ITV

Category: People

  • Carat hires Mayank Bhatnagar & Vinita Pachisia for Mondelez

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Aegis Network’s media agency Carat India has appointed Mayank Bhatnagar as the senior vice-president to lead the Mondelez business in India, and Vinita Pachisia as the vice-president who will look after buying for Mondelez.

    Bhatnagar has more than 16 years of experience in communication and media planning. He has worked extensively on large FMCG businesses across different markets such as India, Malaysia and Singapore. He has also worked across different functions of media agencies to build strong skills in strategy planning, media buying, implementation planning and new business development. He has managed large clients like Nestle, P&G, Tata Motors, Tata Indicom, Kellogg’s and Cadbury.

    Bhatnagar’s last assignment was with Mindshare Malaysia. There, he led the Nestle business and steered digital trading/investments across clients for the agency within the region. He has been instrumental in deploying new processes to improve productivity in Mindshare Malaysia, which led his team to win multiple awards at the local and regional level.

    Speaking on his appointment, he said, “The opportunity to lead Mondelez business in India and work on the portfolio of iconic brands will surely be very exciting.”

    Pachisia has worked across agencies such as Madison, Initiative, Havas and Mindshare. Armed with more than 18 years of experience, Pachisia has worked across a wide spectrum of brands like HSBC, Idea, Kellogg, Heinz and Parle to name a few.

    What differentiates Pachisia is her focus on creating and delivering brand initiatives on media like the highly recalled “IDEA Citizen Journalist” on CNN IBN, HSBC Making it Big, HSBC Green Heroes and Breakfast headlines for Kellogg’s. One of her latest initiatives was the Parle MTV Junkyard project, a progression of the Parle Anti-Litter campaign.

    Pachisia said, “Leading the Investment vertical of a portfolio that is growing and is a leader in the category is exciting. My efforts will be to maximise the returns on their media spends and achieve the objectives set by the client.”

    Carat managing director Kartik Iyer said, “Talent is truly what will create the big difference in the market. I am sure that while they would be working to deliver the cutting edge solutions for Mondelez, they would also enable an upskilling in Carat with their fine experience.”

  • Starcom India appoints Lalchandani as VP – buying

    MUMBAI: Starcom, a part of Publicis Media India, has, in a significant development, appointed specialist Navin Lalchandani as the vice-president of its media buying operations.

    Starcom, a renowned media communications agency, partners with the world’s leading marketers and new brands, including Airbnb, Bank of America, Kellogg Company, Kraft Heinz, Novartis, Samsung, Visa and more.

    Lalchandani moves from Carat Media Services, Denstu Aegis Group and will steer media buying operations for all offline media, namely television, print, radio and cinema across the Starcom offices of Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

    Starcom India Group CEO Mallikarjun Das says, “Navin is talented and versatile and comes with the rich experience of having bought media for some of the largest marketing organisations such as Mondelez, L’Oréal and Vodafone. Navin brings in an amalgamation of buying skills spanning across media and has the smarts to work in Starcom’s data-predicated media product. He will drive a buying culture that is about best-of-class in rates, rigour, fair play and trust.”

    Lalchandani says, “I believe in long-term, sustained partnerships and this has certainly been the case in my career span. I began my career with media planning for Marico and it has been a greatly rewarding and exhilarating journey since then. The decision to join Starcom was easy, considering its body of good solid work, for marquee brands and its reputation of being a future-facing, high-growth agency. In an age of proliferation of channels and offerings, a sound media strategy makes all the difference to business goals. I look forward to delivering genuine value to Starcom’s clients.”

    Lalchandani’s previous spans media buying firms such as GroupM’s Maxus and Madison Media.

  • NITI Aayog, Nestlé India, Tata Global & Parle Agro execs pocket Excellence Awards

    MUMBAI: The Advertising Club (TAC) and the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) jointly announced the first ever champions of excellence who would be felicitated at the Goafest on 7 April 2017.

    The awards were conceived and curated by the AAAI and TAC for acknowledging and saluting visionary advertisers who have taken the leap of faith and invested resources, ensuring that “Great ideas transform into Great advertising”.

    The jury consisting of senior members of the awards governing council of the Abby’s at Goafest were unanimous in selecting NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, Nestlé India Ltd South Asia Region Sr. VP & Head of Communications and E- Commerce Chandrasekhar Radhakrishna, Tata Global Beverages chairman Harish Bhat and Parle Agro JMD and CMO Nadia Chauhan, GCMMF Ltd (Amul) managing director R.S.Sodhi as the first ever recipients of this new and prestigious industry award for their role in inspiring great advertising.

    AAAI presdient Nakul Chopra said “For the first time we are honoring advertisers at the Goafest. This award is very special as it acknowledges the pivotal role played by these men and women we call “clients” but who have acquired a much larger status in the overall brand scenario. These are the select few individuals who have helped build and nurture brands, supporting their Agency partners every step of the way.

    The Advertising Club president Raj Nayak added “As an industry we need to salute these Brand Custodians who stake the reputation and money of their Brands on the creativity of their advertising agencies. They literally take that leap of faith every day. Having them at Goafest would be very inspirational for the audience.

    Goafest chairman Ashish Bhasin said, “We always celebrated advertising agencies, digital companies, production houses and media companies at the Goafest. Now with top advertisers being honoured, the festival is more complete.”

    Awards’ Governing Council chairman Ramesh Narayan said, “This award really places the advertiser at the center of the communication effort, and rightfully so. The response for nominations from advertising agencies was quite good and I am confident this would go on to become one of the highlights of the Goafest in the years ahead. What is advertising without the advertiser?”

  • Dentsu Webchutney appoints Anil Kumar as EVP

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Webchutney has roped in Anil Kumar as EVP and branch head. He will be based out of Delhi and will report to Dentsu Webchutney CEO and co-founder Sidharth Rao. Kumar will lead key accounts like Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Canon, Tetra Pack, Hike, Payback, DS Group and ITC amongst others.

    Rao said, “Digital is fast moving from a creative-communication arena to being a business-enabler. Anil, with years of mainline advertising experience coupled with extensive hands-on marketing experience, presents a combination that can help our teams appreciate the real-business issues more holistically and recommend solutions that can positively impact our client’s bottom lines. We look forward to Anil steering our largest branch to next levels of growth and recognition.”

    Kumar is a seasoned marketing professional with over 18 years of work experience with India’s leading advertising agencies – FCB, Grey, TBWA, Contract and Lintas. This long stint was followed by another five years as executive director, Millennium Spire, a Singapore based FDI fund that he helped grow from $20 million to a $1 billion operation. This success fuelled his passion for nurturing start-ups and led to co-founding of inQbis – a boutique business consulting firm focussed on providing strategic and marketing direction to early-growth ventures in infrastructure, agri-products, retail design and e-com sectors.

    He added, “I am seriously inspired by the impact of Digital, both as a medium and a technology, on our day to day lives. It is fast changing the human behaviour itself. For a marketing professional, Digital is the ultimate delight because of its tremendous ability to sharply identify and establish the shortest route possible to the target audience; and what better place than Dentsu Webchutney, the pioneers in digital, to immerse oneself into this arena and explore.”

  • Havas Group merging creative & media under one P&L

    MUMBAI: Havas Group has announced another step in its together strategy to accelerate integration by further breaking down silos and moving to a client-centric and region-based organization.

    The Group’s two divisions, Havas Creative Group and Havas Media Group, will no longer exist. The creative and media businesses, alongside the healthcare and wellness business, willbecomesimply business units, under one regional P&L, to ensure agility and a seamless experience for clients.

    And to ensure the most relevant organization in a client-centric model across media and creative, Dominique Delport is appointed as Global managing director and chief client officer for the Havas Group,where he will oversee global clients relationships, marketing initiatives and new business.

    These moves are the result of the successful implementation, at the end of 2016, of a centralized management of our four largest markets,where chairmen were appointed at the group level: Chris Hirst for the UK, Alfonso Rodés for Spain and Yannick Bolloré for France and North America. The Group is now adding two new chairmen roles to optimize its structure and offering in Latin America and Asia Pacific.

    Presently, Havas Media Group Latin America CEO Jorge Percovich has been appointed as the CEO of Havas LATAM Group across the creative and media businesses. He will be responsible for overseeing all of the Havas Group agencies in the region: 65 offices in 19 countries,with+3,000 people.

    Havas Creative Group APAC CEO Mike Amour has been appointed as the CEO of Havas APAC Group across the creative and media businesses. He will be responsible for overseeing all of the Havas Group agencies in the region: 79 offices in 17 countries, with+2,400people.

    Delport said, “For four years now, the #togetherstrategy and the opening of our 47 Havas villages has transformed the wework and serve our clients. Now it’s all about extending Yannick’s vision and reinventing our industry by creating new standards, new offers and new services that blend the best of both worlds: relentless creativity and smart media accountability. Havas wants to beat the forefront of this transformation by putting the power of content and data at the core of our activities. It’s an exciting challenge.Being agile and having a challenger mindest doesn’t prevent us from having big ambitions for our Group, our people and our Clients.”

    Bolloré mentioned, “As the world moves faster and grows more complex, we believe we need to transcend the traditional definition of “creative” and “media” to better deliver for our clients.The appointments of Dominique, Jorge and Mike will ensure we create the most modern approach to developing solutions, regardless of where the thinking begins. They will enable us to better share talent and resources on behalf of our clients, as well as create cross-channel learning and development opportunities for our people.”

    APAC implications:

    In Asia Pacific, there will be two additional executive appointments. Currently Havas Media Group APAC CEO Vishnu Mohan will become CEO, Havas Group India & South East Asia, responsible for all media and creative group agencies across those markets. Levent Guenes, currently CEO Havas Creative Group South East Asia, will become Chief Growth Officer, Havas Group APAC, with a primary focus on driving new ventures, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships. Both Mohan and Guenes will report to Mike Amour.

    Amour said, “I am honoured and excited that Yannick Bolloré has asked me to help lead the next stage of our ‘Together’ strategy in Asia Pacific. The Havas Village model drives a clear, progressive view on the future of our industry, which is that Creativity is the product of radical collaboration. It’s very important that our Village strategy optimises our structure and offerings to create the most modern approach to developing solutions, regardless of where the thinking begins”.

  • Salt Brands Solutions appoints Namrata Nandan as chief business officer

    MUMBAI: Salt Brand Solutions has announced the appointment of Namrata Nandan as its chief business officer. Nandan comes on board with the mandate to manage all existing businesses and drive growth for the organization.

    Salt Brand Solutions founder Mahesh Chauhan said, “As we now gear up for the next stage of our evolution as an organization totally invested in building successful businesses, we felt the need to get another like-minded and driven leader. Namrata’s utopian world-view, love for building powerful brands and desire to succeed reverberated with us. I have known her for a couple of decades and have always wanted to work with her. The journey just got more exciting.”

    Nandan joins Salt Brand Solutions with over 23 years of experience in advertising industry.

    Nandan added, “Salt Brand Solutions is an essential ingredient in my quest to follow my heart. Mahesh Chauhan is one of those inspirational people I met in my journey of advertising and having this opportunity to work closely with him and his young, raring to go team is something I look forward to”

    Prior to her stint at Salt, she served as the co-founder of Conviction Brandworks. She has also worked with leading advertisement and marketing firms like McCann Mumbai as senior vice president and G.M, McCann Erickson India as vice president and G.M, J Walter Thompson as account director, O & M Advertising as group account manager and Y & R Brands as account manager.

    The other key to her love and passion for this business has been the rich and diverse range of businesses and brands she has been fortunate to have partnered with Colgate, Unilever, TVS, Britannia, Marico, L’Oreal, Radio Mirchi, Piramal, Bombay Dyeing, etc.

  • Ensure ads do not interfere with entertainment, MIB urges channels

    NEW DELHI: The ministry of information and broadcasting has reiterated the provision in the Advertising Code that “all advertisement should be clearly distinguishable from the programme and should not in any manner interfere with the programme.

    The Advertising Code says that this includes “use of lower part of screen to carry captions, static or moving alongside the programme.”

    Information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu told the Lok Sabha in a written reply that a fresh advisory in this regard had been issued to all television channels on 10 March 2017.

    This is a provision in Section 7(10) of the Advertising Code which forms part of the Cable TV Networks Acc(Regulation) Act 1995.

    According to the Ministry, several advisories have been issued in the past five years on different issues including coverage of anti-terrorist operations, asking TV channels not to telecast inflammatory news of communal nature, urging non-telecast of a film made on the Nirbhaya rape case, and against showing clippings from films which have not been given the ‘U’ certificate.

  • Lowe Lintas: Iyer takes over as chairman, Gupta as CEO

    MUMBAI: MullenLowe Lintas Group today, through an internal communique sent out by Joseph George (Joe), Group Chairman & CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group announced the leadership for its flagship agency – Lowe Lintas.

    Lowe Lintas chief creative officer Arun Iyer will operate as the chairman & chief creative officer of the agency. Partnering him will be Lintas’ veteran Raj Gupta, currently the president and Mumbai office head, Lowe Lintas, who will operate as the CEO of the agency. Both these appointments, the communique said were to be effective from 1 April, 2017.

    Joe said: “I have worked long, and closely with both – individually and as a team; and I can without a shred of doubt say that Arun and Raj are best placed in experience, expertise and energy to fulfil Lowe Lintas’ business, effectiveness and creative ambitions going forward.”

    Arun who has been with Lowe Lintas for over 15 years has been the creative genius behind many campaigns across Surf Excel, Idea, Tanishq, Axis Bank, Paperboat, Freecharge, Hotstar, Google, OLX, Fastrack, Flipkart, Hike and many others. He was the youngest Creative Director in the history of Lintas to have been appointed National Creative Director in 2010 and also when appointed Chief Creative Officer in 2016.

    Arun Iyer said: “We are getting ready for the future and the plan is to ensure we have the most contemporary hyper-bundled offering in the industry.”

    Raj Gupta who has been with Lintas for over 25 years has held leadership positions in the company across Media, Digital, Strategic Planning, Channel Planning, Business Development and of course Account Management. His width of expertise and leadership experience across functions, the company feels, will be invaluable in the agency’s journey back to full service or what at the Group they call Hyper-bundling.

    Gupta said: “Great brands have a purpose that never stops unfolding and with our determination to make Lowe Lintas truly hyper-bundled, we will now have so many more ways to tell our brand stories.”

  • LinEngage appoints Gagan Pal Singh Nagi

    MUMBAI: LinEngage has announced the launch of its Delhi (NCR) office to cater to clients in North India. Gagan Pal Singh Nagi has been appointed VP and business head – North. He would report to LinEngage India executive VP Sriharsh Grandhe.

    MullenLowe Lintas president marketing services and group CMO Vikas Mehta said, “As we move into the experience-age, activation is moving from the fringes of a marketing plan to its core. LinEngage is an essential component of our Marketing Services offerings as we strengthen our omni-channel capabilities. Sriharsh built a client portfolio in Delhi and we’re getting great traction from clients in NCR across product categories.”

    Prior to joining, Nagi was working with RK Swamy (Hansa Group) as the general manager and business head – North for Hansa events, the experiential business unit.

    Over the years, Nagi has worked with the Mudra Group and Encompass Events (now a part of WPP), where he handled brands such as Samsung, Vodafone, Nestle, Yamaha, Maruti Suzuki and Piaggio, among others.

    Sriharsh said, “LinEngage is focusing on strategic activations and experiential marketing leveraging digital and data. Gagan (Singh) is an old hand with a young heart. We are eager to see him get started with the fresh and innovative approach of LinEngage and expand our presence in Delhi.”

    The mandate for Singh is two-fold. Set up a team with skills that leverages technology and data to create large format experiences that are also personalised. And tap Delhi’s Consumer-Tech, Auto, FMCG & Pharma segments to grow LinEngage’s business.

    Singh said: “LinEngage has a fresh approach towards experiential marketing which gives me a huge opportunity to innovate. My focus will be to grow business with interesting experiential solutions for brands using new-age technologies and help brands measure and monitor their events and activation better.”

  • Sapient India appoints Sanjay Menon as MD

    MUMBAI: Sapient has announced that Sanjay Menon has taken over the position of managing director of Sapient India with immediate effect.

    In this role, Menon will drive the strategy, capability development, and growth of Sapient’s India presence and maintain its status as hub of the company’s globally distributed delivery network.

    Menon, who will continue his responsibility of leading delivery out of India as global head of service lines for Sapient Razorfish, takes on this new role from Rajdeep Endow. Endow has taken on the role of the managing director, Sapient Razorfish, Asia Pacific, and is responsible for leading strategy and growth for the region and helping clients reimagine their business through radical customer-centricity.

    A 16-year veteran, Menon has been instrumental in growing Sapient’s India operations since its inception. He has successfully served in various business and delivery roles including running key account P&Ls, managing global delivery for some of the business units as well as growing digital marketing services capability from India.

    “Sanjay has been a key part of the India leadership team, and has played an instrumental role in promoting our culture and building capabilities. As India continues to remain a strategic talent market for Publicis. Sapient, I am confident Sanjay will help us strengthen our brand that has always attracted the best engineering minds,” said Publicis Sapient co-chief executive officer Chip Register.