Shamni Pande
News

Dileep Ashoka takes charge of McCann-Erickson, Bangalore

Dileep Ashoka, vice-president and general manager, has taken charge as branch head, replacing incumbent Girish Raj

There has been a quiet change of guard at McCann-Erickson, Bangalore, where Dileep Ashoka, vice-president and general manager, has taken charge as branch head. He takes over from Girish Raj. "I took formal charge in January this year. The process of transition was phased out over a period of three months," he told agencyfaqs!.

According him, this was necessitated because Girish, vice-president and general manager, is on a sabbatical. "Girish has not quit McCann nor has he joined any other ad agency. In fact, he is still involved with McCann, Bangalore, in the capacity of a consultant," Ashoka said.

Interesting nuggets of information from well-placed sources suggest that McCann-Erickson's Bangalore branch actually topped the list as the best outfit in the McCann-Erickson network in India. This internal assessment was done about two years ago and it also pointed to the fact that the agency was almost like ‘an island' in terms of business generation and teamwork.

Sources went on to suggest that such a good report could have led to the branch becoming a little too complacent last year. On their part, agency executives were quick to point out that this slump had nothing to do with Raj's ability but was the result of a general slowdown across the industry. While details of the branch's billing figures were not available, sources say the branch could be easily accounting for over Rs 40 crore in terms of billings.

Ashoka, meanwhile, is quite an old hand at the agency having put in eight years at the organisation. He was with Contract before and has also had a short stint at O&M, Bangalore. He has worked top Bangalore-based accounts including TVS, Lipton and United Breweries.

Ashoka assumes charge at a time when McCann-Erickson, Bangalore, is in need of a critical push. The branch, however, handles some lucrative accounts such as BPL Mobile, BPL Home Appliances, Celstream Technologies, C Krishniah Chetty & Sons (jewellers), GE Lighting, Kwality Wall's, ITC Foods, Japan Tobacco International, Levi's Jeans and Dockers business casuals, Padmini Aggarbattis, ProFx Audio Systems, Tata Tea (Chakra Gold Tea) and TVS (corporate, mopeds, Max and Scooty). Incidentally, McCann-Erickson bagged a Silver (Press Colour) at the recent Madras Ad Club Awards - Spark 2002 - for its Levi's ad. © 2002 agencyfaqs!

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com