Ajeet Shukla has responded to Diwesh Dishu's claims of the former stealing his idea and executing it for a recent Aditya Birla campaign.
The duo were working together at Publicis. Dishu has now joined Wondrlab, while Shukla is with Dentsu.
Dishu, who joined Publicis in 2018 took to LinkedIn to accuse Shukla, who was then ECD at Publicis, of snatching his idea which was part of a brainstorming session at Publicis for Ching's in 2021.
Although Dishu states that the idea was never executed due to a prolonged back and forth on the brief - it was finally on screen, but for another brand and at another agency - Dentsu Creative India.
Dishu backed his accusation with screenshots of the mails exchanged, which suggest a similar storyline, as in the films rolled out by Aditya Birla for its latest campaign ‘IsseZarooriKuchBhiNahi’ (there’s nothing more important than this).
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However, Shukla dismissed these claims through a statement shared with Campaign India.
He stated that they were brainstorming together, when he gave the team this idea. He asked Dishu and the team to develop it further.
Here's the full statement:
Let me first clarify here that the person accusing me is very dear to me and a lovable guy. He was my junior in my ex-agency and a very talented writer. People loved him because of his attitude towards work and team. I did not want to reply to his post. But considering the issue going out of hand, I thought to share this.
As a boss we sit with teams, brainstorm, and crack ideas together. And being at such a level where we are completely swamped with work, meetings, calls, etc., we tell our juniors to write it properly and add things. And juniors do so. As a senior, it is our duty to guide and nurture them to think in a clear direction, better their craft, and grow.
In this case, the same thing had happened. We spoke over calls and while discussing it, I gave him this gem of an idea, we both were excited. I asked him to develop. And as usual he added his nuances, wrote it beautifully and sent it. I asked him to present it to the larger team himself, where I told everyone what great films he has cracked and written. That is what we seniors are supposed to do. To encourage our juniors at bigger platforms! We presented it to the client but it did not go through.”
We both moved on from that agency to different places. After two years, I got a brief from one of my existing clients in my current agency. And that idea popped up again and I used it. This time it was sold and we made good films.
In advertising an idea always travels and remains with the people who cracks it. I would also like to say here that even if he has got it through for any client in any agency, I would have cheered it loud. But the screenshots of sending mails to prove his point of me stealing his idea, that’s not acceptable. If this is to be considered, I guess in future no senior would and should ask their juniors to flesh out an idea and send. Who knows, for which idea they get blamed for stealing the idea by their juniors.
Since he is not a part of the current team as well as the agency, there is no point in mentioning his name in credit. But I do wish him luck for his growth.
Lastly, I want to make it very clear that I have always stood up against this stealing of ideas, credit mongering actions.
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