There are some voices that never really fade, they just linger, like a familiar jingle or a line that makes you smile years later. Piyush Pandey, the man who gave Indian advertising that voice, passed away on Thursday. For over four decades, he has shaped how India saw itself, not through glossy billboards, but through stories that felt like home.
From his booming laughter to that unmistakable moustache, Pandey has carried the spirit of Indian advertising on his shoulders. His work has spoken the language of ordinary people, celebrating the quirks, emotions, and moments that made India beautifully human.
The man who made ads sound like us
When Pandey joined Ogilvy in 1982, advertising in India had looked very different, mostly polished, English-speaking, and distant. But he has changed all that. With campaigns like Asian Paints’ “Har Khushi Mein Rang Laaye”, Cadbury’s “Kuch Khaas Hai”, Fevicol’s timeless humor, and Hutch’s pug story, he has turned ads into moments that became part of India’s collective memory.
He has brought Hindi and everyday idioms into the mainstream, making advertising sound like the people it was speaking to. “He changed not just the language of Indian advertising,” said a longtime colleague, as per reports. “He changed its grammar.”
A leader who believed in teams, not titles
Despite his fame, Pandey has stayed grounded, always calling himself part of a team rather than the star of it. A cricket lover at heart, he once said, “A Brian Lara can’t win for the West Indies alone. Then who am I?”
Under his leadership, Ogilvy India has become one of the most awarded agencies in the world, a home for creative talent that grew under his guidance. In 2018, Pandey and his brother, filmmaker Prasoon Pandey, received the Lion of St. Mark at Cannes Lions, the highest creative honor in the world, the first Asians ever to do so.
He made us feel before he made us think
For Pandey, advertising has always been about heart first, craft later. He believed that the best work comes from honesty and emotion, not from trying to impress. “Somewhere, you need to touch the hearts,” he once said. “No audience is going to see your work and say, ‘How did they do it?’ They will say, ‘I love it.’”
His ads have captured that exact feeling, not just selling products, but telling stories that made people pause, smile, or even tear up a little.
The legacy lives on, in every line that feels real
Even as the world of advertising has evolved, Pandey’s touch has remained timeless. He has crafted political slogans like “Ab ki baar, Modi sarkar,” but his true legacy has lived in the generations of storytellers he inspired to find meaning in simplicity.
When he stepped down as Executive Chairman of Ogilvy India in 2023 to take on an advisory role, it felt like the quiet close of a beautiful innings, the kind he would have described in cricket terms, with a smile.
Pandey is survived by his family, colleagues, and countless creatives who have found their voice because of him. His work has continued to define not just advertising, but the idea of India itself, colorful, emotional, and deeply human.
He once said that the best ideas come “from the street, from life, from listening.” In doing just that, he has given India not just great ads, but a language of emotion, one that will echo for generations.
