Kalpana Rao quits O&M

Krishna Gopalan in Mumbai

Kalpana Rao, managing consultant and head of media, Ogilvy & Mather, has put in her papers. This was confirmed by senior industry sources to The Financial Express.

Kalpana Rao

The exact reasons for Ms Rao’s decision could not be ascertained at this point in time. When contacted, Ms Rao declined to comment on the development.

Ms Rao joined O&M in 1998 as head of The Media Network, the media division of the agency. after spending around six years at FCB-Ulka. This was her second stint with O&M where she had earlier spent nine years. At O&M, Ms Rao was responsible for media innovations on brands like Kodak and Fevicol.

Though the reasons for her resignation could not be confirmed, it is being widely speculated that one of the reasons could be the fact that she was not given a significant role in the newly formed media powerhouse Mindshare Fulcrum. Mindshare Fulcrum is the entity which will encompass all media buying and planning for Hindustan Lever across three major agencies-HTA Fulcrum, O&M and Contract.

While Mindshare Fulcrum will handle all media business for HLL, the non-HLL media business will be handled by a newly created entity, Maximise.

Sources also said that some crucial announcements with respect to appointments in HTA Fulcrum and Mindshare are expected to be made over the next fortnight. HTA Fulcrum is the specialised media planning and buying cell for Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL). It may be recalled that HTA Fulcrum won the media planning business of HLL earlier this year from Lowe Lintas. The value of this business in terms of media spend is expected to be in excess of Rs 450 crore. This will encompass media spend across print, television, radio and outdoor for the multitude of brands that HLL manufactures and markets.