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Tag: Dentsu India

  • Dentsu Webchutney bags digital duties for Virender Sehwag’s new venture, Cricuru

    Dentsu Webchutney bags digital duties for Virender Sehwag’s new venture, Cricuru

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Webchutney, the digital-led creative agency from the house of dentsu India, has won the digital creative and media duties for Cricuru, the recently launched learning platform for Cricket.

    While Cricket remains the biggest and the most loved sport in India, what is rather surprising is the level of motivation needed to make it to the highest levels. While many dream of becoming cricketers, most don’t even get a chance. The biggest barriers here tend to be a lack of proper guidance, coaching, and/or the aspirant-to-coach ratio. To make cricketing a reality for millions and to leave them with skills of hard work and excellence, Cricuru has enlisted a star-studded line-up of 30+ masters of International and first-class cricket. These players will now come together to pass on their learnings to every nook and corner of the world, starting with India. Through this initiative, Cricuru aims to bring the ‘+’ advantage for every lover of this game.

    This cricket coaching program is a business venture by ex-Indian cricketer, Virender Sehwag along with Sanjay Bangar, a former assistant coach of the Indian men’s team. Cricuru was born out of their love and passion for the game and the philosophy that world-class cricket coaching should be accessible to everyone.

    Speaking about Cricuru and the upcoming partnership with Dentsu Webchutney, Virender Sehwag said, “With Cricuru, we are reaching talent in every part of the country, especially to the kids in smaller towns who don’t have access to high-class coaching. Our aim is to guide them with their skills and technique and help them get across those mental challenges that we have undergone as players in our careers. Backed with AI and dial-a-coach modules, this innovative and one-of-a-kind program needed the strategic and creative thinking of an agency like Dentsu Webchutney for our long-term success. Together, we hope to give every cricket aspirant an added ‘You+’ advantage.”

    Dentsu Webchutney EVP & National business head Prashant Gopalakrishnan said, “Dentsu Webchutney is thrilled to innovate for this exciting category, where ed-tech and cricket are coming together in a new way. This mandate brings with it a chance to work with the experience of legends across the globe. Their passion is contagious for our die-hard cricket fans at Webchutney. In fact, Viru’s philosophy of learning has played a huge role in helping craft our creative approach.”

    For the record, Perfect Relations – the PR arm of dentsu India, handles the Public Relations mandate for Cricuru. The mandate also included the launch of the brand, nationally.

    Cricuru, launched on 9 June, provides content from Virender Sehwag, Sanjay Bangar, AB de Villiers, and cricketing greats like Muttiah Muralitharan, Brian Lara, Jonty Rhodes. Check out: www.cricuru.com for more!

  • Isobar India appoints Aalap Desai as national creative director

    MUMBAI: Isobar, the digital agency from the house of dentsu India, has roped in Aalap Desai as National creative director (NCD). In his new role, Aalap will lead the agency’s creative team and report to COO Gopa Kumar.

    Aalap was previously associated with dentsumcgarrybowen (dentsuMB) India where he held the position of NCD. In addition to this, he also co-headed the creative team at Mumbai-based Dentsu Webchutney and was behind some of the agency’s most notable works. Aalap’s professional stints also include Disney+ Hotstar, Leo Burnett, JWT, DDB Mudra, Ogilvy, and Publicis Ambience.  

    Speaking on the appointment, Isobar South Asia managing director Shamsuddin Jasani said, “At Isobar, our motto is to ‘Invent, Make, Change’. We are striving to deliver innovative creative experience-led solutions for our brands in India. Aalap looks at tech as not something dry and lifeless but as something that can change lives and makes it work harder for brands. That’s a perfect fit with our philosophy and is the apt approach we need to make Isobar future-proof as a leader in innovations in India.”

    Gopa Kumar said, “We live in an age of clutter coupled with shrunken attention spans. For brands to rip through the noise and stand out is of paramount importance. Creativity is the only thing that can make that possible. It is not garnishing anymore. It is the meat. It is the substance, and it is the only way brands can take a leap. Aalap’s brand of creativity is just what Isobar India needs. Enjoyable and meaningful. I couldn’t think of anyone else better than Aalap to partner us in our next phase of growth.”

    Desai has won over 150 International & National awards and has also written feature film scripts, web series, and TV shows.

    Commenting on his joining, Desai said, “Digital is a creative mine that is still hugely under-explored. Solving brand challenges with a proper insight that is supplemented by digital intuition is an explosive combination that very few people are aware of and something that even fewer choose to tap into. This combination has always been part of the Isobar DNA, and I will work towards hyper-charging it. Also, the past year has been tiring. Work pressure has eclipsed the joy we derived from work. One of my top agendas will be to reverse that because I genuinely believe that a tiny, seemingly insignificant thing as joy is actually the only key that opens up many locks. It unlocks creativity, leading to unlocking fame, awards, and a thriving creative culture because all of these follow. Isobar has phenomenal energy and a brilliant set of people. I’m looking forward to having tons of fun.”

  • 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.”

  • dentsu India appoints Arti Singh to head Hyperspace

    New Delhi: dentsu India on Tuesday appointed Arti Singh as VP National for its shoppers’ marketing unit, Hyperspace. In her new role, Singh will be in charge of the shoppers’ marketing division that includes experiential, retail, cinema and mall business.

    A seasoned professional with more than 18 years of expertise in the field, Singh will drive and develop strategies for brands. “With her tremendous experience in the industry and understanding of consumer behaviour, she will help in building relationships with key industry players, teams and associates. Additionally, she will play a significant role in designing the offline path of the purchase journey for consumers, thus, connecting them with brands,” said the agency.

    This is Singh’s second innings with dentsu India. Previously, she had been with the network for more than a decade and played a vital role in successfully delivering marketing experiential retail campaigns for brands.

    Speaking on her new role, Singh said, “It’s a great role, with enormous possibilities in my second innings. Hyperspace is a network that has established strong credentials in space for over a decade now. I am excited about the endless opportunities and challenges this new role offers and I look forward to driving Hyperspace’s continued growth and ambition in India.”

    Dentsu International Group MD & COO, Posterscope SA, president, Posterscope APAC Haresh Nayak said, “Arti will be responsible for strengthening the shoppers’ marketing practices across all agencies of dentsu India. Her presence and experience in the space will help us beef up our efforts in understanding the behaviour of shoppers. She brings immense value to the company’s capabilities. We are increasingly bringing on board senior talents in this space who can carry forward the learnings of seamlessly-integrated consumer and brand interaction in the new normal.”

  • Pandemic Effect: 70% millennials open to trying lesser-known brands – dentsu India report

    Pandemic Effect: 70% millennials open to trying lesser-known brands – dentsu India report

    MUMBAI: The Covid-19 pandemic has overwhelmed the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe and put unprecedented pressure on the economy. Businesses and individuals are struggling to mitigate the crisis, which has not only impacted consumer sentiments, but altered their purchase habits, and demand for products and services.

    According to a new report released by the Data Sciences Division of dentsu India, over 70 per cent of millennials and Gen Z consumers in Urban India are now willing to purchase products from a lesser-known brand. It also found that close to 60 per cent of transactions of its surveyed audience claim was fulfilled via virtual wallets- 23 per cent via credit and debit cards and the remaining through cash. Google Pay continues to enjoy a lion’s share followed by Paytm.

    The latest Insights report titled ‘The Next Normal: The Rise of the Contactless Economy’ was released under the agency’s specialist consumer insights wing dentsu Marketing Cloud (DMC) Insights. It covered deep findings of the impact of a zero-touch world on consumer behavior and sentiments with a focus on millennials and Gen Z consumers in Urban India.

    The findings of the report also showed a boom in online certificates. As many as 59 per cent of people claimed to have done an online certification- a trend which is likely to continue post the pandemic, according to the agency. There was a growing preference for Ayurvedic products, as 49 per cent of the surveyed pool said they relied on Ayurveda to meet their immunity needs. 

    “There is widespread uncertainty as the world grapples with the impact of the pandemic. But, in case of ‘at home’ economy, the only assurance is that a ‘next normal’ is being created with the help of a hyper-connected world,” said dentsu Programmatic chief data officer (Asia Pacific) & CEO Gautam Mehra, highlighting that ‘at home’ consumption economy is pegged to reach a $3trillion size globally by 2025. “This will be fuelled by the need for consumers to look at digital channels to maintain normalcy in their lives whether it is to connect with friends and family virtually, purchase necessities, subscribe to content, or discover and learn new skills. Millennials and Gen Z consumers, being digital natives, have been better equipped in adapting to a virtual world by demonstrating a greater adoption of cashless payments and an openness to discover and try new brands.”

    According to dentsu International VP (Asia Pacific) and head of DMC Insights Abhinay Bhasin, Gen Z and millennials will form a cornerstone of new-age marketing and brand engagement given their growing spending power and digital literacy.  “A virtual world has given rise to human experience platforms. With the virus hitting home, there has been a hyper-awareness of health and safety amongst Millennials and Gen Z audiences. This report builds on our commitment to deliver industry leading insights on this demographic covering their impact on various aspects of consumption and growth,” said Bhasin.

  • Soumitra Karnik quits dentsu India

    Soumitra Karnik quits dentsu India

    NEW DELHI: Dentsu India chief creative officer Soumitra Karnik has moved on from the agency, six months after taking on the new role.

    Karnik was leading the agency’s creative output nationally and was responsible for maintaining client-agency relationships for the agency across its offices in Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Kochi. He was handed the additional responsibility of dentsu India CCO in July 2020.

    Karnik has been associated with the network since 2012, and was previously the chief creative officer at Dentsu Impact and mcgarrybowen India. He has worked with leading creative agencies like JWT, Lowe and Percept in the past.

    Some of his memorable campaigns include Pepsi – Yeh Hai Youngistaan Meri Jaan, Slice – Aamsutra, and the ‘What Makes Us Click’ campaign for Canon, to name a few.

  • Dentsu India elevates Indrajeet Mookherjee as president

    Dentsu India elevates Indrajeet Mookherjee as president

    NEW DELHI: Dentsu India, the brand solutions agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), has promoted Indrajeet Mookherjee, erstwhile executive vice president, to the role of president, effective immediately. He will continue to report to Simi Sabhaney, CEO, Dentsu India.

    Under the fresh mandate, Indrajeet will lead the agency’s flagship businesses that include Toyota and ITC Foods. He will also take charge of the agency’s Chennai and Kochi offices that service numerous prestigious brands such as MRF, TVS Housing, Waycool, Jos Alukkas and Geojit, as part of their client roster.

    Armed with two decades of experience across some of the leading communication networks in India and Indonesia, Indrajeet has worked with significant marquee brands such as Unilever, Nestle, Mondelez, Apple, Himalaya Herbal and AB InBev. He joined Dentsu India as Executive Vice President in 2016. Prior to that, Indrajeet was Managing Director at Soho Square, Indonesia, a part of the Ogilvy Group.

    Sabhaney said, “Indrajeet is one of our finest managers who leads from the front, a mentor to many and a true partner to clients alike. In the many years I have known him, his ‘never-say-die attitude’ and passion to win has been a driving force for his team. Equally adept at ‘farming’ and donning the ‘hunting’ hat, he has led and consolidated significant new business wins for the agency. I believe, in his new role, Indrajeet will take the agency to greater heights.”

    Mookherjee added, “The last four years at Dentsu India have been career defining in ways I had never imagined. And now we are faced with a new normal where we will see a paradigm shift in the way brands present themselves. It is in times like these when being effective, intuitive and most importantly, demonstrating true partnership with our clients, will be the marker in defining client-agency relationships and I hope to play my part in it."

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  • Dentsu India EVP Indrajeet Mookerjee promotes COVID-19 lockdown

    Dentsu India EVP Indrajeet Mookerjee promotes COVID-19 lockdown

    MUMBAI: COVID-19 has forced the population to stay indoors, and industries are moving their functions online. In this unprecedented situation,  citizens are counting on the essential service workers who are risking their health to keep the society running smoothly. Some of them have been working silently without us realising how important they are. Dentsu India EVP Indrajeet Mookerjee expresses his gratitude to healthcare providers and other essential services personnel for their support during the pandemic.