Ashwini Gangal
Advertising

Ravikumar C and Manoj Jacob join Meridian Bengaluru; to head creative function

The art-copy duo moves in from Euro RSCG India.

Ravikumar C and Manoj Jacob have joined Meridian Bengaluru to head the agency's creative function. The creative duo moved in on March 1. They bring in 12 years of industry experience with them.

The duo moves in from Euro RSCG India, where they held the position of creative directors. They left the agency earlier this year.

Ravikumar C and Manoj Jacob join Meridian Bengaluru; to head creative function
Ravikumar C and Manoj Jacob join Meridian Bengaluru; to head creative function
Ravikumar and Jacob joined Euro Delhi as an art-copy team in September 2009. During the latter part of this stint, Ravikumar moved to the agency's Mumbai office, to head the art department. At Euro, the team worked on brands such as Dettol, Lyzol, Baskin-Robbins, Easy Off Bang, and Colin, and also worked closely on the launch campaign for INQ Mobile phones in India.

Earlier, the duo was with Ogilvy Bengaluru, Meridian's parent agency, for a couple of years.

Citing the lure of a bigger and better role as one of the main reasons for the move, Jacob tells afaqs! that at Meridian, he is looking forward to actively pitching for new businesses.

"We want to focus on expanding the creative team by sourcing new creative talent and fetching more awards for the agency!" he enthuses. He adds that he looks forward to working on brand Himalaya as he has worked on it during his days at Contract Advertising a few years ago. "I like Meridian's creative-led culture," adds Jacob.

Ravikumar concurs, "At Meridian, I look forward to working on all the accounts; key ones include Himalaya, Bengaluru International Airport, and Arvind (including, Megamart)."

Shenaz Bapooji, senior vice-president and head, office management, Meridian Communications Bengaluru, says, "I am sure Ravi and Manoj will play an invaluable role in driving the future charter of Meridian Bengaluru."

Before plunging into the advertising industry, Jacob dabbled in marketing. He worked for various companies such as India Today (selling space for its C&I directory, and TAG), Sonok Telecom (marketing mobile phones, pagers and fax machines), and Paramount Power (marketing diesel generator sets).

He began his advertising experience as a copywriter at Bengaluru's Graphic Arts Industry before joining Disha Communications (Bengaluru) as copy supervisor. After spending three years at Disha, Jacob moved on to Contract Advertising, Bengaluru, where he worked as creative consultant for another three years.

Soon after this, Ogilvy happened; Jacob was associate creative director at the agency's Bengaluru branch and stayed there for the next two years. The next stop for Jacob was Euro RSCG, where he joined as creative director.

Jacob has worked on brands such as Knock Out, Tiffany's, Nilgiris Supermarket, Himalaya, AMD, Shell, Kerala Ayurveda Pharmacy, Fosters and Haywards.

Ravikumar, too, had an interesting start to his career, beginning as a wall and hoarding painter in Kerala before moving into the world of advertising. His very first job in this industry was that of a visualiser at Kochi's Guide+Cornet. Later, after a stint at Bengaluru's IB&W Communications as senior visualiser, Ravikumar joined Bengaluru's Disha Communications as art director.

His next assignment was at JWT's Bengaluru branch as senior art director for two years. Subsequently, he became creative team leader (group head) at McCann Erickson Bengaluru. After spending a year at McCann, Ravikumar donned the hat of associate creative director for the next two years at Ogilvy Bengaluru. He has worked on accounts such as Van Heusen, V Dot, Knorr Soup, Lipton, Cafe Coffee Day, Levi's, Britannia, TVS, Fosters, Haywards 5000, Haywards Black, and Fortune Cooking Oil.

The duo met at Disha Communications in 2003, after which they parted ways; Ravikumar went on to join JWT, and later McCann. Jacob moved to Contract. They got together eventually at Ogilvy and have been a team since then.

In the course of their careers, both Ravikumar and Jacob have received several accolades for their work, including recognition at award shows such as Cannes, Clio, The One Show, AdFest Asia, the Abby Awards, Bengaluru Ad Club, and Cochin Ad Club.

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