Abhijit 'Kinu' Avasthi, the national creative director of Ogilvy India, has decided to leave the agency after serving there for 15 years, in what is probably the most high profile creative exit of the year so far. Avasthi, who was handed the national CD title by Piyush Pandey back in 2009, has been an instrumental driving force in many of the agency's top ad campaigns for global brands such as Cadbury and Coca-Cola and has also won several industry awards under his belt. He will be (according to the man himself) “Taking a break” to figure out what his next move should be, though sources say he will be setting up his own creative agency, a move he has reportedly been contemplating for a while. When asked candidly about his next move, he simply says he's “not in a position to share more details,” except that he's “Currently exploring a few things.”
Photo: Abhijit Avasthi
Avasthi, who was handed the national CD title by Piyush Pandey back in 2009, has been an instrumental driving force in many of the agency's top ad campaigns
Avasthi began working in advertising back in 1997 at Enterprise Nexus as a trainee writer and joined Ogilvy two years later as creative supervisor. He was made creative director by 2002 and then in 2005 was promoted to group creative director. He'll be serving his notice period at Ogilvy until the end of November and will continue to be associated with Ogilvy as a creative consultant on a few key projects. He'll also join Pandey, the executive chairman and creative director of Ogilvy South Asia, and Rajiv Rao, who was promoted by Pandey alongside him, in “Developing and implementing a robust on-going creative training programme for Ogilvy India. ”
Photo: Piyush Pandey
“Avasthi's contribution to the agency since the 2000s has been immense, not just in creative output but even in building teams.” Piyush Pandey
Avasthi says that his time in the advertising industry has taught and exposed him to a lot of things. He plans to take what he's learnt and move on to pursue his “Interests and passions.” He said part of the reason for leaving is that he feels it would have been unfair on both himself and Ogilvy if he couldn't give 100% to what he loved doing. He adds that both Pandey and Rao, “Have been aware of (his) intentions for a while now and have been very supportive about it,” and that his exit has been planned “For sometime,” meaning there will be as little confusion as possible at the agency. Rao will, of course, be taking full charge of Avasthi's national creative responsibilities and the agency will begin discussing the responsibilities of current creative leaders over the next few weeks.
Photo: Rajiv Rao
Avasthi says that his time in the advertising industry has taught and exposed him to a lot of things. He plans to take what he's learnt and move on to pursue his “Interests and passions.”
Commenting on Avasthi's departure, Pandey said “In keeping with the spirit youth, he has chosen to do things on his own, and these are going to be projects that are not necessarily agency projects.” He says he is happy Avasthi isn't joining a competitor, because he feels incredibly close to his protegé, whose “Contribution to the agency since the 2000s has been immense, not just in creative output but even in building teams.” He salutes the man who has become one of India's most talented and respected creative professionals and wishes him “The very best in his next inning.”
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK.
