Aggie and Paddy go back to Roots

Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi have finally announced their new venture. They have started a communications services company, Roots India. As reported earlier, Padhi had quit from his post of executive creative director at Leo Burnett and Dias resigned from the position of chief creative officer of JWT India.

The company will have staff strength of 12 people to start with. Padhi said, "We are hiring young blood as we want fresh thinking and approach in our company. This has been our conscious decision."

The Times of India account, for which JWT won the coveted Cannes Grand Prix last year (Lead India campaign) moves with Dias. He said, "We have formally signed The Times of India and Mumbai Mirror. We have started working on a new campaign for The Times of India but I can't divulge details right now."

The company is currently in talks with five more clients who are expected to come on board in the near future.

Explaining the significance of the name of the company, Padhi said, "Both Aggie and me started out in this business because we were good at writing, creating and visualizing concepts and ideas. Over time, circumstances and progress has seen us dabble in many things in all the various agencies we have worked in, not all of them necessarily creative. In a way, this initiative is a simple honest effort to return to the basics, our roots in the business, and do what we have always believed we were good at."

(pictured, left to right: Santosh Padhi and Agnello Dias)