Rajiv Agarwal takes over as head of Bates India...

"I'll be back sooner than most people expect." This had been a part of an SMS that Rajiv Agarwal had sent this correspondent hardly 20 days ago.

Today, the man is back. Back in advertising. Back to where the action is. Back as head of a national-level agency.

Agarwal has been appointed as managing director and CEO of the Bates India Group (which includes mainline agency Bates India, media specialist Zenith Media and marketing services brand 141), as a replacement for outgoing CEO Madhukar Kamath (who, in turn, returns to Mudra Communications as managing director and CEO). Agarwal, who will assume office on March 01, will report directly to London.

In a related move, old Bates hand and CFO Ujjal Gupta has been appointed as COO of the agency, and has been entrusted with the task of "managing the agency's bottomline". Gupta will continue to be based out of Kolkata. Senior executives (JS) Mani, Shovon Chowdhury and Amitava Sinha will continue to lead the Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata bureaus, while Tapan Pal stays as president & CEO of Zenith Media.

For Agarwal, the Bates appointment puts an end to a four-and-a-half-month break from advertising. To revisit history, in mid-October last year, Agarwal had unexpectedly quit the post of national chief of rmg david. Subsequently, there had been stray whispers of him starting an agency, and there was even a really wild one about him joining RKSwamy/BBDO. Agarwal had, of course, promptly scotched all these rumours, and took pains to assure that he was, indeed, "taking a break and recharging the batteries".

So how did the Bates thing happen? "There is some advertising left in me, and I did want to get back into this industry," he admits. "So I was looking at options, yet kept an open mind. Then people from Bates London got in touch with me, and Bates seemed to be people I'd want to talk to." Interestingly, this was the second time that the multinational agency approached Agarwal. Back in the mid-nineties, before Bates entered India in an alliance with Clarion, the agency had sent out feelers to Enterprise-Nexus. Nothing came of it… simply because the Indian agency had, by then, toasted its association with Lowe.

Returning to the point, Agarwal reveals that once he met the Bates representative in the region (Toby Hoare, chairman, Bates India Group, and Bates group area chairman for Europe, South Asia, Middle East and Africa), he made up his mind. "Bates, in India, is as clean a slate as any," says the IIM, Ahmedabad, graduate with more than two decades of industry experience. "It is a new agency in this country, one that has managed a transition from Clarion to Bates very well. I see it as a potentially exciting agency. It has a young talented team, no superstars but a lot of potential."

Speaking about the challenges he'd be running into in the time to come, Agarwal says, "We have to run this business, keep this agency profitable and give our shareholders value - that is a given anywhere. But what, I think, would be a job well done is my being a catalyst in helping this agency achieve a stature."

He sees himself pushing the envelope in three areas. "The business is changing rapidly, and the relevance of advertising is being questioned in some quarters," he says. "It's important that Bates stays relevant to its clients in every possible manner. Secondly, Bates is a mid-sized agency with happy clients, but not a lot to show in terms of spectacular growth and work. However, the competition is getting bigger and better. So we have to learn to manage ourselves better in this competitive environment. Lastly, we have a good team here, so I would only aim to energize everyone so that everybody walks taller. After all, this is a people business, and happy people is half the battle won." With a smile he adds that, in the process, "a few Lions wouldn't be sneered at".

Agarwal has the advantage of inheriting a gratifyingly ample client roster. Hindustan Lever, Dabur, ITC, Coca-Cola, Dr Morepen, Hyundai Motors, Tata AIG, Tata Salt, Nokia, Shalimar Paints… And Agarwal gives credit where it is due. "A lot of these businesses came when Madhukar was here. Madhukar has been a key figure in the agency's transition to Bates. He has done a lot in these turbulent times, with his head held high. I think what he achieved is great. The onus is on me to match that."

Agarwal, who has a mandate of taking Bates into the Top 10 rankings in three years' time, is confident that the agency would work "as hard as it can to get things right. We have to and will keep a hawk-like eye on our progress," he adds. © 2003 agencyfaqs!