Saumya Chattopadhyay has been appointed as planning head for Rediffusion Y&R’s Mumbai operations. Chattopadhyay, who joined last week, will report to Arvind Mohan, group CSO, Rediffusion Y&R, and Nisha Singhania, EVP, Rediffusion Y&R.
Chattopadhyay comes from Milk+Co, Malaysia, which, until last year, was called DDB International. While at Milk+Co, he worked on brands such as Volkswagen and Malaysian Airlines.
Having dabbled in servicing early in his career with The Times of India and Concept Communications, Chattopadhyay was sure he wanted to take his steps forward with planning. He is a graduate from IAA (International Advertising Association) school of advertising at Watford School of Business in the UK. Thereafter, he interned at Saatchi & Saatchi, London, for about six months as trainee planner.
He returned to India in 2000 and joined Ogilvy India on HUL’s skincare division. He then joined Euro RSCG and was there for close to three years, working on brands such as Novartis, SET MAX (Deewana bana de campaign), HDFC Bank and Voltas.
After this stint in the advertising industry, Chattopadhyay moved to New Zealand. He worked with Southseas Film TV School and Productions as international marketing manager for Asia, but quit two years later and returned to India as the director, strategic planning for Vyas Giannetti Creative. This was a short stint and Chattopadhyay moved to JWT to work on Pepsi and Bharti-Walmart.
He joined Milk+Co a few months ago, but with the slump in the economy, the scenario in South East Asia, says Chattopadhyay, is subdued. “The buzz is missing there and I need buzz to work in,” he says about his return.
Along with 12 years of experience in the advertising industry, Chattopadhyay has also cut an album for his band, Yagna through Times Music.
Mohan says about Chattopadhyay’s appointment, “The hiring of Saumya is a reflection of the kind of diversity we want to bring into our thinking system.”
It was the curiosity about consumers that drew Chattopadhyay to planning. Finer aspects like, “What motivates them, cultural influences that are subconsciously responsible for the decisions that they make,” he adds.