Season of change at the top

Four agencies have seen incumbent heads move on in the last few weeks.

Though the Rs 20,000-crore Indian advertising industry is plagued with attrition, it is not too often that heads of agencies decide to move on. But in the last few weeks, there have been quite a few top-level changes – at ad agencies Lowe Lintas, Everest Brand Solutions, Rediffusion-Y&R and Publicis Ambience. All of it appears to have been for different reasons.

Expat CEO Charles Cadell, who completes his three-year tenure at Lowe Lintas India at the end of the year, will make way for deputy CEO Joseph George, who will take over the reins of the agency in the new year.

 

A veteran at Lowe, George’s ascension to the top, according to industry sources, has been part of a succession planning exercise at the agency, which saw him first take over as deputy CEO in May this year. He was executive director at the agency earlier.

There were other appointments too during the course of the year to beef up the top-rung at Lowe, such as that of Amer Jaleel and Arun Iyer as co-national creative directors. But the appointment of George, in particular, say industry sources, was expected. “It was planned,” says a Lowe Lintas executive on condition of anonymity. “He was being groomed to take over the position at the top.”

In a formal statement, Lowe’s chief creative officer and chairman, R Balakrishnan says, “Joseph’s contribution and pivotal role in having enabled the company in achieving success it has with clients, mostly notably Unilever, qualifies him for his new role and responsibility. The promotion is demonstrative of the organisation’s appreciation of his past performance and trust in his abilities to take Lowe Lintas forward with his vision and leadership.”

If the handing over of the baton at Lowe, which has seen many a boardroom battle including the famous one between former Lintas chairman Prem Mehta and Balakrishnan two years ago, has been smooth, that doesn’t appear to be the case with Publicis Ambience and Rediffusion-Y&R, whose agency heads Aniruddha Banerjee and Mahesh Chauhan, quit suddenly last month.

While Banerjee, designated as chairman of Publicis Ambience, remained unavailable for comment, Nakul Chopra, chief executive officer, South Asia, Publicis, said no one would be appointed in his place. “I will steer the agency till certain milestones are achieved,” he says.

In recent years, Publicis Groupe, the third-largest marketing communications network in the world after Omnicom and WPP, has been consolidating its presence in India in different areas including creative, media, digital and public relations. Chopra is in charge of Publicis Worldwide in India - the flagship arm of the French group. This role sees him overseeing operations of four units - Publicis Ambience, Publicis Capital, digital arm Publicis Modem, and design agency Red Lion. While every unit barring Ambience has its individual head, the exit of Banerjee will see Chopra take a hands-on role at the agency. “Some times this is required,” he says.

Rediffusion’s Chauhan, meanwhile, who was group CEO, says, “I am taking a break. Rediffusion is on a strong wicket now. Despite the loss of Airtel and Colgate, we bounced back with new clients such as MTS.”

After fifteen years of working on Airtel, Rediffusion lost the business to JWT two months ago, while Colgate moved its creative account to Bates 141 without calling a pitch. D Rajappa, who replaced Chauhan as president, Rediffusion, says, “My immediate priority would be to inspire the team and grow the business of the agency.”

Rajappa moves from Everest Brand Solutions, a fully-owned subsidiary of Rediffusion, where he was president. With him moves Everest’s national creative director N Padmakumar, who takes over the creative reins at Rediffusion. “My partnership with Rajappa began in Everest in 2007,” says Padmakumar. “It will be four years now. Before moving to Rediffusion, we made sure there was a strong second line including two executive directors at the Mumbai office, and one creative director at the Delhi office,” he says. “Whether an NCD would be appointed at Everest would be the prerogative of the new president at Everest,” says Padmakumar.

Dhunji Wadia, an ex-JWT hand, who took over from Rajappa as head of Everest this month says, “Our end-product is more important than the designation of people who work with us. Everest has quite a few award-winning, talented people working within the agency. Having said that, when we decide on the creative leadership we will make the announcement.”

For Wadia, who has never held the position of an agency head, his appointment as president of Everest is clearly an opportunity of a lifetime.

He says, “I seek to leverage my depth and width of experience in leading Everest. My association with JWT was fulfilling.”

Wadia, for the record, spent the bulk of his 26-year advertising career at JWT where he held different positions including heading up the Bangalore and Mumbai offices. Under him, the offices won new business aggressively and also pocketed a number of creative awards.