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Category: People

  • Kolkata’s Academy of Fine Arts condemns blogger Avijit Roy’s killing

    Kolkata’s Academy of Fine Arts condemns blogger Avijit Roy’s killing

    KOLKATA: Activists, artists, intellectuals and writers staged a protest in Kolkata to condemn the killing of Avijit Roy – a Bangladeshi-American blog writer in Dhaka last week.

     

    Roy was also the founder of Mukto-Mona (Free-mind) blog site, which champions liberal secular writing in Bangladesh.

     

    Organised by Bhasha O Chetona Samiti (Language Awareness Society), a Kolkata-based organisation for promotion of Bengali language and culture, the protest saw people gather at the Academy of Fine Arts to condemn Roy’s killing and called for fighting against fundamentalism.

     

    Roy, a 42-year-old bio-engineer working in the United States, was hacked to death by two attackers wielding machetes in Bangladesh capital Dhaka on 26 February, when he was leaving a book fair with his wife Rafida Ahmed Banna, who was also seriously wounded in the attack.

     

    Religious radicals had been threatening Roy over his active campaign against Islamist extremism and for improving secularism in Bangladesh.

     

    As per reports, it should be noted that India as a county has reacted sharply over gruesome killing of liberal author Roy by suspected terror operatives and warned that such acts of extremism aided by groups like Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) could further fuel terrorism in region, a day ahead of Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar’s visit to Bangladesh.

     

    The United Nations (UN), US State Department, UK and the European Union (EU) have condemned the murder of Roy.

  • Lowe LDB Sri Lanka appoints Hari Krishnan as CEO

    Lowe LDB Sri Lanka appoints Hari Krishnan as CEO

    MUMBAI: Lowe + Partners Worldwide has appointed a new CEO for Sri Lanka. A former protégé of the group, Hari Krishnan has been appointed as the Lowe LDB Sri Lanka CEO. He will report to Lowe Lintas + Partners, India CEO Joseph George.

     

    Commenting on Krishnan’s appointment, George said that having learned the nitty-gritty of the business since his formative days at Lowe coupled with his vast exposure across other agencies in senior roles, Krishnan is perfectly placed to lead the agency in Sri Lanka. “It’s good to have Hari back into our fold after all these years. Over the last five years, Sri Lanka has seen high GDP growths and the country is at an exciting inflection point now,” he said.

     

    Krishnan added, “I started my career with Lintas in India in ’96-97 and learnt my fundamentals from the great University of knowledge that is Lowe Lintas. So I’m extremely happy and thrilled to be back. It’s a homecoming of sorts in that sense. It’s an honour and a challenge to lead such an operation and I’m really looking forward to partnering the young, talented team there in driving the philosophy of ‘Populist Creativity’ and taking Lowe LDB to greater heights.”

     

    Krishnan joins the agency from Grey where he was the SVP and business head for South. His new mandate would be to drive Lowe LDB Sri Lanka into being a leading creative powerhouse in the country. The only ‘Superbrand’ in the advertising category in Sri Lanka, Lowe LDB manages a diverse portfolio of brands across various categories from Detergents to Insurance to Telecom.

    The agency was also the most awarded agency at the Effies in 2013 and together with Unilever is the most awarded partnership in the history of Effies in Sri Lanka.

     

    Krishnan has almost two decades of work experience; nearly all of it in advertising besides a stint with Star TV as VP, marketing. He has experience across multiple categories/consumer segments, in leading large multi-functional teams and in leading a P&L operation to success.

     

    In his last job at Grey India as SVP and business head, he spearheaded the transformation of the agency operations in South including leading the agency to a spree of new biz acquisitions including DELL India, ITC Foods, Stovekraft, Fortis Healthcare amongst others.

  • Walt Disney Parks & Resorts names Bob Chapek as chairman

    Walt Disney Parks & Resorts names Bob Chapek as chairman

    MUMBAI: Bob Chapek has been named chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

     

    A 22-year veteran of The Walt Disney Company, Chapek has served since 2011 as president of Disney Consumer Products, driving a technology-led transformation of the company’s consumer products, retail and publishing operations. He assumes his new role effective immediately.

     

    “Under Bob’s leadership, Consumer Products has seen great success, focusing on brands and a franchise-driven strategy while launching new products and retail experiences that combine technological innovation and creativity. He is an experienced and versatile executive well-suited to lead Parks and Resorts into the future,” said The Walt Disney Company chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger.

     

    As chairman of Parks and Resorts, Chapek succeeds Thomas O. Staggs, who was named Disney’s chief operating officer earlier this month. Chapek will report to both Iger and Staggs.

     

    “Bob is stepping into this role at an incredibly dynamic and exciting time for our Parks and Resorts business. The ongoing construction of Shanghai Disney Resort as well as the new Avatar-themed land at Walt Disney World continues an era of unprecedented growth and historic expansion,” Staggs said.

     

    “I am grateful for the many opportunities I have had during my years at Disney, and am thrilled to join the incredible Disney Parks organization. I look forward to working with the remarkably talented team dedicated to creating magical memories for millions of guests around the world,” Chapek added.

     

    A successor to Chapek at Disney Consumer Products will be named at a later date.

     

    Prior to leading Disney Consumer Products, Chapek served as president of distribution for The Walt Disney Studios from 2009 to 2011, and was responsible for overseeing the Studios’ overall content distribution strategy across multiple platforms including theatrical exhibition, home entertainment, pay TV, digital entertainment and new media. He also served as president of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, where he spearheaded the successful “vault strategy” for the company’s iconic films and transformed the primary format of home entertainment from DVD to Blu-ray.

     

    Before joining Disney in 1993, Chapek worked in brand management at H.J. Heinz Company and in advertising at J. Walter Thompson.

  • O&M’s Steve Walls joins Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore

    O&M’s Steve Walls joins Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore

    MUMBAI: Steve Walls has moved from Ogilvy & Mather to join Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore as head of planning.

     

    Walls is the first senior hire by Shannon Cullum since he took the helm as CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore in late 2014.

     

    “Steve is here to do what he does best – make wonderful work. Inspired thinking begets inspiring creative, and I know Steve will quickly become essential to both our creatives and clients,” said Cullum.

     

    Walls’ career has seen him develop effective and impactful strategies for both brands and agency. He has worked at AMV BBDO North America, JWT, “WhatIf”, BBH London/Singapore and Publicis, where his clients included BMW, Castrol, CNBC-Asia, JetBlue, Johnnie Walker, Nestle, SingTel, Smirnoff and Unilever.

     

    “The Saatchi creative department is young, talented and hungry. I look forward to helping them create some awesome advertising on some equally awesome clients,” said Walls.

     

  • Dentsu Communications appoints Vipul Thakkar as national creative director

    Dentsu Communications appoints Vipul Thakkar as national creative director

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Communications has appointed former DDB Mudra group creative head- South and East Vipul Thakkar as national creative director.

     

    As the creative leader of Dentsu Communications, Thakkar will work towards strengthening the agency’s southern network and expanding the Mumbai operation. His appointment is part of a broader strategy to strengthen on the group’s creative caliber.

     

    Dentsu India Group executive chairman Rohit Ohri said, “I am delighted to have Vipul as a part of the Dentsu Communications leadership team. ‘Work that works’ has been Vipul’s mantra. His work has worked not only for the brands that he’s worked on, but also for the agencies he has worked in. He has built motivated integrated teams, seamless agency networks and a solid creative reputation for the organisations he has worked for. I’m confident that Vipul’s creative leadership, will take Dentsu Communications to greater heights.”

     

    Dentsu Communications CEO Simi Sabhaney added, “Vipul’s deep knowledge of both the South and West markets and his ability to creatively connect the dots in the integrated communication landscape is a perfect combination for a company like Dentsu. I am delighted to welcome Vipul into the DCPL family.”

     

    Thakkar said, “I am thrilled at this moment when I don the hat of national creative director at Dentsu Communications. It will be my pursuit to produce effective communication, eked out from both newer insights and everyday rituals. This is a great opportunity to tap the potential of the south and west markets and to work with the wonderful and energetic team, where I will aim to channelize all energies leveraging our strengths and in validating the proof of the pie by building brands- effectively and consistently.”

     

    Thakkar is a seasoned advertising professional with over 19 years in the business. He joins Dentsu from DDB Mudra Group, where he was creative head – South & East.

     

    He has created work for brand categories such as lifestyle, finance, beverages, fashion and FMCG. At DDB Mudra he was responsible for work on Royal Challenge, McDowell’s No.1, TTK Prestige, Peter England and Jos Alukkas. Prior to DDB Mudra, he was at Ogilvy Bangalore, where he created ads for ITC Bingo, Sunfeast Yippee, Allen Solly, MTR and Titan watches.

  • MEC India appoints Mukti Kumaran as west head

    MEC India appoints Mukti Kumaran as west head

    MUMBAI: MEC India has appointed Mukti Kumaran as its west head. Prior to joining MEC, she was heading the Mumbai branch at IPG Media Brands-BPN. Based out of Mumbai, Kumaran will report to MEC India managing director T Gangadhar.

     

    Gangadhar said, “We are delighted to have Mukti onboard our leadership team. She is a progressive communications professional and brings with her a wealth of experience. I have no doubt she will be a real asset to MEC.”

     

    Kumaran has been a media professional for over 18 years and brings with her a rich experience in strategic planning, buying and new business development. She has worked across markets and has experience on both sides – client and agency. She has earlier worked with Leo Burnett, Initiative Media (LMG), Lodestar and Wipro. 

     

    Kumaran added, “I believe the paradigm of media planning and buying is changing very rapidly. As consumers become platform agnostic and increasingly digital, the approach to engaging with them becomes that much more interesting and challenging. My focus will be to ensure that we are pushing our understanding of consumers and evolving smarter and newer ways to engage our brands with them. Looking forward to some exciting work here.”

     

  • WPP’s tenthavenue appoints Sudipto Roy as CEO, Emerging Markets

    WPP’s tenthavenue appoints Sudipto Roy as CEO, Emerging Markets

    MUMBAI: WPP’s global communications company, tenthavenue, has appointed Sudipto Roy as CEO of Emerging Markets, covering Asia, Africa, Middle East and Turkey.

     

    Roy will lead tenthavenue across high growth established markets, including China, South East Asia, Hong Kong, South Africa, and drive tenthavenue’s expansion into new markets, including Turkey, Middle East and Japan.

     

    Based out of Singapore, Roy will begin his new tenure in mid-April. Roy spent a significant part of his career in various leadership roles within Mindshare across India, APAC and Africa. These include chief client officer, chair of the Product, Service and Partnerships council, and as client lead for Unilever across APAC, Africa and Turkey, where he played a key role in global leadership of the account.

     

    In the last two years, he spearheaded the partnership drive at Mindshare across diverse domains such as big data, mobility, emerging consumer marketing, content and word of mouth marketing, marketing data and visualisation technologies, as well as orchestrating the creation of new products and revenue streams.

     

    Tenthavenue founder and CEO Rupert Day said, “This appointment comes at a time when we are refocusing our vision for the future. We have had a fantastic start over the last four years, and we want to remain nimble, agile and focused for the next five. By recruiting Roy, we are continuing the energy and direction tenthavenue requires to keep growing, and to keep building winning propositions. Roy is a pivotal part of our APAC management team, and has the right experience to help us realise our strategic ambition to become the best ‘connected experiences’ company in the world. His deep knowledge of the emerging markets, of the technology landscape and his ability to connect the dots to drive new age partnerships is the perfect combination for a company like ours.”

     

    Roy added, “tenthavenue is poised to create a highly differentiated marketing services model for the future. The company has an inherent strength in out-of-home experiences, on-the-go experiences and mobility. That’s the perfect combination for a new age services model as consumers spend less time in front of the TV and desktop and become mobile. The ambition is to forge the units under one strategic umbrella and together become the best ‘connected experiences’ company in the world, driven by deep consumer data and personalisation of content. This vision, combined with the deep entrepreneurial energy in the company, is what has attracted me to join tenthavenue.”

     

    Launched in 2011, tenthavenue now operates across over 55 offices in 25 countries. Based on the four key pillars of data, content, technology and media, tenthavenue builds products and services that enable advertisers to create connected brand experiences. As parent to WPP’s ‘Connected Consumer’ agencies, the tenthavenue agency family consists of market leaders and rising stars in their respective fields, including Kinetic, Aviator, Joule, Spafax, Candyspace, Forward and TMARC.

  • OgilvyOne elevates Sonia Khurana to national head-customer engagement

    OgilvyOne elevates Sonia Khurana to national head-customer engagement

    MUMBAI: OgilvyOne has promoted Sonia Khurana as national head of customer engagement, Mumbai. Prior to this, she was heading OgilvyOne’s Bangalore office.

     

    While in Bangalore, Khurana was instrumental in growing the OgilvyOne business and building a team. Under her leadership, OgilvyOne acquired many new clients such as Dr. Reddy’s, SAP and Elle Fashionwear amongst others. 

     

    OgilvyOne Worldwide India president Vikram Menon said, “Our core promise to clients is to help them unlock the full value of customers, by turning big ideas and data insights into compelling personal experiences that help them win more customers, and make them more valuable. With her expertise and experience in CRM and Digital, Sonia is perfectly geared to deliver on this promise.”

     

    Khurana added, “I am very excited to be in this role. It’s also a great privilege to be able to work towards delivering on David Ogilvy’s famous promise, ‘We sell, or else.’ OgilvyOne has invested heavily in engagement planning tools and processes, technology infrastructure and data analytics capabilities. In addition, our understanding of digital allows us to expand our approach to acquiring and engaging customers beyond traditional CRM channels.”

     

    In her new role, Khurana will focus on building the CRM and loyalty capabilities of OgilvyOne across India. OgilvyOne has a Data Analytics Hub in Bangalore that works on both local and international clients. BMW India, Titan and Dr. Reddy’s are some of the CRM clients that OgilvyOne has on its roster.

  • Does Yuvraj Singh deserve Rs 16 crore?, asks adman Pratap Bose

    Does Yuvraj Singh deserve Rs 16 crore?, asks adman Pratap Bose

    Having played for Bengal in my teens and waking up at 3 am just to listen to the commentary of West Indies playing India, I can proudly call myself a purist of the game.

     

    But the site of cricketers being sold like horses in the ring for the benefit of insolvent owners, Bollywood actresses and wives of rich businessman is another reason why I so despise the IPL. What does Nita Ambani or Preity Zinta know about the cricket beyond a point?

     

    The sight of players being bought like horses for the enjoyment of a few and to enhance the value of their team is not what cricket is meant to be. A few spend crores, using the sport as a platform to make more money. What amazes me more is the fact that players who have crossed their prime are being sold for exuberant amount of money. Take Yuvraj Singh for instance, who was bought by Delhi Daredevils for Rs 16 crore. The player is done and dusted; he wasn’t even included in the ICC World Cup 2015 squad. So, why spend so much on him? There are many like him who are bought for their ‘star’ value instead of others who are the future of the game.

     

    If this cannot be labeled as commercialisation of the game then what can?

     

    And to top all this, we have scandals attached to the IPL, which is a disgrace to the game.

     

    Like I said, I’m a purist of the game who loves longer formats, which helps test the caliber of a player, but I don’t mind a T20 World Cup. It is the IPL, I don’t like and don’t even watch because it has made the game nothing less than a circus.

    (As told to indiantelevision.com’s Meghna Sharma)

  • Godrej group sees leadership movements

    Godrej group sees leadership movements

    MUMBAI: Adi Godrej-led Godrej Group has made senior management movements in three of its publicly listed entities.

     

    Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) CFO P Ganesh will take charge as the chief financial officer and company secretary for Godrej Industries Ltd (GIL). 

     

    Godrej Properties limited (GPL) executive director V Srinivasan will move to GCPL as CFO and company secretary and will step down from the GPL Board of Directors.

     

    Mohit Malhotra, who currently heads the business development function and the NCR region for Godrej Properties, will be inducted as an executive director on the Board of Directors of the company.

     

    All these changes will take effect from 1 April, 2015.

     

    Godrej Group chairman Adi Godrej said, “We have made these changes in line with our growth aspirations and talent management philosophy. Our HR strategy is to ensure that we have a robust in-house talent pipeline and the diversity of the Godrej Group enables us to periodically expose key talent to different business opportunities.”