Nagessh Pannaswami joins BBDO as head Mumbai operations

The youngest agency of BBDO Worldwide and the Omnicom Group, began operations 2½ years ago, with offices in Delhi and Mumbai. Recently they launched their digital division "Proximity', and now BBDO India announces another significant hire. Nagessh Pannaswami will join the agency as head of the Mumbai operation. He moves from McCann Worldgroup where he was leading "Altitude', one of McCann's key divisions that focused on India's growing list of entrepreneurs and SME clients.

Nagessh is a reputed industry veteran with a wealth of experience in building brands like Tata Indicom, UTI Bank, Radio Mirchi, Onida and Loop Mobile. Prior to McCann, Nagessh was with Lowe Lintas where he worked on Unilever brands Rexona, Axe and Pepsodent.

A psychology major from Mumbai University, Nagessh also holds post - graduate diplomas in advertising and marketing from XIC and sales management from KC College.

Speaking about the new hire, Chris Thomas, CEO and Chairman BBDO Asia Pacific said, ""BBDO/Proximity India has great momentum. This appointment adds to it. Nagessh brings strong commitment to people, the work and clients.

Commenting on the news, Ajai Jhala, CEO of BBDO India, said, "It is a reunion of sorts since Nagessh and I worked together over a decade ago when I ran the Unilever Personal Care division at Lowe. Nagessh has the right combination of multinational client expertise and new business experience to lead our Mumbai office, which has a core group of blue chip clients ' P&G Gillette Regional, P&G Gillette India, Godrej, Bayer and Johnson & Johnson. Nagessh totally embraces our approach to communication - creating news for big brands through big ideas. "

Josy Paul, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, added "We waited for over 18 months to fill this role. We considered some of the finest minds in the country for this all-important job. What attracted Nagessh to BBDO India was our transformational work on big brands based on our belief "create acts, not ads".

Nagessh will report to Ajai Jhala and will be responsible for the creative culture, new business development and the overall growth and performance of BBDO's Mumbai operation. He joins from 12th July 2010