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Scarecrow Communications plans big for Delhi; ropes in Anindya Banerjee as ECD
The agency that had been handling the creative work for its Delhi clients from Mumbai is now looking at the capital city more seriously; Banerjee will now head the creative function for Scarecrow in Delhi.
Scarecrow Communications is adding new businesses to its kitty, across branches. It has also decided to take its Delhi branch more seriously than before, and is looking to expand its team, as well as relocate to a bigger office space.
The agency, so far, had been handling the creative work for its Delhi businesses such as Religare Broking, Religare Health Insurance, and Bharat Petroleum from Mumbai, but with more significant accounts in the pipeline and the scale of operations increasing, founder director Raghu Bhat says that it is about time, Scarecrow aggressively plans the future of its Delhi branch.
On joining Scarecrow, Banerjee says, "I have known Joy Sengupta, Manish Bhatt and Raghu Bhat (founder directors, Scarecrow Communications) for almost 15 years. And, every time we have worked together, there were good vibes. The joie-de-vivre that emanated from creating wonderful work without losing out on the objective of the campaign, could be felt."
Says Banerjee, "I have always believed in the power of an independent agency. So, when this opportunity came, I grabbed it."
Starting out in 1995 as a management trainee in Contract Advertising, Banerjee joined Ogilvy in 2000 as a creative consultant, and worked on brands such as Allen Solly, Louis Philippe, Weekender Clothing, 3M, IBM, Deccan Herald, Titan Watches, and Bru Coffee. Heading to Ogilvy Delhi in 2005 as associate creative director, but after a year he returned to Contract in 2006 as creative director. He did a two-year stint at Publicis between 2008 and 2010 as senior creative director before joining Law & Kenneth.
"Banerjee will provide great creative leadership in Delhi. His equity comes from the work he has done. He will also attract great talent and will make Scarecrow Delhi a happy and creative place to work at. With his arrival, we will be able to compete more effectively with Delhi-based agencies in new business pitches," add Bhat (Manish) and Sengupta.
Banerjee acknowledges that the task ahead is challenging and is betting on good creative work as the calling card.
"My immediate mandate is to get Scarecrow Delhi up and running from day one. That includes a crack creative team that will be as much the envy of other agencies, as for clients, who I hope will wish had an agency like Scarecrow. My mandate also includes adding to the roster of clients that we already have. We are in talks with a few of them," he says.