Tequila gives Mathew additional responsibility

John Mathew, national creative director of Tequila, the marketing services arm of TBWA India, has been given additional responsibilities at the agency as its managing director. He will report to Shiv Sethuraman, chief executive officer, TBWA India.

Mathew joined TBWA India almost two years ago as creative director, but after a year, moved to Tequila as executive creative director. Since then, he has been working on setting up and grooming the specialised creative teams of the agency.

Mathew says in an official communiqué, “Tequila is exciting because the high it offers is quite special. It's a rare blend of disruption, new creative formats and creative accountability. It's all about solving marketing problems creatively, producing measurable results. It also offers a range of flavours. Seeing the results of your work sit impressively on an Excel sheet is kind of heady.”

Mathew shares with afaqs! his joint mandate as managing director and national creative director. He says, “My plan now is to build up Tequila countrywide, making it one of the top companies to offer end-to-end integrated marketing solutions.”

He adds, “The timing couldn't have been better because the economic slowdown is making clients more focussed about asking for the maximum ROI (return on investment) on their spends. I'll say these are very exciting times to navigate our company to bigger successes.”

Mathew has acquired diverse experience by being in the industry for more than 20 years. He has worked with several agencies, including MAA Communications, Leo Burnett, Mudra and TBWAIndia at various levels in the creative function. He has also headed creative teams in web design and usability in India and abroad.

Sethuraman says in an official communiqué, “I cannot think of a more talented, committed and articulate leader for Tequila. John comes with hands-on experience in every aspect of the business and, more importantly, you would seldom see a creative leader who is as obsessed with effectiveness and ROI.”

He adds, “He is a passionate practitioner of disruption and what he calls 'creative accountability'. His appointment will take Tequila a long way in delivering disruptive and effective consumer engagement programmes to its clients. I look forward to working alongside John to build the Tequila name in India.”

Tequila offers marketing solutions in retail, activation, digital and brand design, spanning all aspects of below-the-line consumer engagement. Mathew says that Tequila is expanding its capabilities with an ambitious growth target. The agency currently handles BTL accounts such as Pedigree, Sandisk, SPAR and Gold Plus from Tata, besides providing marketing services to several TBWAIndia group clients.