Turning the Table: Anand Iyer

Anand Iyer is Associate Creative Director at Toronto-based No Fixed Address and one of our 2021 Student Awards judges. Anand is a creative problem solver who's has been much awarded globally by D&AD, Cannes, The One Show, the Clios, The Webbys, Communication Arts, and the Epicas...none of which any of his friends outside of advertising seem to care about. Anand was ranked the #2 Art Director in Canada in the Strategy 2020 Creative Report Card. When not racking his brain trying to crack briefs, Anand’s somewhere out in the wilderness photographing wildlife.

We asked Anand to share a project with us that he was particularly proud of and the project he chose, which was undertaken during his time at BBDO, is a powerful one. As you will hear, it was for an important cause and was highly lauded, including by us as it garnered a 2019 Advertising Award.

Help us tell the story of this recent project of yours you felt “shone through.”

From start to finish, working on Right to Play was the proudest and most fulfilled I've ever been in my career. We were tasked with rebranding a global charity organization that nobody really knew about. We needed to get them on the map and get people to realize the important work they did as they educated and empowered oppressed children all over the world to rise up against being child brides, child soldiers, child labourers, and countless other horrific acts. So we created “The Child Uprising,” and launched with "We Rise," a video that used beautiful slam poetry and showed children rising up against their oppressors all over the world in a powerful, anthemic way. The campaign, which included a couple of other powerful videos and posters, ran internationally. “The Child Uprising” was recognized and awarded globally by all the international award shows and helped Right to Play become Strategy Magazine's Marketer of the year in 2020. From a personal standpoint, what I will always remember and cherish is meeting all the amazing and brave children Right to Play worked with in South Africa for our shoot.

It was a pleasure having Anand on our jury and we greatly appreciate him taking the time to share his insights on this campaign. You can see more of his work at his website here.