Take a peek into new year resolutions of creative powerhouses of Indian adland

The new year calls for a fresh approach to life; both from the personal and professional fronts. It is an apt opportunity to make positive changes, inculcate healthy habits, and start reaching out for goals. As 2022 starts to settle in, exchnage4media.com reached out to some of the leading creative minds in the Indian adland to know about their resolutions for the year and things that they would like to unlearn and relearn over the year. 

Infectious Advertising Director and Co-founder Ramanuj Shastry

My craft is writing and there is no end to improving it. In 2022, like every year before this, I will aspire to write better and write more. (However,) The only thing I can’t resist is temptation. So, my goal is moderation.  Yes, also I intend to sleep for eight hours every night. 

I am doing my Diploma in Persian this year. So language learning is the new skill goal. 

I intend to be a lot less hard on myself this year. Also, I intend to spend more time with people I like no matter how busy I am. Work never stops.

Taproot Dentsu Creative Head - Gurgaon and Dentsu One National Creative Director Titus Upputuru

Craft is something that one can never have enough of. As Einstein had said, Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death. So I will continue to upskill. 

There are so many things to learn – better connections with the audience, better storytelling, more empathy, better listening, more fascinating ways to innovate and use tech to build better solutions, not necessarily in that order.

I would like to spend more time with my family. The pandemic has forced us all to stay home but the screen time keeps us all very occupied. A typical scene at our home is all four of us – my wife, my two daughters and I – occupied with our laptops. Sometimes I just look up from my screen and see this and feel like hiding our screens away!

When it comes to learning, it’d be “Fear of human contact.”

Grapes Executive Creative Director Priyank Narain

Advertising is meant to touch people. To truly move them. So, I’d want to improve my craft in a way that I learn how to touch consumers at a really deep level so that they invest in a brand and not just a product. 

Also, I’d like to learn a little bit more about AI. Keep hearing how that’s going to be the next big thing. Also, it’s about time I learnt Excel too. With the video format becoming more and more popular on social media, I’d like to learn how to consistently say something in under 10 seconds (as opposed to a copywriter’s trained mind of writing a 30 second TV spot).

In my personal life, I’ll take my dog for a walk more often; or rather allow him to take me on a walk more often.

Havas Creative Executive Director and National Creative Director Ravinder Siwach

When it comes to craft -- A one-word quest: ‘Un-market’. Everybody and their mom know a ‘marketing’ message from miles. So how are we going to get people to pay attention? So cultivating innovation and driving meaningfulness will be decisive in everything we do.

The world around us is changing so fast, that unlearning and staying agile is non-negotiable. Having "a lot of experience in the field" means nothing today because the field itself has changed, and change is the only constant. I have increased my interactions with clients and experts to be in the vanguard of this constant change. And we must look out for the young talent joining the industry and nurture them further, as we do through our internship program ‘Havas Spark’. They are not just remarkable but can add tremendous insight and value to our business.

For my personal life is a resolution from 2021! Being disciplined about work-life balance. Leaders are required to juggle responsibilities. But the pandemic completely blurred the lines of work-life balance, and self-regulation became even more critical. I ensured that this balance is back even as we continue to live in volatile times. It's the only way I can lead my clients, my teams and maintain harmony in my personal life under the current circumstances. I have started 2022 with resolute steps in this direction. Amen.

At last, I want to learn just a little bit of dancing. I have proudly stood aside saying “I do not, what I know not” at parties for years, but what the heck, it won’t hurt to be a party to the party. To give me a head start, I did move my two left feet this New Year’s Eve.