TBWA's Benny Thomas to play bigger role, Pankaj Gupta is Delhi head

Benny Thomas, who was heading TBWA's Delhi branch as the vice-president till now, has now been entrusted with a new set of responsibilities. Thomas will now be managing strategic planning and business development at the national level.

While Thomas' function in the agency has evolved to a bigger role, his designation remains unclear at this stage.

In his new role, Thomas would have to travel across branches on regular basis and that clearly spelt the need for a dedicated resource to handle the Delhi office.

Stepping into his shoes is Pankaj Gupta, who has been appointed as the general manager of TBWA India's Delhi branch. Gupta moves from O&M Delhi, where he was working as the client services director and brand team leader.

As a general manager, Gupta has two very clear objectives in front of him. The first and the immediate task is to consolidate the existing business. And second, to get new businesses.

Substantiating Gupta's role, Thomas explains, "In Delhi, we have five main businesses - Adidas, Pedigree, Panasonic, Hughes and Twinings. All these brands are planning to step up their ad spends substantially next year. In view of this development, we certainly needed someone who could manage the expected exponential growth of business and balance that growth with effective co-ordination between the global and local headquarters as these brands are network brands."

Therefore, the next six months are going to be tough, but Gupta is quite excited about the prospects. "I am joining TBWA at a time when the Delhi office is going to witness a period of transition. For me, that's the best part since it will allow me to contribute to the office significantly. The next three to six months will mean concentrating on organic growth. However, once the processes are on track, new business development will be in focus," Gupta says.

Thomas feels that the Delhi office is yet to realise its full potential and there is definitely scope for improvement. "We are a healthy, mid-sized agency in Delhi. But much of our potential is untapped." With Gupta now in the driver's seat, the branch is confident about achieving its targets.

Gupta started his career with Dabur India in 1991. However, Gupta soon switched from management to advertising, when he joined Lowe (then Lintas) in 1993. One year hence, Gupta moved to Contract Advertising as a senior account executive.

Gupta again changed his agency after a year. At O&M, Gupta seemed to have finally settled down and spent nine years. Little wonder then, why he described his experience at O&M as simply "excellent". During his O&M stint, key accounts Gupta had worked on included Seagram, Gillette, Motorola, Nokia, Limca and India Tourism.

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