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Category: People

  • Fickle Formula ropes in Reedisha Rathi as business head

    Fickle Formula ropes in Reedisha Rathi as business head

    MUMBAI: Boutique content studio Fickle Formula has roped in Reedisha Rathi to the team as business head. Rathi, with over 12 years of experience across leading media companies, in her most recent stint was west head – IPR sales in Optimal Media Solutions, a Times Group company.

    In earlier roles spearheading business development and sales, Rathi has worked with Dainik Bhaskar, Times News Network, the Zee Group and NDTV. She has extensive experience across the digital realm, on branded content, intellectual properties, television, print and exhibitions and brings a unique combination of an understanding of what makes today’s audience tick while optimizing brand visibility.

    Rathi’s career graph, after a Bachelors in economics and Masters in marketing started off with a solid understanding of b2b brand connect (at Universal Media Group) to ATL media sales (Dainik Bhaskar and NDTV Good Times) and branded content for Zoom (at Times News Network) and then for Zee TV. In her last two assignments, she worked closely with large partner clients to help them exploit 360 media offerings.

    Fickle Formula co-founder Suman Sen said, “We are really excited to have Reedisha on board. She brings a lot of relevant expertise to the table; she has the right understanding of the evolving and dynamic market, behaviours, and content formats. Her vision and ambition match ours, making her the perfect fit for the role.”

    Fickle Formula co-founder Vivek Modi added, “We look forward to leveraging Reedisha’s strengths of building dependable revenue streams alongside working closely with partner brands to create content for today’s discerning consumers. This is our year of exponential growth and extreme clarity. She will lead from the front.”

    Rathi said, "I am excited to build a steady revenue stream for Team Fickle while helping partner brands create meaningful content for a 'fickle' audience whose attention span lasts a scroll. With the variety on offer, from branded content to live-action original content and full stack animated content, brands are bound to see great value in working with us and I am geared to drive us forward.”

    Rathi is also a doting mother to a toddler, an evolving content junkie, and a passionate artist. When she is not doing what she loves at work, she spends her time nurturing passionate, young art enthusiasts and building her art venture PyaaRee.

  • Madison Digital onboards Tushar Ghagwe as AVP Bengaluru

    Madison Digital onboards Tushar Ghagwe as AVP Bengaluru

    NEW DELHI: Madison Digital has appointed Tushar Ghagwe as associate vice president and he will head the agency’s Bengaluru operations. 

    He will be based out of Bengaluru and will be reporting to Madison Media Omega CEO Dinesh Rathod and Madison Digital chief digital officer Vishal Chinchankar.

    Ghagwe has over 16 years of experience in planning and implementing measurable marketing strategies for both online and offline channels. He has worked across industries like FMCG, media, and finance with brands like Godrej Yummiez, Mother Dairy and Tata Finance. He has experience in leading multi-functional teams including marketing, creative, project management, content and analytics. He also has a very good understanding of project planning and technology implementation. 

    Before joining Madison Digital, Ghagwe was handling digital marketing for SOTC Travel and Thomas Cook, where he focused on performance marketing and business growth through digital. He is also a marathoner, an avid trekker and a wildlife enthusiast.

    Madison Digital chief digital officer Vishal Chinchankar says, “Glad to have Tushar with his astute and proven experience in digital marketing in Madison Digital. Over the last two years, Madison Digital has clearly emerged as one of the leading full service digital agencies. With Tushar joining us, it only strengthens our position in digital services. We are looking at reaching even greater heights.”

  • Sanket Atal takes charge as Salesforce sr VP & India MD

    Sanket Atal takes charge as Salesforce sr VP & India MD

    BENGALURU: Cloud software firm Salesforce has brought on Sanket Atal as senior vice president and managing director, sites (India).

    Atal’s new role came into effect on 15 March 2021. He will report to Salesforce India CEO & chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya.

    Previously, the business strategist was managing director at financial software firm Intuit India and group vice president at tech giant Oracle.

    "Atal's appointment is a reflection of our commitment and continued investment in India. We welcome him to Salesforce and look forward to driving even greater innovation and success in this market," said Bhattacharya.

    Atal will be tasked with driving the next phase of growth for Salesforce in India combining the best of design thinking and digital strategies to build breakthrough customer experiences and ways of working with specific focus on operational execution.

    India is home to the second highest Salesforce workforce outside of the US, with over 4,000 employees across Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.

    "Given my passion and deep experience with the start-up ecosystem, I am also excited to empower businesses of all sizes, particularly start-ups, to create future-ready solutions leveraging the Salesforce platform,” said Atal.

    Launched in 2016, the Salesforce Centre of Excellence (CoE) located in Hyderabad has been instrumental in fuelling innovation globally, building end-to-end solutions for customers. Salesforce is the global leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), bringing companies closer to their customers in the digital age.

  • Network Advertising onboards Manan Shah as VP – digital

    Network Advertising onboards Manan Shah as VP – digital

    NEW DELHI: Network Advertising has brought on Manan Shah as the vice-president, digital. Shah comes to Network from Chimp&Z, where he was head of client services, west and north India.

    With a decade’s experience in digital marketing across verticals, including banking, e-commerce, travel, and insurance, Shah had previously been associated with companies such as Convonix and AdLift. In his earlier roles, he has held positions in media planning, business development, operations and also ran his enterprise.

    “Network is a truly integrated agency that is known for its immersive working style. Its commitment and reputation of creating work that solves real business problems enables one to challenge the status quo associated with the digital medium. I feel lucky to get this tremendous opportunity to lead their digital team and be a part of Network’s journey," Shah said.

    Network Advertising MD Vinod Nair remarked, “The digital communication business is a core component in our integrated offering to our clients. And to provide a new direction and impetus to our digital business, we found in Manan the right attitude and capabilities to champion this for us. He is a welcome addition to the Network Team.”

  • Hardeep Singh Brar is Kia Motors’ national head of sales & marketing

    Hardeep Singh Brar is Kia Motors’ national head of sales & marketing

    NEW DELHI: Kia Motors India has appointed Hardeep Singh Brar as national head of sales and marketing. He will be responsible for enhancing Kia’s leadership position in the Indian market and for enabling the next wave of growth.

    Brar brings over two decades of experience in the automotive industry to Kia, having most recently served at Great Wall Motors as director marketing and sales.

    Prior to this, Brar has held senior leadership positions across sales, network, and marketing functions at Maruti Suzuki, Volkswagen, General Motors and Nissan.

    Kia Motors India MD & CEO Kookhyun Shim said, “Kia has been able to disrupt the Indian automobile industry and emerge as a market leader in a record time and with Brar onboard, we are confident of consolidating our position further through a more consumer focused approach.”

    “I have followed Kia’s India journey and witnessed the way Kia has disrupted the market with three segment-leading products. It is an exciting phase that Kia Motors India is in right now and I look forward to continuing Kia’s phenomenal run and shaping the future for the brand,” Brar said.

  • Truecaller elevates Rishit Jhunjhunwala to managing director

    Truecaller elevates Rishit Jhunjhunwala to managing director

    NEW DELHI: Caller ID app Truecaller has elevated chief product officer Rishit Jhunjhunwala to managing director, with immediate effect. The firm’s co-founder & CEO Alan Mamedi made the announcement via a post on professional networking site LinkedIn.

    “I'm thrilled and proud to announce that Rishit Jhunjhunwala is taking on the role as our managing director, where he'll drive and inspire our fantastic team in India. Looking forward to 6+ more years buddy (sic),” Mamedi wrote.

    Jhunjhunwala joined Truecaller in March 2015 as vice president – product. In June 2020, he was made chief product officer. During his tenure at the company, he has led app redesigns and helped develop features like spam activity indicator, call reason, schedule SMS and SMS translate, to name a few.

    Prior to Truecaller, Jhunjhunwala co-founded the email service CloudMagic. He also had stints at July Systems and Verity Technologies.

  • Ogilvy India appoints Kedar Mehta as head of consulting for its experience biz

    Ogilvy India appoints Kedar Mehta as head of consulting for its experience biz

    MUMBAI: Ogilvy India has appointed Kedar Mehta as head of consulting for its experience business here. He has 18 years of experience working across Hansa Customer Equity, TCS, KPMG and Reliance Jio. 

    In his last assignment as the program and marketing lead at Jio, Mehta led program management for Jio Prime’s personalised commerce and customer engagement business. 

    Prior to Jio, he played an instrumental role in establishing the KPMG digital customer practice and retail & CPG consulting practice for TCS emerging markets.

    His major work contributions lie in the areas of customer experience, digital transformation and marketing & CRM. He has driven successful customer-focused programs for the likes of Bata emerging markets, Tesco HSC, CEAT, Vodafone India, Carphone Warehouse (UK), Fidelity Investments (US), Celio, Tata Sky, Hypercity and Tata Starbucks, the global creative agency shared.  

    Ogilvy India CEO Kunal Jeswani said, “Clients increasingly turn to Ogilvy to help drive growth through every brand expression across every customer experience. Our experience business, aligned to our global martech centre of excellence, delivers Ogilvy’s trademark creative across the customer journey. Connecting with consumers in modern, surprising ways – focused on delivering growth for our clients. Kedar is a critical part of this vision. He is deeply customer focused and knows how to build and deliver programs that drive growth – from customer acquisition to increasing transaction volume and value to customer retention and loyalty.”        

    Mehta shared, “I like to play the role of a customer chair in most conference room discussions, and I strongly believe that the Ogilvy experience business will play that pivotal role for businesses focused on their CX and digital initiatives. Ogilvy has the skills, tools and credentials to shape next generation experiences for brands.  I am really energised to accelerate this practice in the Indian market.”

    A design-thinking practitioner and a thought leader, Mehta has led industry thought leadership with the likes of RAI, FICCI and World Retail Congress in the retail and consumer domains, said the agency.

  • Sanjay Kaul steps down as Impact Communications CEO

    Sanjay Kaul steps down as Impact Communications CEO

    NEW DELHI: Impact Communications founder & CEO Sanjay Kaul has stepped down from his current position. He is an industry veteran with more than three decades of experience in rural marketing and has been instrumental in building Impact as a rural marketing practice in India. He also serves as the chairman of National Advisory Board of Rural Marketing Association of India.

    Kaul has handed over the mantle to the new leadership team. Nidhi Singh, who has been part of the founding team will be the new CEO, while director- strategy planning Kalpana Raina will take the role of chief operating officer. Both have been part of the core team from the organisation’s formative days.

    “My journey of building Impact from scratch has been fulfilling, enriching and nothing less than a celebration,” said Kaul. “I have been fortunate to have a passionate and talented bunch of professionals in my team, who have both been part of my challenges and success, will always cherish those wonderful memories. I am leaving Impact at the helm of very creative, experienced and knowledgeable professionals and with a solid foundation. I am sure new leadership has both capacity and capability to take Impact to next level as rural is evolving and changing faster than ever before.”

    Kaul is embarking on a new entrepreneurial journey, with plans to build a technology enabled rural market development, sales and distribution company.

    “We have already plunged into this exciting new journey and will make formal announcements next month. Data driven approach and measured growth will be at the heart of the service offerings of the new venture,” he added.

  • Education, healthcare topped list of misleading ads in 2020: ASCI

    Education, healthcare topped list of misleading ads in 2020: ASCI

    MUMBAI: Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has said that the third quarter of 2020 witnessed a surge in number of consumer complaints after an initiative driven quarter by the Ad industry regulator to increase consumer awareness.

    Between October and December, the ASCI team received 1,885 complaints originating from 1,230 advertisements, the regulatory body said in its Complaints Analysis Report – Q3 FY (2020-21). It noted that the Industry focused initiatives it led for consumer protection and streamlining of processes for effective self-regulatory practices had had a high impact.

    251 of the 1,230 advertisements were either withdrawn or amended by the advertisers on receipt of communication from ASCI. From the remaining advertisements, ASCI’s independent Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) upheld complaints against 902 advertisements. Of these, a whopping 582 or almost 65 per cent ads belonged to the education sector and 128 from healthcare, 64 from food and beverages, 25 from personal care, 99 from other categories. Complaints against 77 advertisements were not upheld as these advertisements were not found to be in violation of the ASCI code.

    Some of the key themes of false claims or code violations that emerged during the quarter October-December were:

    – Education ads with false claims of job guarantees, placements, etc.

    -Healthcare ads with false claims about Covid2019 cures and preventions advertising.

    Other complaints included those against brands issuing comparative advertisements while prominent cases against honey brands were also in the spotlight. During the third quarter, complaints regarding surrogate advertising also picked up post the IPL.

    In October 2020, ASCI introduced the Covid2019 advisory for advertisers, to protect consumers from being misled during the pandemic. Soon after, in November 2020, ASCI introduced guidelines for online gaming for “real-money winnings”, to protect audiences from risks associated with games involving real money. The guidelines received much appreciation and backing from the ministry of information and broadcasting. Earlier in 2020, the council had also introduced guidelines for usage of awards/rankings in advertisements by brands. Early September, it expanded its national Advertising Monitoring Service (NAMS) to add digital advertising to its suo motu screening. More than 3,000 digital platforms are being currently tracked by the regulatory body.

    The initiatives sparked conversations in the media, on social media and various other forums, which further helped drive consumer education and awareness. Additional impact of the constant buzz on various channels was the spike in the number of complaints processed by ASCI for the quarter.

    Overall in 2020, ASCI looked into 6,527 complaints that were registered against 3,315 advertisements, of which 2,357 were upheld. Education (1,062) and healthcare (827) topped the list for the year as well. Some of the numbers for other categories, 117 food and beverage advertisements were complained, 63 against personal care, 17 violations of guidelines for brand extension, 22 against real estate, 10 against visa and immigration services and 239 against ads from other categories.

    ASCI secretary general Manisha Kapoor said: “The third quarter of the financial year involved initiatives leading to positive impact on the industry and stakeholders. The quarter recorded the highest numbers in terms of complaints processing, compared to the previous two quarters which were a direct outcome of the pandemic. We hope to continue this momentum in the year ahead.”

  • upGrad names Sendy Filemon as Indonesia country head

    upGrad names Sendy Filemon as Indonesia country head

    MUMBAI: upGrad has brought on Sendy Filemon as its country head for Indonesia. The development comes close on the heels of Zubin Gandevia’s hiring as CEO for Asia Pacific in January 2021. Filemon’s appointment to specifically look after the Indonesian market is a follow through of the company’s commitment to the country’s edtech sector and puts into motion to grow in the Asia Pacific region. He will be based in Bali.

    Filemon is a digital entrepreneur who has founded two fintech start-ups and is a lifelong learner. He is currently taking a law degree from a top Indonesian university, which due to current pandemic conditions, is forced to accelerate its online learning model. This personal experience has motivated him to join upGrad and help fellow Indonesians to upskill and stay competitive as they face a new digital world.

    “The combination of economic growth, changes in the workforce requirements, and increasing priority towards education have brought different challenges for both job seekers and employers, including here in Indonesia,” remarked Sendy. “upGrad is committed to address those challenges through locally relevant courses and become the bridge between job seekers and employers. I am very thrilled to join upGrad and am excited to bring real impacts for Indonesians through accessible higher education, regardless of time and distance.”

    upGrad co-founder & chairman Ronnie Screwvala added, “Thrilled to welcome Sendy Filemon, whose strong cultural intellect coupled with sharp entrepreneurial skills will help us strengthen our presence in the APAC. At upGrad, we highly value local talents around the globe. Therefore, we will co-create Indonesia’s customised programs by synergising with local industry experts, university partners, corporates, and course mentors from Indonesia.”

    The company continues to foster partnerships with higher education institutions and experts around the globe. In Indonesia, upGrad is partnering with both public and private universities to hand in hand accelerating the growth of Indonesian talents.

    upGrad CEO – Asia Pacific Zubin Gandevia stated, “The appointment of Sendy Filemon as Indonesia Country Head emphasises our commitment to support the Indonesian government's continued efforts in enhancing the quality of higher education. Sendy will lead our mission to leverage upGrad’s proven online model and world class technology and bring it to life with 100 per cent Indonesian flavour to equip learners for the jobs of today, accelerating the careers of tomorrow.”