Ferzad Variyava moves on from Publicis Ambience

The executive creative director of Publicis Ambience has quit the agency after serving for a year.

Ferzad Variyava, executive creative director, Publicis Ambience has quit the agency. He finished his notice period on April 25 but is yet to decide about his next move.

Variyava joined Publicis Ambience in May, 2012 and his last assignment at the agency was Park Avenue deodorants.

Variyava says, "It has been a wonderful year at Publicis Ambience. I've had the privilege of working with an incredible team and worked on some exciting and challenging brands and projects. We had a fortunate year with fresh businesses coming in and a healthy metal run at Goafest. I thought the time had come to explore some new opportunities."

He plans to record a series of new songs with his band - Bramha - and do some writing for his new compilation of short stories, in the time before he starts his next advertising gig. He is also a heavy metal guitarist.

At Publicis Ambience, he worked with on key businesses such as Citibank, Park Avenue and HDFC Mutual Funds, and was instrumental in growing the roster with Ariisto Real Estate and Musafir.com. He worked from the Mumbai office and reported to Ashish Khazanchi, vice-chairperson and national creative director. At the time of his appointment, he replaced Tushar Kadam.

Variyava began his career in 2000 as a junior copy writer at Publicis Ambience. After working at the agency for four years, he moved to McCann Erickson in 2004. At McCann, he worked on the Tata Indicom account.

In 2005, he joined Leo Burnett. He quit the agency as creative group head and joined Fortune Communications in March, 2006. At Fortune, he headed the creative department along with art director Shamik Sen Gupta. He also built the brand database, managed brands and established the creative team of the agency.

In 2008, he joined JWT India as creative director and was instrumental in the revamp of brand Thomas Cook. After working at JWT India for two years, he moved to Alok Nanda & Company in November, 2010. At ANC, he has worked on brands such as Shalimar Paints, Lodha Group and Tata Housing.