Big Catch: Law & Kenneth ropes in Rana Barua, Amardeep Singh and Samir Datar

Law & Kenneth has made some senior level appointments. The agency has appointed Rana Barua as chief operating officer, Amardeep Singh as chief creative officer and Samir Datar as senior vice-president, strategic planning.

In his new role, Singh will take care of the creative business in the North and East. He will report to Charles Victor, national creative director, Law & Kenneth. Datar has been brought on board to primarily look after the ITC business. He will work closely with Singh on this business and will report to Sandhya Srinivasan, managing partner and chief strategy officer, Law & Kenneth.

Confirming the news to afaqs!, Nair says, "These appointments are in line with taking Law & Kenneth to the next level. We no longer compete with mid-size agencies. Our competition is now against the biggies of advertising such as Ogilvy, JWT and Ulka. We wanted to set up a leadership team in sync with this plan. We needed that kind of leadership stature that will help drive growth and take the agency to the next level."

Barua moves in from Red 93.5 FM, where he was COO. He quit the radio station in January. Before that, he was with Radio City for four years as head, marketing and programming. With 17 years of management experience, Barua has skills leveraged across global and local brands in agencies such as Ogilvy, McCann and Rediffusion-Y&R with demonstrated creativity and business success.

On joining Law & Kenneth, Barua says, "I was clear that my stint with radio was getting limited with expansion plans miles away. And, my understanding and exposure to the ever-evolving media space over the last six years made me realise that my expertise would come in best with the changing Indian advertising and communication solutions environment. And then, Anil Nair showed me the picture of a rock solid agency. Undoubtedly, Law & Kenneth is the one of the fastest growing agencies which is a true believer of building brands in the country and my mandate is to be a catalyst and a partner in this growth."

Singh has worked with agencies such as Mudra, Trikaya Grey, McCann Erickson, Contract, Dentsu Communications, M&C Saatchi and Law & Kenneth. Last year, he co-founded Hammer Communications but soon figured out that it was not his cup of tea. He resigned from Hammer in April. This is his second stint with Law & Kenneth.

On his new role, Singh says, "It feels great to be back. I'm excited and honoured for the opportunity PK and Anil have given to me." Amar, who has about 22 years of experience, has worked across an array of brands like Jet Airways, SAS, Domino's, Coke, Perfetti, Yamaha, Hindustan Motors, Suzuki, Seagram's, Radico Khaitan, Bacardi, Nestle, SmithKline Beecham, Dabur, Reckitt & Coleman, JK Tyres, Apollo Tyres, Grasim, NIIT, Royal Bank of Scotia, ABN Amro Bank, GPI Bravery, PVR Cinemas, Oberoi Hotels, The Lalit, Toshali Resorts, Bausch & Lomb, DLF Malls and Unitech.

He wrote Domino's ‘Ta nanananaree, O pizza aye free' jingle and TVCs, featuring Paresh Rawal. These were awarded Effie Silver and Campaign of the Year at Delhi Ad Club. He also penned down GPI Bravery ŒTrain TVC) that got him an Abby award.

"In my new role, I look forward to create sound communication solutions that make brands visible. I am also keen to work to create an inspiring work environment at the agency's Delhi and Kolkata offices. Also, one of my key agendas is to raise the creative bar further up in both

the zones assigned to me," says Singh.

Datar was head, strategy planning and client servicing at GIIR Communications. Datar has a career spanning 20 years across diverse product categories ¬ from tractors to telecom infrastructure and everything in between. ¬ He has worked at JWT, Cheil and LG Ad, and also had a couple of stints on the other side of the table with Bilcare Research and Acme Tele Power. He has built and managed successful brands like Maggi, Samsung, Hyundai and Nature Fresh.

He believes that Law & Kenneth is the most exciting and challenging place to be right now. "I look forward to contributing my bit to the excitement," he says.