The year was 1973. The advertising industry was the size of only Rs. 150 crore. The billings of the largest agency was about Rs. 8 crore. It was also a time of recession. The advertising industry was in a state best described as chaotic.

Two young mavericks, Diwan Arun Nanda and Ajit Balakrishnan, decided it was just the time to form the agency of their own. Hell-bent on changing the perception that advertising was only a profession that wrote slogans and drew pictures, they quit MCM and they founded Rediffusion.

Young, lean, mean, and even a little arrogant, it grew into an agency that demanded and got treated as an equal. In the following period Rediffusion attracted the finest talent in the country. Rajiv Agarwal, M.G. Parameswaran, V. Shantakumar and Freddie Birdie, to name just a few.