Everest COO Aniruddha Banerjee on his way out

Everest Brand Solutions COO Aniruddha Banerjee (better known as ‘Onnie’ in the ad industry) has quit the agency. He had been at Everest for the last two years and, while there, he played an important role in the rebranding of Everest Advertising to Everest Brand Solutions.

Banerjee’s exit comes close on the heels of another important development at the agency. Mahesh Chauhan, who was president, Everest Brand Solutions, recently moved out of the agency to join sister concern Rediffusion DY&R as its president. D Rajappa took his place at Everest.

When asked about the reason for his leaving the agency shortly after his partner, Chauhan, moved out, Banerjee answers pensively, “While it was fabulous working at Everest, it was time to move on to bigger challenges. The charm of building Everest as a brand was good, but it’s over for me now. Everest is at a stable stage now and doing quite well for itself.”

Banerjee isn’t sure about his next move, but he says he is contemplating four clear offers. Three of those are from ad agencies, whereas one is in a different space altogether. Onnie informed agencyfaqs! that he would be taking a decision soon.

On Onnie’s exit, Rajappa says, “I’m barely ten days old at the agency, so I cannot really comment on it, but I respect his decision to move on.”

Onnie started his career with Contract in 1988. Two years later, he joined Clarion (now Bates Enterprise), where he spent eight years. During that time, he resurrected the agency’s Chennai operations. In 1998, he joined Leo Burnett, where he worked for six years on quite a few P&G brands. In 2004, he moved to Everest as its COO. Some of the brands he has worked on during his 16-year career include Ariel, Tide, Whisper, Rejoice, Bajaj, Heinz, Complan, Glucon D, Goldflake and the Parle portfolio.

Onnie’s replacement at Everest is yet to be finalised.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!