Iris is Ranjeev Vij's new destination

Vij will join the agency in the role of board director

Ranjeev Vij had stepped down as vice-president and business director, BBDO, a few days ago. Reliable sources confirm that he is to join experiential advertising and marketing agency, Iris Nation, as board director.

Vij is learnt to be flagging off the innings at his new destination on Monday, August 10, 2009. Since Vij has a bent towards new media and platforms beyond traditional advertising, Iris was a natural choice for him.

He spent a year at BBDO, where he headed the Hewlett Packard (HP) imaging and printing business, and was also responsible for new business projects.

Vij, in the business of advertising for 15 years now, began his career with RK Swamy/BBDO in 1994 as an account executive. A year later, he moved to Bates 141 (then Enterprise Nexus) as senior account executive. He spent four years at Bates, where he worked closely on the launch of Sony Wega and Handycam.

In 1999, he joined Ogilvy (then Ogilvy & Mather), where he was assigned the role of group head on the Vatika shampoo business. Two years later, he moved to Lowe, as brand services director on the Nestlé confectionery business.

His second stint at Bates followed -- in 2002, he re-joined the agency as account director. In 2004, he moved to Rediffusion Y&R (then Rediffusion DY&R) as client services director. He was given the responsibility of the brand unification of Bharti Airtel's three businesses -- Airtel mobile services, Airtel broadband and fixed line services and Airtel enterprise services. From there, he went on to take care of Airtel mobility services, nationally.

Vij joined Vyas Giannetti Creative (VGC) in 1997 as associate vice-president. He has also worked at DraftFCB Ulka (then FCB Ulka) for a short period.

Some of the brands that Vij has worked on include Pepsi Foods (Quaker Oats), Real Broadcasting, General Motors, Whirlpool, LG and Dabur Vatika.

When contacted by afaqs!, Alok Lall, managing director, Iris, refused to divulge any details on Vij's joining. Vij, too, wasn't available at the time of filing the report.

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