MUMBAI:  Ogilvy India has announced the elevation of Ganapathy Balagopalan as deputy chief strategy officer, Ogilvy India. In his new role as deputy CSO, Balagopalan will partner with some of Ogilvy India's key clients. He will drive two key agendas at a national level.  He will be the national effectiveness leader and will help teams across markets on this front. He will also champion the digital strategy aspect of brands in Ogilvy India and partner account management and creative leaders to drive the digital excellence agenda.

While he takes on a national role, Balagopalan will continue to be the planning head for Mumbai & Kolkata, something he has nurtured and built over the last five years, the agency said. He has been with Ogilvy for over 20 years and has been an integral part of nurturing and building the Ogilvy planning function.

On the new appointment, Ogilvy India chief strategy officer Prem Narayan said: "Ask Ganapathy’ is a catch phrase in Ogilvy, if there is anything you need to know about Cadbury/Mondelez. Guns has been the account planning custodian for some of Ogilvy India's dearest brands - Cadbury/Mondelez, Pidilite, Bajaj and ITC. There has been a Ganapathy touch to many great campaigns on these brands over the years.”

Balagopalan is also credited with authoring the case that won India's only IPA, for Cadbury Dairy Milk.  

 Ogilvy India group president VR Rajesh said: "There is no one better to partner Prem in the national role than Ganpathy. After building a robust planning structure for the Mumbai office and being responsible for some iconic work across our key clients, Guns will now drive the new-age transformation agenda for Ogilvy planning."

Ganapathy Balagopalan said about his new role: "At Ogilvy, we have insanely talented people with diverse skills, utterly devoted to creating world-class work that helps our clients succeed in a VUCA world. I look forward to partnering with all my colleagues to ensure Ogilvy continues to lead the way."