Ajay Chandwani, president, SSC&B Lintas quits

Ajay Chandwani, president, SSC&B Lintas, has called it a day. He is serving his three month-notice period at the moment. January 30, 2005 will be his last working day at the Mumbai office of SSC&B Lintas.

Chandwani's resignation brings an end to his decade-long tenure at SSC&B Lintas, an agency that he, in association with Alyque Padamsee (then chief executive, Lintas), Prem Mehta (now, chairman & MD, Lowe), had founded in 1994.

After ten years as the president of SSC&B Lintas, Chandwani has decided that it's time to move on. "I have quit for personal reasons. I have been associated with Lowe and SSC&B Lintas for 17 years. That is a long time...now I feel that I have to move on to other things. But I must say that it has been a very soul-satisfying experience."

Chandwani is yet to determine the future course of his professional career. He is weighing some options but remains undecided at the moment.

When the issues of SSC&B Lintas' not-very-remarkable performance in the recent past and the loss of big brands such as Tata Motors and Hyundai were raised, Chandwani defended by saying that the agency has maintained a steady growth.

"The billings has remained in the region of Rs 100 crore for the past four years. Videocon is one of our biggest clients. The good part is that Hyundai, the business we lost, has decided to shake hands with us again." SSC&B Lintas is working for Hyundai on project basis for the automobile major's tactical advertising.

Chandwani's only regret is the loss of the Tata Motors business. "We had launched the Tata Safari, the Siera and the Sumo. And, the campaigns were quite successful."

Interestingly, after Chandwani's departure, no one would be replacing him. "The branch heads are doing a great job and the agency is functioning well enough. Perhaps there may not be a need for a president...the management has to decide."

It was in the year 1980, when Chandwani had launched his career in advertising with Grant Kenyon & Eckhardt (which was later merged with Contract). At Grant Kenyon, Chandwani worked on Colgate Palmolive's dental cream, toothpowder and Halo Shampoo. And, it was in this agency, the 'Ring of Confidence' campaign of Colgate toothpaste (remember the Sangeeta Bijlani campaign?) was conceived. In fact, the same campaign ran on air for nine years, without a trace of change.

Once JWT (then HTA) bought out Grant Kenyon & Eckhardt in 1985, Contract moved into the office of Grant Kenyon & Eckhardt. Chandwani had moved to JWT the same year. Around the same time, Mike Khanna, who was the branch manager of JWT moved to Mumbai as the chief executive. Chandwani's experience in hair care and oral care came in handy. At JWT, he worked on HLL's Sunsilk and Clinic.

Two years hence, that is in 1987, Chandwani joined Lowe (Lintas). The next three years were considered the 'golden' era of the agency. Lintas jumped from the number six slot to number two during this time.

"I was then heading new business development across all offices and we brought in 35 new businesses in three years. That was incredible!" Chandwani exclaimed. Prominent among those businesses were Close Up, Fair & Lovely, Pears, Britannia, Tata Motors, Philips, Modi Xerox, ITC, IDBI and JM Mutual.

Given the bulk of the business with Lowe and its appetite for growth through acquisition of conflicting businesses, Karishma was launched. When that agency floundered, the Lintas India management took the brand name 'SSC&B' from an old acquisition in the US, and added the famous 'Lintas' suffix. This is how SSC&B Lintas was born, Chandwani explains.

SSC&B Lintas was created for purely conflicting businesses, and the expectation was simply superior creative output. Chandwani was made the president of SSC&B Lintas.

"Lintas was always sound in strategy but not so much in creative," says Chandwani. The mandate for the agency was to focus on international awards. In 1996, India won its first Gold Lion at Cannes, when SSC&B Lintas won the metal for its print campaign on mosquito repellent Hexit. "And thereon, we have won over 100 international awards."

To make a mention of some of his achievements, Chandwani was the Advertising Manager of The Year in 1999 and in two occasions each, he has been on the Jury of Golden Awards of Montreux, and on the Jury of New York Festival.

There are still three months to go before Chandwani calls it a day at SSC&B Lintas. In the meantime, it is wildlife photography and safaris...

© 2004 agencyfaqs!