Former Ambience Publicis EVP-South Kaustav Das and former McCann South regional creative director Anil Ralph Thomas have partnered to launch Ralph&Das, a full service creative agency in Bengaluru.
The agency commenced operations on 1 July 2015, and Thomas is expected to come on board shortly, moving from his current position of CCO at The Thinking Machine, Asia. The creative who also dons the hat of film director is now based in Jakarta.
After his exit from Ambience Publicis in September 2013, Das served as a consultant to Bengaluru-based Fisheye Creative Solutions until March this year.
Clients on board
Online jewellery store Bluestone.com was the first client to come on board. It is among three retainer clients bagged by the new shop, informed Das. Meanwhile, the agency has been working with Babyeoye.com on projects.
Bluestone.com
Babyoye Independence Day
"We are talking to a couple of clients but we're not pitching for anything, because we don't want to take on work that we can't handle. Even when we take on new clients, we are requesting advance notice of 60 days so that we can get the team on board to handle that business," explained Das.
An integrated agenda
Both Das and Thomas are one-time client servicing professionals, and both have also handled account planning. They were colleagues once, in Bengaluru.
A team of 16 is in place, informed Das, explaining that the new agency is rooted in the belief that integration is the way forward.
"The future is content. The days of high-end high-scale films is coming to an end. We are at a time when say a set of Rs 5 to 10 lakh-films will proliferate into TV, web and social. That's a direction we are gearing up to be in, internally," he added.
Besides Thomas, there is another ECD on board who is also a film director. Das noted: "We will never get into film production, but will certainly have content production capabilities. We already have the directorial capabilities. We will have social content capabilities in-house."
Of the team of 16, none have been hired through headhunters, explained Das. He said, "All of them have worked with one of us in the past, or have been recommended by a client, because they are suited to our philosophy."
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