A genuine exception in the advertising industry, Ahmed
Kapadia is certainly a man with a vision who earned experience of working both
as a client and agency. He brings today, a totally unique philosophy to the
advertising business. His rather unconventional projects and exceptionally
formulated strategies made many brands a great success.
In May 1999, Ahmed Kapadia
followed his dream of setting up his own Advertising Agency with the name of
Synergy Advertising. This was the obsession that took him forward to build an
organization that is comparable with any international organization. He actually
created synergy.
Synergy Advertising with
its annual billing of over 1 billion is today one of Pakistan’s most successful
advertising agencies, ranked by the industry as one of the top 10 in the
country.
Ahmed Kapadia comes from a
very respectable middle-class family. His grandfather, a homeopathic doctor,
migrated with his family from Abrahma a small village in Indian Gujrat, in 1947
(after partition) to Karachi, Pakistan. The family bought a house and settled
near Gurumander in the heart of the city – Karachi.
Ahmed grew up in a home
where the house would be always full of visiting patients that were there to
see his grand father for treatment. Some times a nominal charge was taken, but
most of the times, the patients were given free treatment. The family and their
kindness became so well known that the house they lived in became a land mark,
a tribute to the family’s contribution towards the betterment of humanity.
Ahmed’s Father, Latif
Kapadia, was a humanist to the core. Always smiling and apparently
happy-go-lucky sort, he never missed any opportunity to espouse the causes of
the under-privileged. He was a very well known TV artist, earning legendary
fame and a Pride of Performance from the President of Pakistan, for his
work in television and theatre. Latif Kapadia worked in hit TV programs like
Sheeshay Kay Aadmi, the famous comedy 50/50, Hanstey Bastey, Baarish, Barzakh,
Shikastay Arzoo, Gurez and Nadan Nadia. Latif Kapadia also played a role in a
film titled ‘Very good Dunya, very bad loog’.
Ahmed was born to Mr. and
Mrs. Latif Kapadia after four daughters and he soon became the focus for the
entire family. The young Ahmed growing up loved cricket and was good enough to
make it to the National Pakistani under-19 team. Cricket for Ahmed is a life
long passion and he still finds time to play cricket from his busy schedule. He
completed his Masters in Business Administration from IBA (Pakistan), worked
for a few companies and then joined McCann Erickson a leading advertising
company in Pakistan .
With some experience at
hand and dissatisfaction in heart about the advertising situation back then, he
started his own company and built an office that was previously his father’s
garage. He had to struggle hard to make his name in a business where agencies
were usually handed down from father to son (the seth culture as he calls it).
But Ahmed, inheriting the love and devotion to hard work from his father,
carried forward his dream of creating his own company.
Today Ahmed is a genuine
exception in the advertising industry; a man with a vision, who has gained
experience working both on the client and agency side. He brings a totally
unique philosophy to the advertising business. His rather unconventional
projects and exceptionally formulated strategies have made a host of brands a
success story.
His obsession to produce
results and bring changes in the advertising industry took him forward to build
an organization that is comparable to any international organization.
Ahmed is happily married to
a loving wife and has four daughters. He is settled in Karachi with his family.
