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Santosh Menon moves to BEI Confluence as COO

Santosh Menon, head, DraftFCB Jakarta, has joined BEI Confluence as COO to catch all the action in India

BEI Confluence has appointed Santosh Menon chief operating officer. He will handle the West and South zone operations for BEI from the agency’s Mumbai branch. Menon has more than 15 years’ experience in the advertising industry. Prior to BEI, Menon was heading the Indonesia operations for DraftFCB. He says it was a need to stay connected with Indian advertising that prompted him to move back home.

Menon spoke to agencyfaqs! about why he chose to move to a much smaller agency when he decided to shift back to India. He counts off two reasons: “I took up my place at BEI firstly because India is currently packed with action, and secondly because I don’t see myself doing a regional role, but delivering quality advertising.”

Menon started off in the advertising industry in 1991 with Leo Burnett, where he worked on brands such as P&G and Cathay Pacific. After six years with Leo Burnett, he moved to FCB-Ulka in Mumbai, beginning his long association with FCB. In Mumbai, Menon worked on the Wipro consumer products account. When he moved to FCB’s Bangalore office, he took the Wipro business with him. In 2000, Menon worked with Contract as vice-president and worked on brands such as Asian Paints and Shopper’s Stop for a span of three years.

He was back at FCB in 2004, this time as general manager of its Sri Lanka operations. In Sri Lanka, Menon handled the key account of Fonterra and many others. In 2006, he moved to DraftFCB as head of its Indonesia office. While with DraftFCB, he worked on Kraft, SC Johnson and Sara Lee.

Menon has only words of praise for his previous organisation. “I need to work now in an environment which will give me freedom. Don’t want to be with an agency that’s shackled with the procedures of a multinational agency,” he adds.

Speaking of his plans at BEI Confluence, Menon reveals the hunger that the agency has: “We intend to concentrate on those smaller brands that are otherwise neglected at the bigger agencies.” The brands currently with BEI Confluence are the India Today Group, a part of Playwin and Sagem.

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