Sign up for afaqs! Newsletters
He joined the agency in 2011.
Neeraj Bassi, president planning, Ogilvy & Mather, Delhi has put in his papers, confirmed highly placed sources to afaqs! His next move is still not known. A seasoned advertising and marketing professional, Bassi joined Ogilvy in 2011 and took the role of head of planning in August. He was promoted to president - planning in July 2012 with 360' responsibilities (Ogilvy Action, PR and Digital). In the current role, he heads the planning function for advertising, digital, action and PR along with coaching the agency's planning team.
His tryst with the advertising industry started in 2004 when he joined Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai where he worked on key clients including Cadbury India and Asian Paints. Three years later, he shifted to Dubai and joined JWT as head of planning, leading a team of four strategic planners, handling key clients of the agency's Dubai office like HSBC, Nestle and Unilever.
Bassi's second stint with Ogilvy came in 2009 when he joined as VP- planning, working on brands like Cadbury Bournvita, Asian Paints, Castrol, Ceat, Kodak and IDBI Federal. He was later promoted to president, planning in 2011.
Throughout his career, he has worked on brands across categories - FMCG (Cadbury, Coke, Nestle), Banking & Insurance (HSBC, Max Life), Food Retail (KFC), Liquor (Pernod Ricard, Diageo), Household Durables (Voltas, Asian Paints) and Lubricants (Castrol).
Bassi has conducted Fusion and Big ideal training at Ogilvy Delhi, DayOne workshops at JWT Dubai, Needscope studies at TNS Mumbai and Link analysis for IMRB Bangalore. Apart from this, he is also a guest lecturer at MICA (his alma mater) and Northpoint.
Recently, Ayan Banik, vice president - planning, Ogilvy & Mather had also resigned.
It is to be noted that Ogilvy & Mather India has recently announced a new management structure effective March 1, 2015. Apart from promotions, the agency has also expanded its board. Kunal Jeswani has been promoted to CEO, Hufrish Birdy to CFO, Kawal Shoor to national planning director at Ogilvy & Mather India. Hephzibah Pathak will assume a new role of global clients' director.