By A Correspondent

It’s been doing the rounds for weeks. But now it’s official. Ogilvy India has announced the departure of Ajay Gahlaut, Deputy Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy India, CCO – Ogilvy North. Gahlaut leaves Ogilvy to pursue his own interests.

Gahlaut joined Ogilvy for the second time, in November 2007. His first stint with Ogilvy was in 2001 and until 2005. In the last decade, he has worked to help build brands such as Pernod Ricard, BMW, KFC, Tacobel, Dabur, Perfetti, Mother Dairy, Pizza Hut,  Sprite, Best Foods, HT Mint, Philips, to name a few.

Said Sonal Dabral, Group Chief Creative Officer & Vice Chairman, Ogilvy India: “Ajay did some excellent work in his decade long innings in Ogilvy Delhi. I’d like to thank him for building a great team and wish him all the best for all his future endeavours.”

Added Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy South Asia: “Ajay is looking for life beyond advertising and for that reason, I cannot stop him just like I couldn’t stop Abhijit. If Abhijit was going to another agency, I wouldn’t have let him go. Everyone has a dream and unfortunately, I can’t fulfil that dream. He has done a stellar job and I am very proud of him. He worked very closely with me and I will miss him. He is a very dear friend.”

So why did Gahlaut go? And what’s he doing next? And who’s going to helm the all-important Delhi/North India operations of Ogilvy next. We don’t have answers to these, though there are murmurs on why Gahlaut was keen on moving out. Since these are murmurs, perhaps they should stay that way. If we know for sure, we’ll come back with a report.