MUMBAI: FCB Ulka Advertising today announced the appointment of John Thangaraj as Executive Planning Director – North. Thangaraj joins FCB Ulka from Mindshare, where he was Head of Strategy for the North. In his 14 year career he has worked across research, marketing, account planning and media at companies like Quantum, Adidas, Rediffusion, Lowe Lintas and GroupM.

Speaking on his new role, John Thangaraj said, "Most people think of FCB as a legacy agency, with a rich heritage of strategic thinking and a strong base of long term clients. Which of course it is. But it's also an agency that is reinventing itself for today with a strong focus on media neutral, idea out thinking that impacts consumer behavior in multiple ways across multiple contexts. One of my biggest mandates will be to drive this agenda and in Rohit, Suman and Debbie I have the perfect support system in which to do so."

FCB Ulka vice chairman and chief strategy officer, strategy planning Suman Srivastava said, “Modern marketing is all about integration. While today’s marketing communications landscape is woefully fragmented. As we strive towards providing our clients truly integrated brand solutions, we need people who have experience across diverse fields. That is why John’s experiences fits in so well with us. He has worked on a wide range of brands and categories from the creative agency side as well as the media agency side. He is a truly all round thinker and that is essential for integrated strategies."

FCB Ulka CEO Nitin Karkare said, “I am looking forward to working with John. He comes in at time when we have a great new team in Delhi with Debbie, Vasudha and Arijit. He will be our key resource in providing a larger strategic and business perspective to our clients through his varied experience across categories. His fresh thinking, enthusiasm and exposure will help us as we device integrated communication and engagement platforms to connect with the new changing consumers."

Beyond his work, John is an ardent animal lover, spends his free time playing with this two Labrador Retrievers and reading anything he can get his hands on – though with a remarkable bias towards horror, fantasy, sci-fi and comics.