Opening Doorz
“Celebrating Life”
By Martin D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | June 25, 2025 Lorraine Martin is family to me. No, Martin is not our family name. It just so happened that our […]
By Martin D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | June 25, 2025
Lorraine Martin is family to me. No, Martin is not our family name. It just so happened that our paths crossed in 1998, and we clicked. Just like that!
It was the summer of 1998. The heat wasn’t as cruel as it is now. Foster’s, the beer brand from Down Under, was launching in India, promising a thrilling chill. Mark Taylor and his boys were touring the country. Ogilvy & Mather (as it was then known; it was rebranded Ogilvy in 2018) was handling the account.
Bombay Times, barely four years old, had already become the publication to be seen in—or written about—if your brand had any standing. I was heading the sports and business pages at the time.
Lorraine Martin set out to get Foster’s the prominence worthy of an Ogilvy & Mather campaign. She visited the BT office in search of me (she had done her homework and knew exactly who she needed to meet). She was told I was at the Cricket Club of India. So, she called me and came right over from our VT office without wasting any time. There was no tomorrow for her in her quest to get her work done.
I remember it clearly: curly-haired, files in hand, she was waiting for me at the gate as I stepped out after the event at CCI.
That was the beginning of a never-ending friendship. A relationship that crossed professional boundaries and sustained even after I resigned from the Times Group and ventured out on my own, two decades ago.
I must admit, Foster’s—through Lorraine—helped foster my ties with the Response team within the Times Group as well. I approached the late Bhaskar Das (then a Director) with an idea for a supplement called Howzatt, to highlight the India-Australia series and feature exclusive interviews with players from both teams. The supplement was a hit for its concept, content, and the revenue it generated. It marked the beginning of a wave of supplements that would go on to redefine revenue models in print media within the Times Group.
Along with my colleague and cricket writer par excellence, Sudeep Sonawane, we brought out a sizzler, prompting Das to commission another during the same series.
That, you could say, laid a solid foundation for a deeper bond. Foster’s was the official team sponsor, and Lorraine ensured we got to meet Mark Taylor and his team, often partying with them exclusively.
There’s a lot to reminisce about—the Aussie talent back then: Punter, Warnie, the Waugh twins, Bevan, Kasprowicz, and MacGill… But this isn’t about Foster’s or the Australian team under Taylor.
This is about Lorraine Martin.
When I resigned from the Times Group in 2006—at the peak of my career—she asked me, “Martin, how did you decide to junk all of this and move on?”
I simply told her, “Lorraine, for me, God comes first, family second, and then my work. My priority right now is to be a stay-at-home dad because my wife wants to continue working.” [Our daughter Geneive was just born, and we, as parents, did not want to keep her at day care.]
“How I wish I could be that bold,” she replied.
I joked, “Let’s start a company of our own, Lorraine. You won’t even have to change your name—we’ll call it Lorraine Martin.” She laughed. And though I sensed she yearned to branch out on her own, her practicality—and her sons, Adam and Jordan—took precedence.
Lorraine has been through a lot. Everyone who knows her knows that. She has been a rock-solid pillar for her sons and her mother-in-law. She steered through one of life’s toughest phases with determination, ensuring her sons got the best education and never lacked anything. Despite a demanding job, she regularly travelled to Panchgani to visit them. Losing Howard, her husband, so suddenly was a heavy blow. She recovered—and how. The scars remain, but she raised her boys with the strength and tenderness of both a mother and a father.
Lorraine began her journey at Ogilvy & Mather on March 3, 1997. Before that, she held diverse roles at Time Life Books and India’s first design magazine, Inside/Outside. There, she honed a unique blend of skills—HR, operations, writing, TV reporting, event management—all of which stood her in good stead when she joined the global advertising giant.
She started as Senior Partner (Public Relations) and within a year was promoted to Managing Partner. She ‘finally’ retires as Group Communications Officer/Lead at The Ogilvy Group–India, on June 30, 2025.
I say ‘finally’ because she wrestled with the decision for a long time. “I feel blessed to have worked this long at Ogilvy,” she shares. “Piyush (Pandey) once told me, ‘If I don’t retire, then you don’t retire’. But very few of us are built with the kind of endurance Piyush has. He’s exceptional. I’ve been in a dilemma about quitting for a year now. I’m glad it’s final. I’m excited, relieved—and frankly, quite euphoric about this new phase of life,” she reveals, with a heart both light and heavy. “I will enjoy the ride no matter where it goes. I just want to indulge in the feeling of being relaxed and not guilty because I have not checked my office email for 30 minutes or returned a call immediately or forgotten to chase or follow up for a quote/article/interview date etc, etc.”
Ogilvy, her colleagues, and Piyush in particular have been more than family to her.
Hephzibah Pathak, Global Brand Director at Ogilvy, sent out an all-India email just a few days ago. Lorraine was in tears as she read it to me. Here’s a gist of that message:
“We are immensely grateful for your service and the positive impact you’ve had on our team and our work. We also want to thank you for relentlessly reminding us to show up more and make time for external initiatives—a quality we will truly miss. Your expertise, energy and friendship will be greatly missed. We will miss you, Lorraine! Know that you will always be a part of the Ogilvy family.”
Truly touching. Lorraine Martin is family to anyone she’s ever communicated with. That’s the defining lesson she leaves behind for Ogilvy—communicate from the heart, communicate to build bonds that last.
Thank you, Lorraine Martin, for Foster’s and for putting in the effort to foster our friendship. We may not have met as often as we would’ve liked over the last 27 years, but we’ve always known where we stand… because we communicated well!
As you step into a richly deserved susegad life, here’s wishing you more time with Adam, your daughter-in-law, your grandchildren, and Jordan.
Cheers!
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This article written by Martin D’souza, a journalist turned friend over the years, brought me to tears. It took me back to treasured memories and the joy of working with professionals such as Martin. Although we have not met as often as we would have loved to, the respect and memory of our professional path stays deeply entrenched.
After almost 3 decades, I retire from Ogilvy on June 30th. Loved every minute of it as I am so much richer by the experience and by the friends I gained over the years. Feeling blessed and grateful with the outpouring of love and gratitude from colleagues and journalists like Martin. It’s a journey I would gladly walk again🙏 Thank you Martin. Bless you🙏❤️🙏🤗