Gopal Krishnan joins Mudra as vice-president

Gopal Krishnan, ex business head, Rediffusion Y&R has moved to Mudra as vice-president. He will be based in Delhi and report to Ajay Naqvi, executive vice-president and head, North and East, Mudra. The news has been confirmed by sources close to the development.

Krishnan will mainly look after some key accounts, contributing to the overall growth of the agency.

Krishnan has spent a decade in advertising. In 1987, after completing MBA in marketing, he started his career with the Mudra Group. Next, he moved to Rediffusion Y&R, where he spent close to five years and was part of the team that launched Airtel in India. Airtel is one of the oldest and largest businesses handled by the agency since its launch.

This was followed by a two year stint with JWT. Krishnan joined TBWA in 2000 as account director for Yamaha and was promoted as general manager at the agency's Chennai office within a couple of years.

In 2004, he returned to Rediffusion Y&R as the head of its Chennai branch. Later, he moved to the agency's Delhi branch as business head for Airtel.

Recently, at Rediffusion Delhi, three business units were formed for Airtel – large, medium and small businesses. The Airtel business is now looked after by Amitesh Rao, who recently joined as national business head on the Airtel account.