Wherever you go......

Indian advertising industry lost a young and creative adman, V Mahesh, senior creative director, O&M, Bangalore. The 32-year-old Mahesh, who was most famous for his well-appreciated Hutch campaigns which made the dog and the boy famous,, passed away after a heart attack. Mahesh was regarded as a creative genius by many in the ad world. Apart from his creative ingenuity, he was also known for his congenial personality. It is learnt that the entire team of O&M is in a deep state of shock at his unexpected demise.

senior creative director and friend, Rajiv Rao was his close friend. Mahesh and Rao’s partnership dates back to 1994, when they launched themselves together at Heartbeat, and then to Ambience Publicis in 1996, where they spent three years. They then moved to O&M, first in Mumbai in 1999, and then three years later, in Bangalore.Apart from the Hutch campaigns, Mahesh and Rao have also worked on the Titan ads featuring actor Aamir Khan, as well as the recently released Lenovo ads.

The duo has won two gold and two silver lions at Cannes, a silver pencil at the One Show and two grand prizes at the London International. And these are just the cream of their achievements.

That is a glimpse of the obituary published in agency faq's today. Mahesh was revered for his exceptional ideation skills and combined with Rajiv , his best freind it made roaring success.

Forget other campaigns that were in their names, the Indian ad world will remember Mahesh for gifting us the wonderful duo of the dog and the boy, for making a dirty looking pug and a skinny lookin boy, the heroes of their idea ,rather than a cute puppy and a even cuter boy.

The Marketing problem which Hutch had( the TG percieved that they had no net work) was complex, but the talented creatives, the lesser known duo solved it with amazing precision and remarked display of ad creativity, making the Hutch sales soar, even up to 77% at one point of time. The Indian ad world will remember that.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.if that is the case,Britannia Little Hearts' (orange flavour) outdoor campaign and soft drink Mirinda (again orange flavoured) both took off on the Hutch ad concept in a blatant spoof campaign for which Mahesh responded-"The recent Mirinda ad is stupid. It is like a parasite who is trying to drink from our very successful campaign. Usually bad ads are spoofed rather than good ones. But anyway, this one has worked in our favour. We were at one point planning to send a champaigne bottle to the agency that made the ad!"( Indiantelevision.com). We remember that..

I consider the dog and the boy idea to the best in Indian Big Idea's and I am sure most of the ad watchers do that..it was so simple and yet so sophisicated, it was an idea next door and yet no one ever saw it, it was ground to earth and yet brilliant.. it was amazing..the Indian ad world will surely remember that.

The hutch campaign is sighted as a good example of 360 degree or IMC as ad world calls it..Taking a brilliant idea and taking it every where, every customer aperture(the touch points) where the message meets the TG.. it came as TV ads.. in print.. as T shirts... in waiting sheds.. in Tea cups.. in Chennai marathon... wherever you go, it followed....Mahesh, the Indian ad world will surely remember that.

At last ,the boy wasnt there and the dog alone came running and hissing, when from Orange Hutch changed to Pink.. there were a hue and cry, but it was simply stupendous.. The Indian ad world will remember that.

Ads couldbe simple and still make the TG as well as the clients happy.. good ads could entertain the TG and could sell the clients brands too.. that probably was the single most message that as a creative ad man ,Mahesh, is leaving as a legacy.....

My wishes to O& M and Rajiv to take it forward.. let his soul guide you guys..

My heart felt condolences.. to all the bereaved..

such men never die, they live for ever, in the hearts of their beloved...