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12th Portfolio Night - a rendezvous with creative stars, present and future

Some of the young participants came for a networking opportunity, some to get hired – and some merely to meet the 'Creative Gods'. Lowe Lintas, as the host agency in India for the second time, made it a great evening for the creative fraternity

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12th Portfolio Night - a rendezvous with creative stars, present and future

12th Portfolio Night - a rendezvous with creative stars, present and future

Some of the young participants came for a networking opportunity, some to get hired – and some merely to meet the 'Creative Gods'. Lowe Lintas, as the host agency in India for the second time, made it a great evening for the creative fraternity

Sarmistha Neogy | Mumbai | May 22, 2014

pn-mumbai-2014-2

26 National Creative Directors, 75 participants, 15 minutes each and one guy comes out as the winner. Yes, this is what happened at the 12th Portfolio Night – informally known as the 'speed dating of the advertising world' – in Mumbai last evening. The event was simultaneously hosted in 20 cities across the world. The 12th edition of Portfolio Night also brings back Lowe Lintas & Partners as the hosting agency in India for the second time, the last time being 2010.

BestMediaInfo spoke to a few of the creative participants and the galaxy of creative directors to understand the reason behind the craze for this platform, other than the fact that the best portfolio of the night gets recognised as the 'All Star' and gets to fly off to New York to participate in a weeklong challenge on a specific brief. Every participant had his or her own reason to be present at the event.

Participants Speak

Shraddha, a 2nd year English Literature student from Mumbai's Fergusson College, said, “The reason why I am here today is because I am looking for at least an internship, and given a chance, I would want to do it from either Lintas or JWT. So, basically, I am looking at this platform as a medium to enter the advertising world.”

Archana Singh, who is working as a Copywriter in an agency in Mumbai, said, “I have come to Portfolio Night to get genuine feedback of my work and to meet the top honchos of the advertising fraternity.”

Kaustubh, a Copywriter at Law & Kenneth, echoed a similar thought saying, “I have just started my advertising career, and this is a big platform for youngsters like us for mainly two reasons: one, we can't go and meet these big Creative Directors in our daily lives and, second, it helps us to grow in the market as we get a sense of where we stand.”

“I don't actually know why I am here, as I am not looking for a job or an internship today, but I actually want to see what these Creative Directors, feel about my portfolio. If they feel that I fit into the industry, then nothing like that,” said Deepanjali, a student from Germany.

When we asked Chaityana Joshi, the 2013 'All Star' winner working with FCB Ulka, to give some advice to these year's participants, he was initially shy but then said, “I am not that big to be giving advice. I feel that Portfolio Night is a big platform for all those confused bunch of creative guys as they get a clear direction from the Creative Directors on how to go ahead from here on.”

Creative Directors' View

Parixit Bhattacharya Parixit Bhattacharya

Parixit Bhattacharya, Chief Creative Officer, TBWA India, was all praise for PN. He said, “I found quite a few interesting people with really good work and I feel with proper mentoring, they will grow. Portfolio Night is an industry benchmark as far as attracting fresh talent is concerned. It offers lots of opportunity, but I think it should also become online so that those creative directors who can't make it, can still get to judge the portfolios. Fifteen minutes is actually not enough to identify the creativity in a person, so a preliminary online screening preceding this exercise would be helpful in the sense that a chosen few get more time with every Creative Director. That will actually help identify great talent.”

Shriram Iyer Shriram Iyer

Shriram Iyer, Executive Creative Director, Lowe Lintas & Partners, expressing concern over the fate of the advertising industry, said, “This is actually becoming a shrinking industry and events like Portfolio Night should be held twice a year to churn out more talent.”

The Creative Directors were extremely delighted to judge the portfolios of these bright creative participants. Amer Jaleel, National Creative Director, Lowe Lintas & Partners, commented, “I feel the talent this year is superb! I came here without any expectation tonight, and after the first session, I can say that my night is made.”

Josy Paul Josy Paul

“I met two great people in the first half and I am really amazed with their ideas. To tell you the truth, I came here with really no expectation because last year, I didn't find any exceptionally creative people. I feel that Portfolio Night is a great platform where both the agency and the participant is making a joint effort. But then, you can have your own platform, who says that only groups have the right to make platforms?” commented Josy Paul, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India.

It was a long night for everybody, but at the end of it all, it was a satisfying one for all – the starry-eyed participants and the creative gurus who took time out to study their portfolios.

pn-mumbai-2014-1 (Left) Amer Jaleel and Arun Iyer (Right)

pn-mumbai-2014-4 Arun Iyer in conversation with a participant

pn-mumbai-2014-3 Sriram Iyer in conversation with a participant

Sarmistha@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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