"...for everything else there is MasterCard"-Indian ad man in 'Big Apple'.
A bite of the big apple: An Indian ad man in the US
New York
8 AUGUST
BEING among the few Indians in US advertising, Kerala-born Suresh Nair admits to feeling a little ?weird?.
The Director of Strategic Planning at McCann-Erickson counts only one other South Asian at the 600-member New York office of his firm and muses, ?In India, advertising is a very attractive industry for young professionals. But the Indians coming over these days are all in computer science,? he says.
But when Nair came to the US from Thiruvananthapuram some 18 years ago, he never expected to enter advertising either, let alone become a major force behind his firm?s acquisition of its biggest accounts, including Sprint Corp, Gateway and Lowe?s Co. Under him, McCann has reeled in $410m in new billings in the past six months alone.
One of his recent and most successful campaigns was the MasterCard 'Priceless' ads, with the ubiquitous tagline ?There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard.? The campaign has done wonders for MasterCard, where, Nair says, employee morale is up. It's brought Nair and McCann accolades too. Recently the 'Priceless' series garnered an 'Effie', the industry equivalent of an Oscar.
After graduating in 1985 from the University of Cincinnati with an MBA and plans to pursue his Ph.D., Nair entered advertising at the behest of a friend, practically on a lark. ?My friend told me, 'You've been in school long enough',? recalled Nair, ?and I realised it was true.? ?He forced me to apply to some ads in The New York Times classified section. Within four days, I had an offer,? Nair, who co-manages McCann?s much-vaunted strategic planning team, revealed. Nair started in 1985 at J. Walter Thompson, where he stayed for nine years. After two or three years at Thompson, Nair was promoted to vice- President. Eventually, he became director of strategic planning and McCann picked him up in 1994.
One could describe Nair's rise to the top as charmed. This is how he felt about his work: ?I'm addicted. There's an incredible amount of deadline pressure, but once you crack a problem, once you get that thrill of finding the solution, there?s nothing better.?
Nair makes his work sound like a perpetual intellectual field day. ?The job forces me to use both parts of my brain, to think holistically about problems. And my work has real, live marketplace applications. You can see the results almost immediately. It?s a great place to be if you want to take destiny by the horns.?
When asked which of his accomplishments he's proudest of, Nair quickly responded, ?Definitely my daughter, if you're looking for a holistic answer.? Nair's daughter Sumithra, eight, and his wife, Deepthi, live in Cresskill, New Jersey. ?The biggest issue for me,? confessed Nair, ?is balancing my family priorities and work priorities. These are precious times, especially for my daughter, and I don?t want to miss any of it.?
The family tries to travel to India once a year to visit Suresh and Deepthi?s parents. Nair, who holds a green card, said he still thinks of going back to India permanently. But moving back, he said, might mean leaving work behind. ?I've never really worked in India, if you don't count working with McCann people there and attending conferences,? he added.
He predicts language would be a barrier ? Nair learned Hindi in his Kerala school, but only as a third language. ?You need an intimate knowledge of Hindi to be in advertising in India,? he said. ?I hope to go back one day, maybe,? said Nair, a little hesitantly. ? It's a question that most Indian immigrants ask themselves.? But for now, he said, he'll stay in New York. ? I'm having much too much fun working here.? ? IANS
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