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Category: People

  • Quikr gets a new CMO in Vineet Sehgal

    Quikr gets a new CMO in Vineet Sehgal

    MUMBAI: After receiving Rs 365 crore funding earlier this month, the online classified company Quikr announced the appointment of Vineet Sehgal as the company’s chief marketing officer. He will be responsible for marketing strategy and plan across all areas including brand building, performance marketing, partnership and alliances at the portal.

     

    Quikr founder and CEO Pranay Chulet said, “We are delighted to welcome Vineet to Quikr. Quikr is made in India and for India, and Vineet has built his career scaling consumer businesses in the country so there was natural chemistry here.”

     

    “Vineet also knows the Indian consumer and he knows the Indian consumer on mobile. His arrival was particularly well timed with our own plans, as the fun is just beginning,” he added.

     

    Beginning his career in consumer marketing with Nestle, Sehgal headed Nokia’s programs and planning portfolio before joining Quikr. He also founded the Nokia Money start up team and drove its growth from conception to market roll out and held large scale launches of some of the most used mobile devices in India.

     

    With more than 18 years in marketing and business strategy, Sehgal has worked across diverse industries such as telecommunication, FMCG, banking and management consulting. He has been associated with brands including Nokia, Nestle, Accenture, Cadburys and HSBC.

     

    Sehgal said, “It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to join Quikr which is writing such an interesting chapter of the Indian internet story.  Quikr’s business is growing exponentially and its super exciting for me to be a part of this growth curve. I look forward to further building the company as the Indian internet becomes more and more synonymous with mobile internet.”

     

    Quikr records 30 million users a month across 940 cities in India and so far has received funding of around Rs 1,300 crore since its inception in 2008.

  • Sreekumar Balasubramanian joins Publicis Capital as senior VP

    Sreekumar Balasubramanian joins Publicis Capital as senior VP

    MUMBAI: Sreekumar Balasubramania, who has 19 years of experience in global marketing communications companies, has been appointed as Publicis Capital senior vice president.

     

    Balasubramanian will report in to the Publicis Capital CEO Hemant Misra.

     

    Misra said, “It’s great to have Sree in our team. His mandate will be to focus on maintaining our high standards on existing businesses as well as on new business development.”

     

    Before joining Publicis, Balasubramanian worked with W+K as Head Account Management. He also worked with other eminent agencies including Leo Burnett, Lowe, Rediffusion, Dentsu Communication among others.

     

    On his appointment Balasubramanian said, “It is always important for people to get out of their comfort zones and face new challenges and Publicis has provided me that opportunity.”

     

    “I see exceptional potential for leveraging their credentials on existing business and for growth. I look forward to being a part of this endowed team,” he added.

     

    Balasubramanian has worked on categories like food and beverages, automotive, telecom, retail and services including brands like Thums Up, Maaza, Minute Maid, Coke Studio, Eristoff vodka, AirTel, Telenor Pakistan, Matrix Cellular, Toyota Kirloskar Motors, Audi India etc. 

  • CASBAA Singapore appoints Mark Lay as vice president

    CASBAA Singapore appoints Mark Lay as vice president

    MUMBAI: CASBAA has announced the appointment of Mark Lay to the newly created position of vice president, CASBAA Singapore.

     

    “We are excited to welcome Mark to the CASBAA family and to represent the Association in Singapore,” said CASBAA CEO Christopher Slaughter. “His thorough knowledge and understanding of Asia’s multichannel TV industry and successful track record in senior management will help CASBAA build its membership base and shape its future strategy.”

     

    Reporting directly to the CEO, Lay will promote the entire range of CASBAA’s products, services and events to relevant member companies, and ensure members’ needs and expectations are met by the Association. As VP, CASBAA Singapore, he will also maintain and expand relationships with assigned strategic and potential members and represent CASBAA in the increasingly important Singapore market.

     

    Lay gained his broadcast industry experience through previous roles in distribution and marketing with Star and as VP affiliate sales and relations at Discovery Channel Asia. He has also held director level positions at Mikoishi Studios and Acme Mobile and was most recently a Private Investor at Lay Financial in Singapore.

     

    “It’s great to be back in the pay television business and I am looking forward to reconnecting with previous colleagues and clients along with forging strong connections with new players as well,” said Lay. “Working with CASBAA is a role within the industry that is new to me but one which I am very excited to embrace.”

  • Scarecrow ropes in Anjali Rawat as ECD Art

    Scarecrow ropes in Anjali Rawat as ECD Art

    MUMBAI: After adding interesting new brands like Radio City, Hungama, QuikSilver, Steve Madden, Kenneth Cole and many more in its kitty, Scarecrow has beefed up its art department by hiring Anjali Rawat as executive creative director for its Mumbai Office.

     

    The office will be divided in three art groups respectively headed by ECDs – Kapil Tammal, Zohar Furniturewala and Rawat.

     

    Scarecrow founder director Manish Bhatt said,” Anjali is an articulate creative person with an edge in art, design and craft. Scarecrow is always in a hunt for great idea people with tasteful sense of craft. Adding Anjali in the senior talent pool will help us strengthening Scarecrow’s second line.”

     

    A graduated from Sir JJ school of Art, Rawat over 12 years of experience and has handled brands such as Zoom, Cadburys, Bru, Godrej, Morphy Richards, Rasna, Huggies, Malayala Manorama, Fortis hospitals, Dainik Bhaskar, Axis Mutual Fund, Platinum, Star Gold, Movies Ok, Cox and Kings, TWU, Star CJ Alive, Eureka Mobile Advertising, Relaince, Parle, Fillerton India and so on.

     

    Rawat said, “A creative persons dream is to work with creative stalwarts of the industry, always. And I am happy to have gotten this opportunity to work with Manish and Raghu. I see Scarecrow as a hub of good creativity. I hope to add a bit to it and to learn a lot from them in the process.”

  • Starcom Mediavest Group gets Sue Frogley on board

    Starcom Mediavest Group gets Sue Frogley on board

    MUMBAI: Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) has announced that Sue Frogley will join the company as global commercial director.

     

    Responsible for building a strong commercial capability and practice to drive client revenue, Frogley will work across all of SMG’s global network clients, setting a strategic M&A vision and investment strategy. Frogley will help identify and architect new commercial models and trading deals to drive diversification of new revenue sources.

     

    Based in London, Frogley will report to SMG global CEO Laura Desmond.

     

    Frogley joins SMG from Dentsu Aegis Media, where she was most commercial operations president. She was responsible for all commercial negotiations and commercial development at a global level, covering both new and existing clients. Prior to this, Frogley was CFO at Aegis Media Global and Isobar Global, where she built a commercial platform for development of global clients involving large-scale transformation.

     

    “As clients move more toward globalization and as marketplace dynamics are changing at warp speed, Sue will be instrumental in navigating the landscape and maximizing value for our business and for our clients,” said Desmond. “She has a proven track record of long-term value creation, building teams and delivering innovative global commercial solutions. She will help SMG continue our growth trajectory, while developing our commercial market position.”

     

    Frogley added, “Throughout my career, SMG has always stood out—setting the standard as a future-forward, global agency. I’m thrilled to be joining the team at such an exciting time in the industry and look forward to becoming part of their entrepreneurial talent and helping promote best-in-market offerings across SMG’s portfolio.”

  • Puma India appoints new MD Abhishek Ganguly

    Puma India appoints new MD Abhishek Ganguly

    MUMBAI: Soon after Rajiv Mehta quit the company after nine years, Puma India has announced the appointment of Abhishek Ganguly, as its new managing director.

     

    Talking about the new appointment Puma EEMEA region GM said, “We’re delighted to ring in Abhishek’s appointment as the managing director of Puma India as one of the founding directors of PUMA India. Abhishek brings with him a wealth of experience that will guide the brand towards its next leap in India.”

     

    “Puma India has delivered an outstanding performance during the last nine years and I look forward to the continued progress of this great brand of ours with Abhishek,” he added.

     

    Ganguly previously had been spearheading the sales and retail functions for the brand and had joined Puma right at its inception in 2005 as a founding director. His appointment comes at a time when the brand is taking bold steps in its new positioning to be the fastest brand in the world. The brand recently launched the Forever Faster campaign.

     

    Puma India now has around 300 stores in 100 cities and towns. The company has opted for the hybrid retail model in India which is made up of franchises as well as owned-and-operated stores. As much as 15 per cent of its stores are owned-and-operated. And 12 per cent of its annual revenue comes from online platforms such as Myntra, Jabong and Flipkart.

  • Publicis Capital elevates Joy Mohanty to NCD

    Publicis Capital elevates Joy Mohanty to NCD

    MUMBAI: Publicis Capital has elevated Joy Mohanty as its national creative director. Mohanty will continue to be based in Delhi and will report to Publicis South Asia chief creative officer Bobby Pawar.

     

    Bobby Pawar on Mohanty’s elevation said, “In the time that I have worked with Joy, I’ve found him to be who not only focused on making great ads, but also finding brilliant solutions to our clients’ problems. He is also a really good leader. His elevation is recognition of the role he has played in improving our output in the past year and the role he will play in helping us raise our game even more.”

     

    Publicis Capital chief executive officer Hemant Misra stated, “Joy is an ideal partner – cool and collected, ever smiling, assertive and brilliant. He has the ability to attract talent and harness simple yet great ideas. His ‘Kitna Deti Hai’ campaign for Maruti Suzuki is an appropriate example of this.”

     

    Mohanty has been with Publicis Capital for over nine years. In a career spanning 21 years he has worked at FCB Ulka, Bates Clarion, Leo Burnett and Contract.

     

    Some of the prominent brands he has worked are: Maruti Suzuki Corporate, Maruti Swift, Maruti A-star, Suzuki Scooters & Motorcycles, LG Home Appliances, Dabur Chyawanprash, Personal Care, Homemade, Thums Up, Maaza, Apollo Tyres, Carrier Aircon, among others.

     

    Mohanty has won numerous local and international awards, including the One Show, D&AD, New York Festivals and Goafest.

     

    On his new role Mohanty added, “I have been on a perpetual quest, trying to find ways to connect with a consumer who essentially does not want to engage with advertising. The width of brands and strength of relationships at Publicis make this new assignment a fabulous opportunity.”

  • Starcom MediaVest Group India bolsters its senior team

    Starcom MediaVest Group India bolsters its senior team

    MUMBAI: Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) India has bolstered its senior leadership team with the hiring of two key executives.  Natasha Kapoor joins the agency as SMG Mumbai VP and Gautam Surath as strategic planning VP.

     

    In a newly created role, Kapoor will be responsible for client service, product delivery and growth for the Mumbai market. Kapoor has more than 15 years of media experience. Her last job was at Samsung India, where she handled investment, brand activation and strategy for its media procurement and process audit division. Prior to that, she was a media purchases director at Mediacom where she handled television buying for the Procter & Gamble team. She also has worked on the Unilever business at Fulcrum and Mindshare.

     

     “I believe SMG offers a unique opportunity in the market for staff and clients alike. Nowhere else in India can you find a world class Digital and Data and Analytics practice coupled with great media tools, systems and thinking resulting in a great all round product. It is a wonderfully challenging assignment and I am looking forward to it,” said Kapoor.

     

    Surath will be responsible for strategic planning, training and guiding the digital transition of SMG’s clients across its offices. He is an SMG veteran having worked for the company from 2003 in both India and China. For the past four years he has been at SMG China business director, where he was strategy lead on multiple categories of the Procter & Gamble business. His responsibilities included the development of tools and systems to improve productivity and focus on product development. Prior to his posting in China, he spent six years on the P&G planning AOR team in India.

     

     “Quite frankly, having started my career at Starcom and having worked here ever since, moving back to the India office from China was a bit of a no-brainer. Having seen the company evolve with evolving consumer trends, I have no doubt that our vision is the right one. Exposure to the global marketplace has only strengthened my belief in this regard. Exciting times in India and it’s great to be back home!” said Surath.

     

     “Natasha and Gautam bring key skillsets to complement and enhance our offering to clients in India and both Malli and I look forward to working with them,” said SMG India chairman Hanley King.

  • McCann Worldgroup promotes Prasoon Joshi to APAC chairman

    McCann Worldgroup promotes Prasoon Joshi to APAC chairman

    MUMBAI: McCann Worldgroup has promoted Prasoon Joshi to McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific chairman.

     

    In this position, he will focus, along with McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific president Charles Cadell and, McCann Worldgroup Greater China CEO Jesse Lin, on driving client businesses through collaboration and integration across one of the world’s fastest growing economies.

     

    Joshi is currently McCann Worldgroup South Asia president as well as McCann Worldgroup India CEO. Joshi, Cadell and Lin will focus on delivering integrated approaches and communications solutions for clients by leveraging all of McCann Worldgroup’s broad capabilities and resources.

     

    McCann Worldgroup chairman and CEO Harris Diamond said, “Prasoon has built a model for the network by delivering integrated ideas to drive growth for our clients across India. His brand-building talent has been acknowledged globally. With our clients increasingly looking for multiplatform communications solutions to drive growth, the combined leadership team of Prasoon, Charles and Jesse will help all of our agencies in the region to take full advantage of these opportunities.”

     

    Recognised as one of the advertising and marketing communication world’s top creative leaders, Joshi this year headed the Cannes Lions Titanium and Integrated Jury.

     

    Joshi first joined McCann India in 2002 as executive VP and national creative director. In 2006, he was named McCann Worldgroup South and Southeast Asia executive chairman and regional CD. Under his leadership, McCann Worldgroup India has built its position as the most creatively awarded agency in the market while also expanding its multiplatform capabilities. As part of this expansion, last year it acquired the direct marketing and database company End to End Marketing Solutions which, like McCann, has offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai.

     

    Joshi said, “We are extremely well positioned for continued growth and I look forward to building on the momentum we’ve seen across the network. McCann Worldgroup is boldly entering this new era of advertising with leadership who realise the value in globalisation. Our capacity to effectively craft local communication with global leverage means we can solve our clients’ biggest marketing challenges.”

     

  • Narendra Ambwani is the new chairman of ASCI

    Narendra Ambwani is the new chairman of ASCI

    MUMBAI: At the board meeting of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), Agro Tech Foods director Narendra Ambwani, was unanimously elected chairman of the board.

     

    As a member of the board of governors for seven years, he has provided active support to self-regulation in the advertising movement.

     

    Benoy Roy Chawdhuri, was elected vice-chairman while Shashidhar Sinha was appointed the honorary treasurer.

     

    The other members of the new board of governors are: Hemant Bakshi, Arvind Sharma, Dilip Cherian, SK Palekar, Jayant Singh, Subhash Kamath, Srinivasan Swamy, Rajan Anandan, Shantanu Khosla, Abanti Sankarnarayanan, I Venkat, Arunabh DasSharma and Partha Rakshit.

     

    During the year 2013-14, the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) met 41 times and considered complaints against 1937 advertisements. Of these, complaints against 1520 advertisements were upheld, while 414 were not upheld and 3 were considered non-issues.  In more than 90 per cent of the cases, where a complaint against the advertisement was upheld, the advertisements have been voluntarily withdrawn or modified as per the CCC’s decisions.

     

    The outgoing chairman of ASCI Rakshit said, “Last year has been a very eventful and successful year for us. ASCI’s effective action towards reducing the complaint processing turnaround time to just 12 days has led ASCI to win the prestigious EASA Gold Award for Best Practices. There has also been more than 90 per cent compliance towards the advertisements wherein a complaint against an advertisement was ‘upheld’. These advertisements were either withdrawn or have been appropriately modified. In a noteworthy achievement, ASCI issued guidelines on skin lightening and fairness products which ensured that these advertisements do not depict people with dark skin as somehow inferior to those who are fairer. Also recently, government took notice of ASCI’s efforts to curb Teleshopping ads that violate ASCI code and ensured a strict compliance of the advertising code in the Cable Television Networks Act (CTN).”

     

    Ambwani said, “There has been tremendous change in ASCI’s approach towards advertising content and adherence to the ASCI’s guidelines by the advertisers. Earlier, we acted primarily on complaint received from the public or the industry body. In the coming year, we hope to promote ASCI’s guidelines more vigorously among advertisers and creative agencies, so that new ads meet ASCI’s standards at the creative stage itself. We also hope to collaborate strongly with the regulators and consumer groups to ensure fairness and responsibility in advertising”