Category: Regulators

Mumbai : Zee learn informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that its CEO Ritesh Handa has resigned from the position.

In a press release, the company said, “We wish to inform you that Ritesh Handa has resigned from the statutory position of whole-time director and chief executive officer of the company with immediate effect i.e., from 16 February 2023.

Handa joined Zee Learn in June 2021; previously, he was CEO of ALS Satellite Education Pvt. Ltd., where he was responsible for building India’s largest and most influential network of providing quality education at an affordable cost by bringing live and real-time classroom experiences to students’ homes.

He started his career with  Deloitte as a CA trainee and has worked with companies like Wooqer, Pearson India, Fever 104 FM, CoreObjects, Rockwell Automation, Genpact LLC, and  Microsoft Corporation.

Mumbai: Cheil India has appointed Srijib Mallik as the head of Samsung Business. As a member of the Cheil leadership team, Mallik will report to Cheil India MD Carlos Limseob Chung and Cheil India COO Sanjeev Jasani. He will also be responsible for managing the Samsung Business and foster deeper engagement with them across functions by drawing on his past experience.

With a career spanning more than two decades in the advertising and marketing industry, Mallik’s expertise includes financial analysis, 360-degree campaign implementation and cross-geographic campaign deployment having worked across India and international markets like Singapore APAC, and the UK. His passion lies in delivering surprising work across touchpoints that enhance marketing metrics.

Prior to joining Cheil India, Mallik steered leadership roles across a wide swathe of agencies. His last stint was with TBWA where he was NU’s executive director & MD. He also held positions at Publicis, Venture Land & Creative Land Asia, Bates, Wieden & Kennedy and JWT. He has worked on brands like Pepsi, Nokia, HP, GM, Nissan, Phillips, Pizza Hut, etc.

Commenting on the appointment, Chung said, “Samsung is one of our largest and most prestigious businesses in India. We believe that Srijib possesses the required skills to help Cheil produce top-class work.”

Mallik added, “I am excited to join Cheil and lead such a large and important mandate. The sheer expanse of Samsung’s product footprint combined with Cheil’s Business Connected Agency Model that combines all functions of marketing services to deliver value is something that I am really looking forward to.”

Mumbai: SAMCO Securities has onboarded Womb as its mainline/creative agency, Dentsu Creative as its digital agency and Adfactors PR as the Public Relations agency for all verticals (SAMCO Securities and MF). The partnerships are expected to boost brand presence in the industry and aid retail investors in successfully navigating and acing the capital market.

Commenting on the vision for evolution, SAMCO Group founder & CEO  Jimeet Modi  said, “SAMCO Group is delighted to announce its collaboration with Womb, Dentsu Creative, and Adfactors PR to drive synergies for increasing the brand’s visibility. We are committed to deliver exceptional services, and the partnerships are a testament to our endeavours. We envision engaging with a significantly larger customer base and strengthening our position as a leader in the industry through holistic marketing initiatives and innovative campaigns.”

Elaborating on the partnerships, SAMCO Securities chief growth officer  Ajay Dusane commented, “Womb’s expertise in strategic marketing will assist us in building our brand preference, and we share a common vision with Dentsu Creative of providing impactful digital marketing solutions. As with Adfactors PR, we aim to position SAMCO Securities in strategic media platforms as the investors’ preferred choice for providing wealth creation solutions.”

Expressing his views on the collaboration, Womb founding partner Kawal Shoor said, “For both SAMCO and The Womb, it is a great cultural fit with our vision and deliverables. The Indian stock market is at a very interesting juncture with the number of investors and traders on the rise, thereby creating a need for effective hand holding in their journey to success. We look forward to embark on this transformative journey with SAMCO Securities as they enable their customers to create wealth.”

The robust growth strategy facilitated by the partnerships will accelerate the brand’s expansion through increased communication outreach with its target audience.

Mumbai : ZEE Media Corporation Limited (ZMCL) is in the process of appointing Abhay Ojha as CEO.

In BSE filing, the company said,“We wish to inform you that, the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Company, at its meeting held on today i.e. 14 February, 2023, considered the candidature of Abhay Ojha, for appointment as chief executive officer (CEO) and Key Managerial Personnel (‘KMP’) of the Company and advised the management to file the necessary application with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (‘Ministry’) for obtaining the prior approval of the Ministry, as required under the Up-linking Guidelines,”

Ojha was appointed chief business officer for all linear channels, excluding Zee Business and WION, in November of last year.

Ojha joined ZMCL in February 2022 and was named P&L Head for Cluster 3. He was previously the CEO of Changa. He has also held positions of leadership at HUL and Star.

Mumbai: It’s a homecoming for Neeraj Bassi, as he has returned to Cheil India as chief growth officer. Bassi will spearhead Cheil India’s business growth by adding to the roster of new clients and helping in delivering transformational work that builds on the agency’s capabilities in creative, media, data, activation, and retail.

In his current role, Bassi will report to Cheil India MD Carlos Limseob Chung and Cheil India chief operating officer Sanjeev Jasani. Bassi has also previously held the position of Cheil India’s chief strategy officer.

 A seasoned professional with more than 25 years of experience under his belt, Bassi’s expertise sits in brand management, internal process transformation, and strategic management.  His career trajectory encompasses stints as group chief strategy officer with Havas and president of planning at Ogilvy India. He has straddled strategic responsibilities for brands like Cadbury’s Dairy Milk & Five Star, Voltas, Honda, HSBC, and Vistara.

Talking about his appointment, Jasani said, “We are all geared up for the next chapter in Cheil India’s growth story.  We are uniquely positioned as a business connected agency that offers an integrated result-oriented offering of various services to our clients. The presence of veterans like Bassi helps us take this value proposition forward with our clients and deliver high-impact work that benefits the bottom line of our client”.

Commenting on his appointment, Bassi said, “Great to be back at Cheil, the agency that has always believed in creating integrated work for its clients. In my last stint, I focused on the Samsung business and was part of the team that did the big flagship launches. This time, as the head of non-Samsung business, I am looking forward to taking the learnings to other clients across mainline, digital, retail, activation, and e-commerce. Really excited to be back in a business role after a long time”.

Mumbai: Wunderman Thompson South Asia Group has announced several new appointments to its planning team, with a view to enhancing strategic business solutions for brands and helping them improve brand engagement and customer experience. Nikhil Thakkar has been appointed as vice president & strategic planning director in Gurgaon, Richa Dholi has been appointed vice president – strategy planning in Mumbai and Antara Dey has joined the Kolkata office as account director.

Thakkar comes with 14 years of experience in market research, advertising and brand strategy. He has worked across diverse categories ranging from HFDs, mobility, white goods, and home furnishing to tech startups. Thakkar had worked with Wunderman Thompson for six years. Prior to joining back he had a stint with Leo Burnett where he led strategy for the Iodex and Airtel accounts.

Dholi is the strategy lead on Wunderman Thompson India’s Unilever brands in Mumbai, lending her extensive experience in the marketing and digital ecosystem to the businesses. She has honed her strategic thinking and critical insights working with leading FMCG and lifestyle brands at Capgemini, Ogilvy, Lowe, McCann and most recently at India’s very own Twitter, Koo.

Dey comes with ten years of experience spanning multiple industries and categories. She has done time in the marketing function in organizations such as Matrix Clothing, Trujet Airlines, Tata Steel and Bennett & Coleman. And in her last assignment, she has worked with some blue-chip brands spanning categories such as foods, beverages, beauty, e-commerce and fashion.

Last year, another senior planner, Ayan Banik was appointed at the Kolkata office. With over 20 years of experience across some of the biggest and most respected agencies in the country, Banik joined as senior vice president – brand strategy. Working on an enviable repertoire of brands across diverse categories, Banik was also part of the core team that won the first-ever Cannes Glass Lion for both Cheil and Samsung India.

Commenting on the new appointments, Wunderman Thompson India chief strategy officer Pinaki Bhattacharya said, “The agency is at an exciting point in its transformation journey and finding strategists that fit our transformed purpose is a challenging one. We need them to have a robust understanding of brands, levers of brand growth, of consumer journeys and modern marketing. With a pulse on popular and emerging culture. And above all, they need to be interesting people. Not an easy mix to find, you would agree! Which is why I am delighted to have Thakkar, Dholi and Dey join the strategy team at Wunderman Thompson. In them, we have found just the kind of strategists we want. I am looking forward to working with them and to some really exciting work on the brands they are working on.”

Mumbai: The Mavericks Communications LLP, has announced the appointment of Ravpreet Ganesh as its chief integration officer. Ganesh’s appointment reinforces Mavericks’ vision to provide fully integrated marketing communications services to its clients.

Mavericks has been on a consistent trajectory of integrating public relations, digital marketing, influencer marketing, content marketing and research as a holistic service to its clients bringing harmonization in storytelling and efficiency and effectiveness in campaign management. Over 70 per cent of its clients have chosen Mavericks as their integrated communications partner.

Commenting on the appointment, Mavericks founder & CEO Chetan Mahajan said, “We are very excited to have a highly experienced and dynamic leader like Ganesh join the Mavericks mission. Ganesh has extensive experience in brand communications, creative, digital, content, and influencer marketing. With Ganesh on board, our clients will be able to deepen the integration of marketing services and consequently, the impact on their brand reputation.”

Ganesh comes with over two decades of experience in creative problem solving. She was associated with the Publicis Groupe for over 15 years and played multiple roles during her tenure, including chief integration officer, lead Publicis Content, executive vice president at Leo Burnett and executive director at Publicis. She has been associated with agencies like Rediffusion, Lowe and Dentsu. Ganesh’s role will strengthen strategic and creative thinking across the board.

Talking about the new role, Ganesh said, “Mavericks is a unique agency with its purpose to create an ecosystem of offerings that partners and employees want to belong to. I am looking forward to creating business solutions for all our partners that have the power to create behavioural change. I am excited to be part of the team where partners are put first.”