‘How it was named’ is a series where I explore the creation of brand names that have caught my interest. This edition features Ashish Kharwatkar of Fun Intended

 

1] Tell us about Fun Intended; what do you do?

 

Fun Intended is a true-blue, brand-first creative agency. We operate on a collaborative model. As Founder & Chief Creative (and a copywriter by trade), I lead a very accomplished and eclectic team of brand strategists, copywriters, art directors, designers, social media creators and more. Add to that, we collaborate with producers, directors, photographers and other creators. Essentially, anything that a client needs in mainline or digital advertising, we are capable of delivering it, ideation to final execution.

 

2] And why do you do it?

 

I spent over 21 years at a variety of advertising agencies, working my way up from copywriter to Creative Director to finally Executive Creative Director. Led large teams, handled hundreds of clients and created as many campaigns & pieces of work. And then, right in the middle of COVID, I got laid off. My wife suggested “Why don’t you just go out there and talk to people?” I reached out to a lot of producer friends, ex-colleagues from agencies, and started working with clients directly, freelancing. Over the course of a year or two, I realised that people often assume that if they hire me as a freelancer (as a copywriter to be specific) then that is all I can or will do for them. But my agency life had trained me well enough to take care of challenges far beyond copywriting — from handling brands to putting together a team, taking the lead (and the fall, sometimes) to handling any project end-to-end. So that’s what I started doing and ultimately, formalised that set-up, naming it Fun Intended Advertising & Stuff.

 

The other ‘why’ is a little thing I call ‘the nudge’. As an agency employee, this little nudge sometimes stops you from speaking your mind. As an independent professional, I can speak my mind (respectfully, of course). Sure, I might lose the client but I at least won’t lose sleep.

 

3] What values inform your ‘why’?

 

There’s no question that agency life is a stressful profession — it’s not that an agency or organisation decides to stress people out, but it comes with the territory when you’re dealing with monies and trying to deliver on your promise… it’s quite a balancing act at scale.

 

But the best work I’ve done in my entire life, even in this kind of stressful, chaotic, time-consuming environment, was when we were all having fun — just joking around, laughing at ourselves or the situation. I guess it was and continues to be my coping mechanism. I’m not trivialising the real stress people go through, the need to mitigate it and seek therapy. What I experienced was that if you try to get past it and are able to have fun then you not only end up handling stress better but also doing better work, creatively. At my own agency, recreating that feeling and that environment is my number one priority, to build a place where everyone — whether it’s co-creators, production houses, directors or clients — has fun doing what they do. There’s no guarantee that every project will be fun but we ‘intend’ to have fun regardless.

 

4] How did you end up with the name Fun Intended? (did you work with an agency, undertake trademark searches and registration, indicative costs…)

 

When I went independent, I realised I have choices I can make — choice in the kind of clients I want to work with, or the kind of people I want to work with, the kind of work I want to do. And a lot of that is centred on the ethos of having fun doing what we do.

 

Besides, I’m a writer, so ‘pun intended’ naturally made me think of ‘fun intended’ — I realised that I had this habit of saying ‘fun Intended’ instead of ‘pun intended’ to a lot of my colleagues. So I looked that up, it was available for registration and we’re now in the final stages of trademark registration. I wanted to choose something that could eventually become my IP as a name. That’s why the name Fun Intended.

 

5] What did you almost call it before deciding on ‘Fun Intended’?

 

I initially came up with ‘Humour Us’ which also sounds like ‘humorous’. It was a starting point. I love humor, joking around and having fun. But besides ‘humourous’, the name itself meant ‘humour us’ as in ‘this might be crazy but hear me out’. Often said when you’re going to say something crazy, offbeat, unexpected… unthinkable, really. Unfortunately, I couldn’t register it because it was too close to another agency’s name. In hindsight, with that name, people would have assumed we only do humourous work and nothing else.

 

The other one was ‘Forty2’. I was 42 when life took that particular turn of being laid-off, and it was also a hat-tip to my favorite book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. There are a lot of conspiracy theories about why the supercomputer says 42, when asked about the answer to The Question of Life, The Universe and Everything. Apparently, 42 is a placeholder in coding and what it means is whatever you want it to be. So the computer said 42 because what it meant was, the meaning (of Life etc) is whatever you want it to be. But that one just felt very niche and not very descriptive of what we are doing or what I would like to do.

 

‘Part-nerd’ was another one (did I mention I love puns?) There were a few others too but nothing felt right.

 

‘Fun Intended’ was probably the fifth or sixth option. And it just felt right. It describes us as an agency and the kind of ethos we might live and breathe. It’s also very simple to understand and brings a smile to people’s faces when I mention it. I have a party whistle as our logo. I plan to someday make that my visiting card. Just give everyone a party whistle with a little QR code and let mayhem ensue.

 

6] How important is a business name according to you?

 

I think it’s very important. In today’s day and age, the name of your business should stand out as much as your business itself. There was a time when businesses (including agencies) were simply named after their founders, for they and their names were the main draw. If you are such an illustrious founder, then the name of your business is a no-brainer. Otherwise, I think one should try their best to reflect the product or service they offer or the values they represent. While there are many approaches and schools of thought, spending time and effort in understanding your origin, your reason to exist, your purpose, your beliefs, your personality can offer up many ideas to come up with a name. That’s what helped me. I wanted a name that is fun, descriptive, simple to say, easy to understand and (hopefully) hard to forget.

 

Amongst my many favourites are ‘Enterprise’ by the legendary Mohammad Khan and ‘Enormous’ led by Ashish Khazanchi.

 

7] What one thing do you wish people were aware of about your area of expertise/industry? 

 

The importance of a distinct idea. Every brand deserves an idea that is about them, their business, their audience and their reality. An idea that is clearly and uniquely theirs. That’s what I believe in and do my best to achieve. And I wish more people were not just aware but also did the same.

 

I see a marked difference in the way advertising is approached these days. There was a time when brands didn’t just expect but insisted on being different. But now it seems like the value of an idea, or rather, the *necessity* of having an idea seems to be fading away. Social media platforms used to be all about connection. Now they are all about attention. Attention is the currency. In today’s digital reality, there’s a lot of energy being spent in understanding and trying to beat that algorithm. There is so much discussion and speculation about what works, what you should talk about, how and even when you should talk about it. And very little about brands themselves.

 

I find it strange that marketers are okay with doing exactly what everyone else is doing. They would rather appease an algorithm than win over their audience. It’s less about what the brand is about and more about what’s trending, what are the memes, who are the most popular influencers. Sure, it will give you a brief dopamine hit but chances are nobody will remember your brand. In fact, I see saturation setting in. A lot of clients who come to us tell us the same thing — ‘Agencies / creators are giving us the same ideas, same formats, same formulaic work and nothing is working.’ Soon, this sea of sameness will rise above our noses and brands and advertising professionals will have to go back to brand-first thinking and ideas that are based on brands, and not some passing trend. I’m preparing for that eventuality.

 

8] Question for funsies! Fill in the blank: Whatever you do, don’t _____ 

 

Don’t give up.

 

Advertising is all about getting your ideas rejected. People come up with at least 15-20 ideas for every project, every brief, every single time, before one reaches the end of the tunnel. We must put our heart and soul into our work for that one idea that shines. But we have to learn to not get too attached to our ideas, and keep trying despite the rejection.

 

Whenever I feel disheartened, I think of the words of the legendary Agnello Dias. Popularly known as Aggy, he says anyone can be creative in the first round. But are you just as creative after your ideas are rejected? Do you still give it your best in the second, third, fourth round? Do you go back with an even better idea or just give up and do something half-heartedly?

 

Everyone faces feedback, rejection and heartbreak. But what you do afterwards is what matters, it determines what sort of professional you become.

 

So, don’t give up. Keep at it and things work out.