Sonal dabral to replace Mohammed Khan as bates David Chairman

MUMBAI: It’s the end of one of the longest innings in Indian advertising. After more than forty years in Indian advertising, Mohammed Khan, acknowledged as one of the best copywriters that Indian advertising has ever produced, will retire from advertising in another week. Sonal Dabral, who will replace Khan as chairman of Bates David Enterprise is already in India and set to take over the reins from the grand old man of Indian advertising, but not before a series of emotional sendoffs.

Mr Khan had been involved in setting-up of some of India’s best-known creative agencies today. He was one of the co-founders of Rediffusion in 1973, came on board to start Contract in 1978 and finally in 1983, started Enterprise. The work he’s been involved with includes iconic brands like Raymond, Charms, Lakme and most brands that had their origins in the 70s and 80s. Mr Khan modestly says: “Half the credit should go the clients, we had excellent relationships.” He says, “In fact, that’s one thing that’s missing today –– agency relationships with suppliers, photographers, directors etc, which made them give that little extra. That was what made the difference between good and great.”

He also isn’t unhappy that Enterprise, which first merged with Nexus and then got swallowed by Bates, isn’t quite the same. He says, “The agencies and the cultures that I created still exist, even if they don’t go by the same names.” He has special regard for Rajiv Aggarwal, the founder and former managing director of Nexus, even though the merger of the two agencies in the mid-90s wasn’t very successful. Subhash Kamath, the CEO of Bates David Enterprise, says that Mr Khan has never lost his cool, contrary to the general image that was portrayed of him. He says, “Everyone loved working with him. He only got angry with a bad piece of work.” Mr Kamath adds that Mr Khan gave him a free hand in the agency, and that Mr Khan was instrumental in bringing Sonal Dabral on board Bates Asia.

A champion of the written word, Mr Khan is upset that written copy is slowly being phased out in print ads, even as scam ads avoid copy altogether. “The copy is important in bringing out the brand attributes. How can a photograph possibly convey that?” asks Mr Khan. Calling the current trend ‘daft’, he believes that the industry will soon go back to writing copy.