ITV

Tag: Raghu Bhat

  • Scarecrow’s growth plans after 4 wins this magic week

    MUMBAI: For founder-promoters Raghu Bhat, Manish Bhatt and Arunava Joy Sengupta, this week has been a turning point with their two-year-four-month-old agency recording four wins in the week.

    Scarecrow Communications‘ prize catch has been the consolidation of Religare‘s account. The agency will now handle the creative duties of Religare Broking, Religare Health Insurance, Religare Macquarie and Religare Arts Initiative for its first client. The next line of attack will be to bag Religare‘s mutual fund that is under the care of Ogilvy.
    Bhatt recollects those early days when the agency‘s name was not even firmed up. “When we first started with Religare Macquarie (a joint venture), Scarecrow did not exist. Our cards read Raghu, Manish and Joy and the address was of a coffee shop where we used to meet. We had pitched along with the likes of Ogilvy, Law and Kenneth, Lowe and TBWA and managed to win the account as a bunch of individuals. Scarecrow exists today because of that. Religare has been very lucky for us,” he says.

    The week‘s other two wins are significant in another sense as Scarecrow prepares to expand its operations geographically while widening its client portfolio. Emami is Kolkata-based while Justbooks, a community library firm, hails from Bengaluru. The fourth win will be announced soon and Bhatt is not ready to talk about it.

    Having offices in Mumbai and Delhi, Scarecrow is now planning to have a presence in both Kolkata and Bengaluru. Though the creative idea shop has around 35 clients across Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, the servicing so far is done from the Mumbai and Delhi offices.
    The Scarecrow Trio – Arunava, Manish & Raghu

    The Scarecrow Trio – Arunava, Manish & Raghu
    Scarecrow’s next target is setting a base is the eastern metro of Kolkata. Apart from the recently won Emami Healthy & Tasty edible oil account, Scarecrow already services five of innerwear manufacturer Rupa’s brands – Frontline, Kidline, Euro, Thermocot and Bumchums, also based out of the City of Joy.

    Scarecrow believes in first building a client list in a region before setting up shop there. “We prefer having clients and slowly building our reputation before setting up an office in these centres. This makes working easier. That is the way we set up the Delhi office,” says Bhatt.

    The six-month-old Delhi office has helped Scarecrow expand its client portfolio, winning most of the agency‘s new businesses. Housing 10 people, it services five major brands – Eristoff, Bacardi, MVI Mobiles, DLF and PentAir.

    “We plan to bring on board new clients and double our team in Delhi. Incidentally, the Delhi office gets us maximum new businesses, surpassing even the Mumbai headquarters,” informs Bhatt.

    Scarecrow‘s future strategy is to work with more companies that have a cluster of brands, products and services under them. It is already associated with brands like Future Capital, DNA, Viacom 18, Nestle, Quikr, MVL & Pentair.

    “Working with such companies not only gives an agency exposure and experience but also makes expansion of brand portfolio easier. There is a tuning of sorts and both the parties are acquainted with each other’s style of working and expectations,” explains Bhatt.

    The agency is eager to work with more brands across various categories. “We are pretty strong in the financial services category as we have already done work for Religare, Axis bank etc. FMCG is the most sustainable category for any agency as recession and slowdown do not really have a big bearing on it. They give you a good strength. We were already in the FMCG category but we have never planned communication for an edible oil brand. So it will be a learning experience for us too,” avers Bhatt.

  • Scarecrow deepens ties with first client, bags Religare’s corporate account

    MUMBAI: Scarecrow Communications has deepened its relationship with its first client. The agency will handle the creative duties for Religare Enterprises‘ corporate brand, dislodging incumbent agency Ogilvy, Delhi.

    Scarecrow already services the accounts of Religare Broking, Religare Health Insurance and Religare Macquarie.

    Says Scarecrow Communications founder director Raghu Bhat, “Religare was Scarecrow’s first client. It’s fair to say that Scarecrow came into existence because of Religare. It’s very satisfying to note that since KILB, we have maintained our standards of creative excellence on this brand and have been rewarded with this very significant assignment.”

    Scarecrow will handle the account from its Mumbai office. Religare offers a wide array of services including broking, insurance, asset management, lending solutions, investment banking and wealth management. It has a network of over 2,200 business centres across 550 plus locations and more than a million clients.

    Says Religare director, Branding and Communications Subhrangshu Neogi, “The team at Scarecrow has consistently delivered high quality and path breaking creative work across all product lines assigned to them so far. We have now decided to enlarge the scope of their mandate to include some key corporate assignments as well.”

    With fully functional offices in Mumbai and Delhi, Scarecrow Communications handles brands such as Reliance Digital, Future Capital, DNA, Eristoff, Viacom18, Nestle, Quikr, Rupa and DLF. Recently, Scarecrow started its full fledged design outfit, Scarecrow Designs.

  • Scarecrow elevates Banerjee to Delhi branch head

    MUMBAI: Scarecrow Communications has promoted Anindya Banerjee to branch head at Scarecrow Delhi.

    Banerjee currently serves as executive creative director and creative head of the agency‘s Delhi office and will take on the additional responsibilities from 1 June.

    Scarecrow founder director Raghu Bhat said, “Andy‘s contribution to the growth of Scarecrow Delhi deserves more than lip service. Andy believes in Scarecrow as much as Scarecrow believes in him. We are merely being sensible by unleashing Andy‘s potential through timely empowerment.”

    Scarecrow founder director Manish Bhatt added, “Andy is the face of Scarecrow Delhi. All we are doing here is recognising it and giving it a nomenclature. We are giving him due liberty and power to the role he was playing by default. And wish him to attract great brands and great talent.”

    Scarecrow founder director Arunava (Joy) Sengupta said, “As we move to the next phase of our growth in Delhi, we needed a captain, and to all of us there was no better candidate than Andy. Am sure he will lead us well in our journey in Delhi market.”

    Scarecrow has, in its kitty, brands like Reliance Digital, Anchor Panasonic, DNA, Religare, Future Capital, Viacom18, Rupa, Core and Quikr.

    Scarecrow Delhi handles brands such as Eristoff, Pentair, DLF and MVL Mobiles.

  • Scarecrow Communications bags MVL Mobiles

    Scarecrow Communications bags MVL Mobiles

    MUMBAI: MVL Mobiles has appointed Scarecrow Communications as its communication consultant for upcoming products across India.

    Dentsu Marcom was the incumbent agency on the account that was handed over to the agency following a multi-agency pitch.

    The pitch also involved agencies such as WPP’s Contract Advertising and an independent brand communications, Law & Kenneth.

    MVL Mobiles foray into the mobile handset market need to be backed-up by an inclusive creative strategy and Scarecrow with its creative thoughts and ideas will further consolidate the company’s brand positioning.

    Scarecrow Communications founder director Raghu Bhat, “We are visibly thrilled to partner MVL Mobiles. In our interactions with the management, we have seen zero-tolerance for run-of-the-mill thinking and a determination to create genuine differentiation, at every level. This is very energising for any creative person.”

    MVL Mobiles director Arjun Rishi confirmed the news. MVL Group’s MVL Telecom launched mobile handsets under the brand name ‘MVL Mobiles‘ in June 2010.
    Founder director Arunava Sengupta said that mobile handset business is one of the most exciting and rapidly growing categories in India. “A brand in this category needs to be relevant to a wide audience set and that gives us tremendous opportunity to do some exciting consumer work leading to some path breaking communication”, he added.
     

  • Scarecrow bags creative mandate of Nestle’s upcoming brand

    Scarecrow bags creative mandate of Nestle’s upcoming brand

    MUMBAI: Nestle India has appointed Scarecrow Communications as creative consultant for one of their soon-to-be launched brands.

    The company and the agency have denied revealing any further details about the brand.

    According to Scarecrow Communications founder director Manish Bhatt, the mandate was given based on the agency’s credentials—without any pitch involved

    Scarecrow Communications founder director Raghu Bhat added, “To work on a Nestle brand, after just one year of launch, is an incredible boost for Scarecrow. But what has been a real eye-opener is the receptivity, the courage of conviction and lengths to which the Nestle team goes, in the pursuit of a great creative idea. We thank Nestle India Brand team (Virat Mehta and team) for keeping the faith and hope to repay their confidence with communication that moves hearts as well as the market share needle.”

    Manish Bhatt also stated, “Nestle is one of the most trusted and legendary brand in the world. Everyone has born and brought up using Nestle products at the various stages of the life span. Nestle India considering Scarecrow as its Creative Consultant for one of its brands is really overwhelming. And we, at Scarecrow will put our best to fulfill the expectations from Nestle India in terms of creating effective