Rising Star: Hitesh Patel, VP, Marketing and Analytics, Fountainhead MKTG Digital

Born and brought up in Mumbai, Hitesh Patel, VP, Marketing and Analytics, Fountainhead MKTG Digital, has been with the company ever since its inception. Having post graduated from MET, Mumbai, with a specialisation in advertising, Patel was firm that he wanted to get into one of the advertising agencies.

His journey began in April 2009 when he got a call to work with Ogilvy & Mather. At that time, it was a dream company to work with. “When I joined, I was put in the Cadbury team. Again a dream brand to work with. I was working on an offline project with Bournvita’s ‘Lil Champs.’ We did an amazing event with paediatricians in the city for the brand and it was a hit. But I wanted to explore more things on the online space, and not in the offline space,” he went on, “I wanted to explore the digital space and work more on the digital front.”

He continued, “In October 2009, I decided to take a break from what I was doing at the agency. I was at Hungama’s office where I’d given my final round of interview and I got a call from a friend. He said that there is a new start-up called Redigital – started by Thapas Joseph, would you like to join? I didn’t think twice before saying yes to Redigital’s offer as I stood below Hungama’s office. Things materialised quickly after an interview and I joined as a client servicing person. But I was looking into most of the aspects of the company as it was a start-up back then.”

From August 2015, Patel has been Vice-President, Marketing and Analytics at the agency. He is quite content with his eight-year-old stint. He has learnt a lot and is always learning. He has loved being a part of various processes of a campaign and that’s what he has loved about his exposure to the then start-up. Patel is focussed and likes to give attention to detail. Once a job is in hand, he won’t look at the time. “That’s a bad thing and a weakness at times,” he said.

Patel has thoroughly enjoyed working on Aditya Birla Group’s awards function. In 2014, they had done a live augmented reality (AR), which was among the largest live AR experiments back then.

AR work:

http://fhdigital.co/portfolio-items/aditya-birla-awards-2014/

Another favourite piece of work he enjoyed working on was the 2015 awards function for the Aditya Birla Group. He explained, “That year we decided to create a Hologram video commemorating the 20^th death anniversary of Aditya Birla. We wanted the audience to see him and get a message from him, and that’s how we made a hologram video incorporating all the nuances of his voice, body and all of that. We also won an EEMAX award for that work.”

Hologram video:

http://fhdigital.co/portfolio-items/abg-awards-2015/ 

Apart from the Aditya Birla Group, Patel has worked on brands like HCL, Tata Group, Mahindra Rise, IPTL and many more.

IPTL animated video:

http://fhdigital.co/portfolio-items/iptl-animated-video/

Asked which piece of work he would have loved to work on, Patel is a fan of Paytm and the way it has driven the country towards digital. “I would have loved to be a part of working with Paytm. I was in Coorg recently and at a remote place in that city, I found Paytm! That was like boom for me. I’m just in love with their ads, the way they penetrated the market and changed the way people used digital,” he narrated.

On a normal working day, Patel’s day begins at 7 am in the morning. Being a typical Mumbai-ite, he leaves his home by 8:30 am, catches the Mumbai local and comes to office. He likes to read news and catch up with happenings while he is commuting. His day at work begins by 9:15 am and he tries to get done latest by 8 pm.

Patel is a football fan and can play the game at any time. “There is no time to play football. I have a group of friends who call me to play football after office, and I go. It’s fun! We book a turf and get going. Most of the turfs in the city get free by 10:30 pm. A friend generally books it for 11:30 pm, so that all of us wind up work and get there. It is indeed a stress buster. Apart from football I like gaming,” he said.

Patel likes to spend his weekends by either playing football or going to the movies.

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