Seagull Advertising turns 18

From a garage to a multi-city agency, the Pune-based outfit is a success story crafted by Sameer Desai

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | April 28, 2014

Most startups are born in a garage. Unfortunately most of them don't go too far from there. Seagull Advertising, however, has another story to tell. Born in 1996, the Pune-based Seagull was the culmination of entrepreneur Sameer Desai's lifelong dream to have his own advertising agency. And on Wednesday, April 30, 2014, Seagull turns 18.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, Seagull is inviting all its patrons, friends and supporters to a special Thanks Giving Dinner Nite at Vivanta by Taj – Blue Diamond. The event, titled '18 Forever', underlines Seagull's promise of staying young at heart always and will have well-known illusionist SAC Vasanth entertaining the audience with his incredible magic tricks.

An ambitious entrepreneur, Desai came up the hard way, starting out in Tata Yellow Pages as a salesman. Thanks to his drive and keen sense of business, he rose to the position of Manager in just a year. He recalls his days of walking through Mumbai, knocking on doors of peeved residents, only to get the door slammed in his face most of the time. “Those were tough times, but tough times also make people tough,” says Sameer. “That experience taught me to persevere with my goals, come rain, sun or shine.”

Two years later, Desai decided it was time he pursued his own dream. Thus Seagull Advertising was born in his father's garage, with a capital investment of Rs 10,000 and three young, motivated employees. Desai, his wife Reshma, and his business partner Anup Patil, took their responsibilities seriously, but it was a while before the world took these youngsters seriously. “Companies were skeptical seeing three fresh young faces, but we stubbornly persisted, and finally, got our big break with Pepsi!”

In 1998, Seagull won the distribution and marketing rights for Pepsi in Maharashtra. From there onwards, there was no looking back. Next came Brown Forman, Symbiosis, Pudumjee Hygiene and many more. As their roster of brands grew, Seagull grew too, and moved up from the garage to a 600 sq. ft. office in Pune, with 10 employees. Today, 18 years from its inception, Seagull Advertising has a 4,200 sq. ft. office in Pune, an office in BKC, Mumbai, and employs 50 people.

Sameer Desai

Their biggest learning? “If you can dream it, you can do it,” says Desai. “It's also important to be flexible and adapt to the times. Seagull believes in staying young and relevant. For example, today, the ad industry is becoming more tech and digital oriented. We've long realised this and have specially focused on this area with an integrated digital arm.”

Today, Seagull is one of Pune's leading agencies, and has helped many brands take off, including Amanora, P.N. Gadgil Jewellers, Jaihind, Mont Vert, Maple, Oyster and Pearl and more.

A runway for other startups

Even with their success, Desai has not forgotten what it was like to be a startup.

This prompted him to help other startups transform their dreams into business opportunities by launching a unique initiative called Runway To Success. Runway To Success holds free branding seminars for startups every month and helps entrepreneurs build a robust and creative marketing strategy for their businesses through Seagull's tested proprietary branding tool – Wings for Profit.

Seagull Advertising today offers services including integrated planning and brand management, creative communication and design, social media and digital marketing, traditional and online media planning, and event management.

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