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Bates-David merger in a few months, but Venugopal becomes V-P, Bates Enterprise
Bates Enterprise has brought in David’s Delhi branch head, Venugopal Chandrasekhar (aka Venu), as vice-president
Bates Enterprise has brought in David’s Delhi branch head, Venugopal Chandrasekhar (aka Venu), as vice-president.
This happening might not be linked to the Bates Enterprise and David merger, but it could come as a surprise for many and may even add fuel to speculation that the supposed merger is far from happening in India.
| Subhash Kamath |
Venugopal Chandrashekhar |
Venu cites the reason for his move as personal, rather than professional. He belongs originally to Mumbai; he has been in Delhi only for the last two years since he joined David as the Delhi branch head. “When I got the opportunity to move back home, I grabbed it with both hands,” he says.
Kamath cites a similar reason for Venu’s move. “Venu is a Mumbaikar and was keen on coming back to the city as his family is here. We were looking for somebody senior and, in this context, Venu has wonderful experience.”
Over the past few months, Bates Enterprise has lost two of its senior executives, Rana Barua and Charulata Ravi Kumar. Barua, designated vice-president, headed the Mumbai branch for Bates Enterprise, before the agency decided to go in for restructuring. After the restructuring, Charulata Ravi Kumar headed the Mumbai branch as executive vice-president. Last month, she moved on to a bigger role within the WPP group.
Since then, Perveez Modak, AV-P has been in charge of the Mumbai branch. It is learnt that both Venu and Modak will now independently handle their responsibilities till the agency finds a replacement for Charu.
At Bates, Venu will head the team on accounts such as Tata AIG, ING Optimix, Lever’s Ayush, and Arokya, a Chennai based milk brand.
Venu, who has spent around 14 years in the advertising business, has been with David for the last one and a half years. Before that, he has worked only with Contract, with a short stint in between as channel director with UTV.
At David, Venu played a crucial role in getting big businesses such as the TV18 brands, CNN-IBN and IBN7, McCain Foods, Knock Out Spray, and ‘Nai Dunia’.
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