ITV

Category: Media and Advertising

  • Starcom names Sujatha Maniya as talent management head for SE Asia

    Starcom names Sujatha Maniya as talent management head for SE Asia

    MUMBAI: Starcom Mediavest Group has appointed Sujatha Maniya as talent management head for Southeast Asia.

     

    She replaces Tang Seok Hian, talent management lead for SEA, who left to be a consultant.

     

    Maniya will report into Starcom Mediavest Group Southeast Asia CEO and VivaKi country chair Jeffrey Seah. Her responsibilities include the development of strategic HR business plans, talent management and change management.

     

    Maniya said, “Human Resource as a business practice is in a powerful position to influence business success in 2016, especially as organisational changes and shifting priorities continue to increase in complexity, frequency and scope. Organisations need to apply several strategies to prepare for and more effectively adjust during continuous change and at the core of those strategies are the HR business partners. HRBP’s who improve their skills, maintain partnerships and confidently and competently manage projects they lead, can make these changes, successful realties in their organisations.”

     

    Seah added, “Culture, employer branding and industry outreach become key priorities for HR as each company competes in the space of talent attraction and acquisition. This means that most HR, if not all, will need to sell better, seal strategic partnerships with key players in the industry, and manage talent communities. HR, or organisation coaches as they are, will become a key enabler to help companies future-proof their businesses.”

  • Snapdeal SVP Srinivas Murthy quits; to launch entrepreneurial venture

    Snapdeal SVP Srinivas Murthy quits; to launch entrepreneurial venture

    MUMBAI: Snapdeal marketing  senior vice president Srinivas Murthy has moved on from his role in the company to embark on an entrepreneurial journey.

     

    “The entrepreneurial drive has rubbed off onto me. I’m now moving on to become an entrepreneur myself,” said Murthy.

     

    Not divulging the details of his new venture, Murthy added that he will announce it in the next few months.

     

    “Srini has decided to begin an exciting new journey as an entrepreneur, and while he will surely be missed, I am delighted to see that he is carrying forward the Snapdeal spirit of entrepreneurship,” said Snapdeal CEO and co-founder Kunal Bahl.

     

    This is the second major exit at Snapdeal in recent times after the company’s head of strategy Ranjan Kant quit to join Jabong as CMO.

  • Mindshare Malaysia ups Cindy Chia to general manager

    Mindshare Malaysia ups Cindy Chia to general manager

    MUMBAI: Mindshare Malaysia has restructured the management of the agency by promoting Cindy Chia to the newly created role of general manager, with her new responsibilities encompassing talent and office management, in addition to her existing client leadership role.

     

    Chia has been with the agency since 1999.

     

    Commenting on Chia’s contribution to Mindshare over the years, Mindshare Malaysia managing director Varun Channa said, “Cindy’s is a classic case of nurturing internal talent. She joined the agency in 1999 as a Planner and steadily rose through the ranks over the next nine years to the position of director. She has led some of our biggest, most prestigious global blue-chip accounts and has consistently delivered cut-through communications solutions for these clients. Now she moves into a new phase of her career, where she is taking on other responsibilities related to office management and talent growth.”

     

    Chia added, “I’m truly honoured to be entrusted with this role. This is an exciting time for media because everything is now fluid and adaptive. Through Mindshare’s Adaptive Marketing Framework, we’re in a position to play an even greater role in growing our clients’ business and help them thrive in the “chaos” around. I look forward to add greater value to our clients and to the industry.”

  • Voonik launches maiden TVC featuring Farah Khan

    Voonik launches maiden TVC featuring Farah Khan

    NEW DELHI: Indian fashion marketplace for women Voonik has unveiled its first television ad campaign featuring Bollywood director Farah Khan.

     

    The TVC promotes the idea that every day is an occasion to be fashionable.

     

    This concept is highlighted with the campaign tagline, “Har Din Fashion Karo.” Mullen Lintas was the agency behind the ad campaign and the film has been produced by Jamic Films with Nikhil Rao as the director. 

     

    The ad will go on air across leading TV entertainment and lifestyle channels from 10 January onwards. It will first air on 10 January at 8 pm on Colors & Colors HD during the screening of the Stardust Awards 2016, which is co-hosted by Farah Khan. 

        

    Voonik CEO and co-founder Sujayath Ali said, “Through this TVC, we aim to engage with ‘real women’ between the ages of 21 and 35 who desire to be fashionable but often make an effort only on special occasions. For too long, fashion has been the preserve of a few and the real woman was never part of that movement. Voonik changes that by giving them easy access to the largest collection of women’s fashion with over 15 lakh products, by showing them an insanely relevant shopping feed through an intelligent engine that understands their personality, tastes, lifestyle and budgets and through a fabulous shopping experience that is enjoyable and engaging.”

        

    The TVC film uses Bollywood thematic elements by showcasing women in every day scenarios like shopping in a vegetable market, picking up a bike in the garage and going to office. They are shot in typical Bollywood style with a focus on their clothing and attitude. Khan further reinstates the core message by saying, “Zindagi ek film set hai; imagine karo. Jahan mauka mile; fashion karo.” (Imagine that your life is a Bollywood film set; be fashionable each day!).

     

    Speaking on the ad film, Mullen Lintas national creative director Shriram Iyer said, “Voonik wanted us to create a very simple yet appealing film that would hit a chord with its female customer base. Our idea is based on the insight that every woman has an innate desire to dress up and look good, no matter what the occasion. Sometimes, we just get too caught up in conventions. This campaign encourages women to seize every opportunity to celebrate her beauty. The TVC aims to encapsulate this message and create a deeper connect with the women audience through the use of Bollywood-centric elements. Farah Khan fits in with this concept perfectly through her strong association with all things filmy and the glamour quotient associated with her brand of cinema.”

     

    Voonik has also appointed Lodestar UM, part of IPG Media brands, India to lead its media mandate in the country. “We chose Lodestar after a multi-agency pitch because of its excellent approach to segmenting and targeting the women audience, buying efficiencies and flexibility. We felt they are the best match to drive our ROI focus to customer acquisition,” said Ali.

     

    Lodestar UM CEO Nandini Dias added, “We are excited to deliver a differentiated solution to Voonik. It is a pleasure to be associated with a company, which is young and growing immensely. We will leave no stones unturned to make this campaign a success across critical media touch points.”

     

    To celebrate this concept on a wider platform, Voonik is launching this campaign digitally with its hash tag “#HarDinFashionKaro”.

     

     

  • Tourism Ministry denies removing Aamir Khan as Incredible India’s brand ambassador

    Tourism Ministry denies removing Aamir Khan as Incredible India’s brand ambassador

    MUMBAI: The Tourism Ministry has denied removing Aamir Khan as the brand ambassador of the Incredible India ad campaign.

     

    In response to media reports citing that Khan would no longer be endorsing the campaign in light of the ‘intolerance’ controversy that broke out late last year, the Tourism Ministry has clarified that “there is no change in the stand of the ministry in this matter.” 

     

    The Ministry further clarified that at present it had a contractual agreement with creative agency McCann Worldwide to produce social awareness campaign and the said campaign featured Khan.

     

    It may be recalled that at a public event last year, Khan said that his wife Kiran Rao fears for the safety of their child and was mulling the option of leaving the country.

     

    However, as of now it looks as if Khan will continue to be the face of the Incredible India brand campaign.

  • Paytm hires ITC’s Varun Khullar as head of partnerships – payments bank

    Paytm hires ITC’s Varun Khullar as head of partnerships – payments bank

    MUMBAI: Paytm has hired former ITC executive Varun Khullar for its payments bank business. 

     

    Khullar will lead the partnerships division and will be responsible for building relationships with potential partners such as insurance companies, banks and non-banking financial institutions.

     

    Prior to joining Paytm, Khullar, an alumnus of IIT Madras and Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, worked with companies like Boston Scientific Corporation, McKinsey & Co and ITC. 

     

    Paytm vice president Amit Sinha said, “We are looking at building a robust leadership team for our Payments Bank business over the next three – four months. Varun’s professional career, his rich experience and demonstrated dynamism in an evolving business eco-system is the perfect combination for us at this juncture. We’re pleased to have him on board to head the partnerships division of our upcoming business.”

     

    Khullar added, “Paytm’s proposed Payments Bankis in sync with the national vision of a cashless economy with greater financial inclusion for all. It is indeed an honour to be a part of this vision. I’m thrilled to come on board at one of the fastest scaling m-commerce and payments platforms in the country and look forward to a mutually successful tenure at Paytm.”

     

    Khullar’s appointment comes three weeks after Paytm brought Amazon India’s Vikas Purohit on board in a similar leadership position for its Payments Bank. The company aims to recruit 3,000 people for the business and has also enlisted the services of management consulting majors, Ernst & Young and McKinsey& Co to help in the rollout.

  • The Social Street names Deepak Singh as chief creative officer

    The Social Street names Deepak Singh as chief creative officer

    MUMBAI: Media agency start up The Social Street has appointed Deepak Singh as its chief creative officer. He will be based out of Mumbai and will report to Social Street founding partner and chairman Pratap Bose.

     

    Bose said, “I am thrilled that Deepak is joining us! Deepak is one of the most decorated art directors and one of the finest art talents we have in our country. Easy-going, light-hearted and humble to the core, he’s proof that looks can be deceiving. Because deep beneath that unassuming persona lies a hunger to keep raising the bar, only to topple it over. I wish him the very best and look forward to seeing some path breaking creativity from him!”

     

    Singh added, “I feel advertising now is much more than just TVCs, print and radio. That’s why with time we should change and try to explore bigger things. Pratap has a clear vision about his plans for The Social Street and knows why he was hiring me, which gives me more confidence. I think the next generation of advertising is much more than mainline advertising and that is what attracts me to shift, and I feel I can do more challenging things now. Digital, outdoor, interactive, activation makes advertising much bigger and more interesting. I am really looking forward to do some great work for The Social Street. My mainline experience will bring new solutions to clients’ problems.”

     

    In his 15 years of professional pursuits, Singh has over 400 national and international awards to his name and has worked with agencies like Leo Burnett, Grey Worldwide, McCann Erickson, DDB Mudra and Dentsu. 

     

    “I really enjoyed working with Bose at DDB in the past and I am very fond of his humble and simple nature and way of looking at things. I always wanted to work with him in the future and I am happy he chose me for this position. I know there are a lot of challenges and learning for me, but I think this partnership with Social Street will add a new dimension to my career,” Singh added.