Jatin Bhatt appointed COO and strategy planning director at IBD India

Bhatt has worked with companies such as Colgate Palmolive, Marico and Tata Global Beverages.

A Percept Hakuhodo Company, IBD India has taken aboard Jatin Bhatt as chief operating officer and strategy planning director. In his new role, Bhatt will be responsible for profitability and revenue growth, and strengthen the strategic planning and integration function across 360 degrees.

In an official communiqué, Bhatt says, "I intend to leverage my FMCG experience of brand building to other categories such as like consumer electronics, luxury, home care, appliances, estate, e-commerce, dotcom and retail. My agenda will be to build the agency respectability and partnership with new and existing clients and motivate internally to build brands more enjoyable."

Having worked in geographies of India and across the world, his specialisation includes consumer insights, demand generation - sales and marketing, new product development, innovation, mergers and acquisitions.

Rahul Gupta, CEO, IBD India, says "Bhatt's rich and diverse exposure in the advertising domain is a perfect driver to take IBD India to the next level."

An IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, Bhatt started his career at J Walter Thompson in 1991 in client servicing and strategic planning. After about three years, he moved on to the client side and joined Colgate Palmolive as sales executive. He was promoted as marketing manager during the same tenure. There, he worked in India and for Asia Pacific in oral care and personal care brands in marketing and quit the company as category head in 2001.

He joined another FMCG giant, Marico in 2001 as marketing head and handled Saffola's brand architecture and road map for line extensions. He left the company as general manager. Moving on, in 2006, he joined Tata Global Beverages as vice-president (marketing) and new business head. Based in Bengaluru, he worked on the beverages portfolio including Tetley Tea.

Three years later, he joined Pidilite as chief of corporate marketing and vice-president, taking care of the overall ATL and BTL marketing of the product portfolio. He was responsible for brand marketing and field marketing.

Until recently, he was with CK (Calvin Klein) as senior vice-president (marketing, business development and alliances). He joined the company in 2011 and was responsible for marketing and strategic alliances.