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Tag: Business news

  • Soumak Banik returns to MediaCom as Indonesia MD

    Soumak Banik returns to MediaCom as Indonesia MD

    Mumbai: WPP’s MediaCom has brought on board Soumak Banik as managing director for Indonesia, who returns after having served as chief growth officer at the firm for India & South Asia region until July this year. He will report to GroupM Indonesia CEO Himanshu Shekhar and MediaCom Asia Pacific CEO, Mark Heap.

    Banik succeeds Partha Kabi who recently took charge as global account director at MediaCom for SK-II and is now based in Singapore.

    On this succession move, media reports quoted Himanshu Shekhar as saying, “Kabi’s successor has big shoes to fill, and I am hugely excited to have Banik as the new leader for MediaCom Indonesia. His infectious enthusiasm and positivity will be crucial in building on the strong foundations.”

    Banik commands over 20 years of experience in conceptualisation, supporting communication, deriving & driving effective efficient marketing solutions across industries like FMCG, CSG, auto, luxury, telecom, e-commerce, BFSI, sports, publishing, and multiple brands. Prior to MediaCom, he was associated with Mindshare Indonesia as principal partner for three years until 2019.

    “The global momentum in MediaCom is so inspiring. Combining this with the assets we can leverage from GroupM globally, regionally and locally, makes me very confident that we can continue to drive growth for our clients, the careers of our people, and our business,” Banik said on his appointment.

  • Pocket Aces promotes co-founder Aditi Shrivastava to CEO

    Pocket Aces promotes co-founder Aditi Shrivastava to CEO

    Mumbai: Digital entertainment company Pocket Aces Monday has announced the elevation of co-founder Aditi Shrivastava to the newly created position of chief executive officer.
    Aditi will headline Pocket Aces’ three lines of business – social distribution, which houses FilterCopy, Dice Media and Gobble, a talent manager Clout, and a studio for digital content.

    Aditi will lead Pocket Aces in its next phase of growth and continue to be a member of the board of directors of the company. Founders Ashwin Suresh and Anirudh Pandita, will also continue to remain shareholders and board members, running Loco, the game streaming platform incubated at Pocket Aces, which was recently spun off into a separate entity, the company said in a statement.

    Speaking on her new role, Aditi shared, “We have built a strong foundation for Pocket Aces, and I am thrilled to grow it to one of the largest new-age media companies globally. Our core moat gives us the competitive advantage – a highly meritocratic culture with a diverse high-performance team; a data-driven approach to content creation that turns the traditional media model around its head and dramatically increases hit rate; and an ecosystem approach that leverages all major opportunities – capturing media real estate, building large IPs, and growing talent into brands. We have clear visibility of our content strategy and revenue leading us to profitability, and some very exciting new initiatives launching later this year as well.”

    Ashwin Suresh said, “Over the past few years Pocket Aces has cemented its leadership position within the digital entertainment ecosystem while championing the overall growth of the industry. In addition to building out monetization for the Social Distribution business and overseeing the growth of Clout, Aditi also put together an impressive slate of shows for the Studio business. Under her new mandate as CEO and supported by a capable leadership team with a healthy mix of industry experience, first-principles thinking, and creative innovation, Aditi is all set to write the next chapter in the Pocket Aces growth story. We are in the first innings of the digital media revolution and I am excited to see Aditi and our leadership team take Pocket Aces to new heights.”

    Anirudh Pandita said, “Pocket Aces has set the pace for innovation in digital entertainment and we are more confident than ever of delivering on our promise of solving boredom. The Pocket Aces leadership team led by Aditi, has the right mix of industry veterans and new-age digital-first thinkers, to execute on the exponential growth opportunity that we see in entertainment. Aditi has played a pivotal part in getting the company to where we are today and I am excited to see the new heights she will help the company scale with this expanded mandate.”

    3one4 Capital’s founding partner, Pranav Pai, a large investor in Pocket Aces, said, “The Pocket Aces team has used their deep experience in the field to connect with and grow amongst the largest digital audiences in India. Through grounded empathy for their audience’s consumption behaviours and tastes, Pocket Aces has reimagined the digital entertainment model. The company’s content channels are vertically integrated, from the creators up to the audience, and now leverage their position of strength and scale to continuously innovate and expand the frontier. We are excited to continue our support for the next wave of growth as the team pursues an orbital shift to newer heights.”

    Pocket Aces reaches over 50 million people on a weekly basis clocking over 700 million video views every month. The company has grown its revenue seven times in the last three years and is on track to become profitable this year, the company further said.

  • Titan appoints Ashok Sonthalia as CFO, Swadesh Behera as chief people officer

    Titan appoints Ashok Sonthalia as CFO, Swadesh Behera as chief people officer

    Mumbai: Tata group-owned Titan Company on Thursday announced the appointment of Ashok Kumar Sonthalia as its new chief financial officer. He will be responsible for the company’s overall finance and accounts functions, it said in a statement. The watches and jewellery maker also announced Swadesh Behera as the chief people officer of the company.  Both appointments are effective from 1 July, it added.

    In his most recent role, Sonthalia worked as a chief financial officer at Larsen & Toubro Infotech. He has also worked in senior positions at Greaves Cotton Ltd, Tata Chemicals, and Tata Steel.

    Commenting on his appointment, Sonthalia said, ”It’s an absolute honor and privilege to be a part of Titan, a company I have long admired for evoking trust and transforming consumer retail experience in India. I am looking forward to working with the team here on executing its strategic growth plans in India as well as in select international markets. Its philosophy of creating value for all its stakeholders will remain central in all our endeavours.”

    Sonthalia is a chartered accountant with around 30 years of experience in areas of strategic financial planning, business development, M&A, treasury, finance, and accounts in diverse industry verticals in multi-cultural and multi-national environments.

    Behera was previously associated with Boston Scientific Corp as senior director-HR. His past professional stints also include Ranbaxy, Coca Cola, MSD, and Tata Steel. He has extensive change management experience which encompasses setting up Greenfield operations, building capability, talent acquisition during high growth phases of business.

    Behera shared, “Delighted to join Titan and be a part of a leadership team which truly believes in putting people first in everything they do, where employee care and happiness is valued as much as the business growth. Looking forward to working with the team whose continuous endeavour has been to build a strong leadership pipeline, future capabilities, an inclusive culture to propel the growth aspirations and making Titan as an employer of choice.”

  • The SMC Group inks deal with ESSC to launch operations in India

    Mumbai: The U.K. headquartered entertainment marketing, The SMC Group has announced its operation in India in a strategic partnership with El Sol Strategic Consultants (ESSC), a full-service brand consultancy. Through this venture, The SMC Group aims to unite companies and talent together in India and establish brands via engrossing avenues of sonic marketing, gaming, and e-sports. ESSC’s founder & CEO Elisha Saigal will take on the baton to represent SMC in India.

    The association will enable The SMC Group to lay the groundwork for its initiatives in India whilst also providing ESSC clients access to a global network of artists and global talent from across countries.

    “We are forging an exciting partnership through this unison as SMC India – one that is essential to local industries to create valuable opportunities for brands from across sectors,” said The SMC Group CEO Maurice Hamilton. “With El Sol Strategic Consultants’ strong foundation and network in PR, social media marketing along with influence and celebrity outreach, SMC India will explore modern marketing via gaming, sonic, and e-sports. The workshop with El Sol Strategic Consultants is the first of many initiatives to strengthen our talent and our presence not only locally but also globally and we look forward to what the association has in store for us.”

    Speaking on the partnership, Saigal said, “We are elated to be partnering with the SMC group in a long-term association as SMC India. With the newly-formed SMC India, we are now adding a new vertical to our existing business. Keeping in mind the constantly evolving modern marketing trends, SMC India will introduce Indian brands to exciting facets of sonic, gaming & e-sports marketing and provide brands in India, access to talent from across 16 countries.”
    To kick start its operations in India, an introductory workshop on the latest trends and the various marketing, branding, engagement opportunities that can be leveraged by brands, and agencies through the medium of gaming and e-sports will be hosted on 30 June at 5pm.  

    The two-hour session will be conducted by SMC Gaming directors Nick Smith and Romain Tixier who bring with them a plethora of experience in the global gaming and esports space. 

  • ClearTax unveils ‘Clear’ as umbrella identity to fuel expansion

    Bangalore: The Indian fintech SaaS company ClearTax on Tuesday announced ‘Clear’, an umbrella name under which all of its offerings across taxes, invoices, wealth management, and credit for businesses will reside.

    Under this new identity, the company will continue its tax offerings (Income Tax and GST) and other products nurturing its legacy of accuracy, security, and reliability, complementing the ClearTax brand, it said in a statement.

    As per estimates, Clear is expected to manage invoices worth over $ one trillion by 2023, it further added.

    “We started the company to simplify taxes, over the years we have evolved beyond taxes and have grown tremendously,” Clear’s founder and CEO Archit Gupta said in the announcement, “Today we make SaaS for taxes, invoices for connected businesses and offer wealth management. Clear captures our huge ambitions to serve Indians in the areas of invoicing, wealth management, credit, and much more.”

  • ZASH set to acquire remaining 20 % stake in TikTok rival Lomotif

    Mumbai: ZASH Global Media and Entertainment on Thursday announced it has agreed to acquire the remaining 20 per cent stake in the video-sharing platform, Lomotif. In February, ZASH entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority controlling interest in Lomotif.

    The global expansion of Lomotif is currently underway in India, the world’s second-largest market, and a country where competitor TikTok is banned. With the number of social media users in India expected to be nearly 450 million in 2023, the penetration into the Indian market is a major focus for Lomotif and the parent company ZASH.

    Speaking about its strategic business move, ZASH’s co-founder Ted Farnsworth said, “We believe very strongly in the user-generated contact space (UGC) and it is a great honor for us to be able to purchase the remaining shares of Lomotif. With the growth that we have seen recently and continue to see overall in UGC, we feel that this is the perfect positioning to become one of the top leaders competing with TikTok and others for Vinco and Zash as the completion of our two company’s merger becomes imminent.”

    The addition of Lomotif enhances ZASH’s offering by adding a short-form video component to its overall ecosystem. Lomotif has recently introduced a new format for talent discovery titled “You’ve Been Scouted,” which invites users to compete in a global competition to crown the platform’s top music performer and reward them with a record label deal and album produced by Grammy Award winning, multi-platinum mega producer Teddy Riley. The launch proved to be a success achieving over one million downloads in the first 30 days alone, said the company.

  • Tata Motors elevates Girish Wagh as ED; Guenter Butschek to step down

    Mumbai: Tata Motors has announced changes in its Board of Directors. The automaker has elevated Girish Wagh as executive director, with effect from 1 July. He currently serves as the president of commercial vehicles.

    The company also announced that Guenter Butschek will step down from his role as CEO and MD from 30 June. He would relocate to Germany at the end of the contract for personal reasons. “Butschek will continue as a consultant till the end of this fiscal year,” it said in a statement.

    President- passenger vehicles, Shailesh Chandra, CEO – Jaguar Land Rover, Thierry Bollore, and Wagh will continue to work closely with the chairman, N Chandrasekaran to lead Tata Motors, the company stated.

    Speaking on the latest announcement, Tata Motors’ chairman, N Chandrasekaran said, “I would like to thank Guenter for leading Tata Motors successfully over the last five years and creating a strong foundation for the future. I look forward to his continued inputs as a consultant to the company.”

  • Onnivation names Kaveri Das as VP – strategy, and growth

    New Delhi: Onnivation on Wednesday named Kaveri Das as their vice president of strategy and growth. She previously worked for ZEE5 as corporate strategy lead.

    The company invests in the India business of Israeli deep tech companies and helps them grow in India.

    In her new role, Das will be responsible for strategizing and navigating the company’s roadmap for its next wave of growth.

    Talking about her new profile, Das said, “Onnivation’s vision of building a technology powerhouse through their partners and the value it adds to its customers is very compelling. As a customer of Onnivation myself, I witnessed the strong proposition and plethora of products they have for digital transformation that propelled me to join the rocket ship. I am extremely thrilled to be a part of this team and elevate the company’s business by implementing exponential growth strategies”.

    Onnivation founder and CEO, Saket Agarwal said, “Kaveri will play an integral part in building out the next phase of our growth. Her wealth of experience in online media and corporate strategy will be a great value addition for Onnivation and its portfolio companies. Her energy, creativity, and abilities to execute are going to pump up the energy of the entire team. We can’t be more excited to have her on onboard.”

  • Chrome DM week 45: Youth genre emerges as top gainer

    Chrome DM week 45: Youth genre emerges as top gainer

    NEW DELHI: Youth genre is the top gainer for week 45, 2020 of Chrome Data Analytics and Media data, with marginal growth. The genre has grown by 0.48 per cent.

    In this genre, MTV has gained the highest OTS with 89.3 in the HSM excl < 1 market. OTS is the actual census-based percentage connectivity of a channel spread across 81 million homes, as reported by Chrome DM, across analogue cable, digital cable, and DTH.

    This week, Hindi Movies genre has emerged as a close second on the top gainers list with a marginal growth of 0.15 per cent in the six metros market. In this genre, B4U Kadak has gained the highest OTS with 94.1 per cent.

    Read more coverage on ChromeDM

    Among other genres, Hindi GEC, Religious, English movies, English news, kids, have grown negligibly.