Piyush Pandey Wiki, Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Piyush Pandey is an Indian advertising professional and author. He is the Chief Creative Officer Worldwide and Executive Chairman of India of Ogilvy (agency). In 2016, he was honoured with the Padma Shri Award. He is considered the ‘Adman of India.’

Wiki/Biography

Piyush Pandey was born on Saturday, 9 April 1955 (age 68 years; as of 2023) in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. His zodiac sign is Aries. He attended St. Xavier’s School in Jaipur. He holds an MA degree in History from St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. He played cricket in the Ranji Trophy for the Rajasthan state team.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 9″

Hair Colour: Salt & Pepper

Eye Colour: Black

Family

Parents & Siblings

His father worked at a cooperative bank in Rajasthan, and his mother, Bhagwati Pandey, died in December 2010. He has seven sisters including Rama Pandey, Tripati Pandey, and Ila Arun, and a younger brother named Prasoon Pandey, a well-known director of ad films. His sister, Ila Arun (elder), is a famous Indian singer and actress.

Wife & Children

In December 2000, he got married to Nita Joshi, his former colleague at Ogilvy & Mather. Before getting married to each other, they were both previously married. He even attended Nita Joshi’s first marriage.

Career

Before getting into advertising, he also worked as a tea taster.

Advertising Professional (Ogilvy)

In 1982, he joined Ogilvy, a British advertising and marketing agency, as a client-servicing executive in India. His career in advertising began with a Sunlight Detergent print ad as it was the first ad written by him. For the 1988 National Integration campaign, he wrote the patriotic song ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara.’ In 1989, he joined the creative department, where he designed many popular ad campaigns in India including a Pulse Polio ad campaign with the slogan ‘Do Boond Zindagi Ke’ with Amitabh Bachchan, Fevicol ad campaigns, Fevikwik advertisements with the slogan ‘Todo Nahin, Jodo,’ Ponds Ad (2010) with the popular slogan ‘Googly Woogly Woosh,’ Cadbury Dairy Milk ad campaigns with the slogan ‘Kuch Khaas Hai,’ Vodafone ad campaigns with Pug, ZooZoos, and Asian Paints advertisements with the slogan ‘Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hai.’

In 1992, he was promoted to creative director and later to national creative director. In 1994, he became its board member. Under his leadership, Ogilvy India held the top spot for 12 consecutive years in the Agency Reckoner, an independent marketing and advertising survey by The Economic Times and Brand Equity. In 2004, he was appointed as the Executive Chairman India & South Asia for Ogilvy. Over his 40-year career at Ogilvy & Mather, the agency became the largest advertising agency in India. In September 2006, Piyush Pandey was nominated to the Ogilvy Worldwide board. He also mentors creative executives from across the globe at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership. For the 2014 BJP election campaign, he and his team came up with the popular slogan ‘Abki Baar Modi Sarkar’ and ‘Achche Din Aane Wale Hain.’

In 2019, he was appointed as Chief Creative Officer Worldwide of Ogilvy. In September 2023, he was announced to take on a larger advisory and leadership role at Ogilvy India, starting from 1 January 2024.

Author

In 2015, he published his first book ‘Pandeymonium: Piyush Pandey On Advertising.’

In 2022, he launched another book which was titled ‘Open House with Piyush Pandey’ in which he wrote about his work, thoughts, and experiences. He also answered many questions that people asked him regarding advertising over the past decades.

Actor

In 1999, he, along with his brother Prasoon Pandey, wrote the story of the Hindi film ‘Bhopal Express.’ In 2013, he played the role of  Cabinet Secretary of India in the Hindi political action thriller film ‘Madras Cafe.’

Awards, Honours, Achievements

• The Economic Times named him the most influential man in Indian advertising for eight consecutive years.

• The Ad Club of Mumbai voted his commercial for Fevikwik the commercial of the century and his work for Cadbury the campaign of the century in 2000.

• Voted Asia’s Creative Person of the Year at the Media Asia Award in 2002

• The only Indian to win double gold at Cannes, which he received for his Cancer Patients Association anti-smoking campaign

• Received a triple grand prize at the London International Awards

• Received India’s first Silver Pencil at The One Show Award in 2002

• Invited as a jury member at the Clio Awards in 2000

• First jury President from Asia for outdoor and press and film at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2004

• Invited to be a judge on the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival Awards 2007

• Honoured with a lifetime achievement award from the Advertising Agencies Association of India in 2010

• Earned Clio Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012

• Honoured with the Padma Shri Award in 2016

• He and his brother Prasoon Pandey won the Lions Lifetime Achievement Award of St. Mark at the Cannes Advertising Festival in France in June 2018.

  Piyush Pandey with Prasoon Pandey after winning the Lions Lifetime Achievement Award of St. Mark in 2018

Facts/Trivia

• Piyush Pandey likes to collect Ganesha idols.

  Piyush Pandey with his collection of Ganesha idols

• In 2016, he gave a TEDx speech about ‘How to narrate an unforgettable story.’ In 2018, he gave another TEDx speech which was on the topic ‘Change and constant are like body and soul.’

  Piyush Pandey during his TEDx speech in 2016

• In an interview, while talking about his annual ritual that he does on every New Year’s Eve, he said,
  

  Every 31st December from 7 to 9, I shut myself off completely and ask what I had done through the year. And that decides whether I sleep well or not. It’s an exercise to determine whether I just travelled and did this and that or some actual work.”