Saatchi & Saatchi gets senior V-P, planning, Delhi and Bengaluru

Pinaki Bhattacharya, head, planning, DraftFCB Ulka, has been appointed senior vice-president, planning, Delhi and Bengaluru, at Saatchi & Saatchi.

Bhattacharya will be based in Delhi, but also oversee the functions of the Bengaluru branch. He will report to Kamal Basu, chief executive officer, Saatchi & Saatchi, and work closely with Sanjib Dey, executive vice-president and branch head, Delhi, for the group’s Delhi operations.

In a career spanning 15 years, Bhattacharya has spent around seven years with DraftFCB Ulka. He began his career with Contract in 1994 in the client servicing function. Two and a half years later, he joined TBWA (then TBWA Anthem). He was at TBWA for about four years.

Across agencies, he has worked on accounts such as Whirlpool, Tropicana, Benetton, GSK's Horlicks, Titan's Xylys launch and Bank of America’s retail products. He has also worked on Hero Honda, specifically Pleasure and the launch of Hunk, PepsiCo's Lays and Kurkure, General Motors' Chevrolet and Tavera, and the recasting of Godfrey Phillips' brands such as Cavanders and Red & White.

Bhattacharya’s interests, apart from advertising, are reading (mostly Indian authors), keenly following cricket internationally the world, and keeping abreast of developments in the field of medicine.