Previous career: Doorto-door salesman Salary in first job: Rs 1,500 a month Age at career switch: 24 years Reason for quitting: Not happy with work profile Current job profile: As co-founder of Oxygen, responsible for admin and creative departments Present income: Rs 3 lakh a month Transferable skills: Client management Career outlook: “Go with your belief” |
To a door-to-door salesman, setting up an advertising agency might seem like the stuff of dreams. But, as Tarun Das says, it’s simply a matter of hard work and perseverance. A mathematics graduate, Das started out wanting to be a systems analyst and even signed up for a course with NIIT in 1987. “It was a hot new career option,” he says.
Classes were held in the evening, so Das decided to take up a job to help contribute to his family’s finances. Being a graduate, he knew he would have limited options in the job market. His first job was peddling discount cards, for which he was paid Rs 1,500 a month. Although he hated the job, Das stuck on till he completed his computer course.
However, at the end of the 18-month course, Das realised that a future as a programmer didn’t fascinate him. He knew that to make money and get job satisfaction, he would have to continue working in the marketing field. “I wanted to leverage my marketing experience for a better job,” he says.
A friend suggested joining an advertising agency and Das joined Online Business Communications, a fiveyear-old advertising company that had some good campaigns and clients. Even though his salary remained unchanged, Das says, “The clients were fixed and so were the projects. It seemed more workable and interesting.”
Finding a niche
The job exposed him to strategy planning, media management, printing and coordination with the creative team. The learning process excited him as he was exposed to all aspects of management. However, it was working with the creative team that gave him the maximum satisfaction. “I would observe their functioning, participate in the brainstorming sessions and really enjoyed it,” he says. After working for a year, Das got an opportunity to make a career shift and moved into the creative department as a copywriter.
“It hardly felt like a transition as it was a gradual move and I was fully aware of what I was getting into. More importantly, I wanted to do the job,” says Das. But passion is not the same as talent, and the company head was not impressed with Das’s creative inputs and asked him to leave. “I was depressed but not de-motivated,” says Das.
He spent the next six months looking for a job. The creative head of his previous company told Das to be more innovative and suggested that he send his application in the form of direct mailers. The move worked and in 1992 Leo Burnett offered him a job of a copywriter at Rs 3,500 a month.
At Leo Burnett, Das got a chance to work on big accounts and rose to the rank of creative supervisor in four years. “The maximum learning happened in this job as I worked with some very talented creative heads,” says Das. He did face some obstacles as he had poor presentation skills. However, he adds, “Prior experience in client servicing came in handy.”
The right moves
Das’s tips for a career shift • Experiment with your career in the early stages • Leverage your transferable skills in the new career • Try temping or work part-time before making the final switch |
By 1996, Das had met and teamed up with art director Aniruddha Mukherjee. “In my field of work it is very important to find a designer you are compatible with and who can execute your thought processes,” he says.
The same year, Das and Mukherjee also decided to set out on their own. “We were keen on retaining our creative freedom,” says Das. There was no shortage of work. However, the duo was not able to coordinate with agencies and follow up on bills. To save themselves from administrative hassles, they joined ImageAds, where they created some award-winning advertisements.
By 1997, they wanted a larger pond to swim in, and so joined Rediffusion as associate creative directors. It was here that Das managed to combine his basic knowledge of marketing with his creative talent, as he had to create advertisements as well as be responsible for deliveries, client relationship, training and management of the team.
However, he was stuck with print campaigns and wanted to branch out into films. In 2000, Das and Mukherjee moved to McCann Ericsson as creative directors. “It was a dream designation,” says Das.
Starting small
By 2002, the duo had met Sharad Phalgun, a marketing executive, and the three of them decided to strike out on their own. The trio planned to reduce risks by exploring the market first. They made a list of probable clients and did the ground work while retaining their jobs. They quit only when they had their first client, and Oxygen, a boutique advertising agency focused on branding solutions, was set up formally in 2003.
They hired three more people and took home minimum salaries. It was a no-fuss beginning as they worked out of Phalgun’s home. “Our spouses fully supported us,” says Das. In 2004, they hired a marketing executive, who came in with four accounts. With a total of eight clients, they had ample money to manage the salaries and rent.
Das has seen his work profile move from the creative section to management. But as co-founder and CEO of Oxygen, he is thoroughly enjoying the new mix. “There’s a satisfaction that we are building something, supporting our employees and their families. The responsibility was and is huge,” he says.
