Venu Gopal Nair started his career in sales but soon realized that he was more persuasive with the pen behind the scenes. He entered advertising by choice and has never regretted a day in the business.

The smaller the budget, the bigger the challenge. Venu has worked on launching everything from a pair of jeans (Trigger) to bicycles with shock absorbers (Rockshox) to a Malayalam satellite channel (Asianet) to pens (Reynolds Bold).

He has worked with a wide variety of clients and from businesses as ancient as fragrances (Bush Boake Allen) to the broadband Internet (Dishnet DSL). Every client has been an education and every campaign an adventure. Possibly the most renowned success has come with Fairever, a fairness cream pitted against the mighty brand from HLL, Fair & Lovely. In one short year, Fairever rose to become the second largest fairness cream with a 14% market share. That this success was achieved with a fraction of the category leader’s budget was a matter of great satisfaction.

The establishment of Brand Portrait as an agency to be reckoned with has proved to be a source of quiet satisfaction.

A vindication of the belief that agencies need to be accountable to their clients and their craft. This is reflected in the fact that almost all of Brand Portrait’s new businesses have come from referrals by existing clients. Whether it was recruiting thousands for Verizon Data Services India or building the MPINGI brand among Indians in the US, the agency has found the clients it was dreaming about.

Venu believes that advertising is going through a sea change today. The old formulae are not working anymore and clients are demanding results of a much higher order in a much shorter span. The other belief is that agencies get the clients they deserve, not the other way around. If clients have never seen their advertising get results, they have no reason to believe anything that agencies say. They will continue to believe that it is a mystery art practiced by some smooth talking shamans.

On the other hand, when advertising works, clients tend to believe agencies that say less and do more. Trust is a quality that is neither easy to get or to retain.