Rediffusion firms up strategic function

Rediffusion DY&R, the agency which has established itself as a trend setter in changing the rules of the advertising game by abolishing the client servicing function, continues to keep the ball rolling in that direction, by adding people to its team.

Arvind Mohan, strategy head at Future Brands, has joined the agency as chief strategy officer. This was a designation which Santosh Sood held until last year.

S Subramanyeswar (Subbu) has come in as executive vice-president, to strengthen the strategy team. He moves in from Saatchi & Saatchi, Bangalore, where he was vice-president, strategy.

Back at Future, Mohan was responsible for leading and overseeing the strategy work on the brands handled by the company, and also played a significant role in driving the consulting function. At Rediff, his mandate would essentially be to work through the existing infrastructure and look at the bigger picture of the strategic delivery on brands.

Thereafter, he moved to McCann, where he spent eight years. He joined the agency as strategic planner and moved on to being strategic planning director. He stepped out of McCann as vice-president and executive planning director, to follow his colleague from McCann, Santosh Desai, currently, MD and CEO, Future Brands, to join Future Brands. His stint at Future has been quite short. At McCann, he was also responsible for driving the initiative in brand consulting through an in-house division called Lighthouse.

Mohan, on his movement, says, “At a cultural level, I did not see myself fitting well in the entire scheme of things at Future Brands. The level of thinking and evolution needed for retail brands is way behind in India, as compared to first-level brands. Moreover, I have always sought to do some high end work in this sector.”

Subbu, on the other hand, has an advertising and marketing background. At Rediff, the entire strategy function of Mumbai shall be under his vigilance. He began his career in 1993, with Parle as a management trainee in the marketing department. He stayed there for three years, after which he pursued his studies for a year.

He stepped into the advertising industry in 1997, and started his career with Bates, Bangalore, where he had a short stint. In 1998, he joined Saatchi & Saatchi, Bangalore where he was there for three years, after which he moved onto join Mudra, Delhi, for a year. Towards the end of 2002, he moved back to Saatchi & Saatchi, Bangalore, for his second stint. For the past five years, he has been with Saatchi & Saatchi.

Subbu had been awarded a gold in 2005, for being the best planner of South East Asia- South Asia region in his very first year in planning at Saatchi & Saatchi. Along with his commitments to Rediff, he continues to pursue a private project called ‘Storytelling in Brands’, wherein he brings together people from varied walks of life to talk about a subject, and derives a common hook to build up an intuitive model.

Subbu quips, “I am inspired by Mash’s dreams for Rediff. It's a clear field before me and it is up to me to unleash my passion.”

Mohan shall be based out of the capital, whereas Subbu shall be based out of Mumbai. Subbu will report to Mohan.