Piyush Pandey has been named for the CLIO Lifetime Achievement Award but the man isn?t ready to hang his boots yet

Awards and honours are nothing new to Piyush Pandey. The latest feather in his cap, however, is special. The doyen of Indian advertising industry and the executive chairman and creative director, Ogilvy South Asia is all set to receive CLIO Lifetime Acheivement Award 2012, which recognises outstanding creative contributions of an individual who leads the advertising community forward. CLIO’s iconic statue is recognised as one of the world’s most widely coveted symbol of creative accomplishments. Pandey will be the first person from Asia to receive the distinction. He will be presented with the Award at the 53 rd annual CLIO Awards ceremony scheduled on May 15th at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Being a true follower of David Ogilvy?s famous quote, “The psychiatrists say that everybody should have a hobby. The hobby I recommend is advertising,” Piyush doesn?t think of advertising as a job or work, but a fun filled activity. The nation has celebrated the creative journey of this ingenious man right from ?Chal meri Luna? to Cadbury?s ?Kuch khaas hai? to the brilliant Fevicol campaigns. ?Piyush truly embodies the spirit of this award,? says CLIO director, Karl Vontz. ?He not only possesses wonderful creative vision, but he is a great leader who motivates everyone around him with his enthusiasm and passion. We look forward to celebrating his body of work and his ongoing contributions in the field of advertising,? he adds.

The man responsible for putting Indian advertising amongst the global greats always wanted to be in advertising. ?Passion made me choose advertising. I happened to be a tea taster and a cricketer but I met a couple of friends who were in advertising and I used to observe what they were doing, which I found exciting and enjoyable. I gave up my job, came to Bombay and started looking for a job which I got with great difficulty and once I got it I never left it,? says Pandey. Ask him to pick the best of his work and he is quick to explain how he has loved working on Fevicol, Cadbury and Asian Paints for almost three decades. ?Also, I will never forget my first campaign that is ?Chal meri Luna?, he adds.

In 2002, Pandey was named Asia?s creative person of the year by Media Asia. He is the only Indian to have won three Grand Prizes at the London International Advertising Awards. In 2010, he was given the lifetime achievement award by the Advertising Agencies Association of India. Ad Club Mumbai voted Pandey’s commercial for the adhesive brand Fevikwik as the commercial of the 20th century and his work on Cadbury, as the campaign of the 20th century. ?It has been excellent working with people across the globe. After learning a lot from them, I did things in my own way,? says Pandey.

Under his leadership, O&M India weathered the storm of the 2009 worldwide financial crisis for which it was awarded the office of the year by Media magazine. Pandey says, ?We have a fantastic set of people and clients and our business management is strong. We kept our belts tight from the beginning, which helped us in times of recession.?

With CLIO Lifetime Award, Pandey will join the ranks of such previous honorees as iconic director/cinematographer Tony Kaye (2001); Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO co-founder David Abbott (2002); former Ogilvy & Mather and WPP worldwide creative director Neil French (2003); global director media arts, TBWA Worldwide, Lee Clow (2004); BBH co-founder, Sir John Hegarty (2005); R/GA co-founder and chairman, Bob Greenberg (2006) and Wieden + Kennedy co-founder, Dan Wieden (2009), among others.