MUMBAI: Bates India has appointed Sourabh Mishra as the agency's national planning head and group chief strategy officer.

Mishra will commence his new role in October.

He moves in from Saatchi & Saatchi India where he was working as chief strategy officer.

Based out of Mumbai, Mishra will lead strategic planning and brand management at Bates across its offices in India. His mandate includes integrating media and discipline neutral solutions into Bates' core planning process and practices.

Bates India chief executive officer Sanjay Thapar said, "We are excited to welcome Sourabh within the bates fold and have him as part of the leadership team. Sourabh's strategic planning abilities, knack to get under the skin of brands combined with his incisive consumer insights are second to none and will play a critical role in delivering solutions to clients that will take their campaigns to the next level. We have great confidence in his abilities and are privileged to have recruited someone of his calibre into the business."

Mishra added, "I am very excited to be a part of bates in the current juncture of its journey. bates' holistic solutions driven approach and the 'changengage' philosophy represent an opportunity to create solutions for today's fast changing times driven by engagement ideas that provoke conversations among brands and customers".

Mishra comes in with two decade of experience in ad agencies and client organisations. He has headed the strategy planning function in agencies since 2004 and started his career with Contract Advertising where he spent almost seven years. He later worked at BPL Telecom, Ogilvy & Mather, McCann Erickson, Everest Brand Solutions, Reliance Capital and TBWA India. On the client side, he has worked with companies like General Mills, Cadbury, Coca Cola India, Skoda Auto and ITC Foods.