Your 5pm to 9pm routine after your 9 to 5?

Mine is 9 to 9pm. Post 9pm, I switch hats and become a father. I get about an hour with the kids before they go to bed. We generally play together, either chess or some board game. And If I am traveling, which happens 100 times in a year, it’s a different ball game.

A book or show you recently read/watched that you would recommend?

Reading Mitch Albom, recently read 'Five People You Meet In Heaven' and going to start with 'Tuesdays with Morrie'. And one thing that stayed with me was how little we sometimes know about the impact we have on people. You might have a conversation with someone and forget it the next day, but they might remember it for years. It made me think about how we often judge our lives by the big things we've achieved, when the smaller things we do for people might matter just as much. It got me thinking about something else, too: being busy and making progress aren't necessarily the same thing.

What wins would you like to celebrate from the last six months or a year?

It's been a pretty eventful few months. Amazon Now has been a great win for us. We've worked across the brand launch, shoots, influencers,  and pretty much the whole song and dance around building a brand. MTR's 'India's Sweetest Language' was another exciting one. We were involved right from the central thought to production, the event, outdoor, and bringing the whole idea to life. Then there's Krispy Kreme, where we brought AI and a real shoot together and 100 other things.

Which industry leader has impacted you the most?

Elon Musk and what SpaceX is attempting are fascinating to follow. Was left amazed to hear the vision. In the Indian context, I have been reading a lot about Ather Energy lately, with Tarun and his vision around product, particularly how the business is being built around it. Personally, passionate about the idea that world-class products can come out of India. It's not just about building a business that scales, but building something genuinely good that deserves to scale.

The biggest development in the A&M industry this month...

The rise of micro-dramas and new content formats.

An ad film from the previous month that caught your attention?

How the AI platforms are communicating, with the likes of Claude: How Can I Communicate Better With My Mom? Or Gemini series of ad films. 

This column was first published in our November issue. Click here to buy a copy.