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Tag: Ashish Bhasin

  • The Ad Club and AAAI reveal The Awards Governing Council for Goafest 2016

    The Ad Club and AAAI reveal The Awards Governing Council for Goafest 2016

    MUMBAI: The Advertising Club and Advertising Agencies Association of India has announced Canco Advertising founder Ramesh Narayan  as the  chairman of the Awards Governing Council for Goafest 2016.

     

    Announcing the appointment, The Advertising Club president Raj Nayak said, “We are pleased to announce that Ramesh Narayan will be the Chairman of the Awards Governing Council of the Goafest. He brings his unique experience as one of the very few people who has been President of the Advertising Club and the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) to this post. He has also been Chairman of the Abby Awards Committee twice, and was the first Indian to judge the Effie Awards finals in New York. Ramesh is the only person to have been conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by the AAAI and been inducted into the International Advertising Association’s Hall of Fame.” 

     

    Goafest Organizing Committee chairman Nakul Chopra commented on the appointment saying, “I’ve known Ramesh as a visionary leader who embraces change and is open to new ideas. I’m sure his appointment means an interesting phase for the Council is on the anvil.”

     

    Narayan too added, “I’m humbled by this appointment. It fills me with immense happiness to be part of such an esteemed panel. There’s a lot to learn and grow, and I’m sure I’ll be able to add value to the Council. I look forward to reaching out to all stakeholders and getting their suggestions on how to make this the gold standard for awards.”

     

    The other members elected to the Council are:

     

    Chairman (CEO, Publicis South Asia & Vice President) of Goafest Organizing Committee — Nakul Chopra

    President Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAA’s of I) & Advisor, FCB Ulka Advertising-  Ambi M G Parameshwaran

    Chairman and CEO at Dentsu Aegis Network –  Ashish Bhasin

    President, Sony Pictures Networks -Rohit Gupta

    CEO at Group M, South Asia – CVL Srinivas

    CEO at Mediabrands –  Shashi Sinha

    CEO at Percept H Pvt. Ltd. – Ajay Chandwani

    National Head, Sales, English Cluster at Viacom18 – Namrata Tata

    Chief Executive Officer at Contract Advertising – Rana Barua

  • Publicis’s Nakul Chopra is chairman of Goafest 2016 Organizing Committee

    Publicis’s Nakul Chopra is chairman of Goafest 2016 Organizing Committee

    MUMBAI The Advertising Club and Advertising Agencies Association of India have announced Goafest 2016 with Publicis South Asia, CEO Nakul Chopra as the chairman of Goafest Organizing Committee.

    Commenting on his appointment, Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAA’s of I) president Ambi M G Parameshwaran said “Nakul has been in this industry for over 30 years now. He has been leading Publicis in India through this last decade. I am very excited to see what plans he has in store for us this year.”

    The Advertising Club  president Raj Nayak too welcomed the appointment saying, “This is wonderful news. Nakul has been instrumental in driving Goafest to success in the recent past. With his proven track record in managing high performing agencies, he is truly the best man for the job! I look forward to work with him to make Goafest 2016 a roaring success.”

    To have been given the opportunity to Chair the Goafest Organizing Committee is an honor. There’s still a lot of work to do in strengthening Goafest and together, I hope we can build upon the good work of the past years,” added Chopra on his new role.

    The other members on the committee are:

    President, Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAA’s of I) & Advisor, FCB Ulka Advertising | Ambi M G Parameshwaran

    Founder, Chairman and MD at Madison World  | Sam Balsara

    Chief Executive Officer at Contract Advertising  | Rana Barua

    Chairman and CEO at Dentsu Aegis Network  | Ashish Bhasin

    Managing Director at Jaya Advertising  | Jaideep Gandhi

    CEO at Group M, South Asia  | CVL Srinivas

    CEO at LHAMPL  | Shashi Sinha

    CEO at JWT  | Tarun Rai

    Group CEO at Madison Media | Vikram Sakhuja

    Group CEO at Zee Media Corporation | Bhaskar Das

    Chief Corporate Sales and Marketing Officer at Dainik Bhaskar Group | Pradeep Dwivedi

  • Dentsu Aegis Network celebrates Diwali with philanthropic activities

    Dentsu Aegis Network celebrates Diwali with philanthropic activities

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Aegis Network has initiated the “Joy of Giving” week to celebrate Diwali not just amongst its own employees but even beyond.

     

    As part of the initiative, Dentsu Aegis Network organised a week-long Diwali Mela across all its Mumbai offices, where NGOs were invited to set up stalls and showcase their artwork.

     

    “Kitchen Re-fill” project was their second initiative this Diwali, as part of which, more than 300kgs of rice grains and 40kgs of pulses were donated to St. Francais, an orphanage located in Borivali (Mumbai).

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network, SA, chairman and CEO Ashish Bhasin said, “At Dentsu Aegis Network, we consider it as our responsibility to spread knowledge and joy amongst our employees and also give back to the society. Everyone here is special and therefore, on this festive occasion, we decided to reach out to our employees and their kids and also engage with the less privileged children from the orphanage we support. The objective behind hosting this fun day was to celebrate the onset of Diwali with happiness and to make everyone feel at home in their second home, our office.”

     

    In addition to the above, the Group also organised the “Newspapers Collection” drive for the NGO The Wasted Ones, which sells old newspapers and utilises the proceeds to provide meals to schools for the underprivileged children. Meanwhile, 30 children from Shelter Don Bosco were invited to Dentsu Aegis Network for a fun filled day on 9 November.

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network’s Bangalore office conducted a blood donation drive and collected more than 50 bottles of blood. Employees also visited VKH Rainbow Home-Kodihalli Orphanage on 6 November to donate food grains and stationery.

     

    The network’s Gurgaon office collected funds from its employees’ salary to provide gloves, socks, caps and notebooks to the underprivileged children, which is supported by the Sankalp Welfare Society.

     

    In Kolkata, the Group’s employees decided to spend a few constructive hours with the boys of Dakshin Kalikata Sevasram, a home for the destitute.

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network India CFO Anand Bhadkamkar added, “At Dentsu Aegis Network, we believe in creating an environment, which is not just responsible towards its employees and also the society and communities that we work in. As part of our Diwali celebrations, we decided to share the joy of festivities by partnering with various NGOs across offices, and thereby providing a platform to the Network employees to celebrate and share the joy of Diwali with socially and economically weaker sections of the society.”

  • Dentsu Aegis’ Ashish Bhasin wins 2015 Business Excellence Award

    Dentsu Aegis’ Ashish Bhasin wins 2015 Business Excellence Award

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Aegis Network chairman and CEO South Asia Ashish Bhasin has been named as the  Media CEO of the Year – India at the 2015 Business Excellence Award.

     

    Additionally, Bhasin was also given the Best in Brand Communications – India award of the year.

     

    “I am honoured to receive the 2015 Business Excellence Award. I am lucky to have such a wonderful team at Dentsu Aegis Network. The award is for my team’s efforts. It’s been an amazing journey for Dentsu Aegis Network in India but the best is yet to come,” Bhasin said.

     

    The winners were voted by worldwide network of professionals, advisers, clients, peers and business insiders. The 2015 Business Excellence Award, which recognises outstanding achievement, game changing innovation and stellar performance, were hosted by Wealth & Finance International.

     

    The award is open to businesses from any sector or region and is given to only the most deserving businesses, departments and individuals who have maintained consistency in demonstrating outstanding innovation, performance and commitment to their business over the past 12 months and have even received independent nominations from their clients.

  • Dentsu Aegis & Facebook rope in ShopClues as title sponsor for new social platform

    Dentsu Aegis & Facebook rope in ShopClues as title sponsor for new social platform

    MUMBAI: Online marketplace Shopclues.com has hopped on board as the title sponsor of the new festive social platform called India Celebrates, designed by Dentsu Aegis Network, which is collaborating the networking opportunities on Facebook.

     

    The idea is to create a unique destination for people where they can share their festive moments and celebrate the festive season with a large network of people, brands and celebrities.

     

    “The event is an excellent platform to bring together the synergies of India’s top brands for a truly exceptional Diwali celebration. While Dentsu brings more partners on board to drive engagement to the platform, Shopclues will give out exclusive offers and the most unmatched propositions for consumers from its vast product portfolio. As the title sponsors, will further enhance our brand salience through the massive reach and engagement of Facebook,” said ShopClues AVP – marketing Nitin Agarwal.

     

    India Celebrates is a content destination that will feature the togetherness of high quality entertainment quotient and an interactive, convenient platform for people to employ in the best shopping experience with customised packages.

     

    “Dentsu Aegis Network in India is very happy to join hands with Facebook in this unique digital initiative. As the leading digital group in India, with over 750 digital specialists in our group companies like Isobar, iProspect, Dentsu WebChutney, and WATConsult, we feel it is our duty to encourage such digital initiatives, which will be the way of the future,” added Dentsu Aegis Network  South-Asia chairman and CEO Ashish Bhasin.

     

    The Facebook page of India Celebrate will feature updates on deals, new brands on board, the first of them being ShopClues. It will also feature celebrity engagements for every season, starting with Dusserra and followed by Diwali.

     

    On India Celebrates, users not only have the option to share their content but also win exciting prizes for the same. A number of online games, which deliver an opportunity to win gifts for festivals and a range of discount options from various brands, have been designed for users.

     

    “Facebook is the new Diwali Greeting card. Indians are increasingly sharing their festival moments in full colour through visual content, and there are three times more videos and 1.5 times more photos uploaded via mobile during Diwali than the rest of the year. The India Celebrates initiative by Dentsu Aegis Network will leverage our unparalleled targeting capabilities to potentially reach over 130 million people in India connecting on Facebook every month,” said Facebook India managing director Kirthiga Reddy.

  • Dentsu Aegis Network forms ninth global network brand MKTG

    Dentsu Aegis Network forms ninth global network brand MKTG

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Aegis Network has formed its ninth global network brand, MKTG, the lifestyle marketing agency it acquired in August 2014 headquartered in New York. 

     

    The agency’s transition towards operating as one global brand, MKTG will grow from 450 full time employees and 7,000 brand ambassadors in the United States, to nearly 1,000 full time employees in 14 countries, providing a truly global lifestyle marketing solution for clients. 

     

    The realigned agency will provide clients with an integrated through-the-line service offering including sports and entertainment consulting, experiential marketing, sponsorship identification, negotiation and activation, hospitality, strategy, research and insights, custom measurement, digital and creative capabilities, content development, design and retail marketing.

     

    “The tremendous growth and importance of lifestyle marketing made it clear that strategically it was time to unify our like-minded businesses as one single brand. As a network, we are constantly evolving to meet the demands of our clients, to be responsive to the needs and desires of consumers and to remain pioneering in the evolution of our industry,” said Dentsu Aegis Network CEO and Dentsu Inc. executive officer Jerry Buhlmann.

     

    In addition, out-of-home agency posterscope’s experiential arm, psLIVE’s offices across Europe and Asia Pacific, South Africa’s crimson room, Australia/New Zealand’s Apollo Nation and US-based sports and entertainment consultancy team Epic will be realigned as part of MKTG over the next 12 months.

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network chairman & CEO South Asia Ashish Bhasin said, “In India, the lifestyle marketing solutions market is growing at twice the rate of the ATL market. With Fountainhead, a leading player in India and MKTG, a leading global player, we now will have the best offering of global standards, through Fountainhead MKTG, which will make us the best lifestyle marketing solutions agency in India. This is another big step forward in helping us achieve our mission of being the second largest agency group by end 2017 in India, overturning for the first time the existing ranking which has historically been in place for over 80 years in India.”

     

    “We are truly excited about this next chapter and the opportunity to work across the network to deliver unrivalled lifestyle marketing solutions for brands. The realignment will also greatly benefit our current long-standing client base and our employees who now have the ability to plug into resources and opportunities around the globe,” said MKTG global brand president and MKTG USA CEO Charlie Horsey.

  • Dentsu snaps up Brian Tellis’ Fountainhead; to merge it with psLIVE

    Dentsu snaps up Brian Tellis’ Fountainhead; to merge it with psLIVE

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Aegis Network has acquired Indian event and experiential agency Fountainhead Entertainment founded by Brian Tellis.

     

    It is envisaged that in 2016, Dentsu’s existing experiential offering of psLIVE, with 86 people in India, will be merged with Fountainhead, making the combined agency India’s largest experiential and activation agency business.

     

    As per industry sources, the acquisition is pegged in the region of Rs 350 – 400 crore.

     

    Fountainhead’s expertise and presence within the fastest growing sector of India’s advertising industry adds scale to Dentsu Aegis Network’s growing presence within the country.

     

    Founded by chairman Tellis, managing director Neale Murray and director Otis D’Souza, Fountainhead was later joined by co-directors Pradeep Guha, VG Jairam and Owen Roncon.

     

    Post-acquisition, Fountainhead will continue to be led by Tellis. The current management team will also continue as is. Tellis will report into Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia chairman and CEO Ashish Bhasin.

     

    This acquisition will be one of the largest in India within this sector.

     

    Established in 1994 and now with more than 205 experiential specialists, Fountainhead is headquartered in Mumbai and has offices in Delhi and Bangalore.

     

    Fountainhead supports its client base of more than 100 on all types of events, digital initiatives, product launches, brand activation and meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions. The five brands within the business are: Fountainhead Events, Oranjuice Entertainment, Fountainhead Activations, Fountainhead Corporate Journeys and Fountainhead Digital. Together, they deliver in excess of 350 events annually.

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific CEO Nick Waters said, “Fountainhead’s reputation in the event and activation market, and their extensive experience in both music and sports marketing, complements and strengthens our experiential offering in one of the region’s most exciting markets. This move represents a further step in our continued investment programme in the Indian market. We welcome Brian and the wider team to the network.”

     

    Bhasin said, “As the fastest growing network in India, we are continuing to expand our portfolio of diverse specialisations available to our growing client base. Fountainhead’s creative quality and reputation in the market make it the perfect addition to Dentsu Aegis Network India. Our unique ‘One P & L’ philosophy will help us bring their expertise to all Dentsu Aegis Network clients. This is another big step forward in helping us achieve our mission of being the second largest agency group by end 2017 in India, overturning for the first time the existing ranking which has historically been in place for over 80 years in India.”

     

    Tellis added, “Our vision is to deliver world class experiences to our stake holders. To set benchmarks in delivery through cutting-edge creativity, innovation, value pricing and practices and processes.  We are thrilled to join Dentsu Aegis Network. The sheer dynamism of the group will open up opportunities for us. Our values are well aligned and the potentially combined entity of Fountainhead and psLIVE will become the most comprehensive experiential offering in India. We are very excited about this opportunity and the growth potential it offers. Fountainhead, a full service experiential agency, will now start to align with an enviable spectrum of brands through the Dentsu Aegis Network.”

     

    Fountainhead will retain its identity and branding, working alongside the other specialist Dentsu Aegis Network brands locally: Carat, iProspect, Isobar, Posterscope, Vizeum, Amnet, Dentsu media, Dentsu branded agencies (Dentsu Creative Impact, Dentsu Marcom, Dentsu Communications, Taproot Dentsu, Dentsu Webchutney), WATConsult and Milestone Brandcom. 

  • Posterscope launches measurement tool Ambit Analyser

    Posterscope launches measurement tool Ambit Analyser

    MUMBAI: In a bid to attract well-thought-through investments into the growing out-of-home (OOH) category of ambient media, Ambient OOH has designed and launched a new path breaking research tool to drive away advertisers’ woes. Ambient OOH, the ambient media agency under Dentsu Aegis Network’s Posterscope umbrella, has invested a substantial amount towards the crafting and development of this new research matrix.

     

    Ambient media is all about capturing captive audiences who spend considerable amount of their leisure time at various active locations such as gyms, coffee shops, multiplexes, clubs, salons and shopping malls. Therefore, in a bid to develop the new tool, Ambient OOH took the help of Dentsu Aegis Network’s proprietary research study – the Outdoor Consumer Survey (OCS) that aided in analysing the target audience touch-points. 

     

    Ambit Analyser will help craft a rationalised multi touch-point plan across more than 24 dwell time locations that house captive audiences. Also, given Ambit Analyser’s system design, the plans can be fashioned within much lesser time and with more accuracy.

     

    As part of the development process of Ambit Analyser, Ambient OOH graded each property across the various touch points on multiple factors including footfalls, trade density, ticket pricing and thus, arrived at a visibility index. The tool has been linked to the OCS, which has a sample size of 12,000+ respondents. It has also incorporated the data for 24 touch-points across metros, mini metros and tier II cities.

      

    Dentsu Aegis Network chairman & CEO South Asia, Posterscope and psLive – Asia Pacific chairman Ashish Bhasin said, “Posterscope’s Ambient OOH has done pioneering work in developing Ambient Analyser. Ambient media is becoming extremely important and has very little research and tools available. So, in keeping with Dentsu Aegis Network’s leadership status in OOH, we felt that the time was right to make this large investment in a proprietary tool, the only one of its kind in India.”

     

    Posterscope Asia Pacific regional director and Posterscope Group managing director Haresh Nayak added, “Ambient OOH is the future and, with the growth of digital and technology in this space, it will lead to accountable and engaging communication with the consumer in a relaxed mind frame. Ambit Analyser is one such initiative to give our clients a first of its kind, accountable and impactful campaign, leading to physical and digital engagement.”

     

    Ambient OOH vice president Deepak Kumar said, “Currently, ambient media in India is extremely fragmented and diverse in nature. And with no comparative data to fall back on, each media owner claims to be the best. Simultaneously, advertisers are constantly pressing on media effectiveness and efficient ROI. Hence, there was a need for transparency and accountability for advertisers to have trust on the ambient media touch-points.”

  • S.Yesudas steps down as Vizeum India MD, replaced by Shripad Kulkarni

    S.Yesudas steps down as Vizeum India MD, replaced by Shripad Kulkarni

    MUMBAI: In a turn of events, S.Yesudas has stepped down from his position of Vizeum India managing director. Stepping into his shoes is industry veteran Shripad Kulkarni, who will be reporting to Dentsu Aegis Network south Asia chairman and CEO Ashish Bhasin. Not just this, Kulkarni will also join the Dentsu Aegis Network India executive council.

     

    Meanwhile, Yesudas will now focus on content and analytics, while continuing to report to Bhasin.

     

    “I am really happy to be leading Vizeum India. The sheer dynamism of Vizeum as a brand excites me. The One P&L philosophy of the Dentsu Aegis Network opens great opportunities for us and will help push Vizeum to the next level,” said Kulkarni.

     

    With more than 25 years of experience across various media specialisations, he has worked in agencies such as Carat, Contract, Clarion and O&M. Prior to joining Vizeum, Kulkarni was Allied Media CEO, a Percept Group company.

     

    Bhasin said, “I am very pleased to welcome Shripad as the MD of Vizeum India. With the wealth of experience that he brings in and the thorough knowledge of the business that he has, I am sure Vizeum India will touch new heights under his leadership.”

     

    “I also want to thank Yesudas for the great job that he has done in helping start Vizeum operations in India from the scratch and bringing the agency to the level, at which it is today. I have no doubts that he will equally excel in the new opportunities. Shripad now has a great platform to take Vizeum India to the next orbit because our ambitions for Vizeum India are tremendous,” he added.

  • Northpoint Centre of Learning & Dentsu Aegis launch OOH Advertising programme

    Northpoint Centre of Learning & Dentsu Aegis launch OOH Advertising programme

    MUMBAI: Given the technological metamorphosis that out-of-home (OOH) is currently witnessing, it has emerged as one of the fastest growing segments in the Marketing Communications industry.

     

    For the young job seeking community, the sector has opened up lucrative career opportunities. Consequently, with much room to maneuver for ambitious youngsters, Dentsu Aegis Network and Northpoint have announced the launch of the ‘Post Graduate Program in Out Of Home Advertising (The PGP-OOHA) programme. 

     

    The PGP-OOHA programme is being conducted by Northpoint Centre of Learning, a Management Resource Development Centre, located in Khandala, in collaboration with the leading out-of-home agencies – Posterscope India and Milestone Brandcom.

     

    Designed to develop future managers, the course is a six-month fast-track post graduate career programme.  It is designed to give a thorough working knowledge of OOH advertising and communications including retail, rural and experiential and how they are all inter-related. 

     

    The course comprises modules, research projects and workshops followed by an internship with Posterscope and Milestone Brandcom.

     

    A strong emphasis will be laid on student performance evaluation through projects and practical assignments and research done by the students. While the entire semester will provide a comprehensive perspective of OOH advertising and communications, the latter part will be project-based with hands-on production and execution experiences.

     

    Northpoint Centre of Learning chairman Prem Mehta said, “The launch of this program is another step in keeping with Northpoint’s mission to prepare young graduates for careers in specialised areas of business.  Once again, Northpoint has tied up with the leaders in the OOH industry to ensure relevance of training content, training by industry professionals and substantial field and on-job internships to prepare job-ready managers.”

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network chairman and CEO South Asia and Posterscope and psLive – Asia Pacific chairman Ashish Bhasin stated, “Today, Dentsu Aegis Network is amongst the fastest growing communications groups in India and understand the need of trained talent that the industry currently needs. Therefore, we are committed to developing professional talent for the industry as a partner on this programme.”

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network will consider all successful candidates for final placement.

     

    Milestone Brandcom MD and CEO Nabendu Bhattacharyya opined, “Our objective is to create and attract talent to the OOH Industry where no such formal program existed prior to this, we believe this OOH program will benefit many new entrants as well as the existing trade practitioners in this dynamic Industry. Our, overall objective is to bring in fresh minds into the OOH Communications business for the exponential growth of the Industry. As a Leading OOH Group, “OOH Program” is our contribution to the Industry.”

     

    Posterscope Asia Pacific regional director and Posterscope Group India managing director Haresh Nayak added, “Posterscope has always prided itself in being innovators, be it in terms of team construct, offerings, services or thought leadership for the last 7 years. This initiative is an extension of that belief, of ‘innovating the way brands are built’ and talented people are the nucleus of innovation. This platform will attract and nurture these talents who will be the future minds and leaders in the Out of Home space.”