ITV

Tag: creative

  • Amit Wadhwa promoted to CEO at dentsu Creative India

    New Delhi: On the back of its global organisational redesign, dentsu international on Tuesday created a new structure for its creative service line in India. The restructuring will bring together some of India’s best agencies along with their digital & PR capabilities – all from the house of dentsu – under one umbrella to provide a more collaborative and aligned offering to clients.

    The brands that will come together as part of this redesign as dentsu Creative include Dentsu Webchutney, Taproot Dentsu, WATConsult, Perfect Relations, Isobar, Dentsu One, Dentsu India and Dentsu Impact.

    With the eventual consolidation under the two strong global brands – dentsumcgarrybowen (dentsuMB) and Isobar, dentsu Creative will provide digital-native, brand-led, customer-centric, creative, and strategic solutions to clients, effortlessly, it added.

    In India, the dentsu Creative service line will be led by chief executive officer, Amit Wadhwa, who will be responsible for the integration, coordination, and implementation of the overall strategy for dentsu Creative in the market. He will lead the dentsu India creative service line leadership team, reporting to Anand Bhadkamkar and the regional dentsu Creative leadership. 

    Sidharth Rao, in addition to his current responsibilities, will now also be in charge of the brand dentsuMB Group in India as its CEO. He will work with the leadership team on dentsuMB’s brand strategy for the market. Shamsuddin Jasani, who continues to oversee the Isobar brand in South Asia as its managing director (MD), will also take on an additional role at dentsu Creative. He will now work with the regional and global leadership teams to support the Isobar practice area and will work closely with the Isobar Global leadership team on the same. 

    CEO India, Anand Bhadkamkar, said, “This global restructure is about consolidation of capabilities across our brands and businesses to bring the best of our services to our clients and provide those specialisms without any hassles. The idea is to ultimately stand true to our #OneDentsu strategy and thus, transform into a sharper and leaner business partner to brands. The changes in the India leadership team only reflect a step ahead in bolstering and scaling up our market ambitions. Amit, Sid, and Shams are amongst the strongest creative leaders not just within dentsu but across the industry; and with the kind of experience and knowledge backing them, I am certain that they will steer dentsu towards excellence not just in India but beyond.”

    The network has also elevated Narayan Devanathan as president – strategy & integration for India. In addition to his current role as CEO, dentsu Solutions, he will now support and achieve dentsu’s strategic objectives by defining, implementing, and driving growth and other vital initiatives for the market. He will continue to report to Anand Bhadkamkar for his additional responsibility as part of the India market leadership team. Meanwhile, Narayan will now also don a regional hat as APAC head for the dentsu Creative Strategy & Consulting practice. 

    “Narayan has been instrumental in driving integration across our units and, as part of the South Asia integration initiatives, he will be supporting the Sri Lanka team in strategy and integration across the two markets. He will now be moving away from his current additional role as chairperson, Creative Service Line for India, and will take up a regional leadership role as APAC lead – strategy & consulting Practice in the creative service line. In this role, he will be working with the Regional and Global leadership teams within the creative service line to help develop the area of Strategy & Consulting Practice in the APAC region,” Anand added.

  • 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.”

  • Scaler onboards Rahul Karthikeyan as the CMO

    Scaler onboards Rahul Karthikeyan as the CMO

    MUMBAI: Edtech startup Scaler on Wednesday announced key leadership appointments in its marketing and creative verticals. Rahul Karthikeyan was appointed as the chief marketing officer. Karthikeyan moves from upGrad where he was the head of marketing.

    Arnav Gupta has joined as product and strategy lead. Gupta is a serial entrepreneur and has worked with Zomato in the past. Anu Nair joins as creative head, and Ranjeet Kumar and Manmeet Singh Akali as co-heads of brand and content.

    Scaler and InterviewBit co-founder Abhimanyu Saxena said, “As we prepare ourselves for the next phase of growth, industry knowledge and experience will be even more crucial across all aspects. I am, therefore, extremely delighted to have some of the brightest minds in the business join us as we journey to become a world-class virtual tech university. We are also looking to expand our presence beyond metros, and plan to hire over 100-150 people in the current fiscal across functions to support this expansion.”

    The company, which offers software programming courses, had raised $20 million in Series A funding from Sequoia India, Tiger Global, and Global Founders Capital in January.

    “We want to build a quality education platform that is constantly upgrading based on trends in the market, to ensure that our students are up to date. It is an exciting time for the brand, and I am happy to be part of this journey,” said Karthikeyan on his new role.

  • Essence appoints Magda Wolder as head of experience, APAC

    Essence appoints Magda Wolder as head of experience, APAC

    New Delhi: Essence, a global data and measurement-driven media agency which is part of GroupM, on Tuesday appointed Magda Wolder as head of experience, APAC. Based out of Singapore, she will lead the agency’s creative, content innovation and studio capabilities in the region. 

    Joining Essence in 2018, Wolder was previously head of creative Strategy, EMEA at the agency’s London office. With over a decade of experience bringing advertising and ideas together in the media, technology and entertainment industries, she earlier worked as a senior researcher for EMEA at Netflix in the Netherlands, as well as a lead creative strategist and head of customer closeness at Sky in the United Kingdom.

    “In addition to my focus to drive personalisation at scale for our clients in APAC, I am keen to help nurture emerging creative talent and imagination in this region. We have a very talented creative team on the ground here and I cannot wait to see what we will achieve together in 2021,” said Wolder on the new role.

    Essence’s Experience capabilities utilise data science and machine learning to deliver more relevant, meaningful and effective personalised experiences, while protecting consumers’ data privacy. In APAC, Wolder will head a team of creative strategists, conceptual thinkers, design experts and technology-powered production partners to create data-driven creative innovation for Essence’s clients in the region.

    “We are delighted to have Magda join our APAC team. With her impressive brand experience, as well as her deep understanding of Essence’s unified approach to data that brings creative and media closer together, we are looking forward to the creative innovation she will bring to media channels and content programmes for our clients in this region,” said Essence senior vice president, client partner, APAC and managing director, Singapore, Monica Bhatia

    “With Magda’s leadership, I am excited about the creative technology and experience products our Experience team will continue to deliver through Essence Global Ventures, which will be scaled to help brands across APAC and globally succeed in the new economy,” said Essence CEO APAC, T. Gangadhar.

  • Coca-Cola calls for global media & creative pitch

    Coca-Cola calls for global media & creative pitch

    NEW DELHI: Coca-Cola has called for a global media & creative pitch. The company, which spends about $4 billion on media globally, is going for a full-scale review of its overall media planning and buying services. 

    The creative review includes creative, experiential marketing, production management and shopper marketing. The brand intends to transform and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of ITS marketing investments. It further aims to improve its processes, eliminate duplication and optimise spends to generate significant savings to fuel reinvestment in its brands. 

    Media reports suggest that Coca-Cola is working with MediaSense on the media review process, while PricewaterhouseCoopers is overseeing the brand’s creative review. Incumbent media agencies will also participate in the review. These agencies include Dentsu media agency Carat, Group M’s MediaCom, IPG Mediagroup’s UM and Publicis media agency Starcom. 

    Coca-Cola spends around $2.5 billion globally on media per year, according to data consultancy COMvergence, including $1.8 billion on traditional media and $700 million on digital media. It’s unclear how the changes to Coca-Cola’s model could impact its spending. 

    The brand is planning for a complete redesign of its agency models to align the strategic, operational, and commercial needs. It expects to complete the review by 2021. 

    The agency review follows an October announcement that the company plans to eliminate 200 brands from its roster, including Tab, Zico and Odwalla, cutting its portfolio in half. 

    In India, the brand works with McCann on the creative front and released a campaign featuring Ranbir Kapoor and Paresh Rawal ahead of Diwali.

  • Bosch Home Appliances assigns media mandate to Isobar

    Bosch Home Appliances assigns media mandate to Isobar

    NEW DELHI: Bosch Home Appliances (BSH) has brought on board Isobar India, the digital agency from the house of dentsu international, as its strategy and creative agency partner.

    Headquartered in Munich, Germany, BSH is poised to enhance its marketing strategy in India with this announcement. The agency won the account following a multi-agency pitch and will service the brand from its Mumbai office.

    As per the mandate, Isobar India will handle the entire gamut of strategic planning, digital strategy and creative duties for the brand.

    BSH Household Appliances MD Neeraj Bahl said, “We are delighted to have Isobar on board to drive the digital communications for Bosch and Siemens. Keeping in mind our core proposition of empowering the Indian audiences and enabling them with peaceful and hassle-free life at home, Isobar was an appropriate fitment for us as their solution-oriented approach combined with creative renditions aligns with our core requirements. We are confident that together, we will be able to creatively connect with audiences to make Bosch a relatable household name.”

    Isobar South Asia group MD Shamsuddin Jasani added, “I am thrilled to witness the faith that BSH has put in us. Our digital-first, innovation-led approach truly hit home and now, together with the BSH team, we look forward to creating long-term relationship to help drive value for all stakeholders.”

    It is pertinent to note here that BSH Hausgeräte GmbH (BSH Home Appliances) is the largest manufacturer of home appliances in Europe. It is also one of the leading companies in the sector worldwide. 

  • Winning awards doesn’t get you clients: Piyush Pandey

    Winning awards doesn’t get you clients: Piyush Pandey

    MUMBAI: Ogilvy South Asia chairman and creative director Piyush Pandey, the man behind notable campaigns that include Fevicol, Fevikwik, Cadbury Dairy Milk, The Hindu, and Asian Paints, has been a stalwart figure in the progress of the Indian advertising industry for close to four decades. A recipient of the Padma Shri in 2016, Pandey’s contribution at Ogilvy & Mather made it the third largest ad agency in the country.

    His brother Prasoon Pandey, on the other hand, directs advertising films. Advertising Age listed him among the top 100 advertising film directors of the world. His ‘one black coffee’ ad for Ericsson was the first Indian commercial to win at Cannes.

    The duo has collaborated on a number of campaigns bagging national and international awards in the process.

    But the world has transformed significantly from the time they joined the advertising industry. The digital savvy world won’t rest unless it gets an engaging story. Traditional media is making first-time entry into interior India. Being creative but keeping the brand messaging intact is a tough nut to crack for most agencies today. While Piyush believes agencies should not consider the audience as being naive, Prasoon opines the first thumb rule of advertising is to always remember that the audience is more intelligent than the creative minds at an agency. He has always made sure to leave the creative communication open-ended and let the audience figure out their takeaways from the ad.

    Piyush joined Ogilvy & Mather in 1982 when advertising on television was in the early stages. The medium had just entered India and the creatives were highly influenced by the West. He points out that it was only towards the late 80s that India started coming up with its own creative storytelling and making stuff that was not adapted from the world. “Today, there are a number of youngsters who are doing very good work. Indians who travel abroad always come up to me and say that our advertising is much better than it is abroad. It feels good that people accept what we do,” he says.

    Recalling the advertising feel in 1980s, Prasoon adds that advertising was a little plastic back in the day and people were scared as it was a new medium. The team’s Fevicol egg was a gamechanger. “Before that notable Fevicol egg ad, there was a lot of emphasis on making a commercial look good but we were lucky to have a client that asked us to keep it real,” he adds.

    Ogilvy India is also popping open bottles of champagne and the reason for the celebration is its big boss Piyush, along with Prasoon, will be honoured with the Cannes Lions’ Lifetime Achievement Award, the Lion of St Mark. The brothers are ecstatic about the Cannes win and feels it is a recognition for India and puts a little more responsibility on them to work hard.

    They will be the first Indians to receive the prestigious award on 22 June 2018. The Lion of St Mark is the highest honour that the Cannes International Festival of Creativity bestows on creative geniuses within the communications industry. In the past, it has been awarded to David Droga, John Hegarty, Lee Clow and Marcello Serpa, Dan Wieden, Joe Pytka and Bob Greenberg. This is the 8th Lion of St Mark awarded by the Cannes Film Festival.

    The Pandey brothers do seem to agree that India’s creativity is on the rise but can still be scaled up. A majority of work is great work but the percentage of good work has increased in the last 10-15 years.

    Ogilvy & Mather recently announced its new consulting arm OgilvyRED, which will bring together senior strategic specialists to consult on digital transformation of brands in India. The agency will help tackle the toughest business, brand and innovation challenges of its clients to drive growth and enable digital transformation while enabling the clients to find solutions in a disruptive world where brands are struggling to connect with consumers. OgilvyRED consulting has been hugely successful in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

    It will offer digital transformation consulting, data and marketing analytics consulting, marketing technology consulting, innovative and e-commerce consulting services to its clients. While the new division is headquartered in Mumbai, it does have an office in Bengaluru. Comprising five people at the moment, the team is set to expand next year and will have as many as 50 people on board. Since the consulting agency is new, its only client is Aditya Birla Corporate Group but is out to bag more clients by March 2018.

    Now, more than ever, brands need to take a transformative approach to connect with consumers. There are many challenges that clients face today that cannot be solved by a traditional agency approach. Ogilvy has a long-standing history of helping clients stay ahead of the curve when it comes to all things digital. The difference with OgilvyRED is that it is a digital transformation consulting that is deeply tied with Ogilvy’s ability to execute with creativity, impact and speed.

    It is generally believed in the industry that recognition and awards lead to having bigger and better clients but Piyush seems to disagree. He says that you won’t lose clients just because you don’t bag awards but they do motivate you to do better.

    Piyush concludes that though India is a late starter on digital, we cannot satisfy ourselves by just ‘being’ on the medium but need to be great.