Mudra West appoints Amit Kekre as planning head

Mudra India has brought on board Amit Kekre and appointed him as head, planning, for Mudra West. In his new role, Kekre will oversee the planning function for the agency's leading accounts, which include Future Group, LIC, Godrej, Emirates, HCC, Lavasa, The Economic Times, Huwaei, Femina and Philips-Electrolux.

On the development, Arijit Ray, president, Mudra West, says, "Kekre embodies the credentials required to give Mudra West the right impetus in the planning function. With his experience across categories as diverse as automotive, fashion, lifestyle, travel and tourism, financial services, and FMCG, in various capacities within India and abroad, he is the right person to take the collaborative partnership across planning, creative and business management to the next level."

Kekre began his career in advertising with Ambience Advertising (now Publicis Ambience) in 1996. He spent the first four years of his career in account management starting with the Marico account at Ambience. He moved to Lowe Lintas in 1998 working on the Unilever business, before moving to account planning within the agency in 2000.

He has also had stints as a planner at JWT, Ogilvy, and Everest, in Mumbai.

"I believe 'people' are the best education one can have in life and in our business, particularly in planning. The challenge for planners today is not just to find innovative and insightful ways of studying people and consumer culture, but to be also able to project and transmit it in a way that it breaks the stereotype of planning being a silo style department," says Kekre, about his new role.

"I am hopeful that Mudra's collaborative, team driven culture will help planning be a force that comes from people, works with people, but never comes in the way of people," he adds.