Sanjay Sipahimalani returns to Bates as ECD

His immediate mandate will be to take care of the Colgate account. He will report to Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar.

Sanjay Sipahimalani has returned to Bates as executive creative director. His immediate mandate will be to take care of the Colgate account. In his second innings at Bates, he will report to Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, national creative director, Bates.

In August 2011, Sipahimalani, also known as Sippy, quit Bates to join Percept/H as executive creative director, West and South. At Percept/H, he was responsible for planning, conceptualising and implementing creative strategies, managing the creative team, and handling business development.

Speaking about returning to Bates, Sipahimalani says, "This is like a home coming for me. I missed being at Bates. And, it feels great to be back. I also feel that it is a brilliant opportunity to work on an iconic brand such as Colgate."

Mahabaleshwarkar says that a brand such as Colgate requires a high level of attention. "Sipahimalani will be 100 per cent on Colgate. I welcome him back."

Sipahimalani, who has spent two decades in advertising, graduated with Honours in Commerce from St Xavier's College, Kolkata. He also completed a programme on creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College in 2000. Sipahimalani joined Grey Worldwide as creative director the same year and after four years, moved to Publicis as creative director. After a year and two months at Publicis, he joined Vyas Giannetti Creative as executive creative director in 2005. After working at the agency for about three-and-a-half years, he shifted to Bates.

He has also co-scripted an English feature film, Let's Talk, which was an official entry at the international film festivals of Locarno (Switzerland), Mill Valley (California) and Mumbai.