Manoj Shetty ends 17 year stint at Ogilvy

Brands he has worked closely on at the agency include Cadbury, Castrol, Bajaj and Fiat, among several others.

Ogilvy's Manoj Shetty, of 'You don't just buy a Bournville; you earn it' fame, has put in his papers at the agency. The agency is looking for a replacement for him, we learn.

Though rumours about the group creative director joining another agency from the WPP network, and yet another from the Publicis-Omnicom network, have been adrift, he says he will not be joining another agency yet and will take a break from advertising for the next five to six months.

Over his 17 year long stint at Ogilvy, Shetty worked across almost every major account including big-ticket brands such as Cadbury (a business and category he has specialised in for over 15 years), Castrol, Bajaj and Fiat, among several others.

In a previous story on afaqs! about agency employees who stick on at one agency for lengthy periods of time, Shetty had said that his uninterrupted spell at Ogilvy helps him stay "truthful to every script he pens down" for the brands he works on, as the ads he creates for these products "reflect the feelings and aspirations the consumer already has for the brand" in question.

Shetty, who studied at Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Mumbai, has been one of the front-runners of the nation's young breed of creative (copy) writers. Ask him if he will start an agency of his own and say says, "No no... for now, I will just take a break."