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It is a place where old friends and new acquaintances come together to share the froth. Where ad folks hang out to celebrate good pitches and mourn lost clients. Hairstyles from agencies get together for a quick restorative, and sometimes an extended post-lunch escape from the daily drudge to let the hair down.
Here you can catch servicing types from various agencies bitching about clients, creatives, and bosses in loud voices. In one corner, Copy and Art crumple discarded ideas in paper napkins while cracking nuts, jokes, and campaigns. With the deadline fast approaching, a trainee anxiously pops his head through the door – and leaves much later with a beatific smile.
The Inspiration
Oly’s existed. For generations in Calcutta, the Olympia Bar & Restaurant on Park Street was known as the Branch Office of Advertising. It was never the best pub in town but it was the cheapest on Park Street, and the waiters were generous in letting the peg measure to spill over. No one asked you to leave, and you culd work there in peace. If you drained your glass, a stewards will amble over and surreptiously ask if you wanted a refill
Oly's was not unique to Kolkata. Other cities had their own hangouts where ad folks congregated and the hour was always happy. If you dropped in after lunch you would always find someone you knew.
As a pub, Oly's still exists in a renovated avatar as Olypub, but the ad agencies that populated the area have disappeared with the millennium. It is no longer the club-like pub where, on a lucky day, the gods of advertising could be found in a good mood. The waiters remain generous when pouring the peg but the heady advertising spirit that inspired so many great campaigns has departed.
The Reincarnation
The good news is that the spirit of Oly’s is being reincarnated. Oly’s Advertising Roundtable, is trying to recapture the fun, bonhomie, inspiration, and passion that draws people to our industry and makes it so special.
Oly's is where we virtually come together to celebrate our art and business and do things we like to do together, take up industry issues, organize programs and share a lot of light moments. If you love advertising., join the gang
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