Charulata Ravi Kumar leaves Bates Enterprise and 141 Worldwide

Charu, as she is known in the industry, functioned as executive vice-president, Bates Enterprise, and as country head, 141 Worldwide. Her move marks the end of a more than eight year old association with the Bates Group

Charulata Ravi Kumar, executive vice-president, Bates Enterprise, and country head, 141 Worldwide, has decided to move on. She is yet to decide her next destination, but she says she is contemplating three offers at the moment. She is expected to arrive at a decision in early January 2007.

According to sources, Charu, as she is known in the industry, is likely to take up an offer from within the WPP group itself. However, no confirmation of this was available.

Charu tells agencyfaqs!, “Bates is up on its feet with the Enterprise merger complete and a team in place. It was time for me to look at a larger platform, which brings with it different challenges and risks.”

Charulata Ravi Kumar

Charu has 19 years of experience in the industry. She started off at a small agency, Sista, in Kolkata, following which she did stints at JWT, Clarion and Lintas (now Lowe). She then got an offer to move to Lintas in the Middle East, which she declined. However, she did move to the Middle East to work with Grey Worldwide (on the P&G fragrances) and Bates. She was also in the team that set up 141 Worldwide in the Middle East.

Following that, she moved on to 141 Worldwide in the UK, where she spent two and a half years. For two of the agency’s brands – British American Tobacco and Allied Domecq – she supervised operations in all of Europe, Africa, Malaysia, Middle East, North America and Australia.

Charu was then faced with three options. She could either move to 141 Worldwide in New York, or she could move to 141, Singapore. There was also the option of starting 141 Worldwide in India from scratch, and that was the option she chose finally. “The thrill of starting something from its inception and putting things into place was irresistible,” recalls Charu.

Finally, in 2002, 141 Worldwide was set up in India, with Charu as the country head. Offices were set up in Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru within the first year, Mumbai followed later on. In 2003, Charu took on the additional responsibility of branch head of Bates, Delhi and Kolkata, even while she oversaw new business in Bengaluru. In a sense, she donned four hats at the time (including her role at 141).

In 2005, Charu shifted base to Mumbai, where she was EV-P, Bates Enterprise, while still handling her role at 141. During this period, she also took charge of the Chennai office, while also overseeing some businesses in Kolkata. In total, Charu has spent more than eight years in the Bates Group.

On her next move, Charu says, “I will only look at joining a place where I see myself playing a long innings. The WPP offer is a distinct possibility, but I really cannot comment for sure at this point.”

She reveals further that she is likely to work in the arena of integrating above-the-line and below-the-line offerings, something that she did earlier for Nokia while at Bates.

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