Meridian makes changes in creative leadership

To further strengthen its creative desk, Anuraag Khandelwal and Satish deSa have been moved to Meridian from Ogilvy. Both are promoted as executive creative directors. The duo will report to Samrat Bedi, head, Meridian Mumbai.

In an official communiqué, Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and chief creative officer, Ogilvy Group South Asia, says, "Meridian has found itself two young men who are very ambitious and full of exciting ideas. I have asked them to take Meridian to a place that gives their friends at Ogilvy sleepless nights. I am sure it will be healthy competition and result in some great advertising on both sides of the family."

"The passion Khandelwal and deSa have for new age work is remarkable. Their recent IPL 'Carnival' campaign attests to that. And, that's exactly the kind of fresh creative energy that Meridian needs today," says Bedi.

DeSa, who holds an honours degree in Chemistry from St. Xavier's College Mumbai, started his career with Everest Brand Solutions in 2000. In 2005 he shifted to Ogilvy as copy supervisor and was later gradually promoted as creative supervisor, creative controller, and associate creative director.

Khandelwal started his career with Ambience Publicis as visualiser before moving to Ogilvy in 2000.

The duo, having spent a major part of their careers at Ogilvy, is behind the creation of campaigns for Tata Motors, IPL, Cadbury, Tata Sky, Aegon Religare Life Insurance, Unilever's beverages, Oberoi Realty and Hutch.