When MullenLowe Lintas CEO Virat Tandon starred in a Rediffusion ad

Tandon joined Rediffusion in 1993 as an account executive, and is the first one to be featured in his alma mater’s celebratory campaign.

An ad released by Rediffusion last week features MullenLowe Lintas India’s Group CEO Virat Tandon. In fact, Tandon is the hero of the ad. Rediffusion is starting its ‘50 Years’ celebration, 24 months in advance. Every month, over the next 24 months, Rediffusion will release an ad celebrating a former employee, who has gone on to achieve success and fame in advertising, and beyond.

Tandon, who joined Rediffusion in 1993 as an account executive, is the first one to be featured in his alma mater’s celebratory campaign.

“Rediffusion has a proud history of not just the clients and brands it has handled over the past 48 years, but also the talented professionals who worked at Rediffusion over the years and left their indelible stamp on the agency. This campaign celebrates our stars, who spent some part of their professional innings at Rediffusion, and then moved on to attain stature and esteem in the ad industry, media, movies, academia, and more. This campaign toasts their success, and thanks them for having been part of Rediffusion’s incredible journey of nearly five decades,” said Diwan Arun Nanda, chairman and founder of Rediffusion.

The second ad in the series features Kamlesh Pandey, who has recently come back to the agency as Legend In Residence. Pandey joined Rediffusion in the mid-70s and was the most awarded copywriter of that era. Iconic lines like Whenever you see colour, think of us for Jenson & Nicholson, Hum Red & White peene walon ki baat hi kuchh aur hai for Red & White cigarettes, and The Zing Thing for Gold Spot made him famous. Pandey went on to head programming at Zee and is well known as a Bollywood scriptwriter, including penning films like Rang de Basanti.

Some of the ad industry’s biggest stalwarts have worked at Rediffusion. From Harsha Bhogle, who joined the agency in client servicing straight from IIM Ahmedabad, and went on to become a famous cricket commentator, to India’s current cricket team coach Ravi Shastri, who headed Showdiff, Refiffusion has many famous alumni.

Anupriya Acharya, the current president of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), worked at Rediffusion over a decade ago. Prashanth Kumar, India’s No. 1 media man and CEO of Group M, started as a rookie in media at Rediffusion nearly 25 years ago. Actor Rahul Bose headed creative at Rediffusion Mumbai in the mid-90s, while celebrated creative director Bobby Pawar also spent some of his younger days at Rediffusion. Havas’ country head Rana Barua and the Times of India’s president Partha Sinha are both Rediffusionists.

“So sparkling is our galaxy of superstars that choosing just 24 to feature in the campaign is going to be a tough task. I worked with Tandon when I was branch head of Rediffusion Delhi. It is so satisfying to see Rediffusion youngsters like him bloom into leaders of the industry. Rediffusion has been a veritable University of Indian Advertising and we are proud to be celebrating our contribution through this communication,” added Dr Sandeep Goyal, managing director of Rediffusion.

The campaign has been ideated and written by Pramod Sharma, executive creative director, Rediffusion.