Antara Ghosal
Advertising

Grey Mumbai finds its new ECD in Karan Rawat

Karan Rawat will report to Amit Akali and Malvika Mehra, national creative directors at the agency

Karan Rawat has been appointed executive creative director, Grey India, Mumbai. In his new role, his copy partner will be Rohit Malkani and he will report to Amit Akali and Malvika Mehra, national creative directors at the agency. Rawat will join office with effect from June 1.

Grey Mumbai finds its new ECD in Karan Rawat
Rawat has been in the advertising industry for about 13 years and has worked on brands such as Killer Jeans, Times of India, Femina, Ravissant, ICICI credit cards, Smirnoff, Coke, Fanta, Inorbit Mall, Mother's Recipe, Filmfare and NECC.

He started his career with McCann Erickson as a visualiser in 1997. Within a year, he joined JWT (then HTA) and stayed there for four years. Subsequently, he joined Enterprise Nexus (Bates India) as creative director in 2006 and spent six years at the organisation. Rawat is currently working as executive creative director on the Killer Jeans and Easies accounts, apart from developing a script for a movie.

Rawat has been the recipient of many creative awards including the prestigious Gold at the Abby for Best Campaign in 2001 as well a Gold and Silver Abby for Best Art Direction in the year 2007. His work on Killer has won awards since 2002, other campaigns to win awards include those for NECC, Times of India, Smirnoff and Ravissant.

He also has a passion for filmmaking. Apart from shooting commercials with international directors, he has worked very closely on the Hindi movie, Sarkar Raj, as an assistant to director Ram Gopal Verma, looking after functions such as character development, song sequences, montages and development of scenes.

While talking to afaqs!, Rawat says, "About a decade ago, in the 90's, Trikaya Grey was a dream agency to work in. It was one of the very few agencies to come out with great advertising, with a good mix of great copy and brilliant art direction. Back then, they had a solid team comprising Alok Nanda, Kannad Banerjee, Preeti Vyas, Nalesh and Ganga, Vikas Gaitonde, to name a few. As a youngster in the profession, I always wanted to work in Grey."

Rawat adds, "Right now, Grey is on a changing spree and is creating a talent pool within the agency. I'm really excited to be a part of it and am looking forward to working closely with Amit, Malvika and my copy partner, Rohit Malkani. Together, we will strive hard to bring in change within the agency and once again make Grey the 'dream place' for all."

This is the first creative hire made by Amit Akali and Malvika Mehra who has moved to grey as NCDs in the beginning of the year. Commenting on the appointment, Amit Akali says, "The great thing about Karan is that not only has he consistently won awards but that he has contributed significantly to building brands like Killer. He is somebody who is respected by clients, his peers and his juniors". Malvika Mehra further adds, "We're pleased to welcome Karan on board as ECD art and Joint Creative Head of Grey Mumbai. Together he and Rohit will make a formidable team. And we look forward to working closely with them to create some great work for Grey Mumbai."

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