Tag: Dentsu Aegis Network

  • Isobar launches Sri Lanka Operations

    Isobar launches Sri Lanka Operations

    MUMBAI: Isobar, the digital agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has expanded its operations to Sri Lanka.

    Last year, Dentsu Grant Group, Sri Lanka's largest integrated communications agency with a 60-year-old legacy, disrupted the nation’s advertising industry with the introduction of the global marketing conglomerate Dentsu Aegis Network into the country.  Now, it will do so once again, reinventing Sri Lanka’s rapidly growing digital economy, with the launch of its full-service digital agency – Isobar.  

    Commenting on the prospects of Isobar in Sri Lanka, Shamsuddin Jasani, Group Managing Director – Isobar South Asia said, “I am very excited to launch Isobar in this amazing country. Sri Lanka is a rising mobile economy with smartphone penetration growing by over 20% and mobile penetration growing over 120% year-on-year. With the launch of Isobar Sri Lanka we are looking at creating a leading agency for the digital age that follows a true full service model. Under the guidance of Neela and her team, I am sure we will be a force to reckon with in this market in the years to come.”

    Speaking on the launch of Isobar Sri Lanka, Neela Marikkar, Chairperson – Dentsu Grant Group and Dentsu Aegis Network Sri Lanka states, “We are thrilled to be introducing such an iconic brand into the Sri Lankan advertising industry. We are fortunate to be working so closely with our global and regional offices; we are confident that we will be able to use their global knowledge and skills to help develop business opportunities for our clients as well as help the digital economy of the country and accelerate through Isobar’s experience led transformation and brand commerce expertise.”

    Ready to revolutionize the market, Isobar Sri Lanka will offer end to end full service digital media creative and technology services and help clients navigate the world of tangible and intangible businesses through mobile brand commerce, product innovations, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), the internet of things (IOT) and wearables.

  • iProspect appoints Vishal Shah, Asad Khan as senior directors

    iProspect appoints Vishal Shah, Asad Khan as senior directors

    MUMBAI: iProspect India, the digital performance agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has appointed Asad Khan and Vishal Shah as senior directors to lead the SEO practice at the agency.

    With more than eight years of experience, Khan has chiefly been responsible for expanding business for the Southeast Asian & Oceania markets and leading strategic planning for e-commerce portfolios. His core strengths lie in formulating data driven integrated search strategies using an agile marketing approach. 

    On joining iProspect, Khan says, “I’m happy to join the iProspect family. The agency’s belief in maintaining an open and transparent work environment, unrestricted access to knowledge and collaborative approach towards decision making is what gives them a competitive advantage and a clear path to continued growth. I'm eager to work with the team and help them grow the business.”

    Shah, who has worked across domestic and international markets for more than eight years now, has been instrumental in strengthening core organic search offerings as per technological advancements and market evolution. His ability to plan, execute and deliver in complex brand ecosystems has helped him successfully play the strategic lead on several enterprise clients. 

    “With a worldwide presence, iProspect has been successful in driving digital performance in every corner of the globe. 20 years of rich digital experience has led the agency to the position that it enjoys today. I look forward to the new set of learnings at iProspect,” adds Shah. 

    On the new appointments, iProspect India CEO Rubeena Singh mentions, “Reinvigorating the team with new talent is crucial in driving business performance. Both Asad and Vishal have rich experience. With them leading the SEO teams, we hope to strengthen our service suite and accelerate our growth in the next phase.”

    Prior to the move, both worked at Performics.Convonix as associate directors.

    Founded in 1997, iProspect India offers brands an entire spectrum of result-oriented digital marketing strategies. This includes paid and natural search, performance display, content generation, structured data & feeds, conversion optimisation, data & insights, social media management, lead generation & affiliates, videos and mobile services.

  • Maruti Suzuki ARENA launches first brand campaign

    Maruti Suzuki ARENA launches first brand campaign

    MUMBAI: Maruti Suzuki ARENA has rolled out its first brand campaign. The creative agency involved is Dentsu Aegis Network’s Dentsu Impact. This customer-centricity has led to the birth of the Maruti Suzuki ARENA experience, which has been designed for the young and modern India. The production house involved in the making is Sitting Duck Pictures and produced by Sanjay Bhattacharjee, Sushant Desai.

    With this campaign, they intend to build awareness about the new Maruti Suzuki ARENA while showcasing the dynamic, trendy, social and connected aspects of the experience.

    As their longstanding partners, Dentsu Impact has been involved to create a seamless car buying experience at Maruti Suzuki ARENA by redesigning showrooms, introducing online to offline consumer journey, implementing new brand identity and creating content at various touchpoints across the showroom.

    Speaking on the campaign, Dentsu Impact president Amit Wadhwa said, “Maruti Suzuki is the undisputed leader in passenger cars. And as a leader, it has been setting benchmarks across all aspects for its customers – design, technology, and experiences. Maruti Suzuki ARENA is one of the great milestones of Maruti Suzuki in India, and as their partners we are excited in being a part of this new car buying experience come to life through this campaign.”

    Positioning Maruti Suzuki ARENA as a ‘car buying experience designed with you in mind’, the campaign line is ‘A destination called you. A feeling called Maruti Suzuki ARENA’. Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan is the face of the campaign.

    Dentsu Impact national creative director Anupama Ramaswamy said, “Maruti Suzuki ARENA is a change which happens once in many years. In this case, it is not about a single purchase or transaction. Maruti Suzuki ARENA has been designed keeping the customer right at the center. This core thought is reflected in the campaign idea ‘A destination called you. A feeling called Maruti Suzuki ARENA’. The campaign is a celebration of the ARENA experience, which is trendy, connected and social.”

    Maruti Suzuki sells its vehicles through 4 sales channels, the existing Maruti Suzuki Channel, Nexa, Maruti Suzuki Commercial and Maruti Suzuki True Value. And since its launch on 31st August, 2017, all the existing Maruti Suzuki Channels are now being revamped to Maruti Suzuki ARENA.

    “The reason for choosing Varun Dhawan as the brand ambassador is that he is young, talented, extremely energetic and socially wired, making him the perfect fit for Maruti Suzuki ARENA,” Ramaswamy added.

  • Dentsu Impact launches brand campaign for Maruti Suzuki ARENA

    Dentsu Impact launches brand campaign for Maruti Suzuki ARENA

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Impact, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has rolled out the first brand campaign for Maruti Suzuki ARENA.

    Positioning Maruti Suzuki ARENA as a ‘car buying experience designed with you in mind’, the campaign has Bollywood superstar Varun Dhawan as the face.

    Maruti Suzuki Channel has been the starting point of millions of new car journeys in India. It has constantly evolved to fulfil the needs and aspirations of Indian car buyers. This customer-centricity has led to the birth of the Maruti Suzuki ARENA experience, which has been designed for the young and modern India.

    With warm and friendly relationship managers, value-adding technology like car customisation screens, and thoughtfully designed spaces like coffee consultation zone and owner’s lounge, Maruti Suzuki ARENA experience has been truly designed keeping the customer in mind.

    Maruti Suzuki sells its vehicles through 4 sales channels, the existing Maruti Suzuki Channel, Nexa, Maruti Suzuki Commercial and Maruti Suzuki True Value. And since its launch on 31st August, 2017, all the existing Maruti Suzuki Channels are now being revamped to Maruti Suzuki ARENA.

    As their longstanding partners, Dentsu Impact has been involved to create a seamless car buying experience at Maruti Suzuki ARENA by redesigning showrooms, introducing online to offline consumer journey, implementing new brand identity and creating content at various touchpoints across the showroom.

    With this campaign, it intends to build awareness about the new Maruti Suzuki ARENA while showcasing the dynamic, trendy, social and connected aspects of the experience.

    The campaign brings to life the experience of ARENA by leveraging Varun Dhawan. Through Varun, the campaign depicts what each element of the showroom does for the customers. Whether it is the feeling of warmth, the ability to customise, or the seamless connectivity between digital and showroom – it is an experience that starts when you think about buying a car, but stays with you for life.

    The tonality of the campaign has been crafted based on the Brand Maruti Suzuki ARENA, as well as being cognisant of maintaining its distinction as a brand that caters to the new-age first-time car buyer who is a looking for a tech-enabled, friendly, trendy, and connected experience.

    Dentsu Impact national creative director Anupama Ramaswamy says, “Maruti Suzuki ARENA is a change which happens once in many years. In this case, it is not about a single purchase or transaction. Maruti Suzuki ARENA has been designed keeping the customer right at the center. Making it an experience that revolves around him or her. One which goes beyond the showroom, just like a relationship which is built to be cherished lifelong. This core thought is reflected in the campaign idea ‘A destination called you. A feeling called Maruti Suzuki ARENA’. The campaign is a celebration of the ARENA experience, which is trendy, connected and social. The reason for choosing Varun Dhawan as the brand ambassador is that he is young, talented, extremely energetic and socially wired, making him the perfect fit for Maruti Suzuki ARENA.

  • Publicis India terminates Ishrath Nawaz

    Publicis India terminates Ishrath Nawaz

    MUMBAI: Publicis India has decided to terminate Ishrath Nawaz following allegations of sexual harassment against him.

    Ishrat’s involvement came to light after a Twitter user posted her experience working with him where he would leach and pass sexual comments about his female colleagues on several occasions. 

    Publicis India announced his termination on Twitter by stating: “The investigation in relation to Mr. Ishrath Nawaz has been concluded. Mr. Nawaz’s conduct has been found to be violative of Publicis India’s policy. Consequently, Mr. Ishrath Nawaz’s services have been terminated.”

    Ishrath Nawaz was recently appointed as the national creative director at Publicis India. 

    He joined Publicis India from McCann Worldwide where he was the senior creative director.

    Ever since the conversation around #MeToo movement began in India, the advertising industry, that no one would imagine of, seems to have a lot of stories to be told. 

    Recently, Dentsu Aegis Network also took  action against four of its top employees after their name surfaced in the #MeToo movement. Soon after, DAN terminated all four employees including Kartik Iyer, Praveen Das, Dinesh Swamy and Bodhisatwa Dasgupta.

  • IKEA gives ‘voice’ to products in latest campaign

    IKEA gives ‘voice’ to products in latest campaign

    MUMBAI: The IKEA store launch in Hitec City, Hyderabad, has been one of the most talked about launches in recent times. A much-anticipated event, the store launch was preceded by the brand’s first ever communication for the Indian market, created by Dentsu Impact – the creative agency from the Dentsu Aegis Network. The launch also saw some interesting on-ground activations that got people talking.

    One may think that such a high impact launch would be followed by a period of quiet from the brand. But not so in the case of IKEA. The brand has now released a series of new films on TV and digital to bring to life some hero products from the brand. Quite literally! Every film has one main hero – an IKEA product itself, and well it is this hero that does all the talking. The treatment is a completely fresh one and the films are nothing like a typical product centric ad you may imagine. The films are all a part of a series and the team promises we will see something fresh in every film, with a different product playing a different character.

    IKEA India country marketing manager Ulf Smedberg says, “We at IKEA saw the need early on to find an emotional connection with consumers and their future relationship with our range. In order to de-dramatise and make parts of our range more attractive, inspiring yet even human, we created our new communication campaign which we internally call “Talking products”. In this series of short films, we let some iconic products speak and express their personality, in a fun and engaging way. The reaction so far been very positive, with people finding them to be surprising yet distinctively IKEA.”

    Dentsu Impact senior vice president Megha Jain Sadhwani adds, “The reason why IKEA is the world’s most loved Swedish home furnishing brand is its products, they are the heroes that make this brand what it is. The intent behind this series of films is to introduce these heroes to the Indian audience in a typical IKEA style – simple and playful, and what better way to do this than to let the products do the talking themselves, literally!”

    Dentsu Impact Bangalore creative head Amish Sabharwal spoke about the creative concept behind these films and said, “IKEA is known for great creative formats across the globe. This is our India attempt to add to that stellar reservoir. The products of IKEA are so intuitive, practical and magical that they deserve to be stars of every commercial, who needs celebrities?! That’s what we did. Each object has their own character, their own quirk, their own voice and they are unlike any other object you get in the market. The idea is to get audience to enjoy the storytelling and the magic of each product.”

    The films have been released on TV in Hyderabad and are available on the IKEA Facebook page and Youtube.

  • Dentsu Aegis Network removes Kartik Iyer & 3 seniors following sexual harassment allegations

    Dentsu Aegis Network removes Kartik Iyer & 3 seniors following sexual harassment allegations

    MUMBAI: Amidst the ongoing #MeToo movement, where several allegations regarding sexual harassment and sexual assault have come to light, the media and entertainment industry isn’t left behind.

    Recently, Dentsu Aegis Network’s (DAN) Happy mcgarrybowen came in the limelight for similar accusations against its CEO and other senior executives. The agency network had last week launched an investigation into the allegations.

    Following the controversy, DAN has removed Happy mcgarrybowen CEO Kartik Iyer and MD Praveen Das from their positions. Additionally, Bodhisatwa Dasgupta, senior creative director, Happy Creative Services and Dinesh Swamy national creative director, iProspect India have also stepped down from their respective positions following harassment charges.

    In a press statement issued by Dentsu Aegis Network, the network announced: “Dentsu Aegis Network has always believed in providing a safe environment at our workplaces which is free from any kind of harassments. We have a zero tolerance policy towards any kind of harassment at our workplaces. Mr. Kartik Iyer (CEO) and Mr. Praveen Das (MD) have stepped down from their respective positions and responsibilities at Happy Creative Services. Additionally, Bodhisatwa Dasgupta, Sr. Creative Director, Happy Creative Services and Dinesh Swamy, National Creative Director, iProspect India have also stepped down from their respective positions.”