Ogilvy India pays a heartfelt tribute to Piyush Pandey — The man who defined Indian advertising for four decades
Written in Ogilvy’s signature tone — heartfelt, human, and quietly humorous — the piece remembers the adman not through his achievements, but through the things that mattered most to him: people, laughter, language, and love.
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Few tributes capture the soul of a person as honestly as this one. Following the passing of Piyush Pandey, Ogilvy India released what they called “The most difficult ad of our lives.”
Written in Ogilvy’s signature tone — heartfelt, human, and quietly humorous — the piece remembers the adman not through his achievements, but through the things that mattered most to him: people, laughter, language, and love.
Below is the full text of Ogilvy’s tribute, exactly as published.
The most difficult ad of our lives.
How do you talk about Piyush Pandey in one page? It’s like trying to capture the sun in a sewing box.
So, instead of describing his entire life and singing his praises, we will write as Piyush taught us to – keep it simple and say only what matters.
What mattered to Piyush?
Waking up early and writing.
Waking up his team and his production partners the minute he had an idea.
Looking into his team’s eyes before walking into a meeting, to say, “Front foot pe khelo.” (Play on the front foot.)
Stepping out of a meeting and always taking a minute to say, “Well played, partner.”
Bringing cricket into all the wisdom he imparted. Even if you didn’t love cricket, you love the man so much, you make the effort to pick up his references.
Love brings us to family. Family mattered to Piyush. While universities are launching studies on work-life balance, this man wanted to be there 100% for his work, and 100% for his family. A math only Piyush could pull off.
Laughter was another one of his great loves. Once he thought of a joke, he had to say it. Even if it was in a client meeting. Even if he was meeting that client for the first time. It was a combination of his genius mind and his child-like heart that made his clients fall in love with him for life.
The client’s business meant a lot to Piyush and that’s why when he said, “Trust me”, clients trusted him. When he said, “Give my team a day more”, the clients gave us a day more. When he said, “Yeh badiya banega”, (This will be great), there was no question of questioning it.
Ogilvy was his second family. Come to think of it, on some days, it might even have been his first. Every storm we faced, Piyush was standing in front of us. Like a shield? No. Shields can be cracked. He stood in front of us like a dad.
He scolded us like a dad too. A few hours later he would call with a joke. His way of saying, I scold you, but I love you.
Relationships mattered to him. He saw the human in all the people in his life. There were days when you were sitting with him in his home, and he would say, “You will have to wait for tea, because my help has gone to play volleyball.” He would share ad films with his staff and ask them if they liked it. This was his research. No modules. No big or small data. Just one human to another. You must know at this point that his staff felt comfortable to say ‘no’ if they didn’t like it.
Piyush’s creativity was for every person. The common person was special to him. If his work won an award but his neighbours didn’t like it, he wouldn’t care for such an award. ‘People must love it first’, he believed.
India mattered to him, and this showed up in many ways. In his work for sure, but also in his passion for Indian food. Aloo, dal, chole, roti, chawal, and he was a happy man in any corner of the world.
We cannot talk about this man and not talk about his moustache. His moustache entered rooms before he did. When he was in deep thought, his fingers automatically caressed his moustache. A few seconds later, he would say, “Ek kaam karte hain…” (Do this…). What would follow would be an ingenious solution to a twisted brief or an office issue.
In June 2018, he was the first Asian to win the Lion of St Mark at Cannes Lions, along with his brother, Prasoon Pandey. It was a very important day because it was one of the very few days, Piyush was not wearing his simple shirt! He was dressed in a very formal attire. This must have taken some real convincing because Piyush loved his shirts. He wore them everywhere.
Indian languages and Hindi in particular, were very dear to him. After all, he rose from the ‘language department’ and won over the world. If he read this, he would be likely to say, “Isko Hindi mein bhi likho. Aur achcha hoga.” (Write this in Hindi too. It will be even better.)
Ideas. Laughter. Songs. Writing. Family. Team. Moustache. Hindi. People. Ogilvy.
This is how we want to remember him. Through things that mattered to him.
We hope the heavens are ready for the force that is Piyush Pandey. He will walk in and lead with a joke.
1955 – 2025
The Ogilvy family stands with Piyush’s entire family in this time of grief.
Ogilvy
