Aakash Shah, Founder at One Hand Clap, is a dynamic creative leader known for his blend of digital storytelling and innovative brand-building. With roots at All India Bakchod (AIB), Aakash founded One Hand Clap Media to create impactful work that merge pop culture with brand narratives. In this interview, he shares insights on navigating the digital-first landscape, leading creative teams, and evolving brand strategies in an era of rapid technological change.
How did your journey from AIB to founding One Hand Clap shape your growth as a creative leader and influence your agency’s vision?
How a young creative spends their formative years in the industry has long-term implications. It shapes their worldview and influences the kind of work they’ll pursue for the rest of their life. The first few years build their school of thought, and unlearning that mindset later can be an uphill battle. That’s why the AIB school of thought has been instrumental in both mine and Naveed’s journey.
How has your creative background helped you balance original storytelling with client goals in today’s digital-first landscape?Â
If you notice, most brands don’t quite get digital-first thinking right. Even clients reading this sitting in the offices of legacy brands will likely agree. Every idea requires approval from someone who may not know how to evaluate it beyond a campaign tagline or a film. It’s not their fault either. What’s missing is more conversation between CMOs and agencies. We’ve started conducting workshops with brand managers across legacy brands to address these roadblocks or mental blocks. Sitting back and complaining is futile; it’s in our interest to take action and champion change. Our background enables us to do exactly that.
What has been the most rewarding part of building One Hand Clap, and how do you preserve its creative vision as it grows?Â
There’s nothing to preserve. The more tightly you hold on to set beliefs and practices, the worse off you will be in the long run. We’ll end up becoming the problem that we set out to solve.Â
How has the rise of AI and automation impacted your creative processes at One Hand Clap?
AI helps refine and build on existing ideas. Tools like deep research enable us to arrive at market positioning much faster, reducing the time it would typically take us by 2-3 days. With innovations like Gemini video generation, we can even show clients an ad before it’s shot which, personally, I find mind-blowing. This technology is going to be revolutionary, and our collective wisdom isn’t quite ready to fully answer the questions it will raise.
How do you see storytelling evolving in brand marketing over the next 5 years?Â
The top to bottom funnel approach – Awareness > Consideration > Conversion has started to become redundant. Akhila Shankar, Head of TuneCore, has very aptly articulated it – The brand marketing funnel is not even a funnel anymore. It’s a loop – Attract X Engage X Convert X Repeat. You don’t typically need a main ad film + performance marketing play to build out a brand anymore. Maybe all you need is an excellent reel strategy and even that’d be enough.Â
