Management changes at Rediffusion; Mahesh Chauhan bids adieu

Chauhan shall serve his notice period till the end of December. D Rajappa, who moves in from Everest Brand Solutions, shall join Rediffusion as president, while Dhunji Wadia moves in as president at Everest.

Rediffusion has sure made headlines this year for a variety of reasons, the latest in line being some key management changes. Mahesh Chauhan, group chief executive officer, Rediffusion Y&R, has put in his papers. He is currently serving his notice period, which will go on till the end of December, 2010.

Heading Rediffusion in the capacity of president will be D Rajappa, who moves in from Rediff's sister concern, Everest Brand Solutions. Earlier, Rajappa was president at Everest.

Stepping into Rajappa's shoes at Everest as president will be Dhunji Wadia, who had quit JWT in May 2010 as senior vice-president and managing partner.

Coincidentally, this is the second time that Rajappa shall take over from Chauhan aka Mash; in 2006, when Chauhan moved out of Everest to head Rediffusion, Rajappa had taken over the reins at Everest from him.

Confirming his move to afaqs!, Chauhan says that he shall be on a break and a mix of personal and professional reasons have prompted his decision. "My family has shifted to Bengaluru so I have been shuttling to and fro for quite a while," he states, which was becoming a bit of an issue.

Further, after Rediff's big ticket clients such as Airtel and Colgate moved out of the agency, questions were raised on the manner in which the agency's functioning was being taken care of. "Yes, Rediffusion lost some body with such businesses moving out of the agency. However, my leaving the agency back then would have been a wrong decision. After losing those businesses, Rediff has also won some 10-12 key businesses and is back on an upward swing again. I can safely say I am leaving the agency on a strong wicket," he shrugs.

For the record, Chauhan assumed the role of group CEO at Rediffusion in August, 2008. Prior to that, he was president at the agency for two years. He had moved to Rediff from Everest Brand Solutions, where he spent four years and was instrumental in the agency undergoing a rebranding exercise.

The IIT Mumbai graduate has also worked at Ogilvy India for six years.

Rajappa has been in the advertising industry for the last 22 years. He began his career in 1988 with McCann Erickson, New Delhi and moved on to Interact Vision, before joining Rediffusion - Y&R in 1994. Having spent more than 12 years at the agency, Rajappa has managed some of its prestigious clientele, including Airtel and GPI. In 2003, Rajappa assumed the role of CEO, Rediffusion -Y&R, Sri Lanka, after which he moved to Everest as president.

Wadia, on the other hand, has spent about 25 years in the advertising industry, 18 of which were at JWT. He has worked on major national and international brands such as Nike, Levi Strauss, Jockey, Unilever, Diamond Trading Co., Kellogg, Standard Chartered, Warner Lambert and Bosch.

He set up the Diamond Marketing Group in India for the Diamond Trading Company in 1995. In 1997, he took on the role of regional business manager for Unilever's home and personal care division for Central Asia, North Africa and Middle East region (CAME region). He was responsible for the turnaround of JWT Bangalore during his stint. He was appointed managing partner of JWT Mumbai in 2008. He also took up P&L responsibilities for Fortune Communications and RMG.