Happy Creative Services says hello to Mumbai

The four-year-old Bengaluru-based creative agency has launched its Mumbai operations. Pallavi Nayak has been roped in as general manager for the Mumbai branch.

After four years in Bengaluru, Happy Creative Services commenced operations in Mumbai. Pallavi Nayak has been roped in as general manager for the Mumbai branch. Happy Mumbai will be a strategic services and business development unit, with its creative delivery centre located in Bengaluru.

Talking about the reasons for the shift to Mumbai, Kartik Iyer, chief executive officer and co-founder, Happy Creative Services, says, "We want our clients in Mumbai to deal with us in person. We manage a lot of production from the city. It, therefore, makes sense to have a Happy office here."

Nayak has joined Happy from DY Works, Design and Brand Consultancy, where she was general manager, strategy, and offered strategic brand and design solutions to various brands of CavinKare, 3M, Wipro, GCMMF and GMI USA.

Nayak has about a decade of experience in advertising. She started off as a trainee with Lowe Lintas Mumbai, after which she moved to Ogilvy Bengaluru, where she spearheaded brands such as Brooke Bond Taj Mahal, Worldspace Satellite Radio, Bingo, and Titan. Four years later, she joined Contract Mumbai, with strategic planning responsibilities on Cadbury, Asian Paints, and HSBC.

On her appointment at Happy, Nayak remarks, "It's amazing how things have changed in the last couple of years. No more holy cows out there any longer, but it is an unabashed hybrid marketplace with smarter consumers for whom just a good idea won't work anymore. It's an exciting time to be in advertising, and more so in Happy, with its upbeat energy and good work."

But, why the separate creative delivery structure in Bengaluru, despite a Mumbai operation? Praveen Das, chief creative officer and co-founder, Happy Creative Services, says that isn't an issue. "We already do work for many clients across the country. We have a certain way of working and certain philosophies that we believe in when it comes to the creative process. These can't be translated over an induction programme. So, we decided, let's stick together and give it all we've got," he says.

Iyer adds that this is only the first step in creating a pan-India presence for Happy. "It is our way of telling clients we're willing to take the first step. We have always maintained that we may be small as an agency, but we're big as an idea. We hope to stay true to that." The current people strength at Happy is 27.

For the record, Happy was started in Bengaluru by Iyer and Das in 2007. As an ideas shop, the duo bagged its first project with Lee, and later, went on to win the account. The team at Happy is also credited with the launch of Diesel in India.