Emmanuel Upputuru and Joyce Shepherd Upputuru turn entrepreneurs again, launch EFGH

Emmanuel Upputuru, former chief creative officer, Cheil India, has turned entrepreneur again, and announced the launch of EFGH Brand Innovations. Prior to joining Cheil, Upputuru had founded ITSA.

 

Partnering him at EFGH is his wife Joyce Shepherd Upputuru. The duo together are aiming to ‘change the game in the great talent war’ with EFGH.

 

Emmanuel Upputuru said, “Obviously people want to know what EFGH stands for. That’s exactly one reason I chose it, out of the million other names that I flirted with. The answer of course is I don’t know. Is it an abbreviation? An acronym? Maybe it is, or maybe it is a word, there is no one answer. Throughout my career I refused to do only one kind of work. Efgh has to grow into something on its own without me burdening it with a name and meaning it has to live up to. The working model is going to be disruptive. We have already proved it with a massive project we did for Tech Mahindra for their foray into the Metaverse. A team of 14 professionals, handpicked from different geographies with different skill sets, with the client sitting in New York and work delivered in Barcelona. This included shooting a film with Mr. Mahindra. So that’s a great debut for us.” 

 

He added, “For my co-founders I had to just look beside me. Joyce is not just a brilliant writer, but an artist at heart. She left her job to, as she puts it, join The Offspring. All these years she has been my silent partner in almost every piece of work I did. Now it is time she steps out of the dressing room and walks with me onto the pitch to play alongside me. We are looking forward to growing this company together. There will soon be an announcement of a key player whom we are lucky to have batting for our side."

 

Joyce Shepherd Upputuru added, “I think the E of EFGH has to be Emmanuel. This is his dream. When we gave up the comfort of a good job that Emmanuel had no urgent reason to quit, it was a brave move. I don't think it's possible to follow your heart without being brave. If you've met Emmanuel, you'll know that he is never static. This is true in every sense. With the constant deluge of new ideas and technologies, he tries to absorb and learn as much as he can, and it bleeds into his work. In a world that is experimenting with a variety of formats, platforms, technology and new ways of connecting, the possibilities are so much more exciting. For me, after years of working on standalone writing projects, including heavy ones like coffee table books for HCL, the structure and flow of everyday agency work has taken some recalibration. But with Emmanuel and the team we are putting together I am confident at the prospect of going all in.” 

 

Joyce Shepherd Upputuru has worked in agencies like Leo Burnett, Bates, Capital and ITSA. Emmanuel Upputuru has also worked with Ogilvy and Publicis.