Jagdip Bakshi appointed to global role on Unilever biz

Bakshi will be based out of London, and the appointment comes into effect from September 2008.

At the same time, Ravi Deshpande, national creative director at Contract Advertising, has been elevated to the post of chairman and chief creative officer. The person expected to partner Deshpande and take up Bakshi's responsibility at Contract has not been decided yet and a decision will be made soon. JWT president Michael Maedel is in India at the moment to decide on Bakshi's successor.

Bakshi has worked on the Unilever business before, out of London in 2000, working on the Lipton and Lux business. His responsibilities will include client relationship management as well as ensuring advertising solutions in line with all product categories.

With a slowdown taking place in the global economy, Bakshi admitted the job would not be easy. He added, "These are tough times for the industry and tougher times for JWT. Unilever is one of JWT's biggest clients and one of their oldest. So along with the spotlight, comes the responsibility of being judged under a microscope for everything that you do. In the short to medium term, my job would be to get JWT back to being the most respected of Unilever's roster agencies globally."

Bakshi added that his appointment was an affirmation of the quality of Indian talent, which he believes is on par with anywhere else in the world. "I remember being the first Asian working out of the London office while working on the Unilever business. Times have changed, of course, since then, and that's great."