Swati Bhattacharya joins Dentsu, to set up Mama Labs

Bhattacharya who was with JWT for 22 years will now report to Rohit Ohri and work with Narayan Devanathan.

Swati Bhattacharya, who recently moved out of JWT after 22 years, has joined Dentsu India. Bhattacharya, will be setting up Mama Labs - a new project by Dentsu India which will look at the Indian mother as a consumer.

Bhattacharya will join Dentsu as principal partner after serving as national creative director for JWT till last month. "I report directly to Rohit, (chairman Dentsu India and CEO, Dentsu APAC) and will be working closely with planner, Narayan Devanathan," Bhattacharya disclosed over the phone. In her new role she will look at planning campaigns for brands targeting women - including digital campaigns.

She goes on to add, "There is a woman inside every mother, who is not all perfect, not all 'Devi', not all giving; and women know that but it's time for marketers to know that too." She believes that Mama Lab will give her an opportunity to speak to women in "our own language, in our own way. We might not all be perfect but we are the best that we can be. I am so glad I won't have to fake my interest in men anymore. I am looking forward to sell to women by pressing their security buttons and not their insecurity buttons".

Incidentally, among Bhattacharya's key accounts in the past, she is most remembered for reawakening GSK's brand Horlick. She has also worked with Airtel, Nestle, Pepsi, ITC and Unilever in her long stint at JWT.

"I'm delighted to have Swati lead this initiative in India. Her enormous experience of working on brands that have had deep meaningful connections with mothers will be the credible foundation of Dentsu Mama Lab. 'Good Innovation' is the essence of the Dentsu brand and Mama Lab is a vivid demonstration of it," said Ohri.

In 2013, Dentsu started Mama Lab in Tokyo to build a platform for mothers and brands to engage with one another and benefit from. In India, Mama Lab will trace the mothers' personal histories across cities and villages and in-between places and will be an ongoing visual and oral biography of the Indian mothers.

"We will create an ever-expanding picture of mothers in India, much like a perpetually-growing, always-complete-but-never-truly-complete jigsaw puzzle. As an outcome, our goal will be to gain insights into mothers and motherhood in India that will truly go beyond oft-repeated motherhood statements," says Devanathan, executive vice-president and national planning director, Dentsu India.