The brand and cultural titan behind landmark campaigns for Cadbury, Fevicol, and Asian Paints was celebrated as a maverick of Indian creativity, transforming everyday language into the country’s most powerful storytelling tool.
Piyush Pandey, the seminal figure who fundamentally transformed the articulation of India’s consumer culture, has died in Mumbai on 24 October at the age of 70. His passing was formally confirmed by Ogilvy India, where he had served as Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer Worldwide until stepping down around 2023.
Pandey’s enduring legacy is rooted in a fundamental shift in practice: in an industry often criticised for patronising its audience, he was renowned for listening first. Over four decades, he played a central role in elevating Ogilvy India to one of the country’s most creative and influential agencies, producing work that consistently transcended mere product promotion to become embedded in everyday life. His campaigns weren’t just ads; they became national idioms. Phrases such as “Fevicol ka jod toote nahin” (Fevicol’s bond does not break), “Kuch Khaas Hai” (There’s something special), and the public service message “Do Boond Zindagi Ke” (Two drops of life) entered common discourse. His achievements drew significant recognition: he became the first Asian to serve as a Jury President at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2004, received the Lion of St. Mark award alongside his brother Prasoon Pandey in 2018, and was honoured with the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award, in 2016.
Pandey’s early life and career trajectory were distinctive. Born in Jaipur in 1955 into a family with considerable artistic energy—his siblings include the filmmaker Prasoon Pandey and the singer-actor Ila Arun—he pursued history at St Stephen’s College in Delhi and achieved distinction playing Ranji Trophy cricket for Rajasthan. After a period involving diverse roles, including work as a tea taster, he entered advertising in 1982 at the age of 27, joining Ogilvy as a trainee account executive. By 1994, his talent had propelled him to the position of the agency’s National Creative Director. He began his career at a critical juncture when Indian advertising largely mimicked Western templates, speaking, as he famously described it, in “borrowed voices.” Pandey’s methodology constituted a deliberate and profound divergence. He championed writing in Hindi whilst his peers favoured English. He drew inspiration not from international award circuits but from the observational richness of local tea stalls and railway compartments. His creative philosophy was simple yet transformative: make people feel something before asking them to buy something.
The campaigns themselves were a testament to this philosophy. The 1994 Cadbury advert featuring a young woman dancing onto a cricket pitch redefined public expressions of celebration (“Kuch Khaas Hai”—There’s something special), while the 1996 Fevicol advert of an impossibly crowded bus became a cultural shorthand for Indian resourcefulness.
Pandey consistently resisted the impulse to sanitise authenticity, drawing his ideas from what he called “the cadence of Indian life itself,” insisting that advertising serve as a truthful mirror to society. His influence quickly extended beyond mere consumerism. One of his earliest notable works was contributing to the lyrics of “Mile Sur Mera Tumhara” (When your voice merges with mine) in 1988, a national integration anthem that remains one of independent India’s most significant cultural artefacts. His “Do Boond Zindagi Ke” (Two drops of life) campaign was crucial in elevating polio vaccination to a national imperative.
His extensive body of work, including cultural touchstones for Asian Paints (“Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hai”—Every home tells a story), Hutch and Vodafone’s ZooZoos, and the “Bell Bajao” (Ring the bell) domestic violence awareness initiative, proved his conviction that creativity was the operational engine of business. For these manifold contributions, he was honoured with the Padma Shri (India’s fourth-highest civilian honour) in 2016.
Pandey’s impact was so far-reaching that the national reaction to his death spanned the highest levels of politics and culture. Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his respects, cherishing their interactions and acknowledging Pandey’s “monumental contribution” to the world of advertising. This connection was particularly noteworthy as Pandey was the creative force who coined the infamous and strategically crucial 2014 political campaign slogan, “Ab Ki Baar, Modi Sarkar” (Modi’s government this time). The sense of loss among the creative fraternity was perhaps most poignantly articulated by filmmaker Hansal Mehta’s concise statement, “Fevicol ka jod toot gaya” (Fevicol’s bond is broken). This outpouring of grief reflected what filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri noted in tribute: at a time when campaigns sought to impress rather than connect, Pandey introduced a fundamental vernacular honesty, making words redolent of mitti (earth) and resonant of home.
What those who knew Pandey remember most, however, is not his stature but his humanity. Upon his retirement, this affection was made clear when Ogilvy’s Mumbai office created a farewell board filled with handwritten notes listing all the reasons he would be missed, a gesture that captured the loyalty he inspired. A close family friend, Gayatri Singh, recalled the line that distilled his leadership style: “We always heard his laughter before we saw him,” a sentiment defined by warmth rather than hierarchy. Raahil Chopra, Editor-in-Chief of advertising and marketing trade magazine Manifest Media India and former Editor of Campaign India, reflected on travelling with Pandey to an awards show, recalling his lasting memory of Pandey on stage “reminding us to keep things simple and funny.” These recollections collectively capture a man whose generosity and humour were inseparable from his creative genius. Pandey’s commitment to mentorship was absolute; he nurtured generations of young creatives, maintaining that creativity was not an inherent gift but a discipline sharpened by curiosity and compassion. In later years, he often asserted that emotion would remain the definitive frontier between artificial intelligence and human endeavour.
Pandey’s passing marks more than the closure of an era. His work, which was always measured in resonance rather than mere metrics, offers a vital compass for an industry increasingly defined by algorithms. His quiet confidence established that the stories, idioms, and humour of India were not secondary to global standards but equivalent to them. Piyush Pandey’s distinctive laughter may be silent, yet the voice he imparted to Indian advertising — one of warmth, honesty, and shared humour — remains his enduring legacy.