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McCann’s Imran Khan joins Rediffusion DY&R as director, client services
At Rediff, Khan will be in charge of brands such as Indian Oil Corporation, the Taj Group of Hotels and Wyeth
McCann-Erickson’s Imran Khan has moved to Rediffusion DY&R, Mumbai, as director, client services. At Rediff, Khan will work on three key brands, Indian Oil Corporation (Xtra Premium, Xtra Mile, Servo, Swagat and Xtra Care), the Taj Group of Hotels and Wyeth (Anacin and Disprin).
Confirming this to agencyfaqs!, Khan remarks, “It is not as though I was proactively looking for a change. Santosh Desai, Prasoon Joshi and Govind Pandey are excellent people to work with. McCann has been like a home to me for three years. It is just that after being ‘home’ for so long, I wanted to explore some uncharted territories. I happened to meet Ajay Varma of Rediffusion and things clicked.”
Talking about Rediffusion DY&R, Khan says, “Rediff has invested in and created some interesting brands such as Airtel. Despite strong players in that category, Airtel has become a case in point. What also struck me about the agency was the fact that despite being around for so long, it generally maintains a low profile.”
At McCann-Erickson, Khan was handling a large portfolio of brands, including Stayfree, Shaw Wallace, Director’s Special, Royal Challenge, Boots, Clearasil, Sweetex and Strepsil.
Khan started his career doing a part-time job with a production house, Gyan Correa Films, while he was still doing his BCom at SIES College, Mumbai. On completing his degree, Khan did a small stint as a sales executive with Maxtouch. Realising that he didn’t want to be selling mobiles, Khan entered the world of advertising with Clea Advertising as a management trainee. He went on to join Art Advertising, where he worked on Anchor Electricals.
His stint with big agencies started with Publicis India, where he worked on Garnier Nutrisse and Siemens. He also played a key role in Publicis acquiring STAR Gold as a client.
A year later, he moved on to O&M, where he handled brands such as Cadbury’s (Five Star and Perk) and the store, Globus. In 2000, Khan joined McCann-Erickson and he has been there ever since.
© 2006 agencyfaqs!