Bobby Pawar joins Publicis as director and CCO

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Bobby Pawar.jpgFormer JWT India’s managing partner & chief creative officer Bobby Pawar has bounced back, taking up the director & chief creative officer role at Publicis India.

Pawar was recently caught up in a very over blown scandal involving a Ford press campaign at JWT India that cost him his job as national chief creative officer.

Pawar will form part of a new leadership team at Publicis India joining with former BBH India’s Partha Sinha heading the agency. Sinha takes up the director and chief strategy officer role for Publicis South Asia. Also joining Publicis is Ambika Srivastava in the role of director, marketing and new business – India

Pawar is replacing vice-chairperson and national creative director Ashish Khazanchi, who is moving on.

Jean-Yves Naouri Chief Operating Officer Publicis Groupe and Executive Chairman Publicis Worldwide said: ‘India is central to the future success of our key clients and indeed to our own success. We are committed to making the required investments in this critical market, whether organic or through acquisitions. Following the recent acquisitions of iStrat and Marketgate, these hires confirm our ambitions to invest in top talent. I have no doubt that the new team will help meet our aspirations and those of our clients”.

Speaking from a Publicis Groupe perspective he added. “We are extremely fortunate in the Publicis Groupe to have the both the opportunity to bring exceptional talent like Ambika, Bobby and Partha into strategic leadership roles for Publicis Worldwide – and the strength in depth of resource to promote new talent like Sanjay Sharma into the lead planning role at BBH.’

Nakul Chopra CEO South Asia said: I am delighted to have people of such exceptional caliber join our leadership team. Each is arguably among the best in their specializations. I am very confident that each of them will add greatly to the quality of our output, to the quality of Publicis management in India and most importantly to the value we can deliver to our clients.”

Erik Vervroegen Global Creative Director Publicis said: “Bobby is just the kind of talent that we believe can take our creative product in India to the next level. I am very happy to have Partha join him as a partner. I look forward to working with this very potent team”.

Commenting on their appointment Bobby Pawar and Partha Sinha said: “We have been wanting to work together as a team for some time now – Publicis has provided us the perfect platform to do so. Brand communication in today’s world has changed substantially – thinking and creativity need to be more concurrent and seamless – we want to approach it that way. Being involved from the root of the problem to the final delivery of the solution is the best way to add value to a brand.”

Ambika Srivastava added “I am excited about my new role. For me it is literally ‘back to the future’ where in today’s environment paid, earned and owned media are bringing complete perspective to a client’s business. And this is a great way to Lead the Change”

Publicis Groupe has set itself the ambitious target to double its size in India between 2010 – 2015 – aligned with the Groupe’s commitment to strongly boost revenue from fast-growing markets and digital. In keeping with this goal Publicis Worldwide – the flagship agency of the Publicis Groupe had in December 2012 announced the acquisition of iStrat – a digital agency based in the National Capital Region; and MarketGate an upstream Marketing Consultancy based in Mumbai. Now with these recruitments Publicis Worldwide makes yet another substantial investment – this time in ‘best in class’ talent that will undoubtedly help to greatly strengthen their offering to clients and will add to their fierce ambition to grow.