MUMBAI: After a long innings as Hindustan Lever Limited's (HLL) group media manager (Central Asia), B Venkataramanan is headed out. "Venkat", as he is known in the trade, has been promoted to HLL's parent company Unilever and will now be based out of London.
 
 
According to reliable industry sources close to the developments, Venkataramanan will be media head of Unilever Europe, while also steering the media fortunes of some of the FMCG behemoth's key brands globally. He will be reporting in to Unilever global media director Alan Rutherford.
 
 
Speaking to indiantelevision.com, HLL director new ventures Dalip Sehgal says, "Venkat will be the media buying head of Unilever and will be based in London. His position at HLL will be filled in by Rahul Welde, who will be taking over as group media manager (Central Asia)."

However, when contacted, Venkataramanan would not offer any comment on the developments.

 
 
The media planning and buying business of HLL is handled by MindShare Fulcrum, whereas MindShare Europe handles the Euro 1 billion Unilever Europe account, which was bagged by the agency in November 2004.