BBDO India brings in planning head from New York branch

BBDO India, an Omnicom outfit, has brought in Sangeet Pillai as director, planning, from BBDO New York. While at the New York branch, Pillai was senior vice-president/ senior account planner.

Chris Thomas, chairman and chief executive officer, BBDO & Proximity Asia Pacific, says, “Pillai’s appointment is another great example of leveraging talent across the BBDO network. He has a deep understanding of the network, solid global planning skills and is highly experienced in leading developing markets. Sangeet will lead the global planning for emerging markets on Procter & Gamble’s Gillette brand while managing the planning for other projects in Mumbai.”

Pillai commenced his new role as head of planning at the agency this week; he will be based in Mumbai.

He has been with BBDO New York for the past three and a half years. While there, he played a global planning role on Procter & Gamble’s Gillette brand and was also a lead planner on the AT&T/ Cingular Wireless account. Prior to joining BBDO, Pillai spent eight years with the Leo Burnett Co. at its Chicago and Singapore offices, where he led planning and strategy development for a diverse client list, including Disney Corp., Coca-Cola Asia-Pacific, Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore Telecom and Heidelberg.

Josy Paul, chairman and national creative director, BBDO India, says, “We are thrilled to have Pillai on board. He has experience working with some of the world’s greatest brands and will bring with him global disciplines and cross-cultural learning. Pillai’s appointment signals exciting times for BBDO India as we move towards offering our clients and their brands a more progressive and distinctive path.”

Pillai says, “I am very excited about my transfer to BBDO India. I’m looking forward to establishing an exceptional planning team and delivering world class work that builds our clients’ business and gets international recognition.”