Putting an end to the speculation that they had approached another agency to fund the venture, Dias and Santosh Padhi have now formally announced their joint venture – their own agency called Roots India.
Dias moved out from JWT where he was chief creative officer and Padhi is ex-ECD, Leo Burnett. Dias and Padhi, better known as Aggi and Paddy in the industry, are equal and sole partners in the agency.
The agency will be based out of Mumbai and will deal in all forms of conventional and unconventional media.
Both Aggi and Paddy live and work in Mumbai. Aggi says that adding the word India to the agency’s name is a token of their gratitude to the culture, which gave birth, embraced, and provided a small space for them to grow.
Padhi explained the origins of the name, “Both Aggi and me, started out career in advertising because we were good at writing, creating and visualizing concepts and ideas. However, in our career span, we have worked in various agencies, and not all of them were necessarily creative. So this initiative is a simple honest effort to return to the basics, our roots in the business.”
As of now, the agency will start with 12 people and two accounts: The Times of India and Mumbai Mirror.
Aggi’s has been associated with TOI for four years. TOI was earlier handled by Leo Burnett, when Aggi was with the agency. When, in 2005, he moved from Leo Burnett to JWT, he took the account with him. His association with the TOI brand got India its first Grand Prix, and also the first lion in the Integrated and Titanium category.
When they were at Leo Burnett, both Aggi and Paddy worked on the television commercial (Pakya), which is considered to be a turning point for the TOI brand. They have also worked together on Mumbai Mirror’s launch campaign.
They claim to be in talks with at least five more clients who are expected to come on board in the near future.