Portfolio Night 11 Delhi: ‘I’m also learning seeing this’: Prathap Suthan

The inaugural edition of Portfolio Night in New Delhi hosted by Leo Burnett saw portfolios of 59 young copywriters and art directors being scrutinised by creative heads from across the country. The global event was hosted simultaneously in the capital and Mumbai on 22 May 2013.

On the kind of work that was seen in Delhi and the profile of participants, R Balki, chairman and chief creative officer, Lowe Lintas and Partners, said, “There are some professionals coming on board which is actually a good thing because we are seeing young people wanting to work in bigger agencies and brands. This time, the kids are far more aware of what’s happening in the world.”

Kartik Iyer, CEO and co-founder, Happy Creative Services, observed, “What is really interesting is that most of these people are not currently working in the advertising industry – it’s interesting that the talent and the way they are thinking is not seasoned yet. My advice to them is to quickly join the industry.”

Among creative heads who believe that the work in portfolios showcased is getting better is KV Sridhar, chief creative officer, India sub-continent, Leo Burnett. He added, “One of the portfolios I saw was of a mechanical engineer from BITS Pilani. He has a full-fledged portfolio and that’s pretty amazing. Five or ten years back if someone wanted to be in advertising, he had absolutely no means (of knowing how to go about it); now they have access to everything and they know exactly what to do. They may not know the tricks of the trade but that’s what we are here for. Students today have better work to show.”

The ‘All-Star’ choice

This year Portfolio Night introduced ‘All-Stars’. One winner each from the Delhi and Mumbai legs will fly to New York in August 2013 to compete in the Portfolio Night All-Stars creative challenge. From Delhi, Vaibhav Pandey was the choice.

On the judging of All-Stars  and Vaibhav Pandey’s work, Rajiv Rao, NCD, Ogilvy and Mather, said, “The portfolio that I saw of Vaibhav Panday was exceptionally good. The work is very good coming from some people who have no advertising background. One thing that we look for are ideas and second is the execution of those ideas. For All-Stars we were looking at the freshness and newness of the ideas and Vaibhav’s work seems to have that.”

Priti Nair, co-founder, Curry Nation, added, “For All-Stars, I look for an idea that I couldn’t have thought of, even if it’s not a perfectly executed idea. The great thing about this year is I’m seeing a lot of finished portfolios this time, which I didn’t see previously. They have done a lot of proactive work”.

KS Chakravarthy, NCD, Draftfcb-Ulka, surmised, “All the people I’ve met have great potential; one has been extremely outstanding. This year seems to be better than what I saw last year. These are kids so we look at any bright spot when it comes to evaluating their work.”

‘The way people think of ‘portfolio’ has become very different’

The evening saw aspirants from cities like Bhubaneshwar and Agra presenting their work.

Agnello Dias, chairman and co-Founder, Taproot India, stated, “This time there is greater variety, probably because we have moved to a different city as well. I believe we should have this in many more cities. Better work is also seen because of people becoming more tech-savvy.”

Almost every judge agreed that there was freshness in the work and great talent on show.

Prathap Suthan, managing partner and chief creative officer, Bang In The Middle, said, “I’ve seen portfolios for over 20 years now. What I’ve seen is that the way people think of ‘portfolio’ has become very different. I’m surprised with the way people are thinking and are avoiding regular stuff which is brilliant. I’m looking at work that is surprising me and that’s exactly what is working with me. I’m also learning seeing this.”

Other creative heads who evaluated portfolios at the event were Ajay Gahlaut, Ogilvy & Mather; Amer Jaleel, Lowe Lintas and Partners;  Praveen Das, Happy Creative Services; Rajiv Rao, Ogilvy & Mather; Sainath Saraban, Leo Burnett; Shriram Iyer, Lowe Lintas and Partners; Soumitra Karnik, Dentsu India; V Sunil, Wieden+Kennedy; Talha Bin Mohsin, DDB Mudra; and Viral Pandya, Out of the Box.