Tag: Arun Sharma

  • Arun Sharma elevated to COO for Delhi business at Initiative

    Arun Sharma elevated to COO for Delhi business at Initiative

    MUMBAI: Initiative, which is a full-service media agency from IPG Mediabrands, has promoted Arun Sharma to the role of chief operating officer for Delhi business. 

    Prior to this, as senior partner of Initiative, Sharma played a pivotal role in spearheading one of the top clients of the agency, Reckitt Benckiser. Last year, Sharma was also given the additional mandate of IPG Mediabrand’s newly launched unit ‘Magna’ and was named managing director of the division.

    Initiative CEO Vaishali Verma says, “We couldn’t have found a better person for this position as he is one of our own and has been leading the RB business for the last 4 years with many industry and RB India firsts. Our approach to rapidly interpreting and acting on cultural data signals, creating relevant, long-lasting consumer connections that drive business results.”

    Talking about the new role, Sharma mentions, “Indian media industry is going through very exciting times. Initiative with its strong brand equity, perfect mix of large and reputed global and local clients, cutting edge tools and techniques, strong product offerings, talented and driven bunch of people is best poised to serve its client in this dynamic market scenario.” 

    In his dual roles as COO Initiative Delhi and MD of Magna, his key priority would be to help the clients grow their business by leveraging the company’s expertise, strategic use of tools, by implementing their global learning and dominant scale in media.

    Sharma started his career with Madison in 1998 as strategic planning supervisor for the Coca Cola Business. In 1999, he moved to Universal McCann as associate media director and handled businesses like Nestle, L’Oreal and Gillette. In 2003, he had a brief stint with Mediacom following which Sharma moved to the client’s side and joined Bharti Airtel as DGM Marketing. Following a stint of 11 years, in 2014, Sharma quit Bharti Airtel as VP marketing – head media (All Business, South Asia) and moved to Initiative as vice president to handle Reckitt Benckiser account as business head.

  • Airtel’s Arun Sharma joins IPG Mediabrands

    Airtel’s Arun Sharma joins IPG Mediabrands

    MUMBAI: IPG Mediabrands has roped in Arun Sharma from Bharti Airtel south Asia. He will be joining in as vice president and will be part of the agency’s Delhi team.

     

    In Airtel, Sharma was heading the media division as vice-president, marketing and head, media.

     

    Sharma has over 17 years of experience of which 10 years were with Airtel. In the telecom company, he was responsible for the brand’s media strategy, planning, buying, deployment, ROI measurement, research and execution of marketing budget. He also led various key developments of the telecom brand including the launch of Airtel’s new brand identity in late 2010.

     

    Before Airtel, he has worked with leading media agencies and handled a number of brands such as Coke, Nestle, Gillette, J&J and GSK. He has earlier also worked with Universal McCann, which is part of IPG Mediabrands.

  • Arun Sharma appointed as DDB Mudra head of planning

    Arun Sharma appointed as DDB Mudra head of planning

    MUMBAI: DDB Mudra has roped in Arun Sharma as head of planning, DDB Mudra Delhi. He will report in to DDB Mudra senior vice president Aditya Kanthy.

     

    Arun will be working on the agency’s client roster including Wrigley’s, Bata, Carrier Midea, India Yamaha Motors and Dabur among others.

     

    Arun joins DDB Mudra Delhi from Contract Advertising where he was VP, strategic planning. On joining DDB Mudra, Arun said, “DDB Mudra has a well known culture of planning and it’s an opportunity for me to partner Vandana and Aditya in implementing the bold planning vision for the agency.”

     

    With over 14 years of experience, Arun has worked on automobiles, telecom, confectionery, education, home appliances and airlines to name a few.

     

    Commenting on Arun’s appointment, DDB Mudra Group, Delhi president Vandana Das said, “I Welcome Arun to the DDB Mudra Group family. He has vast experience across categories and I’m sure with his experience, he would be able to add value to all our current businesses and also towards our new business initiatives.”

     

    Adding to this, DDB Mudra senior VP planning  Aditya Kanthy said, “Arun is a bright, ambitious and full of energy – just the kind of person we were looking for to lead our terrific young planners in Delhi. His experience is a good match for our client profile. He should have no trouble easing into our culture. I’m sure he’ll enjoy it.”

     

    In his earlier stints with leading agencies like Lowe, Saatchi & Saatchi and Rediffusion Y&R he got the opportunity to work on some of the largest brands in the country like Airtel, Hyundai, and Maruti Suzuki.

     

    Arun also had a two-year stint with ABN Amro Bank, before Contract, where he was one of the key persons responsible for the launch of ABN AMRO Broking, the retail brokerage division of ABN AMRO and managed NRI Banking.