Piyush Pandey, former global chief creative officer, Ogilvy, was honoured with the LIA Legend Award during day two of the ongoing Creative Liaisons programme.

During his acceptance speech, Pandey shared some tips for the young creatives attending the event.

With an example of the Fevikwik film Ogilvy created in the 90s, Pandey said, “I like keeping things simple and funny. Before we were going to the client, I asked my colleagues for a glass of water, a pencil, a coin and a Fevikwik. We picked them up and went to the client and pitched this idea. One of the members of the client team stated how they weren’t sure if Fevikwik would stick with water being around. But because we had tested it, we had the conviction and sold the idea. It was named the commercial of the century in India.”

Pandey also stated the importance of acknowledging the inner child within creatives.

“No matter how old you get and how many awards you are honoured with, the child within you is never to be forgotten,” he said.

He also encouraged the young audience by stating how he believed there were many legends in the making and he would be hoping to return to LIA to cheer them on.

While he didn’t make a cricket reference during this talk in Vegas, he did speak about how life experiences have helped shape his advertising career.

“The first thing I learnt from my father was about knowing your audience. He was into poetry and taught me one with a deep meaning ahead of an elocution contest I was participating in. I didn’t win the contest because it was very heavy and didn’t resonate with the audience. I failed. The next year he taught me poetry about donkeys and horses. It was political satire and those watching were in splits. I went home with a Gold medal,” shared Pandey.

He shared one more learning from his younger days.

“My parents were worried about my grades. They called a palm reader who labelled me useless and went to the extent to state that I would never travel abroad. He believed my palm didn’t have a ‘foreign line’. A governor was staying next to us who didn’t have a full hand and he travelled abroad every month. I asked him about his future and that palm line and I learned that day how things can be read differently and how nothing should scare you,” added Pandey.

He concluded by talking about the importance of culture.

“I come from a very wide culture. In India, we speak 30-odd languages and 2,000 dialects. My last piece of advice to the youngsters is - be honest to your culture, don’t offend anyone and work hard,” he said.