Ad duo Raghu & Manish to launch Scarecrow

Hotshot creative advertising professionals, Raghu Bhat and Manish Bhatt, have opted to leave the cosy confines of a mainline agency to become entrepreneurs.

Till recently senior vice-presidents and executive creative directors at Contract Advertising, they will launch Scarecrow Communications in the city early next week. Both have planned a commercial art exhibition on the theme of a scarecrow in downtown Mumbai to mark the launch of the agency. The logo will be unveiled thereafter.

Raghu Bhat and Manish Bhatt are architects of such memorable campaigns as Kam insurance lene ki bimari for Aegon Religare, featuring actor Irfan Khan, and the budget shaadi commercial for Asian Paints, featuring actors Vijay Raj and Atul Kulkarni.

Both professionals have put in a total of 14 years into the advertising business, the bulk of which has been spent working as copywriter-art director team in agencies such as Ogilvy & Mather, Ambience Publicis, McCann-Erickson, and of course, Contract.

Scarecrow, says Bhatt, will be a full-fledged agency, implying it will offer a suite of services, including creative and media. It is being financially backed by Vivek Suchanti, chairman and managing director, Concept Communications, which has Concept Advertising, Concept Public Relations, etc, under its umbrella.

The fourth partner in this venture is Joy Sengupta, who moves from Contract, where he was vice-president, servicing the advertising accounts under Raghu Bhat and Manish Bhatt’s charge. This included Aegon Religare, Asian Paints, Cadbury’s, etc.

“In fact, Scarecrow has bagged the advertising duties of a brand from the Religare group,” says Bhatt, without specifying the brand. “We also have the advertising accounts of a multinational client and an Indian group from the south,” is all he is willing to proffer when prodded further. “Three is a good number to start with, “ he adds.

In recent years, quite a few senior advertising professionals attached to mainline agencies quit to set up their own shops. These included Pushpinder Singh, erstwhile national creative director of Ambience Publicis who launched Saints & Warriors a few years ago. Then there was Sajan Raj Kurup, former regional creative director, Grey Worldwide, who quit to launch Creative Land Asia three years ago. More recently, Agnello Dias, ex-chief creative officer, JWT India, and Santosh Padhi, former executive creative director, Leo Burnett, launched Taproot India, in Mumbai.

“The Indian advertising industry has gone through phases. In the 1980s, creative shops promoted by Indians were popular. Then came the phase when international advertising agencies began making their presence felt in the country by acquiring Indian entities. Now advertising people are going back to launching their own shops. The resurgence of the economy and the global acceptance of the Indian creative product are factors that make them confident of doing so,” says Bhatt, while explaining his entrepreneurial streak.