Pickle Lintas gets new creative head

Jaideep Mahajan, former executive creative director and national head, art, Rediffusion-Y&R, will head the agency's creative function.

Delhi-based Pickle Lintas, an arm of the Lowe Group, has roped in Jaideep Mahajan as executive creative director (ECD). Mahajan, known as JD, was earlier with Rediffusion-Y&R's Delhi office as ECD and national head, art. In his new role, Mahajan will head the overall creative function of Pickle Lintas.

Abhik Santara, executive vice-president, Pickle Lintas, says, "We needed a strong creative leadership to surge ahead to the next level. Hence, we roped in JD. He will lead the creative function of the agency and will lay down the creative standards and philosophy. He will be partnering with me in this management and visionary role."

Interestingly, Santara and Mahajan have worked together for three-and-a-half years in Rediffusion-Y&R and JWT.

Speaking about his new stint, Mahajan says, "It's a great platform and will be a great learning experience, too. It is important to work with like-minded people and both Abhik and I have an equation." He adds that the agency seems like a fertile ground and has interesting brands on board. "We will redefine the kind of work we do. We will customise communication as well as teams according to our clients' needs," Mahajan adds.

Mahajan began his career in advertising with FCB (Draftfcb Ulka) in 1996 and has been associated with McCann Erickson (where he had two stints), Contract Advertising, Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide and McCann Erickson in Malaysia, Rediffusion-Y&R (two stints) and JWT.

Pickle Lintas was started in 2008 as the second agency of Lowe Lintas India, and had branches in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. However, by December 2010, Lowe decided to merge the Mumbai and Bengaluru branches with itself, as they were not proving to be viable.

According to a story published in afaqs! in January 2011, Interpublic Group (IPG) floated Pickle as Lowe's second agency to handle conflicting businesses. With the development, SSC&B Lintas, Lowe's second agency in India till then, ceased to exist, with businesses and employees being transferred to Pickle.