We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Krishna Betai. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Krishna below.

Krishna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your creative career?

With new technologies and new ways of storytelling propping up in the advertising industry, as a creative professional, it’s exciting to come up with new, unexpected, and non-traditional ideas for ad campaigns. Once you get clients onboard with your crazy, innovative ideas, it’s only a matter of time that the world sees your brainchild.

In all of this excitement, it may seem that traditional advertising in the form of TV, radio, print, and out-of-home billboard ads are losing their charm, however, it’s important to remember that it was traditional advertising with iconic taglines and visuals made the big brands what they are today.

When pitching new ideas to creative directors and clients, conveying the brand message in unconventional ways is expected in modern advertising, however, sometimes a single headline can spur a big idea, or carry the weight of the entire idea itself.

While it’s essential to come up with new ideas, fresh thinking, and unexpected ways of advertising for a brand, it’s equally important to be able to kickstart or convey a big idea with a strong headline or tagline.

A creative director at Rethink Toronto once told me: Never underestimate the power of a good headline.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m an advertising copywriter from India who started out as a freelance content writer for Indian and multinational tech/fintech clients.

Miami Ad School Toronto in Canada was my gateway into the world of advertising, and I was privileged to be taught and mentored by some of the most talented advertising professionals and industry leaders who helped me build a strong portfolio, which is crucial for building a successful advertising career. I had the opportunity to work at prestigious agencies like Rethink and LG2 in Toronto and JOAN Creative in New York for some of the biggest brands in the world, with some of the smartest minds of the industry.

Working at these agencies as a copywriter was creatively fulfilling; no two days were the same. I wrote headlines for a school one day, and a TV script for a bank another day; social copy for a restaurant chain to website copy for a furniture brand. Many times, I found myself switching between brainstorming for two vastly different brands, which helped whenever I got stuck in a creative rut.

As a creative professional, I strive to come up with ideas that are tethered to a strong human truth or insight. Once you’ve cracked that insight, the ad is sure to evoke a feeling amongst people. I like the research phase of the ideation process as it leads me down interesting rabbit holes, and might spark an idea on the way. I also enjoy crafting headlines and using wordplay to express an idea, thought, or feeling—it never feels like a chore. It’s a great feeling when an ad uses just a few words to convey a big message that stays with you for a long time.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The best part of being a creative is that you get to create everyday for a living.

One day it’s writing taglines for a paper towel brand, the next day it’s brainstorming launch campaign ideas for a new food product. You are never bored on the job. Although hitting a creative block is not unusual, the days when you’re in a creative flow are the best. When you look back, you feel pleasantly surprised by how much you created over a week or month, and that’s what keeps you going.

Feedback and rejections are part of the job, and I look at it as an opportunity to create something even better. Working with other creative individuals is incredibly satisfying as we’re all moving towards a common goal: to create something great everyday.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Being a freelance writer isn’t my first stint as a creative. I grew up writing poems and short stories, self-published a book of poems, and dabbled in writing song lyrics and humor writing. In all these forms, I strived to improve my craft with every new piece of writing.

Writing is a repetitive activity, a muscle that you develop the more you work on it, and so, I’ve taken every chance to hone my writing skills. The best part about this is that the improvement is tangible and fills me with a sense of pride and achievement. What I love about writing is that I’m always learning—new phrases, new wordplays, new ways to tell a story; so I never feel bored, and am excited to learn something new.

Being the first person who reads what I write, I try to evoke a feeling inside of myself, because if I can’t do that, I couldn’t do it for other readers. Also, feelings of imposter syndrome and guilt kick in whenever I think I’ve written something mediocre, and edit and re-write something till its best version. I would consider myself lucky if what I’ve written stays with people for a long time.

Writing that evokes a feeling and pushing it to the best version of itself is what I would say is the goal that drives my creative journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://krishnabetai.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krishnabetai

Image Credits

Images from spec campaigns by Krishna Betai