Bobby Sista: A humanitarian adman who was not driven by pitches or paycheques
It may sound cliched, by Bobby lived his life with honesty, integrity, charm and wit. He was a man of great etiquette and humour
MUMBAI: When Shambhu Venkatrao Sista, popularly known as Bobby Sista, returned from the UK where he was studying, to take over the ad agency set up by his father Venkatrao Sista in 1934, after the latter’s demise in an air crash 1951, he had to fight for his place as the board of directors had already nominated someone for the position. Bobby worked as a marketing executive at Sista Sales and Publicity Services and when it was time for him to take over the reins of the agency, it was debt ridden. It was quite the story at the time.
Before he passed away, for some years the agency went by the name AdArts, when Venkatrao teamed up with Vajid Mahmood, an adman who had worked with J Walter Thompson. However, post-Independence, Mahmood moved to Pakistan and Venkatrao went back to heading the agency he started as Sistas.
In that era, advertising greats such as Alyque Padamsee, Subhash Ghoshal and Sylvester da Cunha were making their mark. Bobby had entered the industry at a fertile time. The British had just exited India and all foreign agencies also shut shop and left the Indian shores. The Indians took over the industry and started their own agencies. Advertising became a big enterprise.
In the ’70s, Bobby became one of the towering personalities in advertising and everyone wanted to work with him, including me. I was working at FCB Ulka Advertising at the time; and often bumped into Bobby at various industry meets. We belonged to the same state – Andhra Pradesh – and spoke the same language. That was one of the reasons why we struck an association.
Sistas had produced some noteworthy campaigns. Hotshot camera, manufactured by Mumbai-based Photophone Ltd, was one. It was the first time young India had a camera that was affordable and simple to operate, with an appropriate tagline: ‘aim and shoot’. Cameras such as Yashika and Leica were expensive and thereby out of amateur photographers’ reach. In Hotshot, all one had to do was buy a film and go.
Another well-known ad campaign was that of Servo engine oil, launched by IndianOil, the country’s flagship petroleum refining and marketing company in 1972. It was the first branded motor oil to be sold in the country; the idea was to match an oil to the quality of petrol. Aristocrat suitcases was another, before the fight between VIP and Safari became a mainstay.
Hyderabad-based Ampro Food Products’ biscuits were taken from a regional to a national brand, when Britannia was the only national player.
This was a time when TV had not entered our homes. It was tough to elevate regional brands into national brands. Advertising was a different ballgame. Ad agencies used to take care of marketing, public relations and distribution. Companies would come to an agency with a budget and a product to campaign for. Agencies turned around campaigns even with small budgets. Many such instances became case studies for management students.
Bobby worked with industry leaders such as the Tatas, Godrejs and Birlas. He also earned their respect by giving them the right advice on consumers and budgets. There were no pitches or money discussed.
After Sistas was acquired by Saatchi and Saatchi Ltd, UK, in 1998, all the goodwill Bobby had earned from industrialists helped in propping up his NGO Population First. The United nations Population Fund (UNFPA) recognised the NGO and funded the Ladli projects – which runs campaigns aimed at empowering girls.
Population First was Bobby’s idea to serve the nation and help people. I was roped into the NGO as one of its ambassadors. Bobby’s brief to me was simple – to see how creative ideas could change the behaviour of people.
Way before they made their mark in films, Ashwini Iyer, Nitesh Tiwari and R Balki did campaigns with me on gender sensitivity. We would have many brain-storming sessions among ourselves to erase pre-conceived gender identities that all of us have inherited. Every time I saw a boy in a story, I would tell them to change it to a girl and carry the narrative forward. India government’s family planning campaign which showed a husband, wife, boy and girl, was damaging. We needed to re-imagine that with two girls – that is how the concept of sisterhood could be fostered. Such a shift in the thought process is difficult in a country where a family does not let a second girl child to be born.
It may sound cliched, by Bobby lived his life with honesty, integrity, charm and wit. He was a man of great etiquette and humour. He never demeaned anyone and started an NGO on gender sensitivity way before it was to become a global discussion. That is the right use of power.
(K V Sridhar, AKA Pops, is global creative officer at Nihilent and founder of Hypercollective.)