New appointments at Cheil Worldwide

The agency has announced four major appointments across below-the-line, creative, digital and human resources.

Cheil Worldwide SW Asia has taken on board Ravi Narain as executive creative director, and Sanjeev Hajela as senior vice-president, below-the-line, Southwest Asian markets.

It has also appointed Vikram Bhardwaj as deputy general manager, interactive.

In an official communiqué, Alok Agrawal, COO, Cheil Worldwide SW Asia, says, "Cheil India is expanding at a rapid pace and as a fully integrated, one‐solution agency, we offer a great opportunity for growth of talent. With Ravi, Sanjeev and Vikram on board, we see more client successes and acquisitions coming our way."

Meanwhile, Saswati Sinha has been taken on board in human resources.

Prior to this, Narain was at Emaar MGF as vice-president, marketing and design. Narain started his career with J Walter Thompson in 1990 as an art director. Two years later, he shifted to Grey advertising as associate creative director and worked there for two years.

In 1995, he joined Foote Cone & Belding in Toronto as senior art director, from where he shifted to Contract Advertising in 1997. He left Contract in 2005 as associate vice-president and joined Bates Advertising.

From there, he shifted to Emaar MGF in 2007.

Hajela started his career with ITC (tobacco division) in 1988, and worked there till 1995. He then joined Brown Forman Beverages Worldwide and launched two global brands in a joint venture with the India-based Jagajit industries. In 1998, Hajela moved on to join LG Chemicals, Korea as marketing manager, to set up its operation in the Indian market.

He shifted to Primesite as chief manager in 2001. Since 2001, he has been in DDB Mudra Group in different roles. His last designation at DDB Mudra was that of president, retail.

Bhardwaj, a PGDM in International Business from University of Birmingham, moves to Cheil from ThoughtBuzzIndia, where he was country head. He started his career with Jet Airways as manager, in-flight services, from 1998 to 2004. He then moved to IBM as a senior trainer, which was followed by business development roles at WNS and Annik Technology Services.

From 2008-2010, he worked with Veda Informatics as director, marketing. He has also worked as director, business development at Buzzintown.

Sinha, a veteran human resource professional, comes with more than 13 years of experience across industries. She joins Cheil from Evalueserve.