Rajiv Rao quits Ogilvy & Mather India

Advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather India has said its national creative director Rajiv Rao has quit after serving nearly two decades in the agency to look for opportunities in the film-making industry.
Rao, who is known for his most popular Zoozoo campaign for Vodafone, was with Ogilvy since 1999.
His departure comes at a time when Sonal Dabral has been appointed as group chief creative officer and vice-chairman of the agency.
He, however, will continue as Ogilvy India's National creative leader till Dabral takes over.
Commenting on the change, Ogilvy South Asia Executive Chairman and Creative Director Piyush Pandey said: "I have nothing but a deep sense of gratitude to Rajiv, that he respected my request to stay on to help make a better and stronger Ogilvy."

Dabral has stepped down from DDB Mudra last month as chairman and chief creative officer. He will be with DDB Mudra till the end of September.

Rao joined Ogilvy with his partner V Mahesh and led Ogilvy Bangalore from 2003 to 2006. In 2009, Rajiv Rao and Abhijit Avasthi took on the role of National Creative Directors at Ogilvy India.
He has been a part of various iconic campaigns like 'Second hand smoke kills' for Cancer Patients Aid Association. The campaign won India's first double Gold at Cannes.
Besides, he was the brain behind Vodafone's campaign featuring the popular pug. In 2009, Rao was conferred with the 'Creative Person of the Year' award by the World Brand Congress.