Book Review : Pandeymonium by Piyush Pandey

This is a book review on Pandeymonium by Piyush Pandey.

The book gives a glimpse into the career of ace advertiser, Piyush Pandey along with his take on the various projects that his firm, Ogilvy and Mather have worked on, their approach to advertising and many more nuances that give us a glimpse of how this company has gone about its business.

If you are as old as me and if “mile sur mera tumhara” strikes a chord, then you will remember so many standout commercials that Piyush has been part of and what surprises me (in a good way) is that any advertisement that I have remembered over the years, Ogilvy seems to have produced it. It seems unbelievable but I can only applaud at their massive accomplishment and most importantly, the joy that some of these advertisements have given us.

Another interesting read was the well known Zoo Zoo commercials that were aired during the 2nd version of the Indian Premier League and what went on to produce those commercials.

If you are looking to get a deep dive into advertising or any theoretical treatise on the subject, then this is not the book for it. But if you read between the lines, there is enough information to let you know that what Piyush is providing are guidelines on how they have done it and its up to you to chart your own course.

The best part of the book in my opinion was not the advertising part but right at the end, when Piyush talked about why he has not started his own advertising firm. He gives 3 reasons that resonated so well with me. You can read about that in the book.

Overall, this is a great read, that took me across the last 30–40 years of popular Indian TV commercials created by Ogilvy and Mather, along with deep insights from Piyush on a 360 degree view on everything that went towards creating them.