Brijesh Jacob, ex-executive creative director, Grey Worldwide, has returned to advertising, after quitting Grey in August 2008. He is now involved in two ventures. As he puts it, “You can’t take advertising out of me!”
In one of these ventures, he has become managing partner of the Bengaluru-based full service agency, White Canvas, which was founded in 2006. He will lead the agency along with its two founders, Deepak Nair and Vinod Moolacherry, both of whom have significant experience in advertising. White Canvas has worked with brands such as Sheaffer, Richard Brinsley, Atmosphere, Hippocampus, William Penn, South Indies, bonSouth and apple-of-my-i.
Jacob’s second venture is a new creation – a specialised digital agency called 22 Feet. Moolacherry and Nair will also partner him in this venture. The name 22 Feet was chosen because this is the length of the small intestine in the human body. “So, our agency will be all about gut feel,” says Jacob. “I strongly believe that research and analysis are support mechanisms. True success is always born out of gut feel.” The intestine is also associated with hunger – in this case a hunger for creativity.
22 Feet and White Canvas will operate independently with their own teams in place, collaborating only when the need arises. White Canvas will expand to have a Mumbai office in addition to its existing Bengaluru operations while 22 Feet, founded in and operating from Mumbai, will also be launched in Bengaluru.
Jacob believes there are few digital agencies in India that have progressed from being mere suppliers to actual solution providers. “Most clients want to delve into digital, but don’t know where to start,” he says. “It requires a different sort of creativity and thinking and we hope to bring those to the table.”
On his dual role, Jacob remarks that while online is a natural progression, he is “too much in love with the conventional advertising space” and he “can’t let go of” it.
Jacob worked with his White Canvas partner, Moolacherry, at Lowe. Moolacherry, creative director, White Canvas, says, “I have known Brijesh for the past eight years or so and his energy and drive to make things happen are unmatched”.
Moolacherry has also worked with Lowe. During his fourteen year career, his clients have included worked on Hindustan Unilever’s detergent businesses, Peter England, Indya.com (the launch campaign) and Britannia.
Nair, business head, White Canvas, has been in advertising for eight years, having worked for Miracle in West Asia and Draft Worldwide in Bengaluru. He has handled brands such as Infosys, Sheraton Hotels and Shell.
Nair is enthusiastic about working with Jacob, “We have an agile agency culture at White Canvas and Brijesh fits in perfectly”. On 22 Feet, he remarks that the digital space is much more than merely converting offline creatives into online as it is a “different animal altogether”.