Avidha: The little girl big on dreams, who made her dreams of becoming a copywriter real.

Avidha Mitra – The little girl from Indira School of Communication is now fast rising to be an accolade-winning copywriter in the Mecca of Advertising in India, Mumbai. I remember the Avidha of 8 years back, a simple girl, mischievous, fun girl, yet one who loved what she was studying – Mass Communication. She had told me once - She wanted to become an ideator. I had told her in no uncertain terms that our industry has no such 'ear marked' role of an ideator. I had said that you could either be a copywriter or an art person, who could also ideate. Art required a specific degree in art, which she did not have and for copywriting, it required different skill sets. She took the feedback on her chin but kept marching ahead in search of her dream. Next is I know that she has joined an agency in Mumbai as a Copywriter. Wow!

Our little bundle of fun would now leave no stone unturned to fulfill her dreams, now that she had got a foot in the door, I thought. And she did. She ideated very well, as she always did, wrote well and kept moving ahead conquering one milestone after another.

Here’s a little chat I had with her a few days ago, reproduced below with #nofilter

“Frankly, I never knew my passion lay in writing. Though as a kid I was fascinated about ideating things and probably had a passion for writing, but again, never knew it. When I was standing on the threshold of my career, lost and confused, there was one friend-philosopher-guide who helped me take my decision – Sonali Ma’am. 

I worked as a junior copywriter in a Mumbai-based advertising agency, The Code. I used to write for print advertisements and radio jingles. It wasn’t easy getting in though. Absolutely not. The industry was tough and to make an entry I made myself work hard, very hard. Right now, I am working at Shreyansh Innovation as a Sr. Copywriter and Creative Supervisor.

I got my first accolade at Engage Digital Summit  2016.  I participated in a social campaign #TheFagEnd, which was ran by CK Birla Hospital. Among thousands of entries my entry got selected and also the campaign bagged the award of Best Practices Use of Social Media, 2016. 

My dream role is to be a Creative Director in a renowned advertising firm like JWT or Ogilvy & Mather. My mantra is ‘Think out of the box, not out of the frame’. I would like to tell the current students to be proactive and spontaneous, as much as you can. Also, that they should look for good mentors. Mentors should ideally be spontaneous, less strict, friendlier and someone who allow the student to think as they like to. Along the journey, I had many good mentors. Like Sonali Brahma Ma’am, who guided me on the right path, and most importantly at the right time. She’s the first and only one who believed in me. I am grateful to her and will always be.”

Avidha, my best wishes are always with you!

“Kuch jamaa nahi!”  

Ask any creative true to his creative religion and see how he reacts to this line “Kuch jamaa nahi, options nahi hai kay?”

I bet he/she would be short of tearing out his/her hair in frustration and turning red in the face with the mercury climbing higher and higher and then like a punctured balloon, the climbing temperature would suddenly dissipate in resignation – because this is a line that is as old as the hills and that he has been hearing since he was initiated into this unfathomable profession of advertising, branding and creativity. 

So what does this line really mean? In client parlance, it means,” I don’t know what to make of this” OR “I can’t tell if this fits our brief/brand/product/industry” OR “ I don’t understand this” OR “I don’t know if boss will like it” OR “ I don’t like it” OR simply, “I am paying you through my nose for this so you bloody well work more”. 

Phew!

Whatever it means, one has to slink back quietly to one’s pad and start chewing the weathered tip of the chewed pencil and start staring into nothingness again, hoping that something will strike or fall from the skies, an option that will make the client say “Jamaa!”

 

Reading between the lines though, I would like to believe that as creatives we are really working for two clients– one is the target audience and the second is our client or rather, the first is the client and the second is the target audience/customer.

Since the client is the decision maker of whether your idea/name/logo will hold well, he is your primary audience. He comes with his own likes and pet peeves, whims and fancies and moods; which projects and latches onto his decision. So, if by sheer misfortune, he is in a foul mood and has fought with his missus in the morning, God help your idea! For whatever it is worth, it is not going to clear his mahogany table and is most likely to land squarely in his already overloaded trash can. 

And if he, by God’s grace is in a good mood, then even your wishy-washy idea may pass his knife without getting royally butchered! So what if he asks you to marry option I and option II and come with a legally produced baby –option 3!!! 

The point is that your idea/ad/campaign/name/logo has to first ‘connect’ with your client and later with the brand’s official target audience/customer.  And that is the bitter truth. 

From that POV, your client becomes your primary target audience and the official TA, your secondary TA.  Decide who are you really working for m’friend -The client or his customer?

“ Kuch jamaa?!”