There have been quite a number of additions to the Virgin Mobile team at Bates 141, ever since Rohit Malkani and Joseph D’souza moved out.
Malkani took up the role of ECD for Grey India’s Mumbai office, while D’souza co-founded a new agency called Mezzanine.
Earlier this year, Bates 141 brought on Russell Barrett as ECD. After his arrival, the Virgin Mobile team has been undergoing slow, but steady, restructuring.
Mithun Mirji, who has worked on brands such as Johnnie Walker, Reliance Mobile and Bajaj Electricals, while he was with Leo Burnett, has moved to Bates 141. Mirji is working on the much coveted Virgin Mobile account as creative director.
Mirji spent a little more than five years at Leo Burnett. He has a Radio Lion to his credit. His first stint in advertising was with Grey’s Bengaluru office as an intern. He later spent two-and-a-half years at McCann Erickson.
Nikhil Panjwani will join the team as associate creative director, copy, from May 25. Panjwani comes from a short stint at Publicis Ambience. Before that, he was with Y&R in Kuala Lumpur, where he worked on brands such as Colgate and OCBC Bank. While at Y&R, he won a silver Radio Lion at Cannes for Colgate.
Starting his career in 2003, Panjwani has worked with Rediffusion – Y&R and Leo Burnett as well. He was part of the team at Leo Burnett that created the BigAdda.com ad.
Preeti Varma and Kunal Sawant, too, have joined the team. Sawant is the associate creative director, art, while Varma is the group head, art. Varma comes from Y&R, Singapore; and Sawant comes from Leo Burnett.
Sandeep Pathak, CEO, Bates 141, says of the new appointments, “What I’m expecting out of this bunch is that the brand becomes better than it already was.”
Barrett adds, “All those we’ve recently appointed are extremely talented and have won numerous awards at various levels.”