ITV

Category: People

  • Anuj Sharma joins Xiaomi India as head of marketing

    Anuj Sharma joins Xiaomi India as head of marketing

    MUMBAI: Chinese mobile giant, Xiaomi, has appointed Anuj Sharma as the new head of marketing for India business.

    Sharma’s appointment comes at an interesting time when the company is looking to accelerate market growth ahead of the festive season.

    Welcoming Anuj Sharma on board, Xiaomi India head Manu Jain said in a Facebook post and a tweet: “Anuj will be heading end-to-end marketing at Xiaomi India, including all functions and product lines. At Xiaomi, we believe in ‘marketing without advertising’. We’ve always innovatively used social media, Mi Community and various Mi Fan forums to do our marketing, rather than spending crores in traditional advertising!”

    With an experience of over 15 years in the technology domain, Sharma worked at Lenovo and Motorola where he headed online sales, product management and product marketing.

    Sharma has over 15 years of experience in the technology domain, having had a long stint at Lenovo & Motorola, where he played various roles, including heading online sales, product marketing & product management.

    Known as the ‘Apple’ of China, Xiaomi mobiles entered the Indian market in 2014 with an exclusive sales tie-up with Flipkart for smartphone Mi 3. The company spent zero marketing dollars for the first three years.

  • Rajkummar Rao becomes face of Singapore active leisure brand ACTIMAXX

    Rajkummar Rao becomes face of Singapore active leisure brand ACTIMAXX

    MUMBAI: Singapore based active leisure brand ACTIMAXX has signed actor par excellence, national award winner Rajkummar Rao as its brand ambassador.

    The move essentially showcases the endeavour of ACTIMAXX to consolidate its market position in the Indian subcontinent. ACTIMAXX offers the perfect range of active wear, super comfortable and high on fashion, that makes one feel active, true to the brand’s promise of ‘FEEL FIT’.

    The company haas enumerated its plans of growing the active leisure brand in the Indian subcontinent which will cater to the taste of the younger generation in the country. With an eye-catchy logo on its T-shirts and a structured fit, the brand is already quite a rage amongst the youth.

    Elaborating about the association with Rao, ACTIMAXX brand director Divya Puri says, “It is a matter of great pride for us as Rao shares ACTIMAXX’s ethos of innovation in execution and the spirit of challenging the conventional. ACTIMAXX ‘s brand promise is FEEL FIT; the brand celebrates the holistic fitness oriented to FIT FOR LIFE. How we dress influences how we feel about ourselves. It also influences what we do. That’s what the brand’s mantra is all about.”

    ACTIMAXX has already launched active leisure product categories which includes T-shirts, and Track pants. These merchandise are available online as well as in offline stores which give the consumers the best of international styling and design. ACTIMAXX aims to provide products of superior quality coupled with a new age look and feel which will be able to easily grab the attention of the youth.

    The product range starts from Rs 469 to Rs 899.

    “Fashion for me is comfort. It is something that makes you feel confident about. ACTIMAXX is one such brand which makes you ‘feel fit’, sharp and edgy. Their clothing line is young and trendy and connects with the youth. I am extremely glad to be part of ACTIMAXX. We are confident of building the brand as one of the most successful active leisure brand”  says Raj Kummar Rao.

  • ALTBalaji CMO Manav Sethi steps down

    ALTBalaji CMO Manav Sethi steps down

    MUMBAI: Manav Sethi, one of the prominent faces in Indian OTT industry, has stepped down from his position of chief marketing officer at ALTBalaji. Confirming the development to Indiantelevision.com, Sethi said he would be signing up with a new assignment very soon.

    The founding CMO of ALTBalaji joined the company in January 2017. He created and implemented brand strategies to build awareness and loyalty of the platform.

    His experience spans over fifteen years in managing & scaling up teams across product, engineering, technology and marketing both at national and international levels. Prior to his position in ALTBalaji, he worked with ASKME.com. He also worked with Getit Infoservices and Reliance Big Entertainment.

    Balaji Telefilm’s digital venture showed impressive result by acquiring 2.1 million new paid users in Q1 of FY19 excluding Reliance Jio platform users. The revenue also picked pace reaching Rs 5.8 crore in the quarter.

  • Mark Read appointed WPP CEO & ED

    Mark Read appointed WPP CEO & ED

    MUMBAI: Global media agency WPP today announced the appointment of Mark Read as chief executive officer and his appointment to the Board of WPP as an executive director with immediate effect.

    WPP Chairman Roberto Quarta said, “The Board carried out a rigorous selection process, assessing internal and external candidates. That process, alongside Mark’s wise and effective stewardship of the business in the last few months, left us with no doubt that he is the right leader for this company, and we are delighted to announce the Board’s unanimous decision to appoint him as Chief Executive Officer of WPP.”

    “Recognised for his leadership throughout the industry, he has an intimate understanding of the business, he enjoys very strong internal support, and he has earned the respect and endorsement of our clients with his constant focus on their needs. He has played a central role in many of WPP’s most successful investments and initiatives, and he has deep experience at board and operational level. Most recently, Mark led the transformation of Wunderman into one of the world’s top digital agencies, and he understands the importance of culture in creating successful organisations. In short, he is in every way a 21st century CEO. WPP is a world leader in communications services. The priority for the Board and the task ahead for Mark and the new management team is to build on this position of strength, while pursuing a clear vision for change and value creation.”

    Mark Read said: “WPP is a great company with exceptional people and strong relationships with clients who place a high value on our work. Few organisations have our global reach – 130,000 people delivering results for clients in 112 different countries. Fewer still have our powerful combination of creativity and expertise in technology and data.Our industry is going through a period of structural change, not structural decline, and if we embrace that change we can look ahead to an exciting and successful future. Our mission now is to release the full potential that exists within the company for the benefit of our clients, to accelerate our transformation and simplify our offering, and to position WPP for stronger growth.”

    “To achieve that we need to foster a culture that attracts the best and brightest: inclusive, respectful, collaborative, diverse. What makes our company special is its people, and I am very proud to have been given the chance to build a new WPP with them,” Read added.

    Roberto Quarta has resumed his role as non-executive chairman on the appointment of Mark Read as chief executive officer.

    Andrew Scott will continue in his role as chief operating officer of WPP on a permanent basis as a key member of the senior management team. The Board would like to thank him for his efforts, alongside Mark and the rest of the executive team, during a period of significant change for WPP.

  • Hardik Pandya becomes face of Sin Denims

    Hardik Pandya becomes face of Sin Denims

    MUMBAI: With a new generation, comes a new set of ideals. Today’s youth is dynamic, aggressive and unconventional. They are not scared to follow their dreams; they are strong, passionate and fearless.

    Sin denim is all set to launch its first TVC ‘Game Changer’ featuring its brand ambassador Hardik Pandya.

    The campaign brings out the new, eccentric and confident youth which are set to change the game and make a variance in the society. Apart from being a potential all-rounder in the game of cricket, Pandya is a flamboyant figure full of confidence that the youth look up to as a progressive icon.

    From his style quotient to his fitness regime, his flair and personality is what makes him the best match for the TVC initiated by Sin Denim. From chasing their dreams to breaking the rules, the campaign emphases on how the youth have evolved to a point where nothing can stop them from being the game changers.

    Catering to the essentials and customs of the youth, Sin denim is a young, fun, quirky and vibrant brand, which is ready to break the shackles and pre-determined norms of the world. Sin Denim also pushes its boundaries on creativity and quality, ensuring that every product is unique and caters to the youth. Through this distinct campaign, Sin denim is conveying a whole new phase of contemporary and youth thinking.

    Sin Denim is the flagship brand of Clothing Culture. The brand gives utmost importance to understand the thought process and the requirement of the youth of today while designing the garments.

    Clothing Culture Ltd director Vijaylaxmi Poddar says, “The season is going be a #GameChanger for us as we move ahead with the gen next. The youth are the most important section of a society, as they are the future. Only they can make a difference and emerge as the #GameChangers. With this campaign, we are creating the vision and validation of Sin denim as a brand that appeals to the new generation.”

    Various television channels such as MTV, VH1, India TV and 9XM to name a few, will preview the TVC reaching out to million households. With the forward thinking and a fresh approach, the TVC will also be featured in more than 1000 theatre screens across pan India including some of the most popular multiplexes like PVR and Inox. Along with the print campaign in the leading newspapers, the campaign will flash on key multi-city hoardings, covering about 100 cities.

    Sin Denim’s product range encompasses fashion denims, casual shirts, cotton trousers, t-shirts, sweatshirts and jackets. Apart from being present in 1300 multi brand outlets, the brand is available in premium chains like Central, Reliance Trends, Unlimited, Brand Factory, Lulu, amongst the others. The brand is aggressively pursuing the expansion of its own exclusive stores.  Sin Denim is well entrenched in the market of South, East and North India and has extensive overseas presence in Sri Lanka and Middle East through shop-in-shops and premium chain Lulu.

  • iProspect India strengthens leadership with key appointments

    iProspect India strengthens leadership with key appointments

    MUMBAI: iProspect India, the digital performance agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has appointed Venkat Shankarnarayan and Nihal Nambiar as AVPs for paid media.

    Shankarnarayan comes with a rich experience of 12 years in the industry. Having worked with leading agencies at pivotal positions, he has been instrumental in ensuring that his clients consistently deliver on their business objectives. Shankarnarayan has worked with leading organisations like GroupM, VML, DirectI & Possible Worldwide in the past decade. His last stint was at Mindshare where he was appointed as senior director.

    Shankarnarayan says, “With the advent of Martech in India, leading brands across verticals are constantly exploring newer, meaningful and more efficient methods of reaching out to the right set of audiences. In the last 20 years, iProspect has been one of the key enablers for their success in this department. I am excited to be a part of the iProspect family and glad about being able work alongside some of the best minds in the industry.”

    Having worked across both India and international markets (Offshoring/COE and AOR model) for over nine years, Nambiar brings a global perspective to performance marketing. One of his key strengths lies in the fact that he is very comfortable going deep with data and new technologies. Prior to this, Nambiar  as Associate Director at Performics.Convonix, a Publicis Media Company.

    “iProspect is one of the top digital agencies in the market and its spirit resonates with my values and ambition. One thing which I find truly amazing is that the leadership team is quick to understand & embrace new initiatives that come with the fast pace of the industry, a trait few agencies can brag about. I look forward to learn from and contribute to the amazing journey that is iProspect,” mentions Nambiar.

    Commenting on their appointment, iProspect India CEO Rubeena Singh, “We are delighted to have Nihal and Venkat on board as the agency embarks on its next phase of growth. Their diverse experience will help iProspect extend its lead as India’s premier digital agency driving business performance for its clients.”

  • Kapil Grover appointed as Domino’s Pizza CMO

    Kapil Grover appointed as Domino’s Pizza CMO

    MUMBAI: Food service company, Jubilant FoodWorks has appointed Kapil Grover as chief marketing officer of Domino’s Pizza. He brings with him a rich experience of 18 years and will be responsible for leading the marketing strategy for the brand.

    Jubilant FoodWorks CEO and whole-time director Pratik Pota says, “We are delighted to welcome Kapil to the Domino’s family. Kapil is a seasoned marketing professional with a proven track record of building brands and driving consumer relevant innovations. We are confident that Kapil will use his immense experience to deepen Domino’s connect with its customers and to drive growth”.

    Grover mentions, “I am delighted to be a part of Domino’s Pizza, the most loved pizza brand in India. The new role presents an exciting opportunity to lead the brand’s endeavours to create a great pizza experience for the customers, strengthen the core delivery proposition and further expand its market share. I look forward to contributing significantly to its ongoing growth journey.”

    Grover took over his new responsibility from July 2018. He was earlier associated with Burger King India as chief marketing officer and has also worked with KFC India, Radico Khaitan and Luxor Writing Instruments in his past stints.

    Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd (JFL/Company) is part of Jubilant Bhartia group and is one of India’s largest food service companies, with a network of 1,144 Domino’s Pizza restaurants across 268 cities (as of 30 June 2018). The company and its subsidiary have the exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza brand in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

    At present, it operates in India and Sri Lanka. The Company also has exclusive rights for developing and operating Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants for India and has 37 Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants across 10 cities in India (as of 30 June 2018).

  • Onida appoints Pratyush Chinmoy as Asst GM for marketing

    Onida appoints Pratyush Chinmoy as Asst GM for marketing

    MUMBAI: Electronics brand Onida has appointed Pratyush Chinmoy as the assistant GM for marketing. He will report to Onida chief executive officer G Sundar.

    Chinmoy joined the company on 9 August and will be based out of Mumbai and operate from the Onida House. 

    Chinmoy will head the marketing department with key responsibilities intended towards planning and execution of marketing strategies, brand and category management, marketing communication and working on building a strong brand presence.

    Speaking on his new role, Chinmoy said to Indiantelevision.com,  “At Onida I will lead the team to manage the ATL and BTL activities along with digital spends. We will create personalised campaign stories and generate more sales and revenue. My primary objective here will be to focus more on digital marketing and we are actually ahead of Samsung and other competition in terms of social presence.”

    Onida was started by GL Mirchandani and Vijay Mansukhani in 1981 and has its own legacy. Excited on joining a brand like Onida, he mentioned, “Onida brand has its own legacy in India. I feel humbled to join a brand like this. The brand has grown in retail presence and we are focusing on tier II and tier III areas more. That is one of the gaps that we have identified and want to focus on.”

    Pratyush is a B Tech (Chemical Engineering) from NIT Rourkela and holds an MBA in Marketing and Supply Chain from XLRI, Jamshedpur. 

    A quality-driven professional, he has 8+ years of experience in category marketing strategy, brand management, new product launches, market research, digital marketing, people management and customer acquisition. 

    He previously led teams in Asian Paints Ltd in brand management and Reliance Industries in marketing for product management.

  • Fujifilm partners Anushka Sharma for Instax range of instant cameras

    Fujifilm partners Anushka Sharma for Instax range of instant cameras

    MUMBAI: Fujifilm India has announced a strategic partnership for its Instax range of instant cameras with Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma.

    A sweeping promotional campaign for Instax will be rolled out across social media platforms with Anushka’s participation for four months starting from August 2018 till November 2018.

    The Instax has been a global hit in more than 100 countries, with over 30 million units sold. Its quirky design and retro look has helped the brand carve a winning niche for itself. This year holds of great importance to Fujifilm as Instax celebrates its 20th anniversary. The company aims to further explode Instax’s awareness through its strategic collaboration with one of the most followed Indian personalities. Sharma is one of the most powerful personalities in the country today and she is known for her inherent charm and novelty. She perfectly complements the brand attributes of Fujifilm Instax.

    Fujifilm India managing director Haruto Iwata says, “We are very excited and optimistic to embark on this digital partnership with Anushka Sharma. She is an iconic symbol of the Indian entertainment industry and popularly known amongst the youth for her uniqueness and charm which perfectly blends with our brand. She embodies what Fujifilm INSTAX is all about – young, fun and ‘kawaii’ (cute in Japanese). Instax is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and we will be rolling out many more surprises for our customers in the coming months.’’

    “For me, photography is all about self-expression and preserving memories and what can be better than a camera that comes from Fujifilm which has an extensive and profound expertise in photography nurtured over the last 80 years. Instax captures the magic of the moment and seals it in a picture instantly and serve as reminders of those beautiful memories forever,” Sharma comments.

    Fujifilm India head of image capturing SM Ramprasad adds, “Anushka Sharma is undeniably one of the most gifted and accomplished women of her generation and a role model to young women. The association with Anushka is in line with our aim to bring in a youthful vibrancy by spreading the joy of printed pictures.”

    Within these four months, Fujifilm will roll out a special contest. The winners from the challenge will get an instax camera along with Anushka’s instant pictures, duly signed by her.

  • Digitas appoints Amaresh Godbole as CEO India biz

    Digitas appoints Amaresh Godbole as CEO India biz

    MUMBAI: Digital agency Digitas, a Publicis Groupe brand, has announced a change in its country leadership. 

    Himani Kapadia, CEO Digitas and SapientRazorfish, who has been with the company for 11 years, is stepping down to pursue other interests. Amaresh Godbole, currently MD India for Digitas, takes over the reins as CEO of the brand. 

    He will report to Publicis Communications India CEO Saurabh Varma and to Digitas APAC CEO Annette Male for the brand. He will also join the Publicis Communications country leadership team.

    Saurabh Varma comments, “Himani has done an incredible job, building the country’s largest digital agency, and she could not have left it in a better place, with strong client relationships and a seasoned leadership team. I’m excited about Amaresh’s elevation. He is one of the few people in our industry who truly understands the power of combining data, creativity, media and technology to deliver successful marketing outcomes. I look forward to the next chapter of Digitas’ ascent.”

    Says Annette Male, “Himani has been the architect of the India story for Digitas and a champion of our unique culture. She will be dearly missed, all across the network. In Amaresh, she has had an able partner through this journey, and she has mentored him to take on the mantle of country leadership. I am confident he will deliver the next phase of growth for the brand in India.”

    Says Himani Kapadia about her plans, “It’s been an exhilarating ride, taking the company from its inception as a startup to a recognised A list agency. It was a rewarding journey with stories, learnings and relationships that I will carry with me for a lifetime. I feel I’m now ready for a new challenge. In Amaresh and the Digitas leadership team, I feel assured knowing that the company is in safe hands.”

    Amaresh Godbole commented on his new role, “I’m about to step into an industry giant’s shoes. What gives me confidence to take this on are the lessons learnt from Himani over the last decade, where we’ve seen the company through myriad circumstances. I look forward to working closely with Saurabh to learn new lessons. I am a big believer of the Publicis Groupe vision and the Power of One philosophy. Digitas has extremely unique capabilities and talent, and I hope to deploy these towards continued growth for the brand and the Groupe in India.”

    Digitas India is one of the leading digital agencies in the country, with 400 experts across data, strategy, creative, media and technology spread across four cities. Digitas works with some of the top-drawer clients in the country such as Nestlé, Hewlett Packard, FCA (Jeep & Fiat), Reliance Jio, AbinBev (Budweiser), TVS Motors, Parle Agro, HUL, Tata CliQ, Tourism New Zealand and JK Tyres among others.