Saatchi's Jaibeer Ahmad heads to Cheil

At Cheil, Ahmad will be responsible for the agency's new business growth strategy.

Jaibeer Ahmad, vice-president, Saatchi & Saatchi has put in his papers. He has been with Saatchi for a little less than two years.

It is learnt that he is headed to Cheil Worldwide and will be based in the agency's Delhi office. While his exact designation at Cheil is unknown at the moment, sources tell afaqs! that he will be responsible for the agency's new business growth plan.

According to industry insiders, one of Cheil's plans for 2013 is to focus on growing its non-Samsung business portfolio. Ahmad's appointment appears to be part of this larger strategy. So, while his mandate will include Samsung, his focus will be to develop and grow the agency's new business front.

It is also learnt that Ahmad is slated to join Cheil in less than a week. He will report to Saurabh Mathur, senior vice-president, client servicing, Cheil Worldwide SW Asia. Mathur moved into Cheil a couple of months ago; he was with Dentsu Communications, where he served as vice-president, client servicing and branch head for Delhi.

For Ahmad, this move will be a return to familiar turf. Before Saatchi, he was with Samsung (air conditioner business) and had worked there for a year in the marketing communications area.

Originally from Kashmir, Ahmad is an alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University (MBA, marketing). He has worked in the advertising industry for around 12 years and has been associated with agencies such as Ogilvy India, Lowe Lintas, Draftfcb Ulka and Rediffusion-Y&R.

He started his career with R K Swamy BBDO, where he worked on brands such as Dabur and Educare. During his stint at Rediffusion, he handled the Airtel business before being made business head on the LG account.

Some of the other brands he has worked on include Nestle, SABMiller, All Out and Whirlpool.

At Saatchi & Saatchi, his mandate was to grow the agency's Delhi business. Key brands he worked on at the agency include Springwel Mattress, Olx, Carlsberg beer, Wave Infratech and HCL's tablet account.

Cheil appears bullish on the hiring front at present. It may be recalled that Hari Krishnan, head, WPP Global Team Ford, was roped in around a month back as the replacement for Alok Agrawal, former chief operating officer of Cheil Worldwide SW Asia, who recently quit the agency to join Zee News as chief executive officer.