Rajesh Mathew joins Ogilvy Mumbai as vice-president

Mathew comes in from Contract Advertising, Chennai, where he was vice-president and branch manager. He will handle the STAR portfolio at Ogilvy.

Rajesh Mathew, vice-president and branch manager, Contract Chennai, has joined Ogilvy, in Mumbai, as vice-president. In his new role, he will be in charge of the STAR portfolio at Ogilvy, which chiefly includes Star Plus and STAR Gold. He will report to Hephzibah Pathak, president, Ogilvy Mumbai and Navin Talreja, managing partner at the agency.

On Mathew's appointment, Talreja remarks, "Mathew can add tremendous value to our STAR portfolio. Coming from a smaller market, he has experience in building an agency both organically, as well as spot new business opportunities for growth. He is also good at building and managing client relationships. Moreover, he is emotionally mature to handle the highs and lows of this business."

This is Mathew's second stint at Ogilvy; he was earlier with the agency in Bengaluru in 2002. "Rejoining Ogilvy is like a homecoming for me," remarks Mathew on his move. Handling the STAR portfolio here is a very prestigious opportunity for me and I look forward to it," he adds.

Mathew, who has around 15 years of experience in advertising, started his career at MAA Bozell, post which he has worked at Saatchi & Saatchi Direct, Ogilvy India, Lowe Lintas, and Rediffusion-Y&R. He has also worked with an agency in Muscat called Concept, for a little over a year.

Mathew joined Wunderman, Chennai, as general manager once he returned to India in 2006, and won several businesses for the agency. He was also with Rediffusion-Y&R, Chennai, where he was looking after the agency's Chennai operations.

Mathew joined Contract in 2007 as vice-president and branch manager, in Chennai. At Contract, Mathew handled brands such as Mitsubishi Motors (including Lancer, Cedia, Pajero, Outlander and Montero), SunDTH HD, NIIT (SLS), Muthoot Fincorp, Odyssey India, and Avestha Good Earth Foods, among others. Some of the other key brands he has worked on during his career include SSD Sunflower Oil, Wipro, Hewlett-Packard, Infosys, Green Label, Grundfos and Citibank.