Ryan Menezes joins McCann Erickson as executive creative director

Mumbai: Ryan Menezes has joined McCann Erickson Mumbai as its executive creative director, after having put in his papers recently at his former employer, Vyas Giannetti Creative, where he was in a similar capacity.

Menezes joins McCann with a number of awards under his belt, including the distinction of being the winner of the first Cannes Gold Lion for India, and other awards like D&AD, Lorie, and Clio for both Art and Copy. Amongst the brands he's helped build are Coca-Cola Africa, Hyundai, Cox & Kings, Kenya Airways, Philips, Zenith Computers, Esselworld, Travelocity and The Aditya Birla Group. He was key to the start-up operations of Euro RSCG India & SSC&B Lintas India.

Executive chairman of McCann Erickson India, Prasoon Joshi, who is also the creative director Asia Pacific, welcomed Ryan on board, saying that the opportunity he'd been looking for, for working together with Ryan ''has finally happened.''

Menezes, had a 15-month stint at Vyas Giannetti Creative, prior to which he was with Mudra Communications as national creative director. At VGC, he had done the recent Indian Cricket League (ICL) campaign, and the Stamps TV commercial for the Aditya Birla Group.

An ad industry veteran with experience spanning over two decades with agencies such as Lowe, SSC&B Lintas, Saatchi & Saatchi, O&M, Ambience Publicis, and Grey Worldwide, Menezes was ranked 8th in the Top Creative Director's list, in the Brand Equity Survey 2006.

In 2005 and 2006, he was a judge at the Abbys, the AAAI and the Outdoor Advertising Awards in 2005 and 2006.