ITV

Category: People

  • Publicis co. Performics.Resultrix strengthens leadership in western region

    MUMBAI: As part of its western operations expansion, Performics.Resultrix, the digital end-to-end solutions and performance marketing company, aligned with Zenith India has strengthened its leadership team with three new senior appointments, Associate Vice-Presidents, who will lead the Mumbai operations.

    Rizwan Shaikh has over 12 years of experience in digital media in diverse areas such as digital strategy, paid media, organic, social, programmatic and analytics. He has worked across a range of companies such as Web Percept, IdeatLabs, iProspect and GroupM. He will be overseeing the entire paid media operations of the agency and has the mandate of enhancing the performance product further in alignment with global ambitions.

    Avinash Vanpal comes with 11 years’ experience in digital marketing. He has worked with agencies such as Resolution Media Singapore and Havas Media Bangalore and his experience spans brands such as Hyatt, Monster, HP, Resorts World Sentosa, SAP, British Insurance, and TravelSuperMarket & Manipal University. He previously co-founded a start-up – exqzt.com, which retailed handmade and ethnic products. He will be steering big businesses for Performics.Resultrix which includes a large BFSI client and will be providing strategic guidance and multi-channel strategies with a focus on programmatic.

    Nishant Gopalia again comes with 11 years of digital media and marketing experience. He has worked with many large-sized agencies and has handled big businesses such as Hindustan Unilever, Tata Motors, Future Group, LIC, Fiat, Zee Entertainment and ICICI Bank. Gopalia has also worked with Star India where he was managing digital media planning and buying for Hotstar and the GEC channel portfolio. His last stint was with Zydus Wellness, where he was leading digital marketing for brands such as Sugarfree, Nutralite & Everyuth.

    Mayoori Kango, Managing Director of Performics.Resultrix, says, “It gives me great delight to welcome on board our three senior executives, Rizwan Shaikh, Avinash Vanpal and Nishant Gopalia who have rich and diverse experience across brands and categories and will no doubt advance our growth and expansion in the western region. We lead the performance marketing business in India and given the rising momentum and scale of operations, this is the right time to strengthen our leadership team.”

    Shaikh said, “I am pleased to be a part of Performics.Resultrix, an established name in performance marketing and digital end- to-end solutions. They are an agency witnessing fast-track growth and have great proprietary knowledge, transformative tools and systems and an established and pedigreed roster of clients. I look forward to a long and fruitful innings ahead,”

    Avinash Vanpal says,

    “Performics.Resultrix needs no introduction. They are a strong global brand with a roster of extraordinary work; work that’s been awarded in both Indian and international ad festivals. They have driven growth and innovation for some marquee brands. I look forward to being a part of this high-energy, collaborative and diverse workplace.”

    Gopalia remarks, “ I have been following Performics.Resultrix’ s spectacular growth for some time now and am delighted to be joining it. I look forward to shaping the agency’s output in a positive way and strengthening client relationships still further.”

  • Vinay Venkatesh joins Fountainhead MKTG as CCO – digital

    MUMBAI: Fountainhead Digital MKTG, the digital and experiential innovation division of Fountainhead MKTG, a Dentsu Aegis Network agency, has roped in Vinay Venkatesh as chief creative officer. He will be based out of Mumbai and represent creative as a core strategic function of the digital business of Fountainhead MKTG.

    Having spent more than 16 years in the creative communications industry, Vinay is a seasoned creative leader. He has worked across brands including Emirates, Vodafone, several Unilever brands, Red Bull, Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Tata Motors. He has spent his longest stint as creative director on the Vodafone account at OgilvyOne, Mumbai. After OgilvyOne, Vinay held significant creative leadership roles like National Creative Director at Leo Burnett|Indigo Consulting and chief creative officer at Digital Law & Kenneth Saatchi & Saatchi.

    Venkatesh said, “I’m super excited about being here. I’ve known Thapas for a while now and I’m truly amazed at the awesome team that he’s built from scratch.”

    Thapas Joseph, President – Digital, at Fountainhead MKTG said, “With a great digital creative legacy and experience in directing creative campaigns for some of the biggest brands in the country, Vinay is set to play a key role in driving our vision of being a truly digitally-led experiential agency. I’m very excited about this development and can almost taste the great work that we’re poised to do.”

    With this development, Fountainhead Digital MKTG looks to further enhance its offerings, using creative technology and digital expertise to create compelling brand experiences around new media, virtual and augmented reality, interaction design and Internet of Things innovations.

  • Publicis co. Zenith hires three, strengthens organisational structure

    MUMBAI: Zenith, part of Publicis Media India, has strengthened its organisational structure and announced three senior-level hires.

    Atul Sharma has joined Zenith as Senior Vice President in New Delhi and will be the business head for SBU that includes Nestle, Truecaller, Yatra, Hotels.com and others. A marketing post-graduate, he has more than 16 years of work experience across multiple marketing and media functions such as marketing services, market planning, consumer research, sales, events, public relations strategic media planning, buying and implementation. Consumer insights are his strong point. He has led businesses for Snapdeal, Freecharge, Gaana.com, Cricbuzz.com, ITC Retail, Del Monte and Lenskart among others.

    Love Guglani has come on board as the Senior Vice President for Zenith, based again in New Delhi, to lead the other SBU for Cargill, LVMH, Jabong, Micromax, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), Aviva amongst others. He again, has more than 16 years of work experience in media across strategy, planning, buying and implementation. Love has a diverse background and has led businesses such as LG, Tata DoCoMo, HCL, Samsung and Intel Microprocessors.

    Another senior hire is Swati Jha. She has joined Zenith as the Senior Vice President to head the agency’s West India operations and will be based in Mumbai. She is a MICA alumnus with over 14 years of media agency experience.

    Swati Jha has led large FMCG businesses such as Mondelez (earlier Cadbury), Marico, Kellogg’s, Godrej and Zydus Cadilla in senior leadership roles. In previous roles, she has spearheaded award-winning work on brands such as Saffola, Parachute, Bournvita not just in the Indian market but also in some of the prestigious global platforms and juries such as Festival Of Media Asia Pacific (FOMA.)

    Tanmay Mohanty, Group CEO, Zenith India, said, “Our best in class data, tools, insights and strategy have led to a high pitch win rate and great performance on existing businesses. We are pleased to announce these three senior-level hires for Zenith who will help us upscale our operations, in line with our accelerated growth and momentum. I look forward to our new appointees bringing in fresh vigour, enthusiasm and passion to the organisation and embracing Zenith’s unique and highly differentiated offering.”

  • Happy mcgarrybowen appoints Choudhry as COO – advt, makes key changes

    MUMBAI: Happy mcgarrybowen, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has announced key structural changes to further strategise its business approach and strengthen its top-line leadership. As part of this change, PM Praveen Das, Co-founder and MD, Happy mcgarrybowen, will spearhead growth of the specialised units for Design, B2B and Social Behaviour Change Projects (SBCP).

    Das said, “The dream here is to use ‘design thinking’ to contribute something unique to design from India and create value for our clients. We also want to help B2B clients with solutions that fall between a digital and communication agency by leveraging technology and creating unique experiences with UI and UX, VR, AR, AI, Machine Learning, IOT (internet of things), etc. In SBCP too, we have been trying to use technology to solve communication challenges even as we patiently engage with continuous research and feedback to create and recreate communication for change. Yes, the process is slow but fulfilling and effective if done well. To accomplish this, we have put together a talented, top-of-line team of experts to deliver results.”

    Meanwhile, Happy mcgarrybowen has roped in Samarjit Choudhry as chief operating officer (COO), Advertising. Armed with more than 20 years of experience, Samarjit’s mandate here will be to run and grow the agency’s advertising business across the country. Prior to this, Samarjit was with Ogilvy Bangalore where he held the position of chief growth office. He was also instrumental in setting up Orchard in Bangalore and Black Pencil for the Leo Burnett Group. In his new role, he will report to Kartik Iyer, co-founder and CEO – Happy mcgarrybowen.

    Choudhry said, “Most agencies give lip service to integrated thinking. At Happy, it’s actually a way of life. This brings a unique perspective to the table and a very different understanding of the shopper of today. Also Kartik and Praveen are not just great people to work with, they are truly Happy people also. I quite look forward to our journey ahead of taking Happy mcgarrybowen to the Delhi and Mumbai markets.”

    Iyer will continue to oversee the advertising discipline for Happy mcgarrybowen. On the developments, Iyer said, “We have always wanted Happy mcgarrybowen to be a hybrid agency with multiple capabilities. Between Praveen and me, we are very clear what we want for Happy mcgarrybowen in the future. So it just makes absolute sense to split forces and give the attention each discipline needs.”

    “Samarjit comes with a rich experience of having built business units. His personality, in a lot of ways, echoes the values we believe in at Happy. We have entrusted him with the responsibility to running and growing the advertising business across the country. So we can concentrate on attracting the best talent and improving the creative product,” he added.

  • SapientRazorfish & DigitasLBi have a new CEO – Himani Kapadia

    MUMBAI: SapientRazorfish, a part of Publicis Groupe HAS announced that Himani Kapadia has assumed the position of CEO, India, SapientRazorfish and DigitasLBi effective immediately. In this new role, Kapadia will be responsible for the growth of both businesses in India by leveraging the complimentary propositions and offerings of the brands, to help clients reimagine their business through radical customer-centricity.

    Kapadia brings 22 years of diverse experience across business, finance, strategy, technology and media. She was instrumental in setting up DLBi in India, and served as its MD before moving on to other global roles within DLBi. She was recognized by Campaign as a “Top 10 Most Admired Agency Leader in APAC”.

    “The combined capabilities of SapientRazorfish and DigitasLBi across consumer, digital, experience, data and technology, offer a unique advantage to our clients as they partner with us on their digital transformation journey,” said SapientRazorfish MD – Asia Pacific Rajdeep Endow.

    “Having known Himani for a number of years, her experience in India coupled with her focus on doing what’s best for her clients reassures me that she will help lead our clients through the digital transformation journey,” said DigitasLBi CEO APAC Annette Male.

    Charulata Ravi Kumar, who led the SapientRazorfish India business, moves on from the organisation to pursue other opportunities.

  • Raman Kalra joins PwC India as entertainment & media sector advisory leader

    MUMBAI: Raman Kalra has been hired as partner, PwC India – Entertainment & Media Sector Advisory Leader (and Emerging Technologies Leader). He is responsible for strategy through execution as: Entertainment & Media Sector Advisory Leader & Emerging Technologies Leader responsible for transformation agenda across Industries leveraging digital & new emerging technologies.

    Based in Gurgaon (Haryana), Kalra is an entrepreneur at heart with 24 years of experience in industry and consulting, with a strong track record in conceptualising, growing and managing businesses.

    Mentor & advisor to various start-ups across Digital Media, Education & Advertisement areas, he turned entrepreneur during 2015/16. He worked as Partner/Executive Director with IBM Global Business Services, India/South Asia as Country Head – Media & Entertainment Industry & also Lead Transformation Partner for Bharti Airtel.

    With a strong understanding of the industry domain & technology, Kalra had been acting as the trusted advisor to CxOs at different levels & functions across the industry segments. During his consulting tenure, he has successfully directed & delivered engagements across areas of business growth strategy & transformation, business process consulting, shared services & outsourcing, ERP & other industry focused technologies. Raman also has significant international experience working with diverse global teams in different geographies.

    At PwC, he is also responsible for transformation agenda across Industries leveraging digital & new emerging technologies like IoT, Cognitive Computing/Machine Learning, Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR), Blockchain and Robotics.

    Prior to this assignment, Kalra curated StoreSay, India’s first integrated location based B2B2C marketplace for electronics, gadgets & appliances connecting trusted nearby brick & mortar stores with customers on one hand and with the distributors/manufacturers on the other hand. StoreSay was awarded among the Top 5 finalist in IBM B2C Start-up Star challenge across India in May 2016.

  • Dentsu Webchutney appoints Ajay Ahluwalia as ECD

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Webchutney, the digital agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has roped in Ajay Ahluwalia as executive creative director. He will be based out of the agency’s Gurgaon office. His last stint was with Contract Advertising where he handled some of the biggest brands in the country including Microsoft, Ten Sports and JK Tyres.

    With over 20 years of cross-category, cross-platform experience along with a diverse set of exposure spanning sales, marketing, photography, martial arts, and naturally, creative, Ahluwalia is all set to lead the charge for the agency.

    The keen motorcyclist and the black belt holder expressed his delight by saying, “I’m excited to join Dentsu Webchutney and the young brigade that is bubbling with energy to break the conventions with digital innovations.”

    Not only has Ahluwalia launched brands like Samsung and Bacardi in India, but also has helped nurture names like NIIT, and set up Oxygen – one of India’s first agencies to engage in the digital workspace.

    Commenting on Ahluwalia’s appointment, Dentsu Webchutney co-founder and chief creative officer Sudesh Samaria said, “It’s great to have someone of Ajay’s experience onboard in a digital environment, especially when the lines between mainline and digital are blurring as we speak. We look forward to him driving infectious ideas which resonate with the Dentsu Webchutney culture.”

    Dentsu Webchutney remains by far, the most awarded agency. Webchutney’s clientele include Airtel, Flipkart, Quikr, Swiggy, Tetra Pak, Canon, Whirlpool, Indusind Bank, Red Bull amongst others.

  • YourStory’s Ashish Rana joins IdeateLabs as business head

    MUMBAI: Ashish Rana has joined IdeateLabs, a full service digital marketing company, as the business head at its Mumbai office. His key responsibilities include prospecting new clients, planning and co-ordinating the implementation of business plans, establishing connections with the external stake holders, forging new deals and growing new business opportunities.

    His expertise lies in the fields of marketing, branding, communications, strategy & operations, consumer research and project management. He has worked with renowned companies like Star India, FoodFood, Network18 & OMS (Mudra Max, Part of DDB Group). Rana was the Strategy and Operations Head at YourStory Media and was responsible for planning and implementing organizational strategy, sales and events, in his last assignment.

    On this latest development, IdeateLabs director Vrutika Dawda said, “Team Ideate is extremely delighted to have Ashish on board. He will play a crucial role in enhancing and growing our business and the brands associated with us. With his extensive business network and interpersonal skills, we look forward to a successful association and a great future. I look forward to Ashish working closely with me and other senior management members in Ideate and contributing to our vision of dynamic and integrated brand solutions for our clients.”

    Commenting on the potential of the rapidly evolving digital marketing industry, Rana said, ‘’Having worked with some of the best organisations, I look forward to contributing my skills and expertise to my team and IdeateLabs. Having worked for more than a decade with electronic media, I am very excited to work on a blend of electronic and digital marketing solutions for various brands across the country. I’m looking forward to taking IdeateLabs to the next level and creating yet another success story.’’

  • Lowe Lintas appoints Naveen Gaur as COO

    MUMBAI: MullenLowe Lintas Group has announced the elevation of Naveen Gaur as the chief operating officer, Lowe Lintas. He was until now the president of Lowe Lintas in charge of the New Delhi (NCR) operations.

    Effective immediately, Naveen would oversee Lowe Lintas’ offices in New Delhi (NCR), Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. He continues to be based in New Delhi and will report to Raj Gupta, whose elevation to CEO, Lowe Lintas was announced a few days back.

    Commenting on the appointment, MullenLowe Lintas Group chairman & CEO Joseph George said: “Naveen has played a significant role in strengthening Lowe Lintas’ operations of New Delhi (NCR) and has had an incredibly successful run the past 5 years. His proven track record of driving growth and creative excellence makes him a very strong support for the Lowe Lintas leadership of Arun Iyer and Raj Gupta as we put in place an ambitious and futuristic roadmap for the agency.”

    Commenting on his appointment, Naveen Gaur said: “It’s a great opportunity and a privilege to further strengthen this great agency, as we move into this ever changing dynamic business environment. I look forward to partnering with Arun and Raj to drive this agenda.”

    Naveen joined Lowe Lintas in 2010 as Branch Head, Delhi. Over the years, he has built a strong team of professionals and encouraged an entrepreneurial culture of growth and creative excellence. Under his leadership, the Delhi office added clients like OLX, Sun Pharma, Pernod Ricard, Cargill Foods, Google among others over the past few years. He even led his team to win major accolades across effectiveness award shows each year over the past seven years.

    In a career spanning over two decades, Naveen has built a startup health and wellness, been the Chief Growth Officer at McCann Worldgroup India, and Business Director (at McCann) for clients such as Coca-Cola, Mastercard, Microsoft, Reckitt & Colman, General Motors, Bacardi, Dabur amongst others.

  • GroupM Dialogue Factory’s Katgara moves out, co-founds marketing solutions co

    MUMBAI: Group M Dialogue Factory Business Group Head Farhad Katgara has moved out.

    Farhad has been part of the advertising and marketing community for over 16 years. He started his career as Assistant Manager (Production) with Resources & Beyond, a support agency for Lintas, McCann Erickson, Tata Nova, Seventy and many more in 2000. He was also associated with various event companies like Showtime India Pvt Ltd, LIVE 1 Entertainment, CATPRO Events, Rams Relationship, Seventy, Cineyug Worldwide and Leo Brunette where he has successfully planned and executed events. His last stint was as Business Group Head at Group M Dialogue Factory in March 2017.

    Farhad has also successfully planned and executed events and activations for brands like HPCL, Mumbai Police, Lakhme Fashion Week, Smirnoff, Launch of Fiat Palio, Samsung Blue I & True I, Axe Deodorants and many more. During his career, Farhad has built and developed large teams providing brand development support through, events, sales promotion campaigns, visual merchandising and product merchandising.

    With years of experience in live concerts, corporate events, awards and corporate shows, Farhad has co-founded Resources Go Beyond, a result based Integrated Marketing Solutions provider.

    Resources Go Beyond is looking at coming up with three IPS this financial year. The first one is a Horror Short Film Festival slated for May 2017 in Mumbai.