The Bobby Pawar - Partha Sinha combine: Creative and planner come together at Publicis

BBH India managing partner Partha Sinha is set to join Publicis as director and chief strategy officer for South Asia in end-August or early September. Partnering him will be Bobby Pawar, former JWT India CCO, who moves in as director and chief creative officer for South Asia.

The partnership is a coup of sorts for Publicis, bringing together one of the best planning minds and a creative head who said this when he took up his assignment at Mudra on his return to India: ‘There’s no ATL or BTL – that’s the truth of who we are’.

And this partnership has been in the making for a while now, reveals Sinha, in conversation with Campaign India.

“We have been dabbling with the idea ever since Bobby came back to India. We’ve done a lot of fun work together at Ogilvy. We know we can do some good work together and our world view on work is also aligned,” revealed Sinha.

Watch an ad for Kelvinator created by Ogilvy during the duo's stint together here .

So that puts to rest the premise that the two started the conversation post Pawar’s exit from JWT. Though as Sinha admits, the talks got more serious after Pawar’s moving out of the WPP agency.

“Typically, planning and creative are put together. In this case, we came together. Bobby was speaking to Publicis and then he brought me into the picture,” added Sinha.

Sinha explained the alignment of thought between this planner and creative: “Brands are looking for solutions, not ads. For a solutions approach, planner and creative have to work hand in hand. You have to have the problem at heart, and define it well. Else, you won’t have a differentiated solution.”

On Publicis South Asia CEO Nakul Chopra’s comment on the team delivering disproportionate returns, Sinha surmised, “We’ll definitely try.”