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Pickle Lintas undergoes restructuring as Lowe Lintas absorbs Mumbai and Bengaluru branches

The agency will now function out of Delhi with Rahul Jauhari as national creative director.

Pickle Lintas has witnessed a major restructuring nearly three years after its launch. Started in 2008 as Lowe Lintas India's second agency in India, Pickle's Mumbai and Bengaluru branches have been absorbed by Lowe. Pickle, henceforth, will continue to run as a Delhi-based agency.

Pickle Lintas undergoes restructuring as Lowe Lintas absorbs Mumbai and Bengaluru branches
It is learnt that in late December 2010, a memo was circulated within the agencies, announcing the transfer of business and employees from Pickle to Lowe by chief executive officer Joseph George. When contacted by afaqs!, George says, "We have restructured Pickle Lintas. It will now operate from our Delhi office, instead of Mumbai. It will, however, have representative offices in a few cities."

"Rahul Jauhari, national creative director, Pickle Lintas will continue to head Pickle Lintas creative while Kevin D'Souza, managing director, Pickle Lintas will continue to head the Branded Content division of Pickle Lintas," George adds.

A reliable source close to the development tells afaqs! that both Jauhari and D'Souza will take up additional responsibilities at Lowe Lintas.

The source adds that the decision was taken purely from a business perspective as the Delhi branch was proving to be much more viable than Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Pickle Lintas undergoes restructuring as Lowe Lintas absorbs Mumbai and Bengaluru branches
Also, since the Mumbai and Bengaluru branches did not handle conflicting accounts (with Lowe), it was easier to absorb the businesses.

According to George, while the current accounts have been moved to Lowe, it "may not be so for newer ones in future".

Significant accounts handled by the Bengaluru and Mumbai branches of pickle included United Spirits and DKT (Zaroor condoms) among others. The agency in Mumbai has also worked on brands such as SAB TV, Tikona and Maxx Mobile, but has parted ways with the companies in the recent past.

The Delhi branch works on accounts such as Dabur Vatika, Volvo, DLF and Nestea among others. The creative function of the branch is headed by executive creative director, Sujit Das who joined Pickle in October last year from McCann Erickson, Bengaluru.

For the record, Interpublic Group (IPG) floated Pickle as Lowe's second agency to handle conflicting businesses. With the development, SSC&B Lintas, Lowe's second agency in India till then, ceased to exist, with businesses and employees being transferred to Pickle.

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