On Sunday, November 2, 2025, the Ogilvy family came together to pay tribute to Piyush Pandey, a legend whose creativity has shaped the very fabric of Indian advertising. Friends, colleagues, and industry veterans gathered to celebrate his genius, humour, and the visionary ideas that forever changed how brands speak to people.
"He was my big brother. He was also my father. He chose which role to play depending on how much he wanted to scold me. But through all this, he was also my best buddy, my craziest buddy. We did a hell of a lot of work together." said filmmaker and ad veteran Prasoon Pandey remembering his brother Piyush Pandey.
Speaking about his experience of working with Piyush he said, "People often ask me what it was like working with Piyush. Well, we met for a meal every third or fourth day, apart from the seven or eight phone calls we exchanged daily. But none of those calls were about work, they were always about some mad joke that had struck him or a wicked prank he wanted me to pull on a family member or a close friend. At heart, he was always a mischievous school kid, and we laughed endlessly."
Talking about the importance of laughter, Prasoon recalled, "Once two of us were on a boat to my place in Alibaug, laughing so hysterically that an elderly Parsi gentleman finally came over and scolded us for being too loud. But that was how we knew a crazy idea had clicked — the laughter was always a sign that something brilliant had just been born."
"When my family saw the two of us shut in a room, they assumed we were deep in work. In truth, Piyush would be writing outrageous lyrics, asking me to phrase them for refined musical forms like Thumri or Ghazal. If Shankar were here, he’d remember the madness. My mother used to shake her head and say, 'You both are crazy.' But Piyush loved the challenge of turning something bizarre into something beautiful, that’s what thrilled him."
Speaking about his brother's genius he said,"I’ve worked with many creative geniuses across agencies, but Piyush was Piyush. He never over-described an idea. He’d just hand me three or four words and say, 'Go do it. Bring it.' That was his way, simple, direct, and soulful. I remember one Saturday, we were standing on his balcony, beers in hand. Between laughs, he suddenly said, 'Think about this — if one chicken eats seeds from a Fevicol box, imagine how strong its egg must be.' Then he burst out laughing, only to stop mid-laugh and say, 'Write that down.'"
He remebered how ideas just popped up in Piyush's mind. "What I envied most was how fast his mind worked. Once, during an Ogilvy brainstorming session, we’d been struggling all Sunday to crack an idea for Fevikwik. Around 2 p.m., he walked in and said, 'What’s going on? Let’s grab a beer.' We said, 'No, we have to crack Fevikwik.' He paused, thought for a second, and said, 'A man takes a stick, puts a drop of Fevikwik, dips it in water, and the fish comes out.' We were stunned, that was the idea we’d been chasing all day. He just grinned and said, 'Isn’t it great? Now let’s have that beer'.
"That was Piyush he gave you very little, but that little was the soul of the idea. Once he called me and said, “I’ve got a great idea — the big Indian joint family brought to you by Fevicol.” I said, 'Brilliant!' He replied, 'What brilliant, brilliant? Write it down'."
He further added that just two and a half months ago, Piyush called again with three or four magical words for a commercial. "I told him I needed time to work around it. He said, 'Fine, I’ll call you in two hours.' I said, 'No, I need a few days.' He laughed and said, 'Okay, take your time.' The next morning, I found out he was at the dentist, just a hundred meters from my place. I called and said, 'Come over for coffee.' When he arrived, I told Lalitha, our house help, 'Get two coffees.' He turned to her and said, 'No, Lalitha, get only one. I’ll drink — he has to write.'
Prasoon remembered Piyush as his my most lovable, most endearing bully. "He was my hero every lived moment of my life. And yet when I see the response from you all, the whole country, the emotion, the love, affection, and respect for him, I am suddenly overwhelmed. I’m asking myself — was my love enough?"
