Former Percept/H ECD, Rajiv Agarwal launches Madness Communications

The newly formed agency's first national campaign for Arise India's LED TV (with Android), stars actor Irrfan Khan.

Rajiv Agarwal, the former executive creative director of Percept/H, has launched a creative agency named Madness India Communications. Agarwal's entrepreneurial venture broke its first national campaign for Arise India's LED TVs starring actor Irrfan Khan on June 7.

Speaking to afaqs! on what motivated him to take entrepreneurial route, Agarwal says, "I've been toying with the idea for the last three years. The 'keeda' to do something of my own was there when I was with Lintas. Usually creative folks don't take such a jump. But I've been gambling with life and it is just a medium to get out of the 'comfort zone'. I really like the freedom that going independent gives you."

The agency, afaqs! has been told, will soon have an office and a team. Presently, Agarwal has been working with a few people on freelance basis. "It's not a typical agency structure where you hire an Art Director, designers and start working," says Agarwal, adding that he's looking for people who have 'quirky and innovative ideas' and are willing to work outside a conventional agency framework.

For the record, Percept/H roped in Rajiv Agarwal as ECD back in 2011. His mandate was to manage various brands handled from the Delhi office like Canon, Hero MotoCorp, Delhi Police, and various other government clients. He also worked towards acquiring new clients for the Delhi branch.

Prior to Percept/H, Agarwal was with Lowe Lintas, Delhi, as the senior creative director, handling various clients like Havells, Polo, Cadbury Eclairs, Maruti Swift Dzire, Maruti Alto, Dabur Honey, Somany Tiles, and Nirula's among others.

With more than 17 years of experience in advertising, he started his career with Ogilvy, followed by Draftfcb Ulka. He subsequently shifted to JWT, followed by Lowe Lintas. Over the years, he has handled brands such as Pepsi, Mountain dew, SBI cards, Horlicks, Monster.com, GE Money, and Hero Honda, to mention a few. He played a major role in the 2009 election campaign for the Congress party.