MAM
Happy mcgarrybowen appoints Mahendra Bhagat as National Creative Director
Happy mcgarrybowen, the creative and design agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network, has further strengthened its creative prowess with the appointment of Mahendra Bhagat as National Creative Director.
With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Mahendra has worked with agencies like Enterprise, SSC&B Lintas, JWT and FCB, where he created some iconic campaigns for brands like Titan, Britannia, Times of India, Godrej and Unilever. He has been the recipient of many National and International awards including Cannes, Clio, New York Festival, London Festival as well as AME (Advertising & Marketing Effectiveness) and has been on the Jury of several prestigious Advertising awards.
Additionally, Mahendra parallelly dabbles in various aspects of Art. He has created some intriguing pieces spanning across corporate installations, video and digital art, mixed media, contemporary paintings and sculptures. His work has been widely acclaimed by audiences in several countries.
Commenting on his appointment, Agnello Dias, Creative Chairman, Dentsu Aegis Network India said, “I have worked with Mahendra during my last stint at an agency, and always felt he had a calm, collected, creative mind without the tantrums that some creative people have. He is keen to understand the brand’s point of view and apply his undoubted creative skills to find a solution. He has a keen art and design eye as well. I’m sure Happy mcgarrybowen will forge a great partnership with him and their clients. I wish him all the best.”
Soumitra Karnik, Chief Creative Officer, Happy mcgarrybowen added, “I am thrilled to have Mahendra in our team as we plan to take Happy mcgarrybowen to the next level. He is a rare creative talent who is on top of the game as far as craft is concerned, and who has managed to use the new media platforms really well. Above anything else, he is a lovely person to work with and I am quite certain that we couldn’t have found a better leader than him. Happy mcgarrybowen is now happier with him around.”
Speaking on his appointment, Mahendra Bhagat said, "The future of advertising lies in marrying creativity with technology. Instead of relying on traditional mediums, Happy mcgarrybowen is constantly in an exploratory mode; finding a new age communication solutions. Being a relatively young agency, it is buzzing with new ideas and energy. I look forward to channelizing that energy in creating some path breaking work for our clients.”
Commenting on Mahendra’s appointment Samarjit Choudhry, President, Happy mcgarrybowen said, “Mahendra brings to the table the varied experience that is much needed in today’s world and also the freshness that comes from his being an artist. With him as the NCD I am sure we will become a lot more stronger as a creative solution provider to our clients.”
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
