Resignations at Lowe, Delhi; Sony Ericsson account under review

Biswajit Pandey and Tanul Bhartiya, senior brand executive at Lowe - with the former in-charge of Maruti Alto and the latter Sony Ericsson - have put in their papers. On the creative side, Shantanu ‘Shaunti' Chatterjee, senior art director, and Anirudh Verma, creative director, have also tendered their resignations. In a related development, the estimated Rs 8-crore Sony Ericsson business, which is currently handled by Lowe, has been put under review.

Mohit Beotra, executive vice-president, Lowe, seems unperturbed by all this. Confirming these moves, he said, "I am certain this is the last we will see of it (resignations)."

Looks like all the four executives leaving Lowe have their course of action planned out. Informal conversations with sources close to agencyfaqs! revealed that while Pandey is headed for the new Japanese force in town, Dentsu Marcom, Bhartiya has joined a German marketing company. Shaunti, who had worked on LG, IDEA, Parker and Maruti while at Lowe, is joining Rediffusion DY&R as creative director, while Verma may also be headed in the same direction.

This latest round of departures from Lowe comes four months after a group of senior executives quit the agency last year. agencyfaqs! has dealt with the departures of vice-president Vikas Verma, senior brand services director UT Ramprasad, senior copy writer Anirban Sen, and executive creative director N Ramesh in an earlier report. Among other executives who left the agency last year were Santosh Kumar Sood, executive vice-president, Lowe, who is now with Rediffusion DY&R, Delhi, Mahua Bose, brand services director, Lowe, who is now with Publicis, brand services director Naresh Sharma, consultant creative director Pramod Puranik, and creative hand Nikhil Pandey.

Any departure becomes a topic of discussion in agency circles and with so many old Lowe hands leaving the Delhi office, people are bound to raise questions about the health of the branch. Conversations with branch executives seem to suggest that while there was a lot of uneasiness when key Delhi executives left last year, the appointments of Mohit Beotra (as executive vice-president) and Anil Thakraney (as creative head) have been received with a lot of enthusiasm. "It is just that most of the people who have quit have been working with Lowe for many years. And their resignations timed with changes at the top," says an agency hand. "Moreover, if people have left, many have joined also," says another.

From the looks of it, it is business as usual at the agency.

© 2004 agencyfaqs!