Mumbai: Senior industry professionals Debashis Bose and Sangeeta Sen have joined hands with Reet Singh Ahluwalia of Arms Communications to set up a 50:50 joint venture named Arms Crestra, a pure brand communications agency.

Debashis has put in his papers as CEO of Hakuhodo Percept. Debashis is credited with setting-up Hakuhodo Percept from scratch and leading it successfully for more than 7 years. Sangeeta’s last stint was also with Hakuhodo Percept as vice president.

“ Our core competence is strategy and creative and even our name reflects this focus; ‘Crestra’ is a synthesis of CREative and STRAtegy. Our differential is media-neutral creative concepts that are expressed across a 360-degree bandwidth of consumer touchpoints,” says Debashis Bose who leads Arms Crestra as MD & CEO.

Bose has a successful track record in advertising and marketing spanning more than 25 years. After completing Chemical Engineering followed by a MBA from FMS, Delhi, he worked in blue-chip companies like Asian Paints, Modi Olivetti and India Today before joining as a strategic planner at Ulka. Senior-level stints at Everest and Interact Vision followed before he joined the Percept group as CEO of Hakuhodo Percept.

Sangeeta Sen, who is executive director & chief creative officer at Arms Crestra, has more than 16 years of experience as a creative person. She is the brain behind many successful campaigns in TV and print for companies like Maruti, Sony and Apple Computers.

Says Reet Singh Ahluwalia, Chairman, Arms Group, “ We see great synergies in this partnership and expect Arms Crestra to play a significant role in the group’s growth trajectory. Arms Communications will continue as an independent agency with its own operating philosophy and portfolio of strong Indian clients.”

Arms Crestra has clients such as Uppal’s Housing, Minda, Blackberrys, Switch Masters and Uppal Vornado. It is readying campaigns that will release in the next two months.