Focusing on Good Work: Varun Shah

00:00:12 Speaker 1: Welcome to Goa Cast, the official podcast of Goa Fest. We're coming to you from right here at the festival, bringing you exclusive interviews with some of media and advertising's best and brightest. We'll be speaking with top executives, creative directors and thought leaders to get their insights on the latest trends, technologies and ideas shaping the industry. 00:00:35 Speaker 2: Welcome to the goa Cast. Congratulations on all the wins yesterday in the Grand Prix. How does it feel to be on top of the world? Excited. It's the first time I'm coming to Goa Fest. By the way, we've not really submitted as a production house for a while. Uh We set up the company about four years ago and we said, OK, we're going to focus on work and figure our way on how we are going to pivot. And I think focusing on good work at some point of time, 00:01:04 Speaker 2: you just stumble upon stuff that you're really excited about and then you're like a B it's good. This is gonna be a cut about the rest, right? So first year, this time we are here with 1 75 very, very excited. We won the Grand Prix. It's been a laborsome process trying to make that film because 00:01:24 Speaker 2: there are many first in that film, right? And uh I think it's, it's a gratification for everyone who's worked on it, right? Because all of that sometimes you do projects in advertising, which I can, right? Great brand could deliver. That's it. Right? And then you come upon projects where no one figured it out and you like everyone's a partner on it, the clients, a partner, the agency is a partner, the production house is a partner. And then you think technology could be, could be then now how does that happen? Right. 00:01:55 Speaker 2: And then every other day I was saying story and then you're like, right? And then you've moved on and you finished it and you're like, I think it's great gratification, right? So, so that's the creative gratification you're talking about and perfect way to get into our main topic, which is creativity. So you work in, let's say one of the majorly visible aspects of advertising and communication. 00:02:17 Speaker 2: How do you gauge creativity? See where from my point of view? Right? It's the easiest really simple because I my job essentially as a producer is to get relevant creative partners to pull off a vision together. It's really simple. 00:02:34 Speaker 2: And then I'm like, OK, when we've looked at the script, we've spoken to the creative, I exactly not to get these other directors that I need to pull together or these are the partners that I need to pull together to do it. And this is the option that I have on the table. So for me, creativity is delivering a vision that you agreed to in the beginning and doing better of that vision, right? And if you've managed to do that, then you've achieved what you've set out to do, 00:03:01 Speaker 2: given what you do also has to have a business impact. Sure. How often does that curb the creativity? I think it's the nature of the business more than anything else, right? I don't think that we can only focus on creative output or business impact or one thing, right? I just came off a master class downstairs and we were trying to say that 00:03:26 Speaker 2: the beauty about production is collaboration. So the moment you start looking at various things in isolation, it is very difficult to arrive at them. So the point is that when you start looking at it as multipliers or assistant to each other, then you deliver a unified vision across categories. Uh So of course, we do tactical advertising, it's needed, right? Ultimately, advertising is about driving sales uh following a Strat and doing that. 00:03:55 Speaker 2: And now if we are able to build in creativity, which we are passionate about and we feel that a say could exciting while trying to do that. And I think that's what we all look forward to. Awesome. Now you've worked in different formats. Also, you've, you've made films, award winning films, you've now been in the advertising space for a long time. Where do you find more creative satisfaction? I look at it very, very 00:04:18 Speaker 2: differently. And I think in that sense, I find creativity in the medium of filmmaking or the craft of filmmaking, irrespective of the medium. And I think advertising enables me. You've known me a while, right? So I'm, I'm a super excited hyper person. I like to do different things. There's almost like a child, like excitement in me. Right? And 00:04:41 Speaker 2: to keep driving that excitement, like a child, right? Every time to go and then you're excited. Ah Exactly. So advertising does that I've been fortunate that there is a creative streak in me. I've been to film school. Uh I've found partnerships with directors. So there's there's that inclination to protect the creative output of what I'm doing 00:05:04 Speaker 2: and I think that helps me thrive, right? So, so then even when there's a simple film and we are saying, right. Right. We do a lot of mundane stuff as well. But then you're like trying to add that little cherry on the cake. And I've been talking about this a lot last week. I said, OK, yeah, for me to be to like a project or be passionate about a project or be excited about something I'm doing. 00:05:32 Speaker 2: I need one element in that entire thing to say this is why I am excited about it, right? That cherry on the cake is enough cherry on the cake, right? And then I'll start and then I'll become excited about everything else automatically. It's just a trigger that you're looking for. Exactly. 00:05:51 Speaker 2: Idea filmmaker. I'm associating with the process technology. So now that you mention technology, how do you see that affecting things going forward? And I'm not just talking about, you know, a I easing workflows. I'm really fortunate that way 00:06:09 Speaker 2: that I've moved away from um only running a production house, right? And I I've been saying this again at prodigious for the while, what's the vision that we are creating at pubs and at prodigious, right? The vision is very, very clear it is that we are creating a production agency. We are no longer creating a production house. I've, I've moved way past that, right? 00:06:32 Speaker 2: And we are saying that, OK, now we are gonna, we are pioneers in this and how are we going to transform the way we are going to deliver for the platform world today? OK. And at the scale of operation of the platform world, at the efficiency and the time cost and the financial cost of what the platform world requires, right? And all of this is going to be backed by technology even globally as a mandate uh in prodigious and publicist group 00:07:00 Speaker 2: adoption of technology at any part of it as an enabler. We are very, very clear on it, right? We're probably the fastest growing group adopting technology in every part of the system. I have technology officers who are only there to develop products in pub group. We have Marcel as an A I 00:07:20 Speaker 2: platform within uh publicist group that's triggering everything that's happening in the group. So it's been a part of the group's DNA and therefore it's a more natural transition for you. Yeah, it's, it's ethos, right? I think that every civilization, there's a turning point and technology is a turning point in different ways at different points of time. And again, we are in a technology evolution 00:07:45 Speaker 2: and I think we need to ride that wave rather than run away from it. Right. And again, going back to stuff, I tell my team, right. I've been saying, Kr don't shy away from what's happening, shying away from what's happening suddenly, what's happening is going to become greater than what you, what you 00:08:04 Speaker 2: able to deliver, find ways to embrace it. Yeah, the best way to control technology is to learn it fair. That's well put now for incoming creatives and incoming people into the business. So they'll probably know the craft. There'll be a lot of people who are trained similarly. What's the differentiating X factor that they should develop? 00:08:24 Speaker 2: This will sound like an answer that most people won't say. But for me, it's very important of the kind of person you are, right? Have human insight, uh have human relationships, have human connections. And I think that's way more relevant than everything else. I can teach, I tell associate producers and production assistants that join me 00:08:47 Speaker 2: than the, the person is what I'm trying to find. Right. Have that fire. That is igniting you to drive ahead. Have that hunger that's going to keep you up, irrespective of what you're doing because only if that is there, then you're going to survive right now because the industries only become way more challenging. Right. And, uh, 00:09:09 Speaker 2: it was great but you had way more time, true time nearby and you still need to keep the creativity up, less time, more demanding. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Awesome. You said your first go. How's it been so far? Great, exciting. I'm still trying to figure my way through it. The easiest way to have done it is figure everywhere where someone in the group is talking and say, OK, those are the places I'm going to go to, 00:09:32 Speaker 2: but really, really excited about awards night. Uh We have a bunch of work that's coming up and we've won across the world over the last couple of months. We won at Cleo. We won at 11 show. We also did really well at Fe and a Fest. So it's great, right? You work with good people. You create good work. Uh It keeps you up. It's exciting. Awesome. So, thank you so much. 00:09:53 Speaker 2: What an absolute pleasure talking to you and hopefully we'll celebrate more wins later tonight over drinks. Thank you so much. Thanks. 00:10:00 Speaker 1: Thanks. For tuning into this episode of goa cast. We hope you enjoyed listening to some of the best and brightest minds from Indian advertising. For more episodes, follow the podcast on Bing Spot, Spotify, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.