Mudra gets Catch spices; Vineet Singh Hukmani joins as vice-president

The New Year celebrations are over and it's business as usual everywhere. So it is at advertising agencies that seem to be getting back to pitching for new businesses, strengthening teams and planning for the year ahead. While Everest's focus this year is to produce ‘sparkling' creative work as our story said yesterday, Mudra has trained its guns on awards. Awards and "…an equal emphasis on growing business at a steady pace", points out Hemant Misra, president, Mudra Communications.

It is apparent the agency hasn't lost any time getting down to the brass tacks. It has hired Vineet Singh Hukmani, who was earlier executive vice-president, Saatchi & Saatchi (Bangalore), in the capacity of vice-president, Mudra Communications, Delhi. Hukmani will be in charge of the Yamaha portfolio, which happens to be the most prominent and the largest account of Mudra's Delhi office.

Hukmani, who simply ‘loves' bikes, is obviously thrilled to be on the job. Explaining his brief, Hukmani says, "My mandate is to make sure that the Yamaha portfolio performs well." Mudra would surely bank on his experience in the automotive sector. At Saatchi & Saatchi, Hukmani had worked on TVS Victor, TVS Centra, besides the TVS corporate business, alongside Tata Tea and IFB appliances. In fact, Saatchi & Saatchi was a great working experience, says Hukmani. "I have always been an ‘ideas' person, and Saatchi & Saatchi helped me grow as an ‘ideas' professional."

For this advertising professional who has spent 20 years in Bangalore, working at Mudra, Delhi, would be a welcome change. "Mudra is a brand that stands for both ‘substance' and ‘creativity' and there is a definite meeting of minds." Hukmani, an electronics and communications engineering graduate, discovered his passion for advertising and marketing after five years of working as an engineer. Once he made up his mind, he headed straight to The Times School of Marketing, Delhi. Armed with a degree in business administration, Hukmani joined Grey Worldwide, Bangalore. Three years on, he moved to WorldSpace, and after a two-year stint there he joined BPL Innovision as chief operating officer. In two years' time, he was ready to move to Saatchi & Saatchi.

Besides advertising, Hukmani's other big passion is music. Incidentally, Hukmani is the lead singer of pop group Balle Balle Boys, which has two hit singles - My Name is Manjeet and Baabe Karade Ishq - to its credit.

Hukmani comes in at a time when Mudra's Delhi office is thrashing out the modalities of working on DS Group's Catch brand of spices, which has moved recently from Enterprise Nexus, Delhi. For the record, the Rs 4-5 crore Catch account includes two product lines - the table sprinkler and the kitchen range. The agency was awarded the business on the basis of its performance on PassPass, the mouth freshener brand from DS Foods. Incidentally, the Catch brand of natural spring water is handled by Street Life, the agency set up by ex-Bates hand Shovon Chowdhury.

Mudra is working to give Catch a singular brand identity. "The brand campaign, straddling print and TV is going to be launched soon," says Misra. © 2004 agencyfaqs!