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Sanjay Nayak is new head at McCann, Delhi

With Chintamani Rao moving to Universal McCann as president, McCann-Erickson has appointed Sanjay Nayak as the head of its Delhi office

N. Shatrujeet

agencyfaqs!

NEW DELHI

The Rs 348-crore McCann-Erickson India has appointed Sanjay Nayak to replace Chintamani Rao as the head of its Delhi office, following Rao's move to Universal McCann as president. Both the appointments have come into effect from January 2, 2001. Nayak, who was previously president & COO at TBWA Anthem, Delhi, takes on Rao's mantle of senior vice-president & general manager.

Nayak began his career on the other side of the fence - his first job was in marketing, with McDowell. "I was with McDowell between May 1983 and August 1990, after which I worked with Mothercare for a year," he informs. The switch to advertising happened back in August 1991, when he joined O&M, Bangalore, as account director on Brooke Bond.

"I moved as head of O&M, Calcutta, in May 1993," Nayak recalls. "I came back as head of O&M, Bangalore, in June 1995. I then went to O&M, Singapore, as regional management supervisor on Kodak and SmithKline Beecham in May 1998." In February 1999, Nayak returned to India as president of Speer - which O&M had acquired by then. He finally joined Anthem in June 1999.

Interestingly, Nayak resigned from Anthem "to start a US-based dotcom venture with an old IIT friend". However he reveals that the dotcom project went awry late during his notice period at Anthem. "I took a break for a month and decided to get back to advertising." But why McCann?

"McCann is the world's largest advertising agency, and is growing extremely rapidly in India," Nayak explains. "It has climbed almost 20 places in Indian agency rankings over the last five years or so. It is committed to the pursuit of ‘consumer insight' as the basis for developing great, effective advertising. So why not?"

Nayak's role at McCann is pretty clearly defined - "Profit centre responsibility for McCann's Delhi office". And yes, he is more than pleased with his new assignment. "McCann has a large operation. It has a great client roster. It gives me a chance to help McCann become Delhi's No.1 agency."

Nayak's departure means another chair to be filled at Anthem. Although no official information on who would succeed Nayak is forthcoming, an industry source informed agencyfaqs! that Kurien Mathews, regional director, west, TBWA Anthem, might take the helm at Delhi too.

© 2001 agencyfaqs!

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