Rediffusion Y&R Delhi has reconstituted one of its biggest accounts, Airtel team. Three new business heads will lead the three verticals of the brand, mobility, Airtel Enterprise Services (AES) and broadband, and value added services (VAS).
Abhik Santara, who was earlier at JWT, will now look after Airtel’s mobility business. Gurbir Singh, who moves in from O&M, will be in charge of AES and broadband services. Karambir Singh Rai, who joined Rediff at the beginning of 2008 as associate vice-president and general manager on LG’s GSM and IT services, will now be responsible for Airtel’s VAS portfolio. All three will report to Amitesh Rao, national head, Airtel, at Rediff.
Santara has more than a decade’s experience in the ad industry. He began his career with Percept H and has worked with TBWA, Bates and JWT. His last assignment was at JWT, where he was associate vice-president on the Pepsi account. During his three years at Bates, Santara worked closely on the Nokia account. Other accounts he has worked on include Hero Honda, Adidas, Hughes and JK Tyres.
Rai began his career in 1998 with Draft FCB Ulka (then FCB Ulka) Mumbai as a trainee. He then relocated to the Delhi branch and has stayed in Delhi ever since. He was at the agency till 2003, when he joined Mudra as associate account director. After spending two years at Mudra, he joined Publicis as account director in February 2005. He left there three years later to join Rediff.
Singh is doing his second innings at Rediff. This is also not his first stint with Airtel. He began life in the ad world in 1995, when he joined Mudra’s sister agency, Interact Vision, which has now been merged with Mudra. Four years later, he moved to Rediff in 1999. He has been looking after brands such as Maruti (Maruti 800 and Zen) and GPI and has worked on Airtel too for a year.
TBWA happened to Singh three and a half years later and, while there, he worked on Pedigree. A year later, he joined O&M, where he worked for almost four and a half years on brands such as American Express, Seagram’s and DLF Pramerica.