It has been some time since the initial report that Emmanuel Upputuru was leaving Cheil Worldwide. He has been sharing stories from several European nations for about a month, but there haven’t been many hints of his next move. Of course, there were rumors that he might start up again.
Upputuru’s new independently funded organization is known as EFGH Brand Innovations. He does assert that EFGH has a plan to alter the dynamics of the great talent battle, albeit he hasn’t yet specified what it stands for. He continued, “Obviously people are curious as to what EFGH stands for. Out of the millions of potential names I toyed with, it is the exact reason I choose it. The obvious response is I’m not sure. Is it short for something? A shorthand? There is no definitive answer; it might be a word or it might be neither. I have consistently resisted doing only one type of work. EFGH needs to develop into something on its own without my imposing a name and meaning upon it. The operating model will cause disruption. With a significant project we completed for Tech Mahindra to support their entry into the Metaverse, we have already demonstrated this. A group of 14 experts, hand-selected from various backgrounds and with a range of skill sets, with the client in New York and the job being completed in Barcelona. This involved working with Mr. Mahindra on a movie. We made a tremendous debut, so that’s great.
For his co-founders, he only had to look beside him, according to Joyce Shepherd, his partner. Joyce is an artist at heart in addition to being a superb writer. As she puts it, she quit her job to work for The Offspring Pvt Ltd. She has been a silent collaborator with me on practically every project I’ve worked on over the years. It’s time for her to exit the locker room and follow me onto the field so we can start playing. Together, we look forward to building our business. If you’ve ever met Emmanuel, you know that he is never static, according to Joyce. This is accurate in every way. He makes an effort to learn as much as he can despite the constant barrage of new concepts and technologies, and this permeates every aspect of his work. The possibilities are so much more fascinating in a world where many different formats, platforms, technologies, and new methods of communicating are being tested.
The structure and flow of regular agency work have required some recalibration for me after years of working on independent writing projects, particularly large ones like coffee table books for HCL. Emmanuel Upputuru has grown organizations like Cheil, Ogilvy, and Publicis into successful global brands. After ITSA, this would be his second venture into entrepreneurship.
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