A career creating advertisements - Narayan Kumar - Episode 5
Note sull'episodio
An MA in Economics, a diploma in advertising, and a first job as a writer at Shilpi Advertising — that's how Narayan Kumar's career in advertising began. It led to campaigns for India's biggest brands, then a creative leap into programming. Hear how on My First Job.
About this episode Narayan Kumar's career in advertising began as a writer at Shilpi Advertising, straight after an MA in Economics and a PG Diploma in Advertising. In this episode of My First Job, he traces the path from that first writing job to campaigns for some of India's largest brands — Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Godrej, and Tata — and the later creative leap into learning programming, alongside rediscovering an old love: the classical guitar.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why an MA in Economics and a PG Diploma in Advertising led Narayan Kumar to his first job as a writer at Shilpi Advertising
- What it took to work on advertising campaigns for some of India's biggest brands
- How enlightened companies like Unilever, P&G, Godrej, and Tata evaluate and approve creative advertising ideas internally
- How to handle difficult clients professionally while protecting the integrity of a creative idea
- Why he later made the creative leap into learning programming, and rediscovered the classical guitar along the way
Chapters
0:00 — Intro: a career creating advertisements
04:32 — Narayan's first job as a writer at Shilpi Advertising
16:44 — The turning point: working on campaigns for the country's largest brands
27:30 — The hard part: navigating difficult clients and internal creative approvals
40:00 — The creative leap into learning programming, and rediscovering the classical guitar
52:12 — Advice for anyone building a career in advertising and creative work
57:18 — Closing thoughts
Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to My First Job for more real career stories from Indian professionals. Next up: Episode 7, Vishwadeep Kuila on building India's best-known pen brand, Reynolds. Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and JioSaavn.