'Harish Bhat, a careful marketer who took tough decisions’

Harish Bhat, who retired as the Brand Custodian of Tata Sons after 36 years with the company, will remain an advisor at Tata Sons and a non-executive Director on the Boards of Tata Starbucks, Trent, Infiniti Retail (Croma) and Tata AIA Life Insurance Company.

We asked industry veterans about their experiences of working with Harish Bhat.

Sam Balsara 

Madison World Chairman Sam Balsara, who knows Bhat as a client at Tata Tea for over 20 years, shared, “I know him as a sound mature careful marketer and a terrific chronicler of marketing and Tata stories.”

Fali Vakeel 

Fali Vakeel,Chairman of Lowe Lintas,said he always enjoyed working with Bhat. Calling him the “embodiment of a client”, Vakeel said Bhat was fair and took tough decisions.

“He was one of the fairest of clients in terms of work ethics. If there was one quality I had to take from him, it would be the talent to be fair and yet be able to make tough decisions.”

Vakeel and Bhat worked on a lot of campaigns for Tanishq. Asked about the favourite campaigns from this association, Vakeel said: “It is difficult to say which was my favourite, pretty much all of them were excellent. They were fabulously good looking, bringing out the essence of the brand.”

Beyond work, Bhat loves music and wasn't shy about, Vakeel shared. “He was a great client to work with but beyond work, he was fun and had a great personality.”

Ambi Parmeswaran 

Brand expert Ambi Parmeswaran recalled working with Bhat on a few key initiatives at Tata Group. Parmeswaran shared, "What I truly admire about him is his humility and simplicity. The ability to get to the core of an issue in the most empathetic way. He has also been a very talented diligent writer, penning columns and several best selling books."
Bhat has strong views about the role of advertising and brands in a changing society, Parmeswaran further said.
"He was generous with his time when I sought out to interview him for my book ‘Nawabs Nudes Noodles’! He has also been a fan of that book and I am grateful for his kind words about my various books," added Parmeswaran.