In conversation with Ambi Parameswaran at Jagran Lakecity University.

One has to be modest, as tenuous as it may sound in today’s era, to concede the truth that client interplays, most discussions, particularly the difficult ones, are hidden treats that are proposed to illuminate your path to progress if you review them respectfully. Painting firsthand reckonings of 25 insider stories from a distinguished expert with over 40 years of experience in advertising, embellishing how customer interplays are the excellent learning mat of all, Ambi has published his ninth book, 'Sponge: Leadership lessons I learnt from my client'.

To apprise the students with the advertising industry and share his vast experience, Mr Ambi Parameswaran visited Jagran Lakecity University on 10th October 2018. He shared acumens from his life along with his journey to becoming a successful businessman. The students fervently participated in a Q and A session, and he very actively answered all of their queries. 

Sustaining with the self-explanatory title of the book, we asked Ambi about some of his memorable encounters with his clients. In his Acknowledgments section the author says, "Folklore has it that in ad agencies clients are both revered and cursed. Revered because they pay the bill. Cursed because they are often stumbling blocks for good ideas."He further enlightens about the stories involving legends, the significance of Ratan Tata, Dr V. Kurien, R.D. Aga, Vinita Bali and Azim Premji. The former’s mighty passion for and stringent diligence to detail is absolutely illustrated at every encounter in the way he personally showcases his ‘shiny new car’ when he has an entire company to do so.

Brands that attain allusion in his book involve GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Tata, Wipro, Nirma, Amul, Zee, and Cadbury, among numerous others. Ambi chose to narrate a story around a brand called Thermax, one of his first accounts when he joined Rediffusion, after finishing up at IIM Calcutta. Moreover, the chapters linking the then MD Anand Kripalu who was responsible for setting brand Cadbury on a fresh orbit and that of then Zee CEO Pradip Guha, who did not blench from seeking the opinion of a gentleman who wasn't exactly in the same status quo.