ITV

Category: People

  • SMG Convonix appoints Surajendu Sinha as VP & business head

    SMG Convonix appoints Surajendu Sinha as VP & business head

    MUMBAI: SMG Convonix has appointed Surajendu Sinha as vice president and business head (west & south).

     

    Sinha will be responsible for overseeing all key client relationships and will lead the media team in these regions.

     

    SMG Convonix CEO Vishal Sampat said, “SMG Convonix has always focused on providing real-time and meaningful digital solutions. We have always believed in staying ahead of the curve and Surajendu’s addition to the media team will allow us to do that by embracing changes in media and mobile faster. We’re focused on attracting reputed and experienced hands to lead our media teams and further bolster our offering. Surajendu fits the bill perfectly, and we’re glad to have him on board.”

     

    SMG Convonix COO Sarfaraz Khimani added, “Media consumption trends clearly indicate the increasing skew to digital and mobile. Surajendu’s addition to the leadership team at SMG Convonix is a reflection of the evolution of the medium and its consumption, and to ensure that our solutions to clients are always impactful and leading-edge.”

     

    Sinha has over a decade of experience in digital media planning and buying in companies like Neo@Ogilvy and Mindshare (Group M). In his last role at Mindshare, Sinha was senior director – digital media buying for Mindshare (west). He was responsible for growing digital revenues, rate benchmarking and driving annual strategic partnerships. He has handled clients like Kellogg’s, ICICI Bank, Idea Cellular, Ultratech, Birla White, Videocon d2h, HDFC Bank, Diageo, Tata Motors among others.

     

    Sinha said, “The decision to join SMG Convonix was easy based on the great work done by the team on digital including SEM, SEO, SMM, Display, ORM and analytics for its various clients. It will be great to be working with a passionate bunch of people with a focus on strengthening the paid media and mobility functions armed with  award winning, innovative media offerings and the addition of new revenue streams and benchmarking ensuring better value to be passed on to clients.”

  • Braces and Smiles names Infectious as its creative agency

    Braces and Smiles names Infectious as its creative agency

    MUMBAI: Infectious has been signed on by Braces and Smiles, a chain of super specialty orthodontic clinics, as their communications partner. Infectious will be in charge of the identity, strategy, and communication for the brand.

     

    “It is a business we are very excited to work on as the set of challenges are unique. Our task is not only to create awareness for Braces and Smiles but also to establish their expertise in braces. We look forward to creating some fantastic work for them”, mentioned Infectious co-founder and director Nisha Singhania

     

    Commenting on the win Infectious co-founder and director Ramanuj Shastry said “So many people need Orthodontic treatment, which is a super specialized branch of dentistry, yet so few know about it. It’s an unusual challenge, very different from selling soaps and shampoos, and forces us to think unconventional ways to engage with people. Thrilled to learn so much and work on such a novel field.”

     

    On appointing Infectious as Braces & Smiles’ creative agency, Dr. Rajesh Patil said, “We selected Infectious because of the enthusiasm of the team, their creativity which stems from understanding of human emotions and psyche and the effort they took in understanding the core essence of our brand and what we stand for.”

  • Outbrain appoints Gulshan Verma to lead expansion in India

    Outbrain appoints Gulshan Verma to lead expansion in India

    NEW DELHI: Gulshan Verma has been appointed as country manager of Outbrain India, an online content discovery platform.

     

    In his new role he will be in charge of leading the company’s expansion in the Indian subcontinent especially in India where he will be responsible for leading the setup and growth of Outbrain.

     

    Outbrain has seen tremendous user growth in South-east Asia and India in the last 18 months – from zero to over 800 million page views on a publisher network that has grown to over 150 strong in the same time period. Outbrain has also had success recruiting the top talent in the industry, doubling its employees over the course of the past 12 months.

     

    Outbrain regional director SE Asia & India Anthony Hearne said, “Outbrain is the pioneer of content discovery, and we are fully committed to helping more people in India discover the most interesting, relevant and trusted content. South-east Asia and India are huge growth regions for Outbrain, so we are excited to bring Gulshan’s experience to bear to lead the charge in securing continued growth here in India.”

     

    Verma brings to Outbrain over 15 years of experience in the digital media industry, having worked in Europe, North America and now Asia. His most recent role was with Komli Media as chief revenue officer. Prior to that, Gulshan was director of sales strategy for Yahoo! India, and before that, director of product marketing for Yahoo! search marketing in the United States.

     

    Outbrain announced in March 2014 a multi-year strategic partnership agreement with Times Internet to bring the most interesting and personalised content recommendations possible to Times Internet readers.

  • Razorfish hires MediaCom’s Vik Kathuria as global chief media officer

    Razorfish hires MediaCom’s Vik Kathuria as global chief media officer

    MUMBAI: Razorfish, a digital and technology agency, has appointed Vik Kathuria as global chief media officer.

     

    Kathuria will report directly to Razorfish’s Global CEO Pete Stein.

     

    In his new role, Kathuria will be responsible for leading the agency’s 300 media employees worldwide, driving Razorfish’s exclusively digital media strategy—from its executive level partner relationships to its proprietary data solution infrastructure—and overseeing a global client roster that includes DHL, Starwood, HSN and Best Buy. He will also be involved in further strengthening and aligning Razorfish’s global media practice and commanding significant new business efforts.

     

     “As we continue to evolve our global media offering and educate clients on the need to employ a digital-centric approach, it is essential we have a leader poised to take us to the next level,” said Stein. “Vik’s experience lies in negotiating digital media strategies that maximize brand investment. He has what it takes to further progress our team, support our shift to programmatic buying and foster our culture of innovation and optimization.”

     

     “Razorfish’s media practice is excelling at a time when many agencies in its position are stagnant,” said Kathuria. “My entire career has been comprised of helping brands and agencies identify progressive integrated media strategies that accelerate ROI. As Global Chief Media Officer I am excited to support Razorfish as it further amplifies an already superior offering.”   

     

    A 20-year industry veteran, Kathuria most recently served as global head of digital investment for MediaCom, one of WPP’s leading media agencies under the GroupM umbrella. In this position, he was tasked with establishing network-wide best practices, leading relationships with global publishers and driving multi-market client negotiations. Prior to joining MediaCom in 2008, Kathuria was senior vice president of digital media for OMD and served in senior global marketing positions at Citigroup (New York) and PepsiCo (Singapore). He is the recipient of numerous awards including being named an “Agency Innovator” by Internationalist Magazine and one of Cynopsis’ “Most Intriguing People” in 2013.

     

    Kathuria will begin working out of the agency’s New York City headquarters immediately.

  • RajDeepak Das joins Leo Burnett as chief creative officer

    RajDeepak Das joins Leo Burnett as chief creative officer

    MUMBAI: Last week, the industry got the news of KV Shridhar (Pops) moving on after 17 years with Leo Burnett.

     

    Today, the agency announced the appointment of RajDeepak Das as the chief creative officer (CCO), Leo Burnett India. In his new role as CCO for India, he will be looking at operations across Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai.

     

    Das will be based in Mumbai and will work closely with CEO Saurabh Varma. He said, “I always believed that ‘Agencies don’t create iconic brands, people do.’ And that is what Leo Burnett stands for. In Leo Burnett I want to bring in new trends of communications to make our brands future ready.”

     

    Leo Burnett Worldwide chief creative officer Mark Tutssel who was personally involved in the recruitment process that spanned several continents, said that Das, with his proven track record behind world-class, award-winning work for global brands including P&G, Pepsi, Visa, Pizza Hut and Tesco among others is a new breed of creative, modern-day leader, a holistic thinker with sharp business acumen.

     

    “Raj brings with him an exuberant amount of global experience, creativity, focus and best-in-class leadership.  He understands today’s creative landscape is always-on and always integrated. The decision to bring Raj on board as our CCO holds immense promise for our clients and our creative product. I strongly believe that Raj, alongside Saurabh will form a perfect unity of creative and strategy, making the agency, one of India’s leading creative agencies today, the best integrated agency in the region going forward,” Tutssel said.

     

    “The appointment of Raj and his partnership with Saurabh represents a new beginning and milestone for Leo Burnett India. India’s growing importance as an economic force on the world stage and its rapid change from a traditionally print and TV dominated market to one that will see online ad market reach $1.12 billion next year are key indicators of transformation in our clients’ businesses. We are focused on ensuring that Leo Burnett is at the forefront of this change, with the agility to meet the needs of today’s marketers. I have no doubt that under the combined power of Saurabh’s strategy and Raj’s creative leadership, they will be able to jointly take the agency to the next level and evolve into the new model of HumanKind communications company. Both of them will have the full support of the network to make Leo Burnett the fastest growing and most creative integrated agency in India,” said Leo Burnett Asia Pacific president Jarek Ziebinski.

     

    Varma added, “Five months back we communicated our intention to be the best integrated communication company in India. With the appointment of Raj, we have made a decisive step in that direction. Raj and I will partner to create work that is not only human, but also participative by design. We will focus on work which brings out the purpose of our brands. Ultimately, the route to building the most popular brands is in creating work which creates believers not just consumers.”

  • Verizon appoints Chris Formant to lead enterprise business

    Verizon appoints Chris Formant to lead enterprise business

    MUMBAI – Verizon Enterprise Solutions has found a new president in Christopher Formant. The appointment was announced by Verizon executive vice president and president of the company’s wireline organization John Stratton.

     

    In his role, Formant will be responsible for delivering business solutions to Verizon’s global enterprise clients in key industries: healthcare and insurance; financial services; technology; manufacturing, distribution, automotive and distribution; retail; energy and utilities; and the public sector. He will also lead a team driving sales, operations and marketing of the company’s strategic solutions in intelligent networking, dynamic cloud, mobile workforce, connected machines, security and professional service engagements.

     

    Formant’s background combines a unique blend of enterprise, early-stage company and global-business consulting experience. He was most recently senior vice president and president of Avaya Government Solutions and Avaya Professional Services. At Avaya, he was also president of Global Services, where he led a major business turnaround while significantly improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.

     

    Stratton said, “Chris has the expertise and marketplace know-how to ensure Verizon brings enterprise-class value to the world’s leading companies. His dynamic approach to matching technology solutions to business problems will be a great asset to Verizon clients everywhere they do business: throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America.”

     

    In addition to his leadership roles at Avaya, Formant has held executive positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers and MBNA, as well as serving as adviser/investor to early-stage technology companies. He has been named as one of the Top 25 Most Influential Consultants by Consulting Magazine. Formant received his Bachelor of Science degree from Washington and Lee University and a Master of Business Administration from George Washington University.

     

    Verizon Enterprise Solutions is a leading provider of advanced IT and communications services to enterprise and governments around the world.

  • KV Sridhar quits Leo Burnett India

    KV Sridhar quits Leo Burnett India

    MUMBAI:  KV Sridhar (Pops) has finally decided to move on. Leo Burnett India and subcontinent chief creative officer will be hanging his boots on 4 May, after spending 17 years in the agency.  

     

    Pops has over 30 years of working experience in advertising and has now decided to take the leap to reinvent himself and pursue other interests.

     

    “Pops has always been a young man at heart and once again his nomadic spirit has led him to look at things afresh and follow his heart to pursue new adventures. We want to thank him for his tremendous contribution over the years, building Leo Burnett India into the creative powerhouse it is today. The agency and I will continue to build on the creative trajectory he has set,” said Leo Burnett Group India CEO Saurabh Varma.

     

    He started as a Bollywood film billboard painter and became the CCO  India  sub continent  of  Leo Burnett.  Over  the  years,  he helped the agency gain recognition at international awards shows including Cannes  Lions,  New  York  Festival,  and  local  Indian  awards.  Under his creative leadership, Leo Burnett India went on to win agency of the year in the Leo Burnett global network, twice. He also led the agency to be ranked by Creativity magazine to be among the top 20 creative  agencies  in the world.   Sridhar   has   also represented   the agency   on  many  Indian  and International award juries.

     

    “It  has  been  a  purposeful  journey  for  me  at  Leo  Burnett, growing with and having a chance to play a key role in shaping the agency’s creative  prowess.  I have had the opportunity to work  with and get to be friends with some of the brightest creative minds in the world, worked on some of the most exciting campaigns with some of the most amazing clients.

     

    For now, I would like to take a break to reinvent, rediscover and rededicate myself. I wish Saurabh and Leo Burnett great success,” said Sridhar

  • Swarovski elevates Francis Belin to sr VP consumer goods business APAC

    Swarovski elevates Francis Belin to sr VP consumer goods business APAC

    MUMBAI: In a recent development, Swarovski has promoted Francis Belin to take a bigger role in the company. 

     

    Belin who has been in charge of Swarovski’s consumer goods business for Greater China since August 2011, has now been elevated to senior vice president consumer goods business APAC.

     

    Based in Hong Kong, Belin is responsible for the strategic direction and the development of the company in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

     

    Starting from April 2014, he has extended his scope – beyond Greater China – to take over Swarovski’s consumer good business for Asia Pacific, including key markets like Japan, Korea, Australia and India. Belin is also a member of the Board of Advisors of Kid’s Earth Fund (Japan) and since April 2013, has been appointed to the advisory committee of the Swarovski Foundation.

     

    He joined Swarovski in January 2008 as Managing Director for Japan. Under Belin’s leadership, Japan has achieved to be the second fastest growing market in the world after Mainland China, thanks to major upgrades in brand positioning, brand awareness and distribution network.  Prior to joining Swarovski, Belin started his career in Management consulting at McKinsey&Co in Europe and Asia, and worked as Managing Director of Jaeger-LeCoultre (Richemont) in Japan. 

     

    Originally from France, Belin holds a degree in Management from the ESSEC Business School in France and a Diploma Kaufmann from the University of Mannheim in Germany, majoring in Business administration and Psychology. 

  • DDB MudraMax Media appoints Amita Karwal

    DDB MudraMax Media appoints Amita Karwal

    MUMBAI: DDB MudraMax Media has roped in Amita Karwal as executive vice president to head its North & East Operations.

     

    With over two decades of diverse experience across media marketing functions and allied areas, Karwal has worked with blue chip organisations including Reckitt Benckiser where she not only led the media marketing division but also represented South West Asia at Global media forums. On the agency side, she has worked with Lintas, Zenith Optimedia (ZO) and Ogilvy on brands such as HP, Gillette, Wrigley’s (Joyco), Modi Xerox to name a few.

     

    In an allied area, she’s also had a couple of  years of experience in media auditing with SpatialAccess and the global agency R3 where she set up the first-of-its-kind auditing practice in Delhi, and also launched the first agency image study in India.

     

    She is strong believer in creating brand value through innovation and this has resulted in several national and international awards for key brand launches

     

    Karwal said, “I am very happy to be part of an agency network that offers truly integrated marketing communication solutions.  As a part of DDB MudraMax Media I look forward to leveraging and integrating our assets holistically

     

    Adding to this, DDB MudraMax Media president Sathyamurthy Namakkal said, “In an era when the media profession requires well rounded talent, Amita fits the role perfectly. Both our clients and our teams will immensely benefit from her induction into the DDB team”.

  • VivaConnect appoints Bharatesh Salian as Chief Strategy Officer

    VivaConnect appoints Bharatesh Salian as Chief Strategy Officer

    MUMBAI:  The voice & missed call company, VivaConnect, has appointed Bharatesh Salian as the chief strategy officer. He will define and execute strategic initiatives for brands, media houses and agencies to deliver a unified-interactive experience across all screens and touchpoints.

     

    Salian comes with a strong technology background and in-depth understanding of brands and consumer behaviour. He brings on board, 14 years of experience in mobile, digital and social media marketing space. Prior to joining VivaConnect, he was with Mogae Media Group as strategic planning & business development director. His former stint as a general manager- digital and mobility services at Omnicom Media Group owned OMD and PHD, had him heading the mobile strategy and project implementation for large FMCG’s like Hindustan Unilever Limited, Johnson & Johnson.

     

    With his strong conviction about mobile offering the highest reach, he executed campaigns for notable brands using Telecom Platform on a 10-digit mobile number (Long Code). Other major projects include introduction of “Web Click to Call” concept in a Brand Campaign for Pepsi in 2009 and Missed Call Activity in a Brand Activation for Tide Plus.

     

    He has been a recipient of ‘Innovative Leader Award’ at Indira International Innovation Summit, January 2013.

     

    Speaking on the appointment, managing director Vikram Raichura said, “I am delighted to welcome Bharatesh to the team VivaConnect. With his treasure-box of experience across brands and agencies, I am confident that it will further enable us to deliver greater value to our clients apart from giving them a competitive advantage. I wish him all the luck for his career-journey with VivaConnect.”