Navin Kansal: A Passionate Creative Director Driving Needed Innovation
Navin Kansal
Chief Creative Officer
Speaking of which, Navin Kansal, Chief Creative Officer at 21N78E Creative Labs, is an award-winning Creative Director with over 24 years of expertise in digital, traditional advertising, and television writing. Navin's digital skills, paired with a keen understanding of brands, has enabled him to develop solutions for a diverse range of businesses across multiple sectors. He has always been an excellent motivator and presenter of ideas to clients.
In an exclusive interview with CEO Insights Magazine, Navin Kansal walks us through his personal career and unique traits of the company:
Throw some light on your professional background and experiences. What drives you today as a Creative Director?
Before venturing into the realm of advertising, I dabbled in documentaries and writing for television. Prior to joining 21N78E Creative Labs, I looked after the national creative function at Indigo Consulting (part of the Publicis Groupe). I have also shepherded the creative function at Grey Digital India and Ogilvy One Worldwide.
Advertising has always been about the trading of ideas that can solve business problems, and it always will be. While it has become increasingly tougher in today’s day and age with so much content vying for the same share of mind, it really depends on how unique and relevant the idea is, so that it cuts
through with the audience and makes them take notice. That’ what drives me.
Define 21N78E Creative Labs as an organization. What makes the company unique from the other competitors?
We are a digital first through the-line agency that provides full-service ecosystem solutions. It is a model that assists brands in obtaining goal-oriented, differentiated, and measurable results. We also have our own products that cater to a variety of customer segments. We also take pride in ensuring that being results-oriented does not come at the expense of being people-oriented.
Tell us about the major factors you consider while suggesting your creative digital solution to the clients?
It is not only about right brained thinking, but also about thinking through. Often, it's easy to get carried away with an idea without giving adequate thought to its implementation. In some cases, the execution tself becomes the idea. But, in the end, we must always examine the uniqueness and relevance of the creative solution in relation to the ecosystem; the brand and the category in which it works, the customer and the culture that defines her world using a distinct voice, identity, and messaging.
Could you elaborate about the latest technologies adopted by the company to create immense value?
One of the most effective solutions we've created in-house is the No Alt Tab workflow management system. As the name implies, it's a dashboard that eliminates the need for employees to toggle several windows and serves as the primary location for briefs, ideas, and comments, with clear versioning to minimize back and forth. The dashboard also enables direct access to clients, allowing for less time spent on follow-ups and more time spent improving communica
Define 21N78E Creative Labs as an organization. What makes the company unique from the other competitors?
We are a digital first through the-line agency that provides full-service ecosystem solutions. It is a model that assists brands in obtaining goal-oriented, differentiated, and measurable results. We also have our own products that cater to a variety of customer segments. We also take pride in ensuring that being results-oriented does not come at the expense of being people-oriented.
The quest to remain in the forefront of leveraging the power of ideas to solve business problems keeps me going
Tell us about the major factors you consider while suggesting your creative digital solution to the clients?
It is not only about right brained thinking, but also about thinking through. Often, it's easy to get carried away with an idea without giving adequate thought to its implementation. In some cases, the execution tself becomes the idea. But, in the end, we must always examine the uniqueness and relevance of the creative solution in relation to the ecosystem; the brand and the category in which it works, the customer and the culture that defines her world using a distinct voice, identity, and messaging.
Could you elaborate about the latest technologies adopted by the company to create immense value?
One of the most effective solutions we've created in-house is the No Alt Tab workflow management system. As the name implies, it's a dashboard that eliminates the need for employees to toggle several windows and serves as the primary location for briefs, ideas, and comments, with clear versioning to minimize back and forth. The dashboard also enables direct access to clients, allowing for less time spent on follow-ups and more time spent improving communica
tions in an agile setting. We've also created Transgraphix, a platform that allows for the translation of text, image, audio and video including over 22 languages, thereby creating flexibility to adapt comms into print, outdoor, web and mobile.
What are the future market opportunities that you look forward to investing your time to reach your goals?
Due to the proliferation of media vehicles and points of consumption, the landscape has become much more fragmented. Consumer journeys are no longer linear, and they will become even more unpredictable in the future. The challenge lies in identifying and addressing the consumer's unmet requirements in the most persuasive way possible. That is what I'm obsessed with. It's not always about latching on to the latest shiny new toy unless you can play with it enough to generate disproportionate buzz that catches the consumer's attention.
Based on your professional experiences so far what would be your advice to the upcoming entrepreneurs?
It would be patronizing of me to offer sage wisdom to entrepreneurs. I am still a novice. Those in the game know what it takes. And I am sure like me, they are at it, and even more so.
Navin Kansal, CCO, 21N78E Creative Labs
Navin, award winning Creative Director with over 20 years of experience, dominated by digital along with traditional advertising and writing for television. To help market brands in the digital world, his aim is to remain in the forefront of leveraging the power of storytelling to solve business problems and creating products that make a positive difference.
Awards and Recognitions:
Recipient at Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Spikes, Effies, Kyoorius, Abbys, International ECHO Awards among others. Have served on the jury for various award shows.
Hobbies:Spending time with my cocker spaniel and being a sneakerhead
Favourite Cuisine:Comfort food always
Favourite Book:Recently, The Almanac of Naval Ravikant and regularly, books related to behavioral economics
Favourite Travel Destination:
Always a beach, Maldives being one of them
What are the future market opportunities that you look forward to investing your time to reach your goals?
Due to the proliferation of media vehicles and points of consumption, the landscape has become much more fragmented. Consumer journeys are no longer linear, and they will become even more unpredictable in the future. The challenge lies in identifying and addressing the consumer's unmet requirements in the most persuasive way possible. That is what I'm obsessed with. It's not always about latching on to the latest shiny new toy unless you can play with it enough to generate disproportionate buzz that catches the consumer's attention.
Based on your professional experiences so far what would be your advice to the upcoming entrepreneurs?
It would be patronizing of me to offer sage wisdom to entrepreneurs. I am still a novice. Those in the game know what it takes. And I am sure like me, they are at it, and even more so.
Navin Kansal, CCO, 21N78E Creative Labs
Navin, award winning Creative Director with over 20 years of experience, dominated by digital along with traditional advertising and writing for television. To help market brands in the digital world, his aim is to remain in the forefront of leveraging the power of storytelling to solve business problems and creating products that make a positive difference.
Awards and Recognitions:
Recipient at Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Spikes, Effies, Kyoorius, Abbys, International ECHO Awards among others. Have served on the jury for various award shows.
Hobbies:Spending time with my cocker spaniel and being a sneakerhead
Favourite Cuisine:Comfort food always
Favourite Book:Recently, The Almanac of Naval Ravikant and regularly, books related to behavioral economics
Favourite Travel Destination:
Always a beach, Maldives being one of them