On a fine day in 1999, two young women from Calcutta set out to do something on their own. They had met at an ad agency where they had both worked. Both had quit.
Annu Singh Kundu, then 35, had worked in the creative department, and Shalini Ganguly, then 31, in client-servicing. Between them, they had experience, and a lot of courage, and not much else.
And yes, a deep attachment to the city.
They took the plunge and started an ad agency of their own. Which was exceptional, because though the ad world had a substantial presence of women, not many of them ran their own agencies.
It was not easy. “We had no office, no capital. Annu had a Maruti van,” laughs the ebullient Shalini. “That van was our office.” From morning they began their rounds, visiting everything that came their way, including Park Street sari shops. Whatever profit they made at first went into buying lunch. “It was a lot of fun,” says Shalini. Annu, the quieter of the two, agrees happily.
They had to contend with advice from men. “Why don’t you open a boutique?” they were asked.
When they got a chance to do the entire communication for an event for a basketball team from The Harlem Globetrotters, Versus Communications was born, of which Annu and Shalini are the founder-directors. They have just celebrated 25 years of their agency with a rocking party in the city, for which family and friends arrived from everywhere.
The time had been right for them to start an agency of their own. The big agencies were leaving town then. Annu and Shalini both had the “big agency background”, having worked in several of them, but from Versus they offered it in a smaller format, in a personalised way, at a more affordable price.
They would work in no other city. Annu’s family was here, though that is not the only reason she loves the city, but Shalini, a single woman who was getting the opportunity to work elsewhere, chose the city, too. “I felt safe here,” she says. But for her, too, that is not the only reason to choose the city.
Annu is from the city. Shalini is from Jamshedpur. She had never thought of starting a business of her own. “It was a huge risk,” she laughs.
“We targeted middle-sized accounts with industry experts aligning with us,” says Shalini. “We positioned ourselves very well,” says Annu.
Friends from the ad world supported them. Some of them still do. “But it was a lot of struggle,” says Shalini. “It is a wonder that a small agency like ours would even survive. But we created a niche. It was a lot of struggle,” she repeats.
The name Versus is a statement. “We pitched ourselves against big agencies,” smiles Annu. Today both Shalini and Annu agree that they love advertising more after they started their own agency.
They had a few rules. They never said no to anything. At a briefing, if what the client was saying was a challenge, they did not look at each other and said yes. “But we came outside and did look at each other and asked, ‘How do we do it?’”
And they never gave up. They had been asked to put together a series on architecture for Tata Steel, for which they wanted to meet renowned architect Hafeez Contractor. He was in Calcutta, and they went to his hotel to meet him, but by then he had started for the airport.
“We followed his car on EM Bypass,” laughs Shalini. They were calling him relentlessly. Contractor stopped the car, asked them to hop in, and they spoke. “By the time he reached Mumbai, he was on board,” says Shalini.
Through Contractor, Versus could approach other eminent architects, including B.V. Doshi, Pinakin Patel and Brinda Somaya. Annu and Shalini laugh as they remember architect Karan Grover, who became a mentor and a friend, introducing them to the crocodile creek in Baroda, where he had called them over to talk. It was to test their guts, they felt. They passed.
“We suddenly got a call from the CBI in 2011,” remembers Annu. It caused concern at first, but the central agency only wanted to recruit them to prepare all the materials for the CBI museum in New Delhi. Annu and Shalini still recall the excitement of the project.
The Tata Steel account was Versus’s first big break. In 2007, Versus was handling Tata Steel’s centenary celebrations, a huge event across platforms and locations, starting from Jamshedpur.
The agency was part of the composition of the company anthem, the on-ground activities, events at other locations and communication.
Around that time in walked a young drummer, who now is the third director of Versus.
Rahul Mehra, 38, was then fresh out of college and the manager of the city music band Insomnia, which would be performing at the centenary celebrations of Tata Steel. Rahul, who would divide his time between Someplace Else in the evening and managing the band during the day, got caught in the agency business, and could never leave.
“We are a bit like Hotel California,” says Shalini, though their office space, a south Calcutta apartment bought just before the pandemic, looks far less menacing. It looks very friendly, in fact. Some employees have stayed on with the agency from the earliest years.
Versus has grown steadily. Its original team of two has expanded to 28. It has an office in Delhi and a presence in Mumbai. “We are like a family,” says Shalini.
The pandemic was a challenge. But no one lost his or her job. All employees were equipped to work online and clients were encouraged to participate online. “We grew together during the pandemic,” says Shalini. “We ideated and learnt technology sitting at home,” says Rahul. “Our strength was our strategy,” he adds. He is good at it.
“It has not been easy,” says Rahul, speaking about Annu and Shalini, echoing their words. It is one thing to be a woman professional, but another being a woman entrepreneur. “Patriarchy is hard to break through,” says Annu.
“But now they know us. They don’t mess with us,” says Shalini.
The conversation returns to Calcutta, with Rahul joining in with passion.
“I could have left, but I wanted to stay on,” says Rahul.
“Every week I have a fight with a friend. They say this is not happening or that is not happening in Calcutta. I tell them if you only want to come to Calcutta only for the biryani, don’t come,” says Rahul.
“You can’t discount the convenience of the city, its warmth, its love,” says Rahul. “The city has a soul,” says Shalini firmly.
Yes, big events do not come to Calcutta any more. Rahul had to go to Mumbai to listen to Sting.
But one cannot have everything.
