Walter Saldanha had humble beginnings in the industry. He started at the level of Secretary/Steno at J Walter Thompson Co. (JWT) in March 1951.He was appointed Assistant Executive 6 months later. In 1953 he was assigned the responsibility of assessing the feasibility of establishing a JWT Branch in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Later that year, within a period of 6 months, he established from scratch, JWT’s Ceylon Branch.
In 1958 he left JWT, to join Everest Advertising as Senior Accounts Executive. In 1959/60 Walter joined Ayaz Peerbhoy and a few others from Everest Advertising to set up Marketing Advertising Associates (MAA). In 1963 he joined Aiyars Advertising & Marketing as Senior Account Executive and was appointed on the Board a few months later following collaboration with LPE (London Press Exchange), at that time Europe’s largest Agency.
In March 1972, Walter along with 13 others from Aiyars, who were prepared to throw in their lot with him, left to form an agency – Chaitra Advertising Pvt Ltd which was born on March 27, 1972. Chaitra tied up with Leo Burnett, Chicago in 1991 following a four years ‘honeymoon’ period, when they acquired a 10% stake in the company
Currently, amongst many activities, Walter has set up the Asian Institute of Communication & Research at Neral near Matheran for about 200 Residential Students. This institute is being funded by Walter and represents his contribution to the Profession, the Industry and Society from whom he has received so much.