Bates 141 gets its NCD in Sagar Mahableshwarkar

Sagar Mahableshwarkar, chief creative officer, Rediffusion Y&R is all set to move to Bates141 as NCD, thus putting an end to the agency's search for a national creative director.

A graduate in fine arts, Mahableshwarkar started his career in advertising with Ogilvy Bengaluru but later moved to the agency's Mumbai office. At Ogilvy, he spent around 16 years of his career only to move to Rediffusion in 2007.

Mahableshwarkar had joined Rediff as CCO along with Ramanuj Shastry to co-head the agency's creative team. However the partnership did not last long as Shastry moved on to Saatchi & Saatchi as NCD, a year ago. Following Shastry's exit, Minakshi Achan was named the co-chief creative officer at Rediffusion.

At Ogilvy, Mahableshwarkar had worked with Sonal Dabral, who is currently chairman and regional creative director at Bates 141.

Dabral says in an official communiqué, "Bates 141 is going through a renaissance right now. We are putting great work at the centre of everything we do. Sagar's (Mahableshwarkar) passion and his hunger for great ideas will be critical in helping realise this vision."

Mahableshwarkar comments that joining Bates 141 is like coming back home for him. He says, "I have worked with Sonal (Dabral) before and happy to be in that place again. In both Sonal (Dabral) and Pat (Sandeep Pathak), I found shared passion and vision to create great work and I am confident that it will be a successful partnership. Bates 141 has a good portfolio of clients, on which we can up the creative ante immediately. Pathak is CEO, Bates 141.

In his 14-year career, he has won numerous national and international awards. His awards include a gold Lion (Press and Poster category) at the Cannes International Advertising Festival 2002 for his take on the Marlboro ad for passive smoking for the Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA).

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