Creativeland Asia - From One Table To 2 Offices, 9 Strategic Alliances, 18 Brands

Sajan Raj Kurup
Chairman and CCO
Creativeland Asia

On completing 3 successful years, the Founder of Creativeland Asia, Sajan Raj Kurup, shares the journey, the vision and the creative culture of his young and dynamic company in a candid conversation with Nirbhay Taneja of BestMediaInfo.com. Read the full interview.

Q) Creativeland Asia has completed 3 years successfully with lot of excellent work to its credit. How has been the journey so far?
It is always great fun to turn a year older. We started on a single table three years ago, and today, we have two offices and 9 alliances across Asia, handling 18 brands. The journey has been exciting and interesting. I have enjoyed every moment. The good days and the not so good ones, equally and impartially. I've seen Creativeland come up from scratch. Every bit of Creativeland has been hand-picked, grown and evolved organically. From our people, to our brands, to our offices, to our policies, our ethics and our culture. We inherited nothing.

Q) Is there any particular approach or style adapted by Creativeland?
We have one simple approach towards work, and that is honesty. Different clients have different needs, and if we address their problems honestly and do things that are relevant to the brands, only then can we make a huge difference.

Q) Who all are to be credited for the success of Creativeland?
I would credit every single person working here. Creativeland was actually founded on the belief that people are our biggest asset. When we started, I was fortunate to have a core team who unquestioningly stood up and walked the distance with me.

The credit also goes to all our client partners who have shown their belief in Creativeland. We started with one brand, Appy Fizz, and now we are proudly associated with 18 brands like Hippo, Café Coffee Day, Frooti, JM Financial, LMN Medimx and Saint Juice among others. Everyone involved in the journey is responsible for Creativeland's success. I give credit to everyone who has backed me and shared the vision I had. Creativeland Asia is a common belief we all share. It is much bigger than any individual associated with it including me.

Q) Recently Creativeland Asia was rated amongst the World's Leading Independent Agencies 2010 by media in London. How does it feel to be the only one from India to feature in that list?
To me, it's fantastic and I'm proud to be a part of that list. Every accolade motivates us to work harder. But, I always tell my people that we must not let success go to our heads.

While I'm really happy and proud that we are the first Indian company to be a part of this list, I think the joy that we get out of doing amazing things for our clients is far greater than the recognition we get on the way. It gives me immense pleasure that we have been able to consistently do fantastic and relevant work for our clients.

Q) What are your expectations from Cannes Lions this year?
Well, Cannes is a great place to learn. Every year I go there to see some fantastic work. And this year I'm fortunate to be in the jury, so I would see the work more closely. I'm going there with a very clear mindset to learn something and if in the process, Creativeland wins something, we will be more than happy. And if we don't, we will continue working even harder.

Q) Your work for Frooti and LMN has been path-breaking. How did it happen?
To deliver path-breaking work consistently, one needs to create a culture of innovation. That is what I have invested in at Creativeland. It hasn't happened overnight.

For example, every product that come from Apple is path-breaking. It doesn't come from short spurts of brilliance, it comes out of a 25-year-old culture of innovation.

Creativeland's culture is geared and designed to come up with fresh, yet relevant ideas. And this is what contributes to the kind of work that comes out of here. Every good idea comes from a very rigorous and disciplined process we follow out here.

Q) Your Kochi office has a creative and design R&D facility called CLA Labs. Tell us something about that.
A lot of our R&D now happens in Kochi. It is pretty much 'work in progress' though. Kochi is a bit slow, primarily because the way market has been moving everywhere. But having said that, the R&D facility is doing well. We are working on a few ideas which are going to be launched in 2011. I can't share the details because of the involvement of intellectual property rights. But in due course, we will keep you updated when something interesting comes out of it.

Q) According to you, what does it take to do great creative work and to become a great creative person?
Good creative work is honest, relevant, clear and fresh. It is not something that is done for the sake of looking good or sounding clever. It really solves a problem, addresses a challenge or grabs an opportunity.

To answer the second part of your question: Every one of us is born creative. People who learn to utilize their creative strength to change something, help someone or create something- become good creative people. And those who stay humble and focused after making a difference to the world through their creativity- become great creative people.

Q) Which have been your favorite ad campaigns in recent days?
Out of Creativeland's work, I really like the LMN campaign because it's quite edgy and different in terms of humour. I love the recent Frooti campaign, as it has been able to make people of every age group laugh. I also am proud of the work on Hippo. The idea that 'hunger is the root cause of all evil' has struck a chord in every person's mind.

Q) Can you please brief our young readers about YoungCreative.org?
It's an initiative that I started as a part of Creativeland. It's a not-for-profit organization to promote young creative people. Not just in advertising but across disciplines. YCO provice amazing exposure for emerging creative people, organizations and students. We have more than 800 registered members. The website is also a successful networking site for young creative people. Almost 200 young people are in touch with each other, every day. They exchange ideas, share thoughts and network with one another. Every day we have more and more young people joining in.

Nirbhay.Taneja@BestMediaInfo.com

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