Mumbai: Entertainment creative agency Humour Me has announced the appointment of Joy Mohanty as its chief operating officer. He will be leading the overall creative function of the agency ahead of the firm’s expansion plans.
He will be based in New Delhi and spearhead the expansion of the new media creative shop, the agency said in a statement.
In a career spanning three decades in advertising, Mohanty has worked with agencies like Publicis Capital, Lowe Lintas, FCB Ulka, Bates Clarion, Leo Burnett, and Contract. He has won numerous local and international awards, including the One Show, D&AD, New York Festivals, and Goafest.
“With Joy coming on board, we want to send a signal to all our brand partners and the marketing/ advertising ecosystem that we’re here to offer up our brand of creative audacity to the world now,” said Humour Me founder Dhruv Sachdeva. “Our plan is to build and invest in one of the most differentiated creative teams, unlike what one might find in a traditional agency set-up.”
“We are also excited about cementing a new teaching model within Humour Me, wherein we aim to give our creative talent the edge they need by up-skilling them to serve the attention needs of today. The Donald Draper days of advertising are dead, the new creative person needs to be a Twitter ninja, an Instagram poet, plus an independent creator themselves. Humour Me is more a collective of creators wanting to serve the attention economy of today, than an agency,” Sachdeva said.
“Humour Me is a company created for the post-internet world, one in which marketing, creativity, and tech have coalesced,” said Joy Mohanty. “Today, consumers and culture are always in beta, and so should brands and ideas be forever ready to read the signals and rewire. In this landscape, Dhruv and his team have built something unique, with an enviable list of like-minded clients. I am thrilled to be here, to add my energy to the success of Humour Me.”
MUMBAI: Indya, a modern Indian wear brand by fashion house High Street Essentials Pvt Ltd, today launched its first brand campaign – “I am Indya”. Celebrating the social and cultural contradictions that the millennial Indian woman embodies and lives today, the campaign sets the tone for what the brand stands for in its positioning and design philosophy.
The millennial Indian woman we know today lives life on a crossroad – a juncture of Indian traditions and a globalised society; an intersection of simpler times and that of a burgeoning modern lifestyle; a convergence of the love for the local and aspirations that are global. She’s ready to power through it all to become a global phenomenon, but at the end of the day it’s her true desi being that she finds comfort in. She is both, traditional and modern; she is the best of both worlds. Indya’s campaign is an ode to just this woman.
The campaign is led by a brand film conceptualised by creative agency, Humour Me. It stars five women who are the new faces of achievement; not put on a pedestal but charting life on their own terms by taking the road less taken. Modern in outlook and rooted in traditions, they are fearlessly pursuing their dreams.
Pratima Singh, a player for the India Women’s National Basketball Team, is an unstoppable small-town girl who made the national anthem ring loud in a stadium in China.
Tania Sachdev, an Arjuna Awardee and Chess Grandmaster holds a world record for being the youngest player from any sport to win an international title. She believes that her open upbringing has shaped her into who she is.
Kavya Trehan is a born entertainer, alternative music artist, and actor who fearlessly pursued her dreams to make a mark step by step!
Ira Trivedi, an author & yogini has written books on and won awards for her brave social commentary. She writes about modern India in all its complexities while finding life in asanas and comfort in bhajans.
Tanisha De, a budding model from Kolkata is steadily making her way to the top while changing the standards of beauty in a country that is obsessed with white skin.
Together they speak of the beautiful contradictions that make an Indian naari, the global woman she is today.
Speaking of the campaign, Indya co-founders Tanvi Malik & Shivani Poddar said, “Indya was born out of the thought to re-look ethnic fashion by considering the lifestyle and aesthetics of a modern woman living in a globalised India, blurring the old lines between western and Indian wear, making fashion a form of self-expression. Our campaign too is an ode to her. It celebrates her duality of being traditional and modern with complete grace. This duality, instead of being a constraint, makes her stronger. She is raag and she is also rap; she is bindi and she is also boots; she is a Devi, and she sure she is a diva ! Our film speaks of every woman we know today. For this campaign, we wanted to showcase the brand with women that epitomise this genre-blurring cultural context – women who are setting new standards in ambition and achievement, while remaining grounded and proud of their Indian values. We are glad to launch Indya’s first campaign and will look forward to more women relating to our brand’s philosophy.”
Talking about the campaign Humour Me founder & CEO Dhruv Sachdeva said, “Since this was the first national showcase for brand Indya, we as creative partners had the responsibility of sharply defining the brand's position in our audiences’ mind. The ethnic wear category has never quite broken the traditional, occasion-wear based mindset. We purposefully wanted to break this category stereotype during this high decibel festive season, one where every brand will try and drum up an emotion basis traditional storytelling. It was important to us, that this film doesn’t just become another beautiful showcase of our collection but speaks to audiences about how we’re inventing a new category altogether.”
“The insight for the film was simple. Global fashion magazines with their seasonal covers have set the benchmarks for what drives future trends for years now. We wanted to not be boxed into just costumes for festivities, weddings, or cultural occasions, but re-imagine what makes a fashion statement itself. The film breaks both stereotypes of what should make the cover, and how we perceive our cultural context. We just felt, in 2019 it’s about time, the Devil wore a Ghagra”, he adds while talking about the concept of the film.
Along with the film, are stories of these women on a campaign page that sits on the brand’s website. The film will also be showcased across various other digital content platforms. The digital spread is being supported by an OOH cover in metros and mini-metros, and print insertions in major dailies, all being spearhead by media buying agency, OMD India.
The second leg of the campaign will feature stories of six more women achievers, who with this dichotomy are powering their way to living life on their own terms. The third leg will see the brand featuring stories of real women.
