The Indian AdGeek

Taste Matters! - feat. Kunel Gaur and Sayantan Choudhury (Animal)


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Join us for an in-depth conversation with Kunel Gaur, Founder & Creative Director, and Sayantan Choudhury, Senior Partner & Creative Director at Animal—the independent creative agency that’s redefining Indian advertising with their fearless approach to storytelling and design.
From a design studio in 2013 to one of Adweek’s 100 Fastest Growing Agencies worldwide, Animal has carved out a unique space in India’s creative landscape. This episode dives deep into their journey, creative philosophy, and the cultural insights that drive their award-winning work—including the acclaimed Hyatt “Perfectly Yours” wedding campaign that broke category conventions
In this episode:
•  Their journey into advertising and how childhood dreams of space shaped visual obsessions
•  The market gap and cultural insight that fuelled Animal’s founding vision in 2013, and how it’s evolved into products like Veu and Deck
•  Balancing creative independence with commercial growth while nurturing curiosity in the next generation of talent
•  The storytelling alchemy behind the acclaimed Hyatt wedding film and weaving India’s diverse cultural narratives into global briefs
•  Their “creative spark” process—from brand brief to breakthrough idea
•  Measuring the business impact of meaning-driven, culture-driving work for ROI-focused CFOs and CMOs
•  Winning pitches in a crowded marketplace: what gives Animal the edge
•  The rise of immediacy and tech-enabled briefs—from NFTs to AI—and where they draw the line on automation
•  Looking ahead: q-commerce, gaming, new-media opportunities, and how consumer shifts will reshape agency models
•  Rituals and routines that sustain them through client firefights and people-first leadership
•  Advice for independent agencies scaling up and the next generation of Indian ad geeks
And stick around to find out: Why do Sayantan and Kunel love pitching to junior executives during client meetings?
Tune in for a masterclass on forging lasting connections between culture, creativity, and business impact.
Kunel Gaur - ⁠@kunelgaur⁠
Animal - ⁠@weareanimalco⁠
Vishal Mehra - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@vis⁠hal1mehra⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
...more
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The Indian AdGeekBy Vishal Mehra