Leo Burnett India beefs up its management team

agencyfaqs! News Bureau

NEW DELHI, October 11

Soon after setting a Rs 500-crore billing goal, Leo Burnett India has announced a beef up of its management team. The former executive director of Mudra, Rahul Kansal, 43, is joining the team. At Mudra, Kansal was responsible for the agency's Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta operations. He also oversaw Mudra's two specialist divisions, Mudra Interactive and Primesite Outdoor.

An MBA from IIM Calcutta, Kansal, during his tenure at head of Mudra, Delhi, attracted some exceptional creative talent as well clients like Frito Lay, Samsung, Honda. In fact, he was seen as the heir apparent at India's fourth ranking agency.

It is this expertise that the company is now planning to leverage.

Says Arvind Sharma, managing director of Leo Burnett India, "There's a lot happening at CLB. We have launched Cyber Leo, and are launching Leo Entertainment. Rahul (Kansal) with his background in client servicing will be a perfect match with our strength and focus on great creative products."

The company is investing a lot of time and resources into exploring new media and technology areas. The idea is to keep CLB ahead of the competition, Sharma added.

In addition to conventional advertising, the Indian arm of the Chicago-based agency recently launched a number of initiatives including Starcom - a specialist media unit - and CyberLeo for consultancy to dotcom clients.

The agency's global vice-chairman, Michael Conrad, who was in India recently revealed that the agency is also scouting for the right technology partners to help it leverage India's latent strengths in the digital communications arena for its global network.

One of CLB's bigger clients is Coke. Company sources reveal that Kansal will be responsible for "the brand's servicing or support" and feel that "the creative strength of Leo will be complemented by the business strength of Kansal".

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