DDB MudraMax restructures ops

Global marketing services conglomerate Ominicom-owned DDB Mudra Group has restructured the top deck of its DDB MudraMax division after the exit of Mandeep Malhotra, president, DDB MudraMax, on Monday.
It is believed that Malhotra will be joining former COO of DDB Mudra, Pratap Bose as managing partner in his proposed new venture.

Executive directors Sathyamurthy Namakkal and Aneil Deepak were handed additional charge of the outdoor and experiential businesses respectively and TracyLocke head of business and operations will now report directly to Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO & MD, DDB Mudra Group.

Even as Kamath told this correspondent that it was business as usual and rubbished rumours that employees were asked to sign affidavits to pledge their continuance or leave the organisation, according to information received from reliable sources, over 20 staffers have already put in their papers ostensibly to join a venture being set up by former DDB Mudra COO Pratap Bose, and another 30-odd are rumoured to be joining him within a month's time.

Although Bose was unavailable for comment, he is said to be establishing an agency network with equity investments in various communication companies, and is reported to have locked in a string of clients, some of them from DDB Mudra. A large number of advertising professionals from across various agencies are likely to join Bose whose business is expected to be afloat around mid-June 2015.

While a senior marketer dubs this the biggest ever churn in the ad agency business in the last decade, Kamath said it would be incorrect to term it an exodus from his agency. Over a hundred fresh recruits are likely to join the group over the next few months, he said.

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