehta ( Media wizard) on various assignments,
using the IPT (Idea Progression Technique).
As a
part – time lecturer in KC College , I got off from work by noon .Arjun &
Anil were in high school and Srivatsa was serving on a ship. We lived in a
naval accommodation, Dhanraj Mahal, near the Gateway of India. It was centrally located and within walking
distance to office complexes and my college. I mention this because I was lucky
to be living close to my work place so I could save commuting time and use it
for other activities. One afternoon, I went to Nariman Point and walked into
the first building I saw. I went in and read the names of the offices in the
lobby. I chose third floor since it would be easy to climb if the lift went out
of order. ARMS was an ad agency on that floor. I went up and asked to see the
big boss. He turned out to be Mr Ramesh Khanna , who happened to be looking for
a part- time copy writer. I went to work next day and was with the agency for
three years. I was put on the Times of India account as I was working as a
subeditor in FEMINA the previous year .I had to write the copy for all TOI
publications ads. By this time , I had
become an expert in time management and could juggle a number of freelance
assignments. Teaching in the morning, copy writing in the afternoon, teaching
again in the evening, conducting focus groups as and when. My days were full.
It
was time to move on to a full time job. AA were old enough to handle that ! I
responded to an AD for a publicity manager and joined Westerwork Engineers. My
principal was very unhappy when I told him I wanted to quit teaching because my
asthma was getting worse. He let me go with his blessings . Mr. Khanna and I
parted friends.
It was a new
experience – to be sitting in one place for eight hours .My job involved
interacting with the advertising agency to supervise printing of product
leaflets and arrange for photography of new machines (it was this experience
which helped my producing the Naval Dockyard book). I had a vey supportive
colleague in Zeb and we made a good team. But the pace was too slow for my
adrenalin. The company was going through a money crunch and the first thing
that gets hit is publicity.
No comments:
Post a Comment