Book Review 161
Name of the Book: Pandeymonium: Piyush Pandey on Advertising
Author: Piyush Pandey
Publisher: Penguin Random House India
Year: 2016
Category: Non-Fiction (Memoir)
Blurb:
What makes Piyush Pandey an extraordinary advertising man, friend, partner and leader of men? How does he manage to exude childlike enthusiasm and bring such deep commitment to his work?
You’ve seen most of the things that Piyush Pandey has seen in his life. You’ve seen cobblers, carpenters, cricketers, trains, villages, towns and cities. What makes Piyush different is the perspective from which he views the same things you’ve seen, his ability to store all that he sees into some recesses of his brain and then retrieve them at short notice when he needs to. That ability combined with his love, passion and understanding of advertising and of consumers make him the master storyteller that he is.
In Pandeymonium, Piyush talks about his influences, right from his childhood in Jaipur and being a Ranji cricketer, to his philosophy, failures and lessons in advertising in particular and life in general. Lucid, inspiring and un-put-downable, this memoir gives you an inside peek into the mind and creative genius of the man who defines advertising in India.
Review:
I picked up this book with high expectations as Piyush is one of the gurus in the field of advertising and I enjoy knowing about advertisements and their making. Having read many memoirs that influenced me deeply, I was disappointed with this book. The book skims through Piyush’s life, his career with Ogilvy and iconic advertisements created by him. It starts on a good note where he talks about his family but after that, it was confined to Ogilvy and we rarely get to see his personal side. It felt like a PR campaign for Ogilvy at some point. For a person like me who does not enjoy cricket, he has used examples from cricket without getting too technical or boring. If you are even slightly knowledgeable about advertising, this book is not recommended as it is very generic and does not give any specific information on advertising. I expected to be taken through his thought process and the making of his popular advertisements but the book did not cover any of it. The only thing I enjoyed was revisiting some nostalgic advertisements from my childhood. Piyush also mentions a lot of names which meant nothing to me as there was no context. This book is a good start for someone who wants to start taking an interest in advertising or a light read to reminiscence their childhood through nostalgic Indian advertisements. For others, this book can safely be skipped.
Rating: 2.8/5
Amazon Link:
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