Their entry couldn’t have come at a better time. Both Bobby Pawar, ex-chief creative officer at Mudra and Bindu Sethi, former Unilever and Grey-hand, who have formally joined JWT on January 11, will strengthen the national-level team of the agency following the exit of some key hands recently.
While JWT has senior creative people on its rolls, an overriding figurehead has been missing for a while now. Pawar, who is designated as chief creative officer and managing partner at JWT, will play that role, with three national creative directors—Senthil Kumar, Swati Bhattacharya and Tista Sen—reporting in to him.
Bindu Sethi, on the other hand, will be chief strategy officer at JWT, with two executive planning directors, Arpita Malik and Mythili Chandrashekar, reporting directly to her.
Colvyn Harris, chief executive officer, JWT, says getting this kind of talent was, in no way easy. “Bobby, for instance, took eight months to decide whether he wanted to join us. I expect him to bring that aggression and risk-taking ability that has characterised his work through the years”, he says.
For the four-and-a-half years that Pawar was in Mudra, the agency was recognised as a force to be reckoned with, giving strong competition to the likes of Ogilvy at the annual creative awards, the Abbys, at the Goafest. Mudra came up with notable campaigns for brands such as Volkswagen during Pawar’s tenure. The creative head, who has done time in the US with agencies such as BBDO and Ogilvy, says that he expects to push the creative envelope at JWT. “My mandate is clear: to do cutting edge creative work,” says Pawar.
Sethi, on the other hand, will add the much-needed depth to the strategic planning department—an area that is rapidly gaining ground in advertising.
Like Pawar, Sethi too has a full-fledged team under her, which, according to Harris, will help JWT give both a strong creative and business perspective to clients.
Sethi, along with Pawar and a few other people such as Sanjiv Bhargava, managing partner, JWT, Delhi, Tarun Chauhan, managing partner, JWT, Mumbai and Max Hegerman, head of digital are expected to help change the tide for the agency in the new year following a tough 2011, when brands such as Airtel and Pepsi chose to work with the smaller Taproot.
While Harris declines to indicate his new business strategy, industry sources say that JWT may look to win back Pepsi as well as Airtel, both marquee advertisers.
Meanwhile, JWT is also scouting for more acquisitions after snapping up Mindset, the Hyderabad-based ad agency, last year.
