MUMBAI: Bates 141 has promoted Rajesh Ghatge as the chief executive officer of its specialised "below the line" marketing services agency, 141 Sercon.
Ghatge was formerly the executive director and COO at 141 Sercon.
In addition, Ghatge is also appointed to the Executive Committee (EXCO) of the Bates India Group. The Board is headed by Group CEO Sandeep Pathak and includes India chairman and regional ECD Sonal Dabral, regional planning director Dheeraj Sinha, 141 Wallstreet VP Praveen Vadhera and finance director Dinesh Shetty.
In his new role as the CEO, Ghatge will build on the agency‘s expertise in "intelligent activation" – solutions which engage consumers across touch points and enable them to experience brands, products and services. With the use of proprietary tools and technology, the agency is able to deliver large scale, ROI-driven activations for B2B and B2C clients across Asia.
Ghatge co-founded Sercon in 1996, which was later acquired by Bates in 2007. He was instrumental in leading Sercon to become one of India‘s largest activation and marketing services agencies with a footprint across India and Southeast Asia.
Ghatge has more than 15 years of experience in planning, creative and execution of regional and local campaigns for leading brands including Bausch & Lomb, Carlsberg, Castrol, Nokia, Oracle, Shriram Life Insurance and Sun Microsystems.
Pathak said, "Since Sercon joined the Bates family, it has played a very strategic role. Together with our advertising and design units, and out-of-home and retail offering, we have the full capability to help our clients drive maximum engagement, by getting brands to become the subject of new conversations."
Ghatge added, "Rapid change is happening constantly and all around us in. Clients want to understand changes in consumer‘s media and shopping habits and what are the implications for engaging them effectively. I look forward to working closely with the Bates regional and local leadership teams to grow our expertise, so that we can deliver more innovative and effective solutions for our clients, and bring people closer to brands."
Dabral stated, "Rajesh has been key to driving Sercon to become one of the top ranking activation agencies in India and Southeast Asia. Rajesh will continue to grow our specialized skills and solutions for India and regional clients by helping them to better engage consumers, generate demand and influence preference."
In India, the Bates operations spans Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata, and includes the largest retail and OOH network in India across 20 states and into 400 rural towns. It offers full integrated disciplines – brand strategy, advertising, design, outdoor/OOH, retail, B2B and B2C activation, digital, CRM and event management.
