Bates CHI's Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar moves to Singapore office in regional role

As ECD, he will report to Christina Chong, MD, Bates Singapore, and will work closely with Arvind Srivastava, Head of Planning & Strategy, and CEO David Mayo

Akansha Srivastava | Mumbai | December 2, 2014

Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar

Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, the hitherto Mumbai-based Chief Creative Officer of Bates CHI & Partners, has relocated to Bates CHI Singapore as of yesterday, post a top management rejig. As Executive Creative Director in the Singapore office, he will be handling accounts in markets like China, Malaysia, Myanmar and India, among others.

He will report to Christina Chong, Managing Director, Bates Singapore, and will work closely with Arvind Srivastava, Head of Planning & Strategy, and CEO David Mayo.

“To ensure that we maintain our product quality and continue to create work that motivates consumers with social and digital at the heart of communications that put them in the action, we have invited Sagar to join us in Singapore as ECD in our regional hub,” Mayo told BestMediaInfo.com.

Talking about the recent strategic changes with respect to the company's acquisition of Bangalore-based Temple Advertising, Mayo said, “This has only become possible because our new CCO, Manmohan Achan, has come in as part of our acquisition of Temple Advertising earlier this year, which means we have significantly strengthened our management bench in India and increased the quality of our creative output yet again.”

Commenting on Mahabaleshwarkar's relocation, Mayo said, “This move has allowed us to deploy our very real creative talent in a broader capacity across our network. India is the most creative market in the region, and the opportunity to export talent does not come along very often. We are lucky with the quality of our senior creative leadership. India is at the heart of our resurgent agency, and many of our new business and creative stories are being written there right now. Having Sagar in Singapore means that we have a hard-wired 'hotline' into the most fertile and creative market in the region. The way Sagar and Maac (Achan) work together will make us faster, more creative, more immediate and more effective in India and across Asia.”

“Uniquely, Sagar and Maac, together with our ECDs from Indonesia and China, form our Regional Creative Council which guides the quality and the output of the product at Bates CHI & Partners,” Mayo added.

Mahabaleshwarkar said about his new assignment, “I have been with Bates for the last four and a half years. This proposal came to me as a big surprise. I have been helping China, Malaysia and other offices before, but shifting from Mumbai was something I never thought of.”

He further said, “In India, I was looking after offices like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore. In Singapore, I'll be looking after different regions and countries. My role now is very different because everything is new for me. Storytelling will remain the same, but Singapore is a new market, there is a new set of clients and a new set of people. It will be quite challenging as well as very interesting. India itself is a very challenging place. We have different kinds of languages and different kinds of people. I can use the India storytelling experience in Singapore. It will be a great learning process for me and I'll be looking forward to it.”

Mahabaleshwarkar will work on brands such as Chivas Regal, Singapore Government, Midea (Chinese white goods player), and a few brands from the Disney stable.

In his 20-year career span, Mahabaleshwarkar has worked with agencies such as Rediffusion Y&R, Ogilvy & Mather and Design Core India. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from MSU Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda. He has to his credit several awards including Cannes Lions Gold, Silver, Bronze, One Show, Clio, D&AD, Abbys, Effies and the Yahoo Big Idea Chair.

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