Raghu Bhat to depart Contract Advertising India

He will continue to work at the agency until 15 December. Bhat's decision follows his creative partner Manish Bhatt's announcement that he is also to depart Contact Advertising. 

Bhat and Bhatt were also creative partners at Ogilvy, Publicis Ambience and McCann Erickson India. The pair have won at domestic and international award shows such as the Abbys, The One Show, D&AD and Cannes Lions. 

Bhat joined Contract in 1996. He spent a year of his career at Bates141, but returned to Contract in 2007.

He founded Fungus Design, an online retailer for designer laptop bags, during his time as an ECD in JWT, and said he would like to concentrate on collaborating with graphic designers across the globe for his business. “I created this venture because of my deep interest in emerging web technologies and also because I want to test my own theories of how to create a brand,” said Bhat.

He added: “At one level, I'm paranoid about obsolescence. At another level, I love change. Initially my print portfolio was very strong. In Ogilvy and Ambience, I experimented a lot with TV. In McCann, I picked up the art of writing dialogue and lyrics by observing Prasoon. In Contract, I have tried to create ideas like KILB (Aegon Religare) and Tata Indicom Hello Hello that have the potential to spread virally and create conversations. I hope to keep the learning curve as steep as possible."

Bhat will also assist his wife as a brand advisor for her garment label boutique Taxi-Vitamin K.