Before he became an award-winning ad man, BBDO India’s chief creative Josy Paul was a student of Atomic Physics.
Paul was fascinated by the theory of relativity, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, and what he calls “the unpredictable nature of the atom” — a quality that his own life seems to mirror.
After all, no one could have predicted that a student of science would go into advertising and win a job even without a portfolio to show. Or that the agency he would end up founding from the back of his car would become an successful and award-winning creative house. Or that he would become one of the Indian advertising industry’s most influential ad men.
Indeed Paul’s life is as unpredictable as the atoms he loved to study — and it is this unpredictability that keeps him at the top of his creative game.
“Creative exploration demands fluidity of experiences. You’ve got to be open to new worlds, people and things…That’s when you have the ability to move people — be it in advertising or life,” he tells adobo. “To keep this alive, you’ve got to embrace everything. No holds barred. I try to do that.”
This creative exploration has no doubt fuelled Paul’s leadership at an agency that has spawned such campaigns as ‘Women against Lazy Stubble’ for Gilette, ‘Dream2Advance’ for Visa, and most recently, ‘Touch the Pickle’ for P&G, which brought home a landslide of metals in last year’s awards circuit.
The campaign for sanitary protection brand Whisper advocates gender equality as it encourages young girls to break taboos and, as the campaign’s call to action goes, to touch the jar of pickles —just one of the many mundane things Indian women are traditionally not allowed to do while on their period.
For Paul, that is advertising as it should be — not only a selling tool, but something that affects change.
“My partner Ajai Jhala and I have always believed that content is nothing without context. And if you don’t embrace the cultural tension point and find a solution, what are you doing? Merely selling!” he says. “We try to do more with our work. It has to sell, but it also has to do something more. It is an idealistic notion — that advertising can add value to and change the world.”
Indeed, the campaign’s disruptive, rebellious spirit has won over both the Indian and international audience. For Paul, rebellion is necessary for making it in the ad industry — and in life.
“You have to be rebellious in your own way. You are fighting so many things—your past, your reputation, your success, your failure, your last work, your last award, the things that clients say,” he says. “I feel you are fighting not for your sanity but your insanity. You got to keep your madness alive…your unique self.”
Paul’s rebellious streak has become legend — and it is perhaps what strengthens his influence on young creatives. As for his own influences, Paul shares that they constantly change.
He shares that his parents, teachers, student leaders at his college, great writers, directors, musicians, and artists, as well as lyrics from Pink Floyd’s ‘Us and Them’ have all influenced him at one point in his life.
“My students, my partners, YouTube, (they) continue to influence me. I realize I am influenced by everything. It’s a highly excited state and I am vulnerable to everything as I surrender to life’s endless drama and stories,” he explains.
Indeed, Paul seems to be a sponge, soaking up creativity from everywhere: “I try to lead a creative life, not just an advertising life.”
“I try to connect with all things real. Recently I had 60 students present their autobiographies as part of their class assignment. It was amazing! It was creative. It was authentic. Stuff like that gives me energy. I am a sum of other people’s generosity,” he shares.
At the same time, one source of inspiration hits closer to home: “When my wife sings, I fly. She raises me up on the wings of her song.”
After capping off another great year, It can only get better for Paul, who looks forward to 2016 with just one single resolution. “To make more mistakes! To embrace the growing pains of new learning!” he reveals, “That perhaps is the only way I can get rid of my past and start again.”
This article was first published in the January-February 2016 issue of adobo magazine.
