Rajeev Raja, executive creative director, Bates 141, is well on his way out. Raja, who has been with Bates 141 for the past 11 years, will soon join DDB Mudra as its creative head.
Raja says that it’s the lure of new challenges and opportunities that finally pried him away from Bates. “Also, I have always thought highly of DDB as an agency, and I have also done a couple of stints with Mudra in the past,” he grins. “So, it is this combination of the two agencies that is very exciting for me.”
11 years is a long time, and Raja admits to feeling “practically at home” while at Bates. “It is a great agency that believes in building brands, and I have learnt a lot of advertising there,” he says. Raja has also witnessed the many faces of Bates: the management changes, the mergers and de-mergers and the accompanying instability, the highs, and the lows. In a sense, Raja has weathered the storms along with the agency. “Now, Bates is batting on a good wicket, and is getting a reputation for solid creative work. It is a good time for me to move on,” he shrugs.
At Bates 141, some of the recent accounts Raja was handling include Tata AIG and Virgin Mobile, including the latter’s launch campaign in India.