Cheil beefs up its creative and servicing team in India

The agency has appointed Varun Arora and Shobhit Mathur as executive creative directors, and Amit Ahluwalia as vice-president, client servicing.

Cheil Communications India has made three senior level appointments to beef up its creative and servicing team in India. The agency has roped in Varun Arora and Shobhit Mathur as executive creative directors, while Amit Ahluwalia has joined as vice-president, client servicing.

Based in Delhi, both Arora and Mathur will report to Elvis Sequeira, national creative director, Cheil Worldwide Southwest Asia.

Earlier, Mathur was associate vice-president and senior creative director, JWT. At Cheil, he will handle Samsung's consumer durable brands. An alumnus of Xavier Institute of Management, Mathur started his advertising career with Everest Y&R in 1998. In 2004, he spent about six months in Cheil, before moving to JWT, where he spent seven years.

Arora, who till recently was handling the LG business at Rediffusion-Y&R, will now handle Samsung's mobile business, besides the retail arm of Polaris. He has been in the advertising business for the last 17 years. He started his career with Contract Advertising in 1991, where he spent around four years. Later, he moved to the US to pursue a degree in film making at the American Film Institute.

Subsequently, he worked with agencies such as RR Partners, Leo Burnett and Mad Dogs & Englishmen.

In 2004, Arora returned to India to join Bates Enterprise (then Enterprise Nexus) as executive creative director. In 2006, he moved to Innocean and a year later, the entrepreneurial bug bit him when he set up Aqua Communications. However, within a year, he moved to Rediffusion-Y&R to handle the LG account.

Ahluwalia, who will head the servicing function at the agency, will report to Alok Agrawal, chief operating officer, Cheil Worldwide Southwest Asia. Ahluwalia has moved in from Ogilvy India's Delhi branch, where he was vice-president, account management. He will be in charge of the consumer electronic, corporate and IT brands of Samsung.

Like Arora, Ahluwalia also started his career with Contract Advertising in 1995. Subsequently, he spent more than four years at Lowe Lintas. He has also worked for Wizcraft, R K Swamy BBDO, McCann Erickson and Ogilvy India.