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Category: People

  • Mehul Ashar joins Infidigit as senior VP of revenue

    Mehul Ashar joins Infidigit as senior VP of revenue

    Mumbai: Organic digital growth platform Infidigit on Tuesday announced the appointment of Mehul Ashar as senior vice president of revenue. An alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, Ashar brings with him over two decades of experience in various industries. He has worked with prominent brands like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle Stores, GMR Airport, Indian School of Business, and Apollo hospitals. He has successfully spearheaded omni-channel marketing and digital marketing initiatives in his earlier roles.

    Speaking on the appointment, Infidigit founder & managing director Kaushal Thakkar said, “At Infidigit, we are looking to enhance and build a robust leadership team to spearhead our expansion in new markets. Ashar’s appointment is perfectly timed as we continue to expand and bring in new growth avenues. His experience in multiple industries brings a fresh perspective, while his work in digital marketing will add a lot of value to our business. I am confident that Mehul will be able to lead the team to even greater heights and continue driving Infidigit forward as we enable more businesses to grow online organically”

    “Infidigit aims to help companies leverage the power of SEO, thus maximising returns on their marketing budgets. We are just scratching the surface as of now and have a long way to go. I am glad to be part of this journey with Thakkar. ” adds Ashar.

    Ashar and Thakkar have also been batch mates at KJ Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai.

  • GUEST ARTICLE: Artificial intelligence: The key ingredient to boost the growth of the advertising industry

    GUEST ARTICLE: Artificial intelligence: The key ingredient to boost the growth of the advertising industry

    Mumbai: For a layman, the term “artificial intelligence” is usually associated with robots and voice assistant software like Alexa and Siri or Elon Musk’s self-driving cars. Many people don’t think about the scope of AI beyond these concepts. However, the aforementioned use cases of AI are just the tip of the iceberg.

    In reality, the power of AI cannot be summarised in a few words or applications, as an infinite number of AI-enabled tools and interfaces are working behind the scenes to make the lives of consumers and other stakeholders a lot easier.

    This is especially true in the business world. AI has played a pivotal role in putting products and services in front of potential customers through social media or other means, even though it wasn’t widely recognised or understood. An impactful form of marketing, AI-enabled advertisements present themselves before customers only after learning and assessing their online preferences, shopping behaviour, and other necessary inputs.

    And soon, the fast-emerging advertising industry realised that the days of manually asking for customer inputs are behind us, as AI can do this job in the background. This was just the beginning of an AI hurricane that swept the advertising world off its feet. Automation technology evolved, and so did its applications.

    Against this backdrop, we will discuss AI’s role in the advertising industry and its advantages in-depth. Without further ado, let’s dive in!

    The emergence of adtech: A comprehensive overview

    If there’s one industry with a genuine case of AI fever, that is advertising, aka adtech. From the desktop sidebar ads in the 1990s to mobile advertising and the user recognition capabilities of CTV marketing, the advertising industry has evolved dramatically over the past two decades. Everywhere the eye can see today is likely an advertisement. One can thank the internet and new technologies like AI and ML (machine learning) for this drastic change.

    Gradually, as remote access to stable internet connections and the widespread distribution of smartphones and smart televisions increased, the pathway to video and online ads became clearer. Some significant industry experts believe that the launch of the iPhone and the consequent smartphone market growth played a considerable role in augmenting the acceleration of adtech, specifically online advertising.

    A 2021 InMobi report revealed that programmatic mobile video ads had registered a 194 per cent increase in India. This proves the widespread adoption of video ads as a more effective source of advertising than others, as they are better at connecting and engaging with the audience. But this is just one example of the new wave that enveloped the advertising industry and pushed it toward the path of unprecedented success.

    The latest tools and approaches are taking the adtech world by storm

    Interactive ads: Going over and beyond

    Interactive advertising is a contemporary marketing technique that enhances customer participation. The primary focus is to ensure that consumers engage with and interact with the ad, directly or indirectly, and provide real-time feedback on the relevant campaign. The idea is to not limit the audience from viewing the ad but to make them feel its presence and relevance. There are different ways to implement interactive advertising. Here are a few pioneering examples:

    1. 3D impact: A solution that offers immersive experiences to consumers by leveraging advanced animations to deliver multiple messages in one video. Utilising this, advertisers can improve customer brand recall, enhance the ROI, and make a high impact.

    2. 3D wobble: A solution that delivers compact and efficient information through a comprehensive UX powerhouse. It adds a noteworthy twist to ads and increases user engagement, brand conversion ratio, and click through rate (CTR).

    3. Shoppable unit: A solution that appears as a deck inside a conversational flow. It allows customers to swipe and check out the sequence of product images. This is an effective solution for brands gearing up to streamline their sales and marketing strategies.

    CTV advertising: Think bigger

    Connected TV advertising (CTV) is a type of advertising approach placed on any smart TV with the facility to connect to the internet. CTV essentially depends on a large TV screen, which enables advertisers to engage audiences in a linear TV-like environment.

    It allows advertisers to create a one-to-many relationship with the audience (propelled by co-viewing) compared to other advertising methods where advertisers establish a one-on-one relationship with their target customer base. There are several ways to implement CTV advertising. Here are a few suggestions:

    1. Split screen: The split screen technology offers viewers a non-disruptive, non-intrusive, side-by-side creative display. This ensures that consumers don’t miss any key details or pay attention to the content they are consuming while consciously or subconsciously watching the display ad.

    2. Brand assimilation: By harnessing the power of mighty brand assimilation, advertisers can manipulate visual effects and place brands in a place where they get seen by customers seamlessly and effortlessly.

    3. Persuasive overlay: This approach includes a contextualised and commercial interactive video that connects with the audience through powerful content. The video is created in such a fashion that consumers can quickly connect the display with the brand.

    Wrapping up

    The use cases, solutions, and approaches mentioned above clearly demonstrate that AI is not the distant future of adtech but its present. This remarkable technology plays a crucial role in helping advertisers deliver highly engaging and non-intrusive ads while providing incremental revenue to publishers. Additionally, given that AI can automatically generate the ad while keeping customer preference in mind, advertisers don’t need to engage their manual workforce for such tasks and can easily concoct their next ad campaign.

    AI has made it incredibly easy for advertisers to leverage its many benefits while simultaneously saving money and optimising efficiency to a noteworthy extent. Adequately handling this can improve the overall effectiveness and ROI of ad campaigns, making the entire concept more rewarding.

    The author of this article is VDO.AI founder and CEO Amitt Sharma.

  • Moshi Moshi wins the social media mandate of Godrej Jersey

    Moshi Moshi wins the social media mandate of Godrej Jersey

    Mumbai: Godrej Jersey has assigned its social media mandate to Moshi Moshi, one of India’s leading and fastest-growing communication companies.

    The mandate was won through a competitive pitch process. The directive includes managing the brand presence on social media to create greater awareness, trust and engagement across all customer and segment profiles through strategic brand campaigns and communication.

    Speaking on the appointment of Moshi Moshi, Godrej Jersey assistant general manager of marketing Ajesh Sathyababu said, “We aim to engage consumers and reiterate the message of purity, thickness, and the right blend of nutrition across Godrej Jersey’s product portfolio. To do so, we are glad to partner with Moshi Moshi as they understand the local business climate and correspond with our brand’s values. Through this partnership, we aim to create a space for the cross-pollination of ideas and opportunities for social media collaboration with Moshi Moshi.”

    Adding to it, Moshi Moshi co-founder & creative director Ajay Bothra, said, “Moshi Moshi has always aimed at providing a value proposition to generate relevant, long-lasting, and captivating communication to all our clients. We will continue to deliver with the same zeal and commitment to Godrej Jersey as well. We are delighted to have them on board and look forward to stirring the dairy market with some innovative & creative campaigns.”

  • Devendra Nagle joins edtech platform RISE as VP of marketing

    Devendra Nagle joins edtech platform RISE as VP of marketing

    Mumbai: RISE, the edtech platform, has announced the appointment of Devendra Nagle as the company’s vice president of marketing, in a major boost to its leadership group. Incidentally, this is the first leadership hire outside of the founding team.

    Prior to joining RISE, Nagle was associate vice president at the Internet and Mobile Association of India, where he spearheaded digital advertising and venture capital committees.

    Earlier, he had conceptualised and created award-winning IPs in the startup space. He brings 10+ years of extensive experience in marketing across various sectors like media, education, and startups. Nagle had earlier worked at Google, India Today, and Hindustan Times, where he was responsible for leading various marketing initiatives. He holds a B.Tech degree in computer science and an MBA from IIM Bangalore.

    In his role at RISE, Devendra will be responsible for scaling the brand’s industry-led and localised programmes, alongside supporting RISE’s vision to help colleges and universities expand their offerings by focusing on creating new digital credentials and degree programmes with industry-led training. His mandate would be to lead all marketing initiatives for RISE.

    Commenting on the appointment, Nagle said, “With technology as an enabler, there is tremendous scope in the edtech sector across the world. RISE is leading the way in the ed-tech space through a tech-facing strategy that embraces innovation and is focusing on growing its operations rapidly. I am excited to be onboard this rocket ship and look forward to working with Gaurav Bhatia and the team.”

    RISE offers various postgraduate and professional certification courses. Each course is affordable and, crucially, is curated and taught by industry experts, thus increasing the chances of employability. The platform also aims to help colleges and universities expand and add digital content to their offerings, and benefit from the hybrid mode of imparting education.

    RISE CEO Gaurav Bhatia believes Devendra’s varied and vast experience will add to the company’s knowhow. He shared, “We at RISE are always looking to evolve and to introduce new paradigms to the edtech sector, keeping in mind how education overall has transformed since 2020. Getting Devendra on board is just another step in our plans to continue pushing the envelope and ensure that our students are as industry-ready as possible. And with his work experience across various domains, I believe Devendra will bring substance and value to RISE and add to our growth story.”

  • Liqvd Asia ropes in Praveen Nair as joint national creative director

    Liqvd Asia ropes in Praveen Nair as joint national creative director

    Mumbai: Liqvd Asia, a leading digital full-service company, has brought in Praveen Nair as its joint national creative director. Praveen comes on board to bolster the creative leadership team and expand the company’s digital footprint.

    In his career of more than 15 years, Nair has lent his creative skills to Grey Worldwide, Dentsu Isobar (now Dentsu Creative), The 120 Media Collective, and MRM (McCann Relationship Marketing). He has worked on various path-breaking campaigns for brands including Bournvita, Volkswagen, PNB MetLife, and Tata Motors.

    Nair will collaborate with Sunil Gangras, who is also joint national creative director at Liqvd Asia, to uplift the product offering and spearhead impact-driven campaigns.

    Gangras said, “Nothing is as fascinating as conceiving ideas that go beyond the traditional brief to disrupt a category and have a larger digital impact. I am particularly excited to work with Anish and Praveen to bolster the creative product because, in today’s day and age, I feel it’s important to think beyond the larger brand story and ensure it is seamlessly integrated with the digital landscape.”

    “It’s a vital decision that we took to align our ambitions to dissolve boundaries set by traditional digital agencies. Both Sunil and Praveen come with unmatched experience, and over the years, they have displayed proven skills in marrying ideas and technology for the new-age audience. I look forward to building stories with them, stories through which people will remember Liqvd Asia,” said Liqvd Asia chief creative officer Anish Varghese.

    Speaking on his appointment, Nair quipped, “The one thing that excites me about this new role is Liqvd Asia’s vision. I believe that the core responsibility of an agency is going beyond platforms and briefs, and focusing on providing solutions for real business challenges. It’s challenging and that’s what makes it exciting. And the fact that I’ll be working with industry veterans like Varghese and Gangras, is what I’m most excited about.”

  • Srijan Shukla & Pratheeb Ravi join Publicis Worldwide India as heads of creative

    Srijan Shukla & Pratheeb Ravi join Publicis Worldwide India as heads of creative

    Mumbai: Publicis Worldwide India, the full-service creative agency from Publicis Groupe India, has strengthened its creative team by appointing Srijan Shukla and Pratheeb Ravi as creative heads. The duo will be based out of Mumbai. Their mandate would be to reinvigorate and amplify creative offerings while delivering integrated solutions that effectively solve the client’s business challenges.

    Commenting on the new additions, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi and Publicis Worldwide India CEO Paritosh Srivastava said: “Publicis Worldwide India has created some memorable campaigns over the years for many brands like Zee, Nerolac, Škoda, Heineken, HDFC MF, Maggi, Maruti and many more. Creative leadership at PWW has always been highly respected and admired. To fill such big shoes, we couldn’t have brought better people and talent than Srijan and Pratheeb. They are the ideal team to take the legacy forward and keep telling amazing stories for our wonderful clients.”

    Pratheeb Ravi joins Publicis Worldwide India from Ogilvy India, where his last role was as group creative director. He has also had fruitful stints with other agencies, including Lowe MENA & Contract Advertising, where he managed creative work for clients across a host of sectors, including telecom, FMCG, travel & tourism, OTT, retail, etc. Some of the brands he has worked on include Tata Sky (which was rebranded to Tata Play), Maaza, Minute Maid, Tata Salt, Ferrero, Nutella, Cadbury Unity Bar, Unilever OMO, Lifebuoy, Axe, The Economist, ICC T20 World Cup, HotWheels, Westside- Retail fashion, Unilever Hamam, WildStone Deodorants, Tata Indicom and Club Mahindra Holidays to name a few.

    Srijan Shukla joins the agency from Ogilvy India, where his last role was as group creative director. He has also worked for a number of agencies, including DDB Mudra, Leo Burnett, and Tilt Brand Solutions, where he was instrumental in facilitating creative work for a wide range of clients in industries such as automobiles, Fintech, Broadcast Media, OTTs, DTH, Banking & Finance, Fantasy Games, Retail, FMCG, and others. Some of the prominent brands that he worked on include Tata Sky (now Tata Play), Dream11 IPL campaigns, Maaza, Minute Maid, Sony LIV launch, Zee rebranding, IPL for Sony Max, etc. He was instrumental in the rebranding exercise of Tata Sky to Tata Play and also for Dream 11—”Yeh apna game hai” and “Yeh game hai mahaan” campaigns.

    Welcoming the duo to the agency, Publicis Worldwide India MD Oindrila Roy shared, “We are lucky to have Srijan and Pratheeb, a duo who have a rich body of work and are still hungry to do a lot more. Publicis Worldwide India has a rich heritage of creativity and they are perfect for taking the legacy forward and establishing the agency as one of the most powerful creative outfits in the industry.”

    On joining the network and the road ahead, both Pratheeb Ravi & Srijan Shukla added, “We are excited to begin this journey with a bunch of incredibly talented and hard-working people with an irresistible creative energy. The goal will be to align with the vision that Paritosh and the team have set for the agency and put out work that will blend creativity, technology, data and culture to create truly unique solutions for our clients. We also want to create a space where the creative talent can come and express themselves freely.”

  • Abhirath Anuwal joins BlissClub as the head of commerce

    Abhirath Anuwal joins BlissClub as the head of commerce

    Mumbai: The women’s activewear brand BlissClub announced the appointment of Abhirath Anuwal as their head of commerce. In this role, he is responsible for all marketing and revenue-generating activities across online and offline channels.

    Abhirath joins BlissClub after his stint with Intuit, a consumer and business financial platform in the US, where he was in the corporate strategy and development team responsible for identifying and helping execute organic and inorganic growth levers for the company. He previously worked in management consulting at Bain and completed his graduation from Yale.

    On his new role, Abhirath said, “BlissClub is one of those rare companies with strong growth prospects and innovation in its DNA. I feel lucky to be able to play my part in this journey and I’m energised by the talented team around me every day.”

    BlissClub is a homegrown consumer brand that crafts functional and incredibly comfortable activewear with a focus on Indian women, and now a LinkedIn Top Startup for 2022, has made a number of key hires recently.

  • Animation Studio Cosmos-Maya ropes in Megha Tata as chief executive officer

    Animation Studio Cosmos-Maya ropes in Megha Tata as chief executive officer

    Mumbai: Animation company Cosmos-Maya India has announced the appointment of Megha Tata as its chief executive officer, who will oversee the company’s operations and lead the animation studio into its next phase of growth. Her appointment comes on the heels of the company’s recent announcement of a $50 million investment plan to facilitate growth and expansion in Europe and North America.

    Megha Tata comes with over three decades of experience in the management of television networks in the media and entertainment industry. Prior to Cosmos-Maya, Tata was a managing director at Discovery Communications India. She has held leadership positions at other eminent broadcasters such as BTVI, HBO, Turner International India, and Star India. At Cosmos-Maya, Tata aims to leverage her wealth of knowledge and decades of expertise to drive the organisation’s next phase of growth and solidify the studio’s position as the foremost animation studio in Asia.

    Commenting on her appointment, Megha Tata said, “I am thrilled to start my new journey with Cosmos-Maya. I have always looked for challenging yet exciting opportunities in my career, and animation is one such sector that poses immense growth potential. Cosmos-Maya has been at the forefront of the industry in India and Asia, and I look forward to working closely with the senior leadership team to create a vigorous growth path for the company.”

    Cosmos-Maya founder and managing director Ketan Mehta said, “I am thrilled and excited to welcome Megha to the Cosmos-Maya family. I look forward to working with her to build on top of Cosmos-Maya’s legacy and take our company to new heights.”

    NewQuest Capital Partners—a GP solutions specialist and an investor in Cosmos-Maya managing director Sachin Khandelwal also commented on the appointment, “Having created several highly acclaimed animation shows as one of the leading kids-focussed animation companies in India and Asia, Cosmos-Maya is well positioned to further cement its dominance and unlock new growth opportunities with Megha’s deep experience with broadcasters and in the overall media and entertainment industry.”

  • Asci names N. S. Rajan as new chairman

    Asci names N. S. Rajan as new chairman

    Mumbai: August One Partners director N. S. Rajan was unanimously elected as chairman of the board of governors of the Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) on Thursday. The decision was taken at the board meeting following the 36th annual general meeting of the industry’s self-regulator.

    N. S. Rajan is a public relations (PR) veteran with a demonstrated history of setting up and managing firms in the PR industry. He was previously the founder and managing director of Ketchum Sampark, an Omnicom Group.

    Marico managing director & CEO Saugata Gupta was elected vice-chairman, while Shashidhar Sinha, chief executive officer at IPG Mediabrands India, was appointed honorary treasurer.

    Subhash Kamath, the outgoing chairman, will now be a part of the consultative committee of the board, which, among other activities, mentors the new initiatives of the organisation.

    Lintas India Group CEO Virat Tandon and GMS India (Meta) director Arun Srinivas were newly inducted onto the board at the same meeting.

    Talking about his new role as the Asci chairman, N. S. Rajan said, “It is indeed a privilege to take up the role of Asci chairman. Our thought leadership initiatives, industry reports, and Asci academy are important pillars of taking Asci ahead into the future. I am looking forward to advancing the agenda of the Council to rapidly increase Asci awareness among consumers so that they engage more readily and in greater numbers, voicing their concerns, anxieties, and questions about what they experience in the form of thousands of ads per day. That number, on average, in India is anywhere between 7,000-10,000 ads per day!”

    “I would also focus on Asci’s efforts more towards prevention, in addition to the robust corrective mechanisms we have built over the decades. This we would do by using the several initiatives already in play – whether advice, guidance, training, or self-regulation. The third pillar would be to keep ahead of the fast-expanding and fractionalising digital domain to ensure that responsible advertising principles are followed equally across all media and consumer engagements by advertising in every form. A lot has been done by Asci over the last several years, and I am committed to seeing that the momentum generated by all past efforts is kept alive or even pushed forward with greater speed,” he added.

    A key initiative announced at the AGM by the outgoing chairman, Subhash Kamath was the soon-to-be-launched Asci Academy. Asci Academy is set to move industry’s self-regulator in the direction of training and awareness creation, and deep engagement with various stakeholders in the prevention of objectionable ads. This underlines Asci’s move to create impact at the point of creation, and not merely the point of publication. A more detailed agenda for Asci Academy will be unveiled over the next few weeks and months.

    Speaking about his two-term tenure as Asci chairman, Subhash Kamath said, “The past two years have been truly transformational for Asci. Our vision of making Asci more future-ready by taking on the challenges of a digital world and a fast-changing communication landscape, and by adding value to the industry through more agility, responsiveness, services, and thought leadership, has started showing results. I’m sure Asci will continue to grow from strength to strength in the coming years. It’s been a privilege to serve as its chairman and I thank the board, the CCC members and the wonderful secretariat team for making it possible.”

  • Zenith India names Trishul Bhumkar as managing partner

    Zenith India names Trishul Bhumkar as managing partner

    MUMBAI: Zenith India, the media agency under Publicis Groupe India has appointed Trishul Bhumkar as its managing partner.

    Trishul will be reporting to Jai Lala and will spearhead business growth and momentum for Zenith India and its clients. He will strengthen client relationships further and mobilise with agility Publicis Media services including Content, Data, Analytics, Activation and Trade to maximise opportunities, visibility and ROI for brands.

    He brings with him a wide spectrum of experience on pedigreed brands including Coca-Cola, Vodafone, Marico, Danone, Pepperfry and Disney. His previous stints include Madison, erstwhile Maxus and GroupM Motivator and most recently saw him as Strategic Business Unit (SBU) head for Motivator (West).

    Zenith India CEO Jai Lala said, “Trishul is a dynamic leader with a track record that speaks for itself. He has been instrumental in new business success, fortifying relationships with clients and partners and driving exceptional growth and ROI for brands. In an ever-evolving market scenario, he brings strong thought leadership, strategic insights and substance to every brand conversation and is perfectly placed to partner with me in leading the agency into the next phase of growth and expansion.”

    Trishul said, “I am delighted at the opportunity. This is an exciting time to be joining Zenith India when the agency is witnessing strong momentum on new business and delivering outstanding performance on existing client businesses. I look forward to building further on the scale of operations, client delivery and leveraging Zenith India’s unique strengths in data, technology, content, and analytics to bring in unsurpassed growth for brands.”