Chakravarthy joins Rediffusion DYR

Chakravarthy quit Leo Burnett India in early 2001 to launch his own production house, Persistence of Vision (POV), and pursue a career in filmmaking. Explaining his decision to rejoin the mainstream, Chakravarthy said, "It came when (Rediffusion president) Preet Bedi called and asked me to join; until then I had no plans of coming into mainstream. Then I checked Rediffusion's portfolio of clients and felt I would have a larger canvas to work on." This decision concludes Rediffusion's search for a national creative head, as the agency has streaked out of the blue with a clutch of new clients in recent months, including Indian Oil Corporation, Space TV, Onida, DS Foods, Keo Karpin and Peerless, among others. These together account for around US$65 million worth of new business. Commenting on the new appointment, Bedi said: "We already have a good creative pool, what we needed was someone who could give direction and harness the efficiency of the team better." Chakravarthy was responsible for building Burnett's creative equity in India, and it is anticipated that he will do the same for Rediffusion, whose creative excellence has faded somewhat in the last decade. "It was launched as an edgy, iconoclastic agency. My mandate is to bring the magic back to the agency. I truly believe that the reality of this agency far exceeds its perception today," he said. Chakravarthy has worked with agencies such as Clarion (now Bates), HTA(now J. Walter Thompson), Enterprise, Lintas (now Lowe) and Leo Burnett India. His contribution includes work on Bajaj Caliber, Bajaj Boxer, Fiat Uno, Reebok, Thums Up, Ariel, Complan and Standard Furukawa.