Dabral to give Bates 'India' advantage

With a new chairman at the helm, advertising agency Bates David Enterprise is chalking out plans for growth in India and abroad by using Indian ideas.

Sonal Dabral, who slips into the shoes of the legendary Mohammed Khan as the chairman of Bates David Enterprise, India and regional executive creative director, BatesAsia.

To execute these plans and grow new businesses, the agency is making more recruitments.

Said Jeffrey Yu, president, BatesAsia, the only Asia-specific agency of the WPP group, "For Bates, the Indian and Chinese markets are of utmost importance. The Mumbai office, with Sonal Dabral and Subhash Kamath, has a wealth of experience in the industry and this should not remain limited to India alone. Ideas from here can be adopted to suit markets elsewhere in Asia - Japan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia.

The agency is focussing on using its knowledge of the Asian market to make more local ads for global clients. "We know how to work in the international arena and also how the locals feel. This gives us an edge," Yu added.

On the India front, the agency is expecting to grow its new businesses at 35 to 45 per cent next year and the advertising business 15 to 20 per cent. Bates is definitely looking at taking more people on board at senior strategic levels in creative, account management, strategic planning, activation and digital divisions, said Dabral.

"The good thing about Bates is that it has a proper team in place to handle the business. There are also good accounts that the agency has won in recent times, like Virgin Airlines. So, I don't have to spend time building a team. I will work on building a creative focus for Bates, assess capability and shortcomings, and work on projects hands-on with the team," he said.