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Tag: Havas Media Group

  • Pooja Tomar hops over to Publicis Groupe as senior director of buying

    Pooja Tomar hops over to Publicis Groupe as senior director of buying

    MUMBAI – Media maven Pooja Tomar is on the move again. After nearly three years as senior business director at Havas Media Group, Tomar has been snapped up by Publicis Groupe, stepping into the newly minted role of senior director, buying from April 2025. She will be based in India, working on-site.

    With more than a decade of navigating the labyrinth of media planning, buying and strategy across FMCG, e-commerce and technology, Tomar brings a bulging toolkit of cross-media skills to her new perch. Her career reads like a masterclass in media evolution — from digital hustle to broadcast muscle.

    Before Havas, Tomar clocked nearly five years across Starcom and Publicis’ ZenithOptimedia, sharpening her cross-platform planning chops. Earlier stints at Madison World and GroupM saw her navigating media buying with a keen eye on both budgets and ROI, across some of India’s top retail, telecom and tech accounts.

    Tomar’s trademark: an uncanny knack for aligning new technology with old-school brand strategy – and for chasing hard numbers with harder insights. Over the years, she has built a reputation for being a strategist who can not just plan campaigns but anticipate market moves, with a solid grip on consumer trends, media fragmentation, and the shifting sands of cross-platform engagement.

    Expect fireworks as she joins Publicis Groupe, bringing her “360-degree media brain” to a fiercely competitive Indian media marketplace.

  • Havas Media Group to implement attention data into planning tools globally

    Havas Media Group to implement attention data into planning tools globally

    Mumbai: Havas Media Group (HMG) on Friday announced the expansion of its proprietary global identity-based audience planning platform Converged – with two bespoke tools that harness the power of attention to deliver meaningful media experiences.

    HMG is the first agency network to implement attention data into planning tools on a global scale, with these new tools enabling investment in attentive, sustainable, and economic media exposures.

    HMG’s new Meaningful Media Planner (MMP) harnesses attention data from Lumen’s continuous eye-tracking panels to rank and score over 9,000 domains at a format level for the average attention they are likely to deliver. This data is used in conjunction with vetting of domain safety from Supply-Side Platform (SSP) partners, Demand Side Platform (DSP) data, and Havas’ proprietary domain categorisation algorithm to create a comprehensive assessment of media placements on metrics such as viewability, attentive seconds, and view rate in relation to domain, device, media type, and format.

    This wealth of data allows planners to best direct investment against the specific KPIs of a client’s campaign.

    Complimenting the MMP is the Meaningful Social Matrix (MSM) – a proprietary tool that measures social ad placements by their attention in relation to cost and brand suitability. MSM draws upon proprietary platform and ad placement level attention data from Lumen, campaign performance Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) aggregated from historical Havas owned data, and brand suitability scoring based on the Conscious Advertising Network’s manifesto to give planners a detailed view of the social ecosystem and create a social campaign that is optimal for their clients.

    “Attention optimisation is a rare ‘win win’– consumers are delivered content that connects them to the causes and people they care most about, while brands have the opportunity to deliver their message more economically and sustainably,” said Mx Development global managing director Jon Waite. “With MMP and MSM we’re bringing attention metrics into the planning phase, allowing marketers to make more strategic, informed decisions in selecting media sources that will deliver valued and trusted media experiences.”

    HMG’s commitment to attention has complimented the agency’s efforts to improve sustainability and media investment ROI by reducing tech fees and intermediaries within the supply path, increasing working media, and better supporting content owners. In tests across core markets, MMP curation and HMG’s supply path optimisation were able to achieve 70-80 per cent of every dollar spent ending with the publisher, as compared to 50-60% when buying on the open market.

    MMP and MSM are under continuous development to offer planners new metrics and insights into media effectiveness. In Q4 of 2022, HMG will unveil a new version of these tools that allows direct sustainability assessment by incorporating data from Scope3 to score placements by their carbon emissions.

  • IDBF 2022: The MarTech stack roadmap for D2C brands

    IDBF 2022: The MarTech stack roadmap for D2C brands

    Mumbai: The first panel discussion for the second edition of the Indian Digital Brand Fest 2022, held on 12 October at ITC Maratha in Mumbai, provided an in-depth look at how D2C brands are utilising the MarTech space to attract and retain customers, assisting in not only the sale of brands but also in experience with regard to pre-purchase and post-purchase, and for several other purposes such as warehousing and operations, and even putting out inventory on the website. It also brought out the role of agencies in helping D2C brands achieve all this.

    The discussion was on the topic of “The MarTech stack roadmap for D2C brands,” and was chaired by Wavemaker India’s head of audience sciences, Ronak Parikh.

    Zouk founder & CEO Disha Singh emphasised that as compared to the earlier days when the brand was dependent heavily on their tier I and metro target audience as they were the only ones who had the opportunity to access the brand online, now the brand also has customers across the tier II and tier III cities who have become comfortable adapting to buying D2C brands online, which has helped scale their business further.

    “Most D2C brands were focused on tier I cities because they had more opportunities to shop online. We used to focus more on tier one and metro cities, but thanks to Jio and the internet boom, tier II and tier II cities are also becoming potential markets, and now the split is equal across. This is about consumers’ lifestyle changes; being online and adopting the lifestyle process; and also being ready to experiment with the new brands. This has fueled the D2C base,” she said.

    Singh also revealed, “What has worked for us is providing the consumer with the right product with the right experience. The era of only providing a good product has gone. The consumer not only expects a good product from you at the right price point, but also to experience it pre-purchase and post-purchase. So be it a D2C brand or any brand which wants to grow in today’s times in India, it needs to provide an overall experience to the consumer which begins from when the consumer gets to know about your brand to when the consumer has bought from you.”

    Talking about the role of various MarTech tools that could be utilised, Havas Media group head of digital services India, Rohan Chincholi, brought out that when it comes to a D2C platform, it’s important to make the navigation and checkout process seamless. Hence, tools definitely play a vital role.

    “When you go to a marketplace, you go there for multiple reasons, but when you come to a D2C brand, you are coming with a very clear purpose. It’s not only about sales, it’s also about providing educational or informative content, making navigation and checkout very seamless. It’s very difficult for D2C brands as they do not cater to large audiences or on a large scale, but the money invested is high,” he pointed out.

    Essence vice president of media activation India, Rahul Marwaha, mentioned clearly that MarTech helps agencies and D2C brands to relook at an audience in a different way.

    Speaking of bringing agencies on board, Candere head of marketing & branding Akshay Matkar said that the agencies are experts on the audience while an in-house team is required as product marketers—both need to work on collaboration as per use cases for optimal results.

    “Our category, the jewellery category, was the last adopter of the digital space. During covid, it was not just the consumer behaviour but also the business behaviour of other brands coming online that led us to expand digitally. Tier I and metros were already there; tier II and tier III also started searching and transacting online, and the penetration is still there. Hence, we and our competitors are expanding and focusing more on tier II and tier III cities,” he added.

  • Havas Media Group bags Firefox’s integrated media mandate

    Havas Media Group bags Firefox’s integrated media mandate

    Mumbai: In a multi-agency pitch, Havas Media Group India won the integrated media mandate for Firefox, the top premium bicycle brand in India and a subsidiary of the Hero Cycles Group.

    The mandate includes responsibilities for offline & online  media, and SEO. The account will be handled by Havas Media Group managing partner (head-North1) Roopali Sharma in the agency’s Gurgaon location, under the direction of the company’s president & chief client officer Uday Mohan.

    Firefox, a global leader in the premium and mid-premium bike categories since its establishment in 2004, offers an extensive and exclusive range of luxury motorcycles and accessories.

    The company sells high-end, stylish mountain bikes, road bikes, city bikes (or hybrid bikes), bikes for women, kids, & juniors, electric bicycles, and adventure & outdoor gear including backpacks, bike panniers & pouches, jerseys & t-shirts, and windcheaters & breakers.

    In addition to its e-commerce-enabled website, Firefox Bikes has more than 500 outlets and customer experience centres spread out across tier 1 and metro cities in India.

    Firefox Bikes CEO Sriram Sundresan said, “At Firefox, we are driven by a passion for biking and adventure. Being the pathbreakers, Firefox takes pride in revolutionising biking as a means of transformation, and we’ve seen tremendous growth in the adoption of biking as a preferred lifestyle choice. In Havas, we found a partner that shares a similar passion for connecting brands and consumers through meaningful media experiences. We are delighted to have them on board as our media partners and look forward to a great partnership.”

    Havas Media Group India CEO Mohit Joshi said, “We are proud to have bagged the integrated media mandate of Firefox, a niche category brand that has pioneered the growth of premium biking in India. With people getting increasingly aware of leading a healthy lifestyle and embracing sustainable ways of living, there has been a paradigm shift in the preferred mode of transportation – from conventional ICEs to EVs to bicycles. We look forward to an adventurous partnership by further strengthening the brand’s journey and its vision, as it forges meaningful connections with its consumers.”

  • Havas launches its global e-commerce vertical Havas Market in India

    Havas launches its global e-commerce vertical Havas Market in India

    Mumbai: Havas Media Group (HMG) India, the media agency conglomerate of Havas Group India has announced the launch of Havas Market, a full-service e-commerce offering that aims to empower consumers in their shopping journey, providing meaningful e-retail experiences and generating incremental business for brands. Globally, Havas Market was launched in October 2020.

    To lead this division, HMG India has appointed Sharukh Lakhani as lead – Havas Market. With over 11 years of experience across various segments in the e-commerce space, Lakhani has expert knowledge of the brand, retailer and agency sides of the ecosystem. From start-ups like CouponDunia to established brands like Unilever & GNC, he has been instrumental in building successful e-commerce businesses on the back of strong partnerships with key platforms including Amazon, Flipkart, 1mg, and Healthkart, according to the agency. Lakhani joins from Wavemaker where he led the e-commerce media strategy for clients including Mondelez and Sun Pharma.

    Lakhani will closely work with Provit Chemmani, who leads the e-commerce expansion globally for Havas Group, Havas Media Group India head of digital services Rohan Chincholi, and a team of specialists across research, insights, performance media, content & analytics, said the agency.

    Commenting on the launch, Havas Group India Group CEO Rana Barua said, “With the launch of Havas Market, India is poised to become a leader in creating meaningful shopping experiences. The division will give clients access to real-time market intel to help them form better decisions on the back of data and technology. I’m excited about the Group’s ambitious plans, forging into new avenues, that not only strengthen our capabilities but also ensure upskilling of our people and processes, thereby providing a seamless and integrated experience to our clients.”

    “The current e-retail landscape in India is very competitive and complicated for the consumer,” Havas Media Group India CEO Mohit Joshi said.

    “From fashion, beauty, electronics and mobile, to food, healthcare and entertainment, each product category has witnessed significant growth in e-commerce spending. India already has close to 200 million+ online transacting users. Given Havas Media Group India’s diversified client portfolio, we identified a great opportunity to develop an in-house e-commerce practice. With Havas Market, we want to become the go-to-market entity in the industry, offering an end-to-end solution and optimising clients’ e-retail business. I’m confident with Havas’ existing capabilities and the stellar team of experts, we will be able to scale the vertical to even greater heights.”

    Havas Market will provide a comprehensive understanding and analysis across all sales channels, including 50+ marketplaces, social commerce, direct to consumer, and digital to retail, using a unique methodology that goes beyond media. It will further include capabilities ranging from insights & research, retail & content management, paid media, sales analytics and more. With India experiencing tremendous e-commerce growth fuelled by pandemic-accelerated digital adoption and a rapid expansion in internet services, Havas Market provides a competitive edge from its ability to deliver one-stop e-commerce solutions to manage brands’ economies of scale.

    “Consumers today are constantly on the lookout for ease and convenience in their purchase journey. Havas Market will help brands rethink the retail journey and, in turn, reach an engaged audience. The approach will be guided by Havas Media Group’s Converged data partnership & Mx process that uses connection, context and content to create the most meaningful experience for consumers,” Rohan Chincholi commented.

  • Havas Media Mumbai reports growth of 150 per cent in 2020-21

    Havas Media Mumbai reports growth of 150 per cent in 2020-21

    Mumbai: Following the strategic restructuring of Havas Media Group India’s senior management a few months ago, the agency’s Mumbai office has reported a growth of 150 per cent in 2020-21, on the back of over 15 new account wins.

    This includes ACC Cement, Ambuja Cement, ICICI Securities, De Beers Forevermark, Wai Wai, GITAM University, Dr Reddy’s, OZiva, and several others. In addition, the agency has seen tremendous growth on the back of marquee clients like Tata Motors and TVS Eurogrip and their increased media spends even in 2020. In total, Havas Media Mumbai has added a total billing of over Rs 500 crore in 2020-21, the agency shared.

    In the last fifteen months, Havas Media bolstered its senior leadership team in Mumbai. Uday Mohan took over as president & head – North & West India, which includes the Mumbai operations. In addition, Manish Sharma was elevated as executive vice president and head of the Mumbai operations. To further strengthen the strategy teams, Sanchita Roy was named Havas Media Group India strategy head.

    “Despite the market challenges, in the last 15 months we stuck to our task, defined our vision and kept investing in both our talent and product,” said Havas Group India Group CEO Rana Barua. “In 2020, Havas Media Group India has garnered a growth rate of 35 per cent (RECMA June 2020) – the highest among all media agency networks in India.”

    “Our North operations have always been extremely strong, and now it’s heartening to see the same being replicated in other markets,” said Havas Media Group India CEO Mohit Joshi. “We have seen both organic growth and won some fabulous new client wins in the West in the last 15 months resulting in unprecedented growth.”

    “We are firmly aligned to the network’s global philosophy of creating meaningful media and brands. Havas Media Group is growing the business on four pillars – product, people, pitches, and partnerships,” said Uday Mohan, who has led this unprecedented resurgence story of Havas Media in the West. “Built on the media experience [Mx] operating structure, each phase of the Mx process is powered by converged, an identity–based planning platform, which places the audience at the heart of the media planning process and capitalises on media that matters.”

  • Nearly 40 % readers discontinued newspapers during pandemic, shows Havas Media report

    Nearly 40 % readers discontinued newspapers during pandemic, shows Havas Media report

    Mumbai: Covid-19 proved to be a game-changer for Print as a medium in India. The multiple waves of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns disrupted the production and distribution of newspapers and magazines across the country. Yet, despite the lack of readership data and interrupted circulations, Print emerged as one of the most credible sources of information for most consumers, brands, and marketers, during these volatile times, found Havas Media Group in its latest research.

    The Group released its latest whitepaper bolstering its focus on investing in – Meaningful Media – “Media That Matters”. The report attempts to decode the effectiveness of print as a medium and the shifts in readership behaviour during the pandemic.

    According to the report, close to 40 per cent of the readers discontinued newspaper subscriptions during the pandemic, mainly due to factors such as the risk of infection and change in media consumption patterns. However, the time spent reading newspapers increased significantly, especially in the age group of 41-50 years.

    Approximately, 15 per cent of the readers shifted to regional or vernacular publications, on the heels of trust and tenability, giving way to some interesting trends. For instance, in the South, nearly 60 per cent of readers sought Print as a medium to gain more knowledge, while in the West, around 33 per cent of consumers read newspapers to find local news, according to the report.  

    The report also reveals that there was a huge uptake of news apps. Around 57 per cent of the respondents of this study use news apps. Apart from being a daily habit, some of the top reasons for reading newspapers continues to be gaining more knowledge, staying updated about current affairs and improving language skills. Content related to science & technology, global affairs, and health remained some of the preferred and most-read sections following general news.

    While Television and Social Media were found to be the most credible source of news, print followed closely at the third position.

    The research involved Stratified Random Sampling from YouGov’s proprietary panel which consists of over 2,00,000 active panelists in India, aged between 21-50 years, male and female with a current subscription to at least one daily newspaper spread across 14 key cities in India.

    Print drives highest efficacy for automobile industry

    “A category-wise deep dive on the effectiveness of the medium for advertisers and marketers revealed that Print plays a key role in influencing brand perception, from Quality to Price to Trust, especially within the Automobile category,” says the report.

    Some of the findings specific to the auto category revealed that Print has the highest effectiveness in driving brand awareness, of nearly 55 per cent for first car intenders. For repeat intenders, Print helps drive brand preference across the funnel. Car advertisements were the second most recalled after mobile phones (higher amongst repeat intenders).

    Maruti, Hyundai and Tata Motors ranked highest among the most recalled auto brands. Consumers paid higher attention to advertisements in newspapers, and only 10 per cent skipped them.

    Apart from the auto industry, Print continues to be the preferred source of medium to drive efficacy for other categories like smartphones, finance, and education as well. And even though the print medium saw a dip in readership, owing to the pandemic, the consumer expectation continues to grow stronger in newspapers in terms of content and not just news.

    “This is the resurgence story of Print in India,” said Havas Media Group, head of strategy, Sanchita Roy said, “With the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the Print sector suffered a huge loss especially on the back of the cancellation of subscriptions and other reasons. Hence, it became pertinent to understand not only the consumer shifts that was happening in the media ecosystem but also understand if Print continued to be as effective as before in impacting business outcomes. Despite the short-term de-growth, Print is back with a bang. It continues to be one of the most trusted and credible mediums that helps influence brand perception.”

  • Patanjali Ayurved onboards Anita Nayyar as COO – media & communications

    Patanjali Ayurved onboards Anita Nayyar as COO – media & communications

    MUMBAI: Patanjali Ayurved has appointed senior media, marketing and advertising professional Anita Nayyar as its chief operating officer-media and communications. Nayyar updated her LinkedIn profile to reflect the development. 

    In her last stint, Nayyar was ZEE5’s customer strategy and relationships head.

    In her expansive career spanning over two decades, Nayyar has been instrumental in driving strategic business development, client relations and creative narratives for brands across her stints at varied Indian and global firms. 

    Nayyar joined Havas in 2007 as CEO of Havas Media India. Under her leadership Havas Media in India grew and expanded its offerings as an integrated communications group. In 2018, Nayyar was promoted to CEO of Havas Media Southeast Asia on the back of an accelerated growth strategy in the region, in addition to her role as CEO of Havas Media India.

    In the past, Nayyar has played leadership roles in advertising and media agencies – Ogilvy, Lintas-Initiative Media, Mediacom, Mudra, Starcom.

  • Havas Media Group India announces key elevations for senior management

    Mumbai: Havas Media Group India on Monday announced several new elevations and promotions, as it gears up to accelerate its growth across key markets in the country.

    This year, the focus of the agency has largely been on the product offering and thus investing in people and consolidating client businesses under the global Mx operating system. “Mx is Havas’ new way of activating the most meaningful media to the audience for all clients. This transformation ensures higher focus on clients, better omni channel planning and a seamless workflow right from client briefs to business results, whilst

    keeping the audience and consumer behaviour at the centre of all planning exercise,” the agency said on Monday.

    North: Delhi/Gurgaon is one of the largest business units of Havas Media Group India with clients ranging from auto, consumer durables, real-estate to fashion, F&B and hospitality sectors among others. The north operations have been consolidated under two unit heads – Roopali Sharma, who completes eight long years, and Harbir Singh, who completes six years. They have been promoted as managing partners – Delhi. Chandradeep Kumar completes five years and has been promoted to senior vice president (Delhi).

    West: Mumbai will be led by Manish Sharma, previously vice president -Delhi as executive vice president & head – Mumbai. He has been with the organisation for over five years. Both North and West continue to report to president, north and west India Uday Mohan, who has been a pillar at the agency for the last 13 years. 

    South: Bangalore, which is another fast-growing market for Havas Media Group India with new-age clients such as Swiggy, Gamezy, MyGate and the recent win of Ola, will continue to be led by Saurabh Jain. He has been with the agency for over six years and has been promoted as managing partner – south.

    Digital: Rohan Chincholi is now elevated to head of digital to oversee and consolidate the overall digital business/services across markets, as the agency strengthens its digital footprint in the region through its new Mx methodology that combines both consumer insight and data. This is Chincholi’s second stint at Havas Media. He re-joined the agency in 2017.

    Saurabh and Rohan continue reporting to CEO, Havas Media Group, Mohit Joshi.

    Commenting on the re-organisation, Joshi said, “Continuing to invest in people as we reaffirm our focus on Mx operating system and four Ps – Product, People, Pitches and Passion, I am excited to announce the promotions for these deserving leaders. They have been with us for a long time, tireless with their efforts and commitment in what has been one of the toughest years to help Havas Media reach greater heights. We are confident that going forward this team of emerging leaders will continue to help us become a more agile and robust media group.”

  • Sanchita Roy takes over as head of strategy at Havas Media Group India

    Sanchita Roy takes over as head of strategy at Havas Media Group India

    Mumbai: Havas Media Group India has strengthened its leadership team with Sanchita Roy taking over as head of strategy on Thursday.

    Roy had joined the group as head of west to manage the overall Mumbai operations in 2020 and carries over 19 years of experience in media planning and strategy. 

    In her new role, she will be responsible for driving the growth strategy for Havas Media Group India and leading strategic investments for its clients. Roy will continue to report to Havas Media Group India CEO Mohit Joshi, the global media agency said.

    Roy comes with a vast experience in FMCG, telecom, tourism and auto having worked across key global businesses such as Unilever, J&J, Beiersdorf, SC Johnson, Reckitt, AB InBev, Nissan, Tourism Australia and Vodafone, and domestic businesses such as Parle Agro and Berger Paints to name a few.

    In her previous role, she was heading the strategy function for Omnicom India across both agency brands, OMD and PHD. She was also responsible for rolling out PHD’s strategic planning process, Source, in India and has several thought-leadership articles to her name. Her previous stints also include Wavemaker and Mindshare. Sanchita has been a recipient of coveted industry awards namely, Media Abbys, CMO Asia, Emvies and Campaign Asia Account Person of the Year.  

    Havas Media Group India CEO Mohit Joshi said, “Havas Media Group India has won many new clients last year despite the slowdown and continues to keep the momentum this year too with many prestigious clients such as Dominos, CG Foods, Micromax and more. Our India offering is now a key contributor to the overall global pie and hence this is an important step towards strengthening our product portfolio. Sanchita’s vast experience as a strategist makes her a perfect fit for this role and further bolsters our leadership team.”

    Roy added, “The last one year has been one of constant change across the world, especially so in the way consumers are interacting and engaging with brands. In my new role, the endeavour would be to understand these shifts and deliver meaningful media for our clients, using data, technology and content. I am excited about this opportunity and look forward to adding value and partnering Havas Media Group India in its new growth journey.”