TBWA India appoints new CEO from McCann

Pandey, who was most recently chief operating officer for McCann, will start his new job on 1 January and will report directly to Philip Brett, president for TBWA Asia. 

Pandey replaces Vineet Bajpai, who has led TBWA Group India as CEO since March 2014. Bajpai will return to Omnicom-owned Magnon Group as chairman, where he will continue to support TBWA's digital and creative production businesses across India. 

Bajpai will also be pursuing an independent business interest, Talentrack, in the m-commerce field.

Pandey has had a rich advertising career spanning 25 years. He has also worked with Ogilvy & Mather, JWT and Contract.

According to Brett, TBWA had been on the hunt for a new CEO for India for about a year, and Pandey was one of the earliest candidates approached.

"He was a standout candidate," Brett said. "The respect people have for him made me sure he was the right person to bring on board."

A major criterion for Brett was to hire someone who fit in with TBWA's 'disruptive' culture. "Disruption is at the core of everything we do," he said. "Wanted to bring people in who understand that. What I mean is someone who wants to challenge the marketplace and take a position, but with an outlook that is very Indian and very relevant to the local marketplace. India is a very mature advertising market and it doesn't need just another ad agency."

Brett admitted that TBWA India has never really 'nailed it' with regards to being 'the disruption agency of India'. "We believe Govind's the right guy to do it," Brett said.

Prasoon Joshi, McCann Worldgroup chairman for Asia-Pacific and CEO & CCO for India, confirmed Pandey's departure with Campaign Asia-Pacific and added that he had lined up a new senior-management hire.

"We wish Govind the very best," Joshi said. "He has contributed significantly to the growth of McCann India over these past years and as he continues his journey, the McCann family will remain his well wishers. I will be officially announcing the significant new addition to the India management team shortly."