The restructured Ambience has new players

Ambience Publicis has restructured its old team. The agency now has three independent groups, which are being called mini agencies.

Rajiv Sabnis, chief operating officer, Ambience Publicis, says, “The idea behind this is to provide more independence to each of these groups and the authority to take decisions.”

“This structure will also ensure that we have deeper relationships with our clients and brands, and a greater teamwork and camaraderie. In addition, it will mean better working partnerships and creating a hungry and competitive business unit. And the teams will have more growth opportunities that will meet with their ambitions,” adds Sabnis.

As part of this plan, Ambience Publicis has hired quite a few senior advertising professionals from across agencies. To begin with, Sharmila Malekar has moved from Mudra DDB. As vice-president, account management, her mandate will be to head one of the three business units, which will handle Marico and Procter &Gamble. Malekar’s journey in advertising has taken her from Lowe Lintas to O&M to Mudra DDB.

Another significant entry is Prasanna Sankhe, who has joined as senior creative director. For Sankhe, a graduate from the JJ School of Arts, Mumbai, this is the second stint with Ambience as he worked with the agency from 2000-2003. He started his career in 1994 with JWT (then HTA). In 1997, he moved to Grey, where he worked three years before moving to Ambience Publicis. His last assignment was with Alok Nanda and Company (ANC), which he joined in 2003.

Another senior creative director to have joined Ambience Publicis is Rajesh Kulkarni. He has moved from Saatchi & Saatchi, Dubai, where he worked on P&G brands.

Kulkarni has over 12 years of experience in advertising, with stints at O&M and Contract. His recent Crest toothpaste ‘Lighthouse’ film was nominated as the best film among the Saatchi & Saatchi global network. One of the last assignments in Dubai before he headed to India was on ‘Laughing Cow Cheese’.

Sanjay Panday, who has come in from Bates, has also joined as a general manager, account management. In his over-a-decade long career, Panday has worked for agencies such as Contract and Everest besides Bates.

On the servicing side, Ambience has another new player in Farah Ahmed, who has moved in as client servicing director. Ahmed has had a long association with Grey, having worked on P&G Pantene, Sara Lee, Wyeth, Emirates among other clients.

Ahmed will lead the business on several key accounts for the agency. “We will lean on her experience of liaising with the international markets and developing India specific communication for global brands like Pantene, Calcium Sandoz and Emirates,” says Sabnis.

Joining next month will be Amit Ajwani, who is currently with JWT, where he has worked for the last six years. Sabnis says, “The prime reason for handpicking Ajwani is his FMCG experience.

Meanwhile, Jean Paul, client servicing director, Ambience Publicis has moved to Publicis Singapore to handle the P&G business. Talking about this development Sabnis says, “He will now have the responsibility of working with India, Australia and Indonesia (and the Philippines in the future) in his new assignment. He will be based in Publicis Singapore as the associate regional account director on P&G Healthcare. This move also indicates the will of this agency to reward committed performers and provide a global platform whenever the opportunity presents itself.”

To conclude Sabnis says, “Today, there is a need to understand business issues across functions before providing a communication solution on brands. We hope that this structure will help do that. Our eye is eventually on the creative product that needs to be ‘amazingly relevant” to the people at large.”

© 2006 agencyfaqs!