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Tag: Hungama Digital Services.

  • Prashant Vyas joins Socheers as head of people growth & culture

    Prashant Vyas joins Socheers as head of people growth & culture

    Mumbai: Socheers has appointed Prashant Vyas as its new head of people growth & culture, bringing extensive expertise in human resources, talent management, and employee engagement. With over a decade of experience, he has been instrumental in shaping workplace cultures and implementing people-centric policies across many organisations.

    Before joining Socheers, Vyas led HR functions at The Minimalist, Famous Innovations, Wunderman Thompson South Asia, and Hungama Digital Services, driving talent acquisition, workforce planning, and employee engagement.

    Holding a master’s degree in human resources research & development from K J Somaiya Institute of Management, he combines academic insight with industry experience to foster a thriving work environment. At Socheers, he will focus on aligning HR strategies with business objectives, enhancing employee well-being, and promoting a culture of innovation and inclusivity. 

  • JWT names Carlton D’Silva as Hungama Digital Services CEO

    JWT names Carlton D’Silva as Hungama Digital Services CEO

    MUMBAI: J. Walter Thompson South Asia (JWT) has named Carlton D’Silva as Hungama Digital Services (HDS) chief executive officer (CEO) effective immediately. D’Silva will be reporting into JWT South Asia CEO Tarun Rai, while continuing to lead HDS’ creative leadership as its chief creative officer.

     

    In his new role, D’Silva will be responsible for leading the growth at HDS and further enhancing its creative output. He will partner Rai to seamlessly integrate and deliver on JWT South Asia’s creative vision to offer the best value proposition to its clients. He will have complete oversight of all six offices of HDS, including Hungama Promo Marketing.

     

    Rai said, “Carlton is a dynamic, creative leader with strategic capabilities, which makes him an ideal choice to head HDS. He is young, ambitious and has the drive to take HDS to the next level.”

     

    “We are delighted to elevate Carlton as the CEO of HDS. Apart from being one of the most experienced digital advertising professionals in India, Carlton has demonstrated tremendous leadership qualities in leading a team of top performers who have won accolades for their clients and given them innovative and sustainable solutions with impactful and engaging consumer interactions. In his new role, Carlton will prepare our clients from leveraging creative digital activations and transform their communities to transactions. I wish him all the very best, always,” said HDS director on-board Neeraj Roy.

     

    D’Silva added, “Hungama Digital Services has evolved over the years and I have been privileged to be a part of this journey. We are at a sweet spot when it comes to Digital Marketing. HDS has proved that we have always stayed ahead of the curve when it comes to new ways of communication and I do believe we will keep surprising everyone through innovations and ideas. I hope to make good on the learnings over the years, take HDS to greater heights and set the benchmark in digital communication through technology and collaboration.”

     

    D’Silva joined HDS in its early days in 1999 and was instrumental in creating the brand it is today. With an agile and dynamic team of visualizers, designers, and copy writers, he has been responsible for creating award winning ideas for brands across digital media in the form of social media activations, games, mobile apps, digital innovations and other forms of digital promotions for domestic and international clients.

  • Tarun Rai to replace Colvyn Harris as JWT South Asia CEO

    Tarun Rai to replace Colvyn Harris as JWT South Asia CEO

    MUMBAI: Beginning early 2015, Tarun Rai will step into the shoes of Colyvn Harris as JWT South Asia CEO.

     

    Harris, who has had a longstanding tenure with the company, will assume the role of global growth and client development executive director and will report to J Walter Thompson Company CEO Gustavo Martinez.

     

    In the role of CEO, Rai will lead JWT, which includes India, Sri Lanka and Nepal, as well as JWT’s Indian companies, including Contract Advertising, Hungama Digital Services, J. Walter Thompson Mindset, Encompass and Social Wavelength. He will report to Martinez and will work closely with Asia Pacific CFO Nick Romas.

     

    “I am thrilled to welcome Tarun Rai back to J. Walter Thompson. Tarun has the global business acumen and pioneering spirit needed to lead J. Walter Thompson south Asia. He was an important part of our, and now he will be a critical part of our future,” said Martinez.

     

    Rai rejoins the company from Worldwide Media, where he held the role of CEO since 2008. Under Rai’s leadership, Worldwide Media (then a joint venture of The Times of India Group and BBC Worldwide) grew exponentially.

     

    “It’s wonderful to return home to J. Walter Thompson during this pivotal time in the company’s history. Being away for a few years has given me an invaluable ‘outside-in’ perspective of the advertising business. Having a chance to head J. Walter Thompson South Asia and work with Gustavo Martinez as he leads J. Walter Thompson into the next 150 years is a huge honour,” added Rai.

     

    During his tenure at JWT, Rai helped build some of the world’s most reputed brands; his clients included Hindustan Unilever, Diageo, GlaxoSmithKline, Pizza Hut, De Beers, ITC, Tata Steel, Nestlé, Hero, Godrej and Kellogg’s. Rai is an advertising and media professional with more than 25 years’ experience. He holds a business degree and is an alumnus of the London School of Economics.

     

    Harris, who has spent 35 years at JWT, has been Contract Advertising CEO and J. Walter Thompson Colombo managing director. He also holds various industry leadership roles and board positions, including Advertising Agencies Association of India president.

     

    Under his leadership, J. Walter Thompson South Asia has built a formidable reputation with a diverse spectrum of traditional, mainstream, activation, events and digital marketing services capabilities, including the acquisitions of Encompass, Hungama Digital Services, Mindset and Social Wavelength. The agency also won its first Cannes Grand Prix and first Titanium Lion under his leadership, and was the highest awarded Indian agency at Cannes 2014. The company has deepened the scope and scale of the services it offers in the market, from digital to events and activation, through organic growth and acquisitions.

     

    Harris said, “Every day has been an opportunity across my professional career at J. Walter Thompson. Building our capabilities to meet the ambition of our clients’ brands has been my relentless passion and purpose. I have worked with the most amazing and talented team one can ever hope for, and the bluest-of-blue chip clients across every category one can dream of. I am proud to have sustained and grown our client partnerships, and that our clients continue to be leaders in their respective categories for the ideas we have delivered for them. I look forward to being an integral part of the global client development team.”

     

    “I am deeply grateful for Colvyn Harris’ longstanding leadership and commitment to J. Walter Thompson. Colvyn has been a real asset and a great support during my first 11 months in the company. He will continue to help me further the growth of the company in this new role,” added Martinez.

     

    “2015 will be a big year, especially for J. Walter Thompson South Asia under Tarun’s leadership and vision,” concluded Martinez.

     

  • HDS creates ‘#TheBigShot’ campaign for Bing

    HDS creates ‘#TheBigShot’ campaign for Bing

    MUMBAI: Hungama Digital Services has created a unique and one-of-its kind photography led social media campaign for Bing, one of the leading search engines by Microsoft.
     

    Bing’s homepage displays spectacular images across genres that people like to engage with; keeping this as the driving thought, HDS designed Bing’s #TheBigShot campaign that aims to bring together budding photographers to share their images with Bing and MSN to become part of Bing’s homepage imagery. The 6 week contest kick started on 10th March, 2014. Weekly themes will be unveiled by the Jury, thus inviting entries for submission in each of the categories.
     

    “We are very pleased to partner with Hungama Digital Services for this initiative. The Bing search engine is steadily gaining momentum and its visual richness is one of its top features. We are therefore excited about reaching out to top photographers across the country with our joint campaign”, says Vinay Kumar, APAC Head, Bing Partnerships.

    A celebrated jury comprising leading photographers of India such as Hari Menon, Rathika Ramaswamy, Venky of Photriya Photography and Dr. Ceaser Sengupta will not only be screening the entries, they will also aid amateur photographers with tips and tutorials to hone their photographic skills. The jury will declare a weekly winner in each of the categories, who will have their image featured on the Bing homepage for a day. Bing will also enlarge the image to poster size and send it across to them. Besides being featured in the downloadable wallpaper pack of the Microsoft website, the winning entries will be featured prominently on Bing and MSN India Facebook pages.

     
    “Images can have a very deep and lasting impact. Bing is a pioneer in this space with the beautiful imagery that goes on every day on the search engine. It makes for a beautiful experience! So we thought, why not involve our fans and ask them to contribute? Through #TheBigShot campaign, we want to nurture budding photographers and provide them with a platform to showcase their work, making it a one of its kind social media campaign”, says Kunal Arora, Head Digital Services, Hungama Digital Services.
     

    Bing’s #TheBigShot campaign reaches out to anyone and everyone who is interested in photography including amateur photographers. It will include all forms of photography across categories and themes such as People and Cultures of India, Emotions, Wildlife, Birds, Landscapes, Cityscapes and Night Life, In the lap of Nature, Macro, Micro, flora and fauna as well as Abstract.
     

    In order to participate in the contest, fans have to follow Bing India’s official Facebook page and submit their images for various themes suggested by Bing India over a span of 6 weeks.

  • Hungama Digital Services appoints Mohit Hira as CEO

    Hungama Digital Services appoints Mohit Hira as CEO

    MUMBAI: JWT south Asia has announced the appointment of Mohit Hira as the CEO of Hungama Digital Services (HDS).

     

    Mohit, who joined JWT in November 2012, has been overseeing JWT Group’s digital initiatives over the past eight months; in addition to his role as the business lead on Airtel. Given JWT’s increased focus on digital, he will now assume leadership of digital. As part of this, Mohit will be overseeing the entire operations of HDS and JWT Digital, thereby ensuring seamless integration of the two to offer truly integrated digital solutions to all HDS and JWT clients.

     

    “Mohit is well poised to take on this role, given his proficiency in creative, content and strategic planning along with his experience as a brand custodian.  With his strong creative and digital capabilities Mohit will be leading one of India’s highly awarded digital agencies that will continue to live up to being a ‘single source’ partner for our clients across all their digital platforms,” said JWT south Asia CEO Colvyn Harris.

     

    Mohit is an advertising creative director turned netvangelist, with a career spanning over two decades with rich and diverse experience across advertising, marketing, journalism and digital media. He was recently nominated to the Impact India Digital Power 100 List and has also been on the IBM-Paul Writer list of Top 50 CMOs earlier.

     

    On his new role, Mohit said, “I have been working closely with the team at Hungama Digital in the past few months and the opportunity of leading an extremely talented and committed team there was irresistible. Neeraj set up India’s leading digital agency ahead of its time and it has grown into a strong, respected company of creative technologists. I’m looking forward to partnering Neeraj and JWT in the mission to make HDS one of the most sought-after digital agencies in the region.”

     

    JWT acquired a majority stake in HDS in May 2012 to offer to its clients a full services digital agency specialising in digital marketing and social media solutions. As part of the acquisition, Hungama’s activations arm, Hungama Promo Marketing also merged with HDS to provide an engagement platform linked to online and offline deliveries.