JWT India appoints Pinaki Bhattacharya as national planning director

Pinaki Bhattacharya has been appointed national planning director (NPD), J Walter Thompson (JWT) India, an integrated communications company that specialises in advertising, digital, activation, public relations, direct marketing, design, social, and rural communications. He has been with JWT for over six years. In his last role as senior vice-president and executive planning director, Bhattacharya has been the planning lead on many of the marque brands in the agency's Delhi office.

With over 20 years of experience, Bhattacharya has worked across diverse categories such as food and beverage, nutrition, confectionery, technology, automobile, and durables. Besides building brands and creating winning solutions for brands, Bhattacharya is a fabulous team leader and mentor to young planners.

In his new role as NPD, Bhattacharya, along with Mythili Chandrasekar (NPD), will work closely with Bindu Sethi, chief strategy officer, JWT, to champion the just launched, new JWT way of working called The Pioneering Process.

Commenting about his new role, Bhattacharya says, "It's been six wonderful years of working on and learning from some of the most exciting brands and interesting categories. The new role gives me a wider canvas of brands and people that I hope to influence and help grow. To take on new roles and challenges that are otherwise daunting seem easier when you are at JWT because of the wonderful and absolutely top class teams and leaders that one is surrounded with, from both within the agency, as well as our client organisations."

Announcing Bhattacharya's appointment, Tarun Rai, CEO, JWT, South Asia, says, "The planning function has always been JWT's strong suit. After all, we invented the planning function in New York way back in 1968. With so much disruption in just about every aspect of marketing and communication, planning as a function assumes even greater importance today. The focus of JWT planning is on solving our clients' business problems and our new collaborative process - The Pioneering Process - seeks to do just that. Sethi now has two senior colleagues in (Mythili) Chandrasekar and (Pinaki) Bhattacharya to lead the largest team of planners in India."

"Bhattacharya is a real asset to the team. There are few senior planners in India who are able to bring consumer insight into category and brand solution thinking. Chandrasekar adds another dimension to our trio by giving a unique creative edge to the planning thinking process," says Sethi.

Bhattacharya, a cricket buff, tries to find time to interact with and share his experience with students of management across different institutes. He is also a keen follower of political developments around the world.