Raghu-Manish back to Contract after a decade

On the heels of the exit of McCann Erickson’s creative director in Mumbai, Vistasp Hodiwala, it has been confirmed that McCann’s star creative guys Manish Bhatt and Raghu Bhat have also moved out.

These two senior creative directors from McCann are all set to join Contract, Mumbai, at a level higher than at McCann. However, the exact designations of the duo could not be ascertained, and Raghu and Manish could not be reached.

agencyfaqs! then contacted Ravi Deshpande, chief creative officer, Contract, to whom the duo will report at Contract. Deshpande confirmed the development, but when asked about their designation, he only said the picture would be clearer in a few days.

Although the two first came together at Contract Advertising’s Delhi office, it was only when they were hired as a team at Bates Clarion (now Bates David Enterprise) that their partnership was cemented. After one year at Bates, they moved to Ogilvy & Mather, and then, in early 2001, they headed for Ambience. There, the duo worked on accounts such as Parachute, Nerolac Allscapes, Planet M, Nutrela, Whitehall Whisky, Tata Press Yellow Pages, Elle 18 and Sil. In 2004, Bhat and Bhatt joined McCann Erickson.

While there, the two grabbed quite a handful of awards, and their film for UTI Bank even made it to Luerzer’s Archives. The two also created the much appreciated ‘Respect the national anthem’ film in 2003.

© 2007 agencyfaqs!