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Tag: Agency

  • Taproot Dentsu announces key leadership changes

    Mumbai: Taproot Dentsu, the creative agency from the house of dentsu India, has announced key leadership changes on Monday as it gears up to get future-ready. The twelve-year-long journey of the agency and its distinctive culture has built a line-up of new leaders who are now ready to take on the mantle, dentsu announced.

    Ayesha Ghosh, who had been heading the Mumbai office, has been appointed as chief executive officer. She will now be responsible for both Mumbai and Gurgaon offices. Ghosh has been with Taproot Dentsu since December 2015. She has led a very profitable office and has helped win important new businesses while nurturing and protecting a culture that allows creativity to flourish.

    Partnering her closely in taking on the mantle is Shashank Lanjekar. He has been elevated to the role of chief strategy officer and will now be in charge of strategic planning for both the Taproot Dentsu offices in Mumbai and Gurgaon. Thus far, he had been heading Planning for the Mumbai office, ever since he joined in 2017. 

    Pearl Vas, who has been with the agency since 2018, takes on more independent responsibilities in Mumbai. She will now be promoted to senior vice president – Strategic Planning.  

    Under the overall creative leadership of Taproot Dentsu co-founder and chief creative officer (CCO) Santosh Padhi, the creative team for the Mumbai office has been expanded and divided into four units, each to be headed by a senior creative person.

    Neeraj Kanitkar, with an experience of 14 years (nine of those in Taproot Dentsu), is the creative lead for Facebook for which he has won the agency awards at Spikes and AdFest. He will be promoted to the executive creative director (ECD). Yogesh Rijhwani has been with the agency for close to five years with a total experience of 13 years. He has been handling Aquaguard and Set Wet. He too will be promoted to ECD. 

    The other two senior creative leads will be Abhishek Deshwal and Purva Ummat. Abhishek joins from Lowe Delhi as ECD, with noteworthy creative work to his credit on Google, Olx, Micromax, and Vivo. Purva Ummat joins the agency from McCann Erickson Delhi, as senior creative director. She comes with extensive creative exposure on brands like Truly Madly, Truecaller, Hotstar, Myntra, and Dominos.

    Abhinav Kaushik, who was Executive VP on the Honda business among other brands, has been promoted to head – Taproot Dentsu, Gurgaon while Titus Upputuru remains very ably in charge of creative for the Gurgaon office.

    “The average age of the agency coming further down is the right sign for us being future-ready. Creativity is at the core of our business and we are lucky to have got a wonderful variety of creative leaders in the form of Neeraj, Yogesh, Abhishek and Purva fronting the agency to take it to the next level, along with Ayesha and Shashank in their new national head roles,” said Taproot Dentsu co-founder & CCO Santosh Padhi.

    Meanwhile, Taproot Dentsu co-founder and CCO Agnello Dias who has been stepping back for a few years from active work, will further dial down his involvement. He will continue as a consultant for key brands only. His association with dentsu international ends this month.

    “I’m delighted that Taproot Dentsu has produced and attracted this kind of talent. Both Neeraj and Yogesh have been with us for many years and the quality of work they have produced in the last couple of years shows that they’re ready for the next step. I have been around these past few years to make sure that they are ready and now that it’s clear they are, I have decided to step back further,” said Dias.

    Umesh Shrikhande retired as CEO in March this year, after having strengthened the strategic function at Taproot Dentsu, to drive result-oriented work and also nurtured a very humane work culture. The much-awarded and internationally recognised, Santosh Padhi, will continue as co-founder and CCO and will have a more hands-on role in both Mumbai and Delhi offices.

    Taproot Dentsu CEO Ayesha Ghosh said, “It’s as exciting as it is nerve-racking to step into this role! Nerve-racking, because the standards set are very high. And these are tough times for business. Exciting, because we have young blood, hungry to prove a point. Either way, this is an adrenaline-pumping opportunity and with this super talented team, we are set up to win.”

    Taproot Dentsu CSO Shashank Lanjekar said, “I see this as a once-in-a-career opportunity to lead a young team to pull off some good work. With a fresh set of minds in the planning teams of Mumbai and Delhi, it only helps the strike rate for great work to be created.”

  • GUEST COLUMN: B2B brands need to think beyond lead generation

    New Delhi: In business-to-business (b2b), marketing often comes to a halt at the lead generation funnel. Given the economic environment created by the pandemic, the stress on lead generation is not surprising, but working on the lowest hanging fruit is not a long-term strategy.

    In the aggressively competitive environment, B2B brands need to think beyond just lead generation for their content marketing strategy. Simply put, what is your answer to this? What are you doing to help your customers succeed?

    Your content marketing needs to be a method of helping your customers succeed. Under the pressure of an immediate lead and conversion, we tend to lack business empathy, and thus our content intended to be educational ends up being more transactional. I encourage B2B brands to use content marketing as a tool to support and help meet customer goals. That is what the purpose of your brand is in the first place. Keep connected to the roots of why you thought customers would come to you and choose your product or service.

    There is a specific problem that your business solves for your customers, and that should be at the heart of your B2B content marketing strategy. It’s a whole new ball game possibly from what most B2B organizations are doing currently. Here are a few things to consider. I have outlined must-haves, good to have, and great haves for your content marketing strategy.

    B2B Content marketing ‘must-haves’ 

    Blog: While all organizations have a blog on their website but usually, they are sparsely populated and more focused on SEO than on content value. The resources section is Important and needs its due.

    Case Studies: I recommend case studies that are not just a synopsis of what the process was and what the ROI was but also a customer’s point of view. It may take a lot more work but in this case, it is an excellent differentiator, a brand will earn 10X in credibility vs the increase in effort.

    White papers, guides, and research: What is on ‘top of mind’ for any business is ‘who else is in my boat’ and what are they doing to navigate a circumstance. White papers are must-have tools in the arsenal. Remember that being unique is the key. Creating content is fairly easy. Creating good content that isn’t ‘hard selling’ and provides customers with genuine value — that’s a tricky, time-consuming business.

    B2B Content marketing ‘good to haves’

    Webinars and events: Online webinars and events are a good way to get your product or service to your customers, it is also an opportunity to build an improved relationship with your customers, it can be the platform to create thought leadership. Profiling and targeted invites are a great way to reach customers with whom you may not have engaged in the past.  

    Training & courses: Training is an important part of the B2B marketing content strategy. If you understand your customer then I recommend that based on your customer persona, develop training and certifications which not just train customers on your product but also add skills and learning beyond your product.

    Co-Creation & collaborations: Customers are in the same storm, and very slightly different boats; they are stressed for leads and under pressure to build engagement. Create a partnership with your customer, build value with combined resources, co-host events, webinars, build joint resources, create PR opportunities. You will be surprised that in addition to goodwill and visibility, the value it builds for your business in hard number crunched ROI.

    No matter which tools you choose, remember the Everest of marketing is getting your communication right and that peak is scalable only if you know and understand your customer.

    (Ambika Sharma is the founder & MD of Pulp Strategy. The views expressed in the column are personal and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)

  • 1702 Digital promotes Pranay Bhan to national creative director

    New Delhi: Integrated digital marketing company, 1702 Digital has promoted Pranay Bhan to the role of national creative director.

    Bhan will be responsible for elevating the creative wing of the agency and grooming mid-level talent along the way. The promotion comes on the heels of some successful campaigns like the Fortune Xpert and Superfood Khichdi launches, Edelweiss Tokio Life campaigns, Marico Cocosoul Influencer campaigns, Smaaash Video campaign, and new business growth under his supervision as the associate creative director, the agency said in a statement.

    1702 Digital co-founder, Mihir Joshi said, “It has been an absolute pleasure seeing Bhan evolve with 1702 Digital over the last three years. His dedication towards fine-tuning every strategy has helped us grow by leaps and bounds. We’re extremely proud of his accomplishments and are eager to see his vision for the team and for brand 1702 Digital in the future.”

    On his new role, Bhan said, “I am immensely grateful for the opportunities I have been exposed to in the last three years. I’m confident that my 17-o-Crew is ready to steer through whatever challenges the current economy has in store for us, and I am supercharged to take on 2021.”

  • Marcom firm Tute Consult hires Shweta Mehrotra as Strategy Head

    New Delhi: Integrated marcom and PR agency Tute Consult on Tuesday strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of Shweta Mehrotra as the strategy head.

    Mehrotra will be working closely with Tute Consult founder Komal Lath and oversee strategies and operations across the board. Her repertoire of experience will help build and strengthen the D2C and traditional businesses in the paid, owned and earned services offered by Tute, said the agency in a statement.

    In her career spanning over 18 years, Mehrotra has managed clients from a wide variety of sectors. In the past, she has worked at Good Relations India, Lintas Live, Avian Media and MSL Group amongst others and led highly successful and award-winning campaigns for clients. Prior to joining Tute Consult she was consulting with multiple companies including Ogilvy and The Prophets PR. She also teaches PR and Communications at SCoRe (School of Communication and Reputation) and in the past has been connected with EMDI and University of Madras.

    Talking about her new role, Mehrotra said, “Tute today is redefining communication, innovating, integrating, and delivering in every aspect that makes for a growing marcom agency.  Having worked with leading agencies in the past and then having provided independent consultancy services, this role is going to come with interesting challenges and new learnings. I am looking forward to servicing the varied range of clients and managing the dynamic teams while expanding the business to help it reach newer heights.”

    Tute Consult founder Komal Nath said, “Shweta comes to us at a very crucial juncture where growth, learning and creativity intersect. In our dynamic field, we always want people with rich experience who can grow the vision and create their own benchmarks. This relationship is sure to be a long and lovely one.”

  • Wondrlab ropes in Bilal Ansari as lead-data

    New Delhi: Wondrlab strengthened its senior leadership team on Tuesday with the appointment of Bilal Ansari as lead-data. He will report to Wondrlab, co-founder and managing partner, content platform, Rakesh Hinduja.

    Ansari comes with expertise in data analysis for business and brand solutions –social listening, online reputation management, social media analytics, website analysis, consumer behaviour analysis, consumer journey mapping, and how learnings from these sources add value to brand and business strategy.

    Prior to this, he was working with TikTok–ByteDance as the content solutions manager. He has also worked with Digitas India, where he worked on brands such as Spotify, Nivea, Jeep, Philip Morris International, and Zee5.

    “Data is the focal point of every solution we execute at Wondrlab. However, the expertise for it isn’t easy to come by, and we are glad we have found the right fit in Bilal. His knowledge comes together at the holy trinity of data, analytics, and consumer behaviour, making his expertise quintessential to our platform-first approach. We look forward to an exciting partnership with him on all our key clients,” said Wondrlab co-founder and managing partner, content platform, Rakesh Hinduja.

    “The opportunity to set up a data-led practice from scratch posed an interesting challenge. Add to that, I get to do it at an exciting platform-first startup-like Wondrlab, making the challenge all the more fascinating. I am looking forward to working with the team, most of whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with in the past, and bringing this to life,” said Ansari on his new role.

  • L&K Saatchi & Saatchi ropes in Kanishka Vashisht as executive creative director

    New Delhi: L&K Saatchi & Saatchi strengthened its creative team on Monday with the appointment of Kanishka Vashisht as the executive creative director. Vashisht will be based out of New Delhi and will manage all brands for the region. He will report to L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, Joint national creative director, Rohit Malkani.

    Vashisht joins the agency from Lowe Lintas, Delhi where he was group creative director. His joining will strengthen the agency’s creative output and help create a unique culture – one that will thrive on creating superlative content & meaningful conversations for brands in the region, said the agency in a statement on Monday.

    Commenting on the appointment, Malkani said: “Finding the perfect person to head our New Delhi office wasn’t easy. It had to be someone who shared our obsession for spawning a unique culture, who shared our ambition for creating conversations and superlative content and finally, someone with a proven track record. In Kanishka, I saw all three. He is a unique creative person with his heart in the right place! It’s going to be a heck of a ride with him on board.” 

    Vashisht began his advertising journey as a suit in Triton Advertising, Delhi. But the creative spirit in him led him to switch over and join Ogilvy Delhi in 2004. After a five-year stint at the agency where he worked on brands like Motorola, KFC, LG, Eno, and others, he left to join Leo Burnett. As Uninor was born, he was then summoned to McCann Delhi to build relationships with Perfetti, Chevrolet, Coke, Aircel, Metlife, Greenlam, and others.

    After a five-year stint, Lowe Lintas Delhi came calling and got him to help conceive much more than just ideas for brands like Google, Micromax, Foodpanda, and Hindustan Times. He briefly took a sabbatical to explore his liking for a serene setting and left for the fields of southern France.

    Sharing his views on the opportunity that this role presents, he said, “I believe L&K Saatchi & Saatchi is an extremely fertile land for some very interesting brand work. My job is to sow the seeds of possibility, gather and nurture talent, and of course, reap the fruits of our combined efforts.”

  • Mukund Olety appointed CCO of VMLY&R India

    New Delhi: Global brand and customer experience agency VMLY&R has appointed Mukund Olety as chief creative officer in India. He moves from BBDO China, where he was group creative director.

    Olety will report to VMLY&R India CEO, Anil Nair and chief creative officer, VMLY&R Asia, Valerie Madon. His mandate will include driving the agency’s creative vision and nurturing its creative talent, said the agency in a statement.

    “I couldn’t have thought of a better person to lead our creative team in these thought-provoking times. Mukund has extensive experience working on both local and global brands and working at both Indian and international levels. This grasp of both, coupled with his passion for creativity, makes him an outstanding addition to the VMLY&R family,” said Nair.

    With experience in India, China, and South-East Asia, Olety will be instrumental in developing and strengthening the creative capabilities in India in tandem with VMLY&R’s positioning of creating connected brands that add value for clients by harnessing creativity, technology, and culture, said the agency.

    “If there is one agency that is poised to become the agency of this decade, it is VMLY&R. It has this potent mix of creativity, technology, culture, and commerce. That is everything you need to create connected brands for the new age,” said Olety, post the announcement. “I am looking forward to creating connected, future-facing and awesome work for our key clients and brands.”

    Olety has also worked with Ogilvy, Leo Burnett-Malaysia, O&M India, JWT and DDB Mudra across India and southeast Asia in the past.