Alok Agrawal to spearhead new philosophy at Cheil

Cheil India is gearing up to become more competitive with the appointment of Alok Agrawal as its chief operating officer.

Agrawal joined the agency in June. Earlier, he was executive vice-president, Bates 141, where he had been working for five years. He has also headed the client servicing division at Grey Advertising and was group account director, Euro RSCG.

Speaking to afaqs!, Agrawal says, "We will announce a new philosophy to make us more competitive. It will be focused on taking a more integrated approach to brands. Like other agencies, we don't have a profit-centre approach where there is no common vision for the brand. We will concentrate on creating common brand strategies."

Prathap Suthan, national creative director, Cheil, tells afaqs!, "Alok and I have worked together at Grey for five years, where some of our most creative campaigns happened, including the Incredible India campaign. Ever since I quit (Grey), I have wanted to get him back in the team. Alok will bring in his objective thinking, which we need since he is a sound strategic thinker."

Suthan and Agrawal will work as a team in which Suthan will handle the creative functions and Agrawal, the strategic functions. Both will report to the management at Cheil Worldwide.