ITV

Tag: appointment

  • L&K Saatchi and Saatchi’s Paritosh Srivastava takes charge of Publicis Worldwide India

    L&K Saatchi and Saatchi’s Paritosh Srivastava takes charge of Publicis Worldwide India

    Mumbai: Publicis Groupe India on Wednesday announced that Paritosh Srivastava, the current CEO of L&K Saatchi & Saatchi will now also helm the operations at Publicis Worldwide India. Subhash Kamath and Russell Barrett – who were overseeing Publicis Worldwide India – move into a group advisory role and BBH leadership role respectively, as announced by the company earlier.

    The changes reiterate the group’s focus and investment in its strong, iconic creative agency brands, ensuring creative excellence, effectiveness, and market leadership for its clients, the company said in a statement. The appointment aims to further dial up Publicis Worldwide’s offerings and spectrum of expertise in the marketplace, with technology, experience and data-fuelled creative solutions to help clients stay ahead of the curve, in a platform world.

    “Paritosh is a proven and accomplished leader and under his leadership, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi has won large and coveted mandates, navigated the pandemic judiciously and taken the agency to a position of strength,” remarked Publicis Groupe South Asia CEO Anupriya Acharya. “He has also played an important role in the success of Publicis Worldwide in India for many years and is very familiar with its culture, talent, and key clients and hence was a natural choice.  I am confident that his appointment will benefit our clients, business and people  immensely.”

    Publicis Worldwide is a founding creative agency brand of the group and enjoys strong equity built over the years with its clients in India, having won many accolades at leading award shows. This includes Cannes Lions, where last year it became the first-ever agency brand to win five different Grand Prixes for five different clients, and others such as Clio’s, One Show, D&AD, Spikes Asia, Effies and Abbys. Publicis Worldwide India’s roster of clients includes names such as Citibank, Zee, Heineken, SKODA, Linen Club, Times Television Network, Ferrero, Enamor, HDFC Mutual Funds, Kalpataru among others.  

    “This is a huge honour and Publicis Worldwide is very close to my heart,” Paritosh Srivastava said. “I have spent eight wonderful years of my professional life in the agency. I look forward to working with its hugely talented teams, to bring in world-class, truly impactful solutions for our trusted and respected set of client partners. In the competitive backdrop of today, clients need communication solutions that impact business and are truly dynamic, bold and data-driven. Publicis Worldwide is a powerful brand for the groupe globally, we will ensure that we maintain its impeccable reputation and make it future-proof in India.”

  • Publicis Groupe announces top management rejig at BBH India

    Publicis Groupe announces top management rejig at BBH India

    Mumbai: Publicis Groupe India on Tuesday announced that it has appointed Dheeraj Sinha as chairman of BBH India, in addition to his existing mandate as Leo Burnett South Asia CEO and CSO. Partnering with Sinha will be Russell Barrett as BBH India CEO and chief creative officer. Subhash Kamath moves into an advisory role for the group on other strategic initiatives.  

    Russell Barrett has been with BBH for 12 years now and has been instrumental in making BBH India a creative powerhouse, winning several accolades including Cannes Lions, One Show Pencils, Andys, Spikes, D&ADs and London Internationals. Dheeraj Sinha comes in with 22 years of experience and under his leadership, Leo Burnett India has become one of the most recognised and awarded agencies on the world stage, said the agency in a statement. The new appointments signify the Group’s focus and investment on its creative brands.

    “I would like to thank Subhash for his leadership and contributions to BBH. Today BBH India is synonymous with truly world-class advertising,” said Publicis Groupe South Asia CEO Anupriya Acharya. “We will further accelerate the agency’s spectrum of capabilities and creative product to deliver unmatched value to clients. Dheeraj comes with an impeccable track record on growth, and this is also a testament to the strong leadership talent we have.”

    “It’s been a fantastic journey of 13 years, having founded this agency from scratch in India,” Subhash Kamath commneted. “It’s an agency built on a very strong people’s culture with creative excellence & strategic thinking at its very core. But I’ve been doing this for a very long time and as I enter the twilight of my 35-year career in advertising, I believe it’s time to hand over the baton to the next generation of leadership as I transition into an advisory role for Publicis Groupe. I’ve known Dheeraj for many years, and I know his passion for strategy & creativity. Along with Russell and Sanjay and many of the talented ‘black sheep’ in the organization, I know I’ll be leaving BBH in very safe hands.”

    “BBH is a dream brand amongst creative agencies. The brand has always believed in great work powered by sharp thinking,” said Dheeraj Sinha. “I have been a great admirer of its philosophy and the work that BBH has done globally. I am very excited with this opportunity. We have some great work, clients, and teams at BBH. Our goal will be to be one of the topmost agencies in the BBH network globally, creating work for our clients that brings them growth and glory.”

    Russell Barrett added, “BBH is an amazing brand, and this is an exciting new chapter in the exceptional story that has been scripted so far. I’ve enjoyed an enriching partnership with Subhash, Sanjay and Arvind, as we’ve done some proper black sheep work together. I now look forward to partnering with Dheeraj, who I’ve worked with before, and I can say from experience, that he brings a lot of energy and dynamism to every interaction and piece of work he touches.”

  • OLX Autos onboards Siddharth Agrawal as country head – marketing

    OLX Autos onboards Siddharth Agrawal as country head – marketing

    Mumbai: OLX Autos has brought Siddharth Agrawal on board as its new country head – marketing. He will be reporting to the company’s CEO, Amit Kumar.    

    In his new role, Agrawal will lead OLX Autos’ marketing initiatives as the brand enters the next phase of growth across India’s rapidly expanding pre-owned automobile space, said the statement.

    An alumnus of NMIMS, Agrawal comes with experience spread across marketing, sales and operations in multiple leadership roles in FMCG and mobility sector, with organisations such as Unilever and Ola.

    Formerly, Agrawal served as senior director at Ola – spearheading its ‘First-Mile Last-Mile’ categories (Ola Autos and Ola Bikes). He was instrumental behind the successful launch and scale-up of Ola autos and bike categories in India, and led Ola’s global category development efforts.

    Prior to Ola, he served as global marketing director at Hindustan Unilever Ltd for over a decade across various sales and marketing roles. He was actively leading the marketing efforts for the launch of Pureit range of water purifiers in India, and its global expansion into SouthEast Asia and Africa. He was a key member behind the Pureit ‘Rs one crore safety challenge’ campaign which was based on the insight that consumers think that all purifiers are the same.

    On joining OLX Autos, Siddharth Agrawal said, “Having spent more than two decades in various leadership roles across industries from India to South-East Asia and Africa, I have witnessed how marketing initiatives are crucial in building new categories, and developing a differentiated brand identity to unlock growth. I am excited to embark on this journey along with an enthusiastic team that will support OLX Autos’s strategic vision.”

    OLX Autos India CEO Amit Kumar commented, “More Indian consumers are shifting their preferences to pre-owned vehicles and the trend has accelerated over the last few years especially in the wake of the pandemic. An evolving & competitive market brings new opportunities for us to communicate our brand proposition in a new avatar in line with changing consumer preferences. Siddharth’s extensive experience of scaling businesses across diverse portfolios in the auto sector is of immense value to us.”

  • Bhuwan Bhatt joins News Nation Network as chief business officer

    Bhuwan Bhatt joins News Nation Network as chief business officer

    Mumbai: News Nation Network has announced the appointment of Bhuwan Bhatt as chief business officer for all its network channels.

    In this role, Bhatt will be responsible for the performance of all revenue-generating avenues, drive growth through strategic decisions, partner with key stakeholders and steer revenue acceleration through his leadership.

    “We have immense faith in the capabilities that Bhuwan brings to the table. We look forward to driving growth of the brand with each passing day under Bhuwan’s leadership,” commented News Nation Network managing director Sanjay Kulshreshtha.

    Having more than two decades of experience in senior positions in the media sector with leading broadcasting conglomerates such as TV Today, Times group, Star TV, and NDTV. Bhatt has a proven track record of bringing great results in revenue optimisation by leveraging the strategic potential of existing assets.

    “It gives me great pleasure to join the enthusiastic and aggressive team of News Nation Network. The brand is already well established, and I look forward to collaborating with all stakeholders to achieve long-term goals,” said Bhuwan Bhatt on his new role.

    “As we embark on the next phase of growth for the network, joining of Bhuwan will give a strong boost to the revenue potential of the network. I’m confident that as a seasoned professional Bhuwan will scale new heights,” said News Nation Network director and editor-in-chief Manoj Gairola.

    The network currently broadcasts a national Hindi news channel News Nation, two regional channels News State UP/UK, and News State MP/CG and has a strong digital presence. The network is all set to enter various states with its regional news offerings in a couple of months.

  • Industry veteran Varun Kohli takes over as Sporty Solutionz CEO

    Industry veteran Varun Kohli takes over as Sporty Solutionz CEO

    Mumbai: In a significant move in the sports marketing industry, Varun Kohli has joined sports marketing and media rights company Sporty Solutionz as its new chief executive officer. Kohli will take charge of all SSPL Group of companies including Sports Media Unit InsideSport.

    Kohli has a very distinguished media career in leadership positions for the last 27 years in leading media organisations. Before joining Sporty Solutionz Pvt Ltd (SSPL), he was the CEO of ITV Network for eight long years.

    Previously, he worked with Network 18, Bennett and Colman Ltd, HT Media Ltd, Amar Ujala Prakashan and other top media houses in senior leadership roles.

    With professional experience spanning over 27 years, Kohli is a seasoned sales specialist and is credited with creating sustainable business development and management strategies.

    “The demand for watching top−class sports events on both air and ground is increasingly growing in India and as a company, we are committed to fulfilling the desires of millions of discerning sports fans,” commented SSPL director Ashish Chadha. “Kohli brings a wealth of experience behind him in the media, marketing and advertising industry and has led various organizations to success. We welcome him on board and hope it will be a great mutual association and he will take the company to new heights.”

    Delighted with this new responsibility, Kohli said, “Sporty Solutionz has emerged as one of the leading sports content creators and monetiser in the region. SSPL is planning to integrate all its business interests. The company has envisaged some big growth plans and I will channelise those to realities.”

  • Wow Skin Science appoints Vaibhav Arora as VP of e-commerce

    Wow Skin Science appoints Vaibhav Arora as VP of e-commerce

    Mumbai: FMCG personal care and wellness brand Wow Skin Science has appointed Vaibhav Arora as vice president of e-commerce.

    In this role, Arora will be responsible for building consumer franchises through the company’s D2C website, expanding the online footprint across social commerce and establishing Wow Skin Science as a market leader across horizontal and vertical marketplaces in personal care nutrition and wellness segments, said the statement.

    With a career spanning over ten years, Arora in his previous mandate led the vendor management function for grocery, health and personal care businesses at Cloudtail before which he has led leadership roles at organisations such as Amazon, Myntra and Tata group. He has also led diverse characters encompassing launching private brands in multiple categories, business strategy, risk management, business development and product management.

    “We are excited to welcome Vaibhav Arora onboard and leverage his leadership within the Wow Skin Science family,” Wow Skin Science co-founder Manish Chowdhary stated. “With Vaibhav’s deep expertise and experience in e-commerce as well as his passion and enthusiasm, he will help shape how customers experience WOW across our increasingly diverse online commerce touchpoints, including our D2C platform. We look forward to Vaibhav building long term partnerships that will drive growth and profitability.”

    About his new role, Vaibhav Arora said, “Wow Skin Science breaks the clutter with its online GTM strategies and is deeply invested in delivering a superior product to the consumer. I am excited to make the organisation more data-centric, build scale mechanisms, and use customer insights to shape our innovation pipeline. I look forward to bringing Ww’s customer experiences to come alive across all online commerce touchpoints.”

  • Himanshu Shekhar named as cluster CEO of GroupM Thailand, Indonesia & Vietnam

    Himanshu Shekhar named as cluster CEO of GroupM Thailand, Indonesia & Vietnam

    Mumbai: Media investment company GroupM has promoted Himanshu Shekhar to the role of cluster CEO of GroupM Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. Shekhar became CEO of GroupM Indonesia in 2019, and in October last year, he took on the additional mantle as CEO of GroupM Vietnam. His remit as CEO of GroupM Indonesia and Vietnam has been expanded to include the burgeoning Thailand market.

    Additionally, the company has appointed Pathamawan Sathaporn as the CEO of GroupM Thailand. She moves on from Mindshare Thailand’s CEO position where she held various leadership roles for over one and a half decades. Pathamawan assumes the portfolio held by Niklas Stalberg who will be leaving the network after a decade of long-standing service. In this role, she will report to cluster CEO Himanshu Shekhar.

    “Both the appointments are with effect from 1 May,” the company said in a statement.

    Having spent two decades within the GroupM network, Shekhar rose through the ranks in Mindshare managing the business in volume-heavy India and Indonesia. He was appointed CEO of Mindshare Southeast Asia from 2014 to 2018. During Shekhar’s tenure at Mindshare, the agency in Indonesia bagged gold at ‘Campaign Asia’s Agency of the Year’ for five years running, while Mindshare Southeast Asia also snagged gold for three consecutive years.

    “The group’s strategy to cluster Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam under one unified leadership will strengthen market capabilities and network agility,” said Himanshu Shekhar. “Given the breadth and depth of resources across these three important markets, we will be able to further scale our capabilities and solutions to deliver enhanced value for all our clients and partners. I look forward to building pathways for our talents to flourish in their careers and do great work for our clients. Our chief goal is to make advertising work better for people across Southeast Asia.”

    “I am thrilled to partner with an illustrious leader like Pathamawan whose depth of field experience in Thailand will undoubtedly propel us into an even more glorious future,” he further said.

    As CEO of GroupM Thailand, Indonesia & Vietnam, Himanshu will report to GroupM Asia Pacific CEO Ashutosh Srivastava, the company stated.

    GroupM Thailand CEO Pathamawan Sathaporn commented, “I am honoured to embark on a journey that is both familiar and new – the purple blood running through my veins has now taken on a shade of blue. Growing alongside Mindshare for the past 16 years, I feel privileged to have witnessed the dramatic evolution of the media landscape which sets us up for new adventures daily.”

  • Carat India appoints Megha Jain as VP – planning, South

    Carat India appoints Megha Jain as VP – planning, South

    Mumbai: Carat India, the media agency from the house of dentsu India has appointed Megha Jain as vice president – planning, South. She will report to Carat India CEO Anita Kotwani.

    As per the mandate, Jain will focus on new business development and growth for Carat across the Southern market including Bengaluru and Kochi, while overseeing the agency’s existing clients, said the statement.

    In her previous roles, Jain has driven effective brand building through strong media strategies and communications for FMCG brands like Colgate Palmolive, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and Amul (GCMMF), to name a few. With over 15 years of experience in the media industry, she has led integrated media planning and strategic thinking, focusing on digital transformation for clients and their businesses. She has also been instrumental in spearheading communication planning for clients. 

    “The game plan for Carat India is to bring in leaders with an integrated skill set that can enhance client relationships,” said Anita Kotwani, commenting on the appointment. “Megha’s focus will be to drive strategic stewardship with our key clients in Bengaluru and other Southern markets. She will also be instrumental in helping us drive growth for the Southern market. Enriched with experience to work with top brands, she will add huge value to our global and local clients. I am thrilled that Megha will be part of the talented team and I believe she will be an asset to the organisation.”

    Megha Jain added, “I am extremely excited to join the Carat family. It is a great opportunity to work with a diverse portfolio steaming from data, technology and healthcare across global and local markets. I look forward to collaborating with partner agencies across the dentsu network, drive growth under Anita’s leadership and working with some of the best minds in the country.”

  • Anand Sreenivasan joins Republic Media Network as National Head-Branded Content

    Anand Sreenivasan joins Republic Media Network as National Head-Branded Content

    Republic Media Network has appointed Anand Sreenivasan as the National Head-Branded Content. With an overall experience of more than 16 years, Sreenivasan will head the Fluid team. It is the branded content vertical of the network. The Fluid team has produced several award-winning series for the brand. 

    Earlier, Sreenivasan has led media organisations like ZoomTV, UTV, Sony, and A&E network. He also worked as the head of the west region for display and branded content at The Quint, the company said in a statement.

    On joining Fluid, Sreenivasan said, “The last couple of years have made the Indian content space fascinating and dynamic. The emergence of new-age content providers and multi-platform choices for the viewer has made it a challenge for all content creators. With Fluid, we will now look forward to creating bespoke content solutions for partners across Digital and Television.” 

    “This will be a one-stop shop ensuring end-to-end content development and distribution. As a network, we are already leading the way for the news genre and we will now look to establish the same in the branded content space too,” he added.

    Welcoming this move, Republic Media Network’s Group COO Hersh Bhandari said, “We would like to welcome Anand onboard then Republic Media Network. He is one of the sharpest minds in the business of content. With over 16 years of work experience in the business of content and digital, Anand will add strength to the leadership team by curating some of the large IP’s for the network and integrated brand solutions for clients. Anand will add strength to our core leadership team and lead the branded content vertical for the network nationally.”

  • Wondrlab appoints Sameet Ali Soni as content lead

    Wondrlab appoints Sameet Ali Soni as content lead

    Mumbai: A data-driven influencer marketing platform, Wondrlab has appointed Sameet Ali Soni as content lead. He joins from Wunderman Thompson Bangalore, where he was assistant vice-president (AVP) and senior creative director.  

    At Wondrlab, Sameet will oversee the creative integration and content creation on a large set of key accounts. He will report to the What’s Your Problem’s (WYP) co-founder and CCO Amit Akali. For the record, Wondrlab has acquired WYP in 2020. 

    Sameet comes with nearly 17 years of experience in advertising, having worked on brands like ITC Foods, Kingfisher, Sony ESPN, Lifestyle, Britannia (digital), Rohan Builders and McDowells.  

    Speaking in this context, Akali said, “We’ve done away with the 13/14 designations that other agencies have. Our senior-most creative positions are our ‘content leads’ and ‘content directors’. Sameet is someone I’ve worked with at the beginning of his career. Even then, he was a special talent creating the iconic Bingo Mad Angles ‘Board Room’ film.”

    “While he brings many more skills with him now, he brings the same love for advertising. The last year (our first at Wondrlab) has been amazing with us winning some of the biggest and most exciting brands. That is looking for the platform first, new-age, truly integrated work. The coming days are full of opportunities and I am sure someone senior and experienced like Sameet and Rahul will help us make the most of it,” he added.

    “What’s Your Problem and WondrLab have been doing some wonderful integrated work for all its brands with fresh platform-first ideas. I am excited as I set a path on a new journey and of course, working with my old boss and mentor Amit Akali,” Soni added further.