Shariful Islam
Advertising Professional
Shariful Islam, 31, is a young advertising professional. Over the years, he has worked in some of the leading advertising agencies of the country and now runs his own agency, Mindcrafts Advertising. He has won a number of awards, including Global Peter Drucker Challenge, Shining Stars of Europe, UN World Migratory Bird Day Video Contest, Global Action Awareness for Hearing Loss Idea Contest, Heaven on Earth Video Contest, and WSD Global Video Contest. YI recently spoke to him about his work and future plan.
Sheikh Iraj
How did you get into advertising? What inspired you?
When I was in the final year of university, I took part in a nationwide youth competition organised by Grameenphone. In the advertising round of the competition one of the ad ideas that I presented was selected as the best idea. The judging panel was headed by Awrup Sanyal, the then creative director of Bitopi Advertising Ltd. He told me if I wanted to work in advertising, I should meet him after graduation. So, after finishing university, I joined Bitopi as a trainee copywriter, and basically got addicted to advertising.
What does advertising mean to you?
Advertising is the business of ideas. Here you actually get paid for being a misfit and having weird ideas. The more uncommon the idea, the more likely it is to be accepted. Here free thinking is not only encouraged, it is an absolute necessity. As long as you can deliver, nobody wants to know which school, college or university you are from. On a typical day, an advertising executive works on 3-5 campaigns, any of which might end up winning a big award, and make him or her famous.
Please tell us about your biggest achievements.
The awards that I won for my work took me to many different parts of the world, and gave me the opportunity to represent Bangladesh at different global platforms. That, I consider my biggest achievement.
You are also teaching, please tell us about that.
I teach a few advertising courses at IUB (Independent University, Bangladesh) as an adjunct faculty. So far, I am enjoying the role. I am making a conscious attempt to make the courses fun and enjoyable for the students, as I believe advertising as a subject is fun and should remain so.
You recently won the Shining Stars of Europe award. Please tell us about your experience.
Yes, one of the videos that I made recently won the Shining Stars of Europe award. The award was given to six best videos this year, and mine was the only one from outside of Europe. My video proposes that every nation in the world make peace a priority, the way they make having a strong military a priority. In some countries, all young men and women, after reaching a certain age, must enlist to be trained in warfare. In other countries, governments offer lucrative careers to those who volunteer to join the military. Also, there are many institutions that offer education, training and degrees on designing and producing weapons to be used in war. But what about peace? Why is there not a single institution anywhere in the world dedicated to offering education and training to willing young men and women to become peace lobbyists, activists and promoters? Is peace not a priority? These are some of the questions that my video raises. The award presentation ceremony will take place in June in Luxemburg. I am very much looking forward to attending the ceremony, and represent Bangladesh there.
Whats your future plan?
To keep on working, learning and striving to produce good work.
