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Tag: Isobar India

  • Gurjot Shah Singh moves on from Dentsu after 8 years

    Gurjot Shah Singh moves on from Dentsu after 8 years

    MUMBAI: Isobar India’s Gurjot Shah Singh has stepped down from his role as executive vice president- media after an eight-year stint at the network. The development was confirmed by Dentsu to IndianTelevision.com.

    Singh’s next move is not yet known. Having joined the agency in 2014 as account director at iProspect, Singh served a stint of nearly six years at Dentsu Webchutney where he took on the role of executive vice president & national media head. He was elevated to his current role at Isobar India in January this year.

    A multi-dimensional digital marketer, Singh has been instrumental in the success of Dentsu Webchutney having built the media practice ground up at the digital marketing agency in the last few years. He has been a part of over 30 national and international award-winning campaigns in his career of 12 years, having worked on 200 plus brands, including Ather Energy, Honda bikes, Uber, Max life insurance, IndusInd Bank, Whirlpool, Canon, Flipkart, Under Armour, British council, Air India, Sony Pictures, to name a few.

    Recently, the network has witnessed a spate of high profile exits, even the Dentsu Creative Group India centralised its digital media services across all its agencies and capabilities under the Isobar India group.

  • Isobar India taps Gurjot Shah Singh to drive media services

    Isobar India taps Gurjot Shah Singh to drive media services

    Mumbai: Isobar, the creative agency from the house of dentsu India has announced the appointment of Gurjot Shah Singh as executive vice president (EVP) – media. 

    In his new role, Gurjot will be responsible for strengthening the media services of the agency. He will also be driving the growth of media services for Isobar India group jointly with WATConsult AVP media and strategy Shanu Jain, said the statement.

    “Creative use of media is the key to success in advertising and Gurjot echoes the same in his work,” said Isobar India group CEO Heeru Dingra. “He comes with extensive experience in the industry and has invaluable knowledge in his domain. Moreover, he brings with him the talented team from Webchutney, those who have been instrumental in bagging multiple awards internationally. I am looking forward to having him build on the exciting and vast roster of brands that we manage at Isobar.”

    “The next leg of Isobar’s journey is all about providing differentiated experiences to the consumers. Media and creative will have to work hand in hand to provide such experience. Gurjot, with his experience, will be able to take Isobar to new heights in this regard. I look forward to working with Gurjot to not just provide a great solution to our clients, but also to grow the Isobar business in the coming days,” added Isobar India managing partner Rahul Vengalil.

    Over the last decade, Gurjot has worked on several award-winning campaigns and consulted over 250 brands including Ather Energy, Honda bikes, Uber, Max life insurance, IndusInd Bank, Whirlpool, Canon, Flipkart, Under Armour, British council, Air India, Sony Pictures, to name a few.

    “With the enhanced mandate, my team and I will further build on Isobar’s existing strengths and capabilities,” said Gurjot on his new role. “In this new avatar, we’re going to be very pragmatic about what the alchemy of creative, media and technology is going to bring. I am excited to partner with some of the best talents in dentsu to drive a wider change in the way brands connect with audiences.”

    It is pertinent to note here that dentsu Creative group India has centralised its digital media services across all its agencies and capabilities under the Isobar India group. The agencies under dentsu Creative group India include dentsu Webchutney, Taproot dentsu, WATConsult, Perfect Relations, Isobar, dentsu One, dentsuMB (earlier Dentsu India) and dentsu Impact.

  • Aalap Desai elevated to lead Taproot dentsu & isobar India as CCO

    Aalap Desai elevated to lead Taproot dentsu & isobar India as CCO

    Mumbai: dentsu India has appointed Aalap Desai to the role of chief creative officer (CCO), Taproot dentsu, a dentsuMB Company. The erstwhile isobar India national creative director (NCD), Desai has also been promoted to the role of CCO for the agency. In both roles, he will report to dentsu Creative India group chief creative officer (GCCO) Ajay Gahlaut, announced the agency on Tuesday.

    “In addition to leading isobar India’s creative team, Desai will now also be responsible for Taproot dentsu’s transformation into becoming a nex-gen, digital-first agency,” said the statement.

    Meanwhile, Titus Upputuru, earlier creative head, has now been elevated to the role of Taproot dentsu NCD, Gurgaon. He will lead the agency’s Gurgaon creative team and will report to Aalap Desai. Upputuru has also been entrusted with the additional charge of leading integrated solutions for dentsu Creative India. In this role, he will report to Ajay Gahlaut.

     “The decision is vital to the growth of dentsu Creative in India and aligned with the network’s global ambitions. Talents such as Aalap and Titus come with unmatched expertise & experience, and their contributions are bound to outweigh the expectations of our clients and the industry,” commented dentsuMB Group CEO Sidharth Rao. “Over the years, they have been groomed with the proficiency to build brands from scratch and are excellent at measuring & matching the market pulse with client needs. With this move, I look forward to dentsu Creative India reinforcing creative solutions in newer and undefined ways.”

    “It is fascinating to work with some of the country’s best creative brains. Aalap and Titus are creative geniuses who have delivered some fantastic campaigns over the years,” said Ajay Gahlaut. “Their brand-building approaches are contemporary and fresh. I feel that’s the need of the hour. All the conversations around us are evolving and it is inevitable for brands to evolve their conversations too. They are perfect for that task. Their expertise in brand thinking and storytelling will create robust digital-led creative solutions for clients. I am looking forward to working with both.”

    While working at India’s best mainline and digital agencies, Desai has developed a profile that is truly integrated. He has won over 150 International & National awards that include Cannes Lions, D&AD, Spikes and One Show. Previously, Desai was with dentsuMB India where he held the position of NCD.

    In addition to this, he also co-headed the creative team at dentsu Webchutney, Mumbai and was behind some of the most notable works like Code Name: Uri, The 8-bit Journo for Vice and The World’s Most Reported trailer for “Thappad.” Apart from this, Desai was also a part of the creative teams at Disney+ Hotstar, Leo Burnett, JWT, DDB Mudra, Ogilvy, and Publicis Ambience. He has helped build brands like McDonald’s, Complan, Huggies, Nerolac, Videocon d2h, and some youth-centric ones like Early Salary and MTV India.

    Speaking on his new role, Desai commented, “With the integrated approach we have now, I am excited to be a bigger part of that journey with my new role at isobar and Taproot dentsu. isobar has taught me the power of limitless possibilities, the power of future-gazing and thinking of things that don’t even exist. It is a scary privilege to not just be in step with the world but to create steps that the world will use to climb to the future.”

  • Isobar India appoints Pragati Rana as senior VP- strategy

    Isobar India appoints Pragati Rana as senior VP- strategy

    MUMBAI: Isobar, the digital agency from the house of dentsu India, has named Pragati Rana as its senior vice president – strategy. As per the fresh mandate, Rana will head strategy for Isobar India and build an integrated planning team under her. 

    Prior to this, Rana was general manager- Strategy & Operations at dentsumcgarrybowen (dentsuMB) India. Armed with more than 10 years of experience, Rana has won over 50  industry accolades for her work, which includes Vice Media’s 8-bit Journo, Sony Pictures’ Angry Islands, MIB Agent Incognito, Thappad’s The Most Reported Trailer, Early Salary’s Month End Collection, Big FM’s Pride from Home campaigns, to name a few.

    In her previous stints, Rana has worked across categories such as food, haircare, entertainment, technology, start-ups, automobile, and finance. Additionally, she has worked on brands like P&G, Complan, Heinz Ketchup, Tata Salt, Vespa, Honor mobiles, MTV, Big FM, Sony Pictures, and Early Salary. Her integrated experience comes from amalgamating learnings of brand building from mainline agencies like Leo Burnett and coupling them with learnings on new-age brand fluidity from digital agencies like Dentsu Webchutney and dentsuMB India. She has also spent some time on the client-side as part of the marketing team in GlaxoSmithKline.

    Isobar chief operating officer Gopa Kumar said, “Isobar India is poised to become an innovation-first, fully integrated digital agency. We want people who not only understand the world of digital but also the world of brands and the world of the future, which is innovation, Pragati fits right in.”

    Isobar chief business officer Rahul Vengalil added, “The future of advertising is bringing together brand thinking & digital thinking to create an experience economy.  Pragati, with her experience and vision of creating a new age planning team, would help us to be the pioneers in this journey of creating an experience economy.”

    Elaborating on her new role, Pragati Rana said, “An agency is future-ready when digital people can think of brands, and when brand people can think of digital and when both can think of the future – culture and innovations. My task is to help in creating a new species of mutant planners who can think of culture, brand as well as digital, social, and innovations. I’m super excited about this task. Isobar India has a very ‘actively progressive’ culture built by the leadership team where people aren’t just open to learning but actually look forward to it. I, too, am looking forward to partnering with Isobar India in its upwards and onwards journey.”

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  • MMA & Isobar India launch ‘The Voice Playbook’

    MMA & Isobar India launch ‘The Voice Playbook’

    Mumbai : MMA & Isobar, the digital agency from the house of dentsu international, have launched ‘The Voice Playbook’ for India to tap into the potential impact of voice on the global and Indian media and marketing industry.

    The playbook allows marketers to understand how to use voice as a medium/platform to engage with their consumers. 

    “Voice technology will become the next great disruptor and India as a market is very receptive to voice as a medium and Isobar is extremely excited to help brands ride on this new wave,” said Isobar south Asia Group MD Shamsuddin Jasani during the launch. “Just like brands needed an internet strategy in the ‘90s, a search strategy in 2000, and a mobile strategy in 2010, we at Isobar believe now brands need a voice strategy.”

    Powered by Slang Labs, ‘The Voice Playbook’ focuses on the key adaptations that will be required in the post-pandemic world, where consumers will have a voice option at self-checkout counters, ATMs, automobiles, elevators, and anywhere else touch is currently needed. It also highlights how voice technology will play a pivotal role in fuelling aided commerce growth as 82 per cent of smartphone users are using voice-activated technology. The growing adoption of voice technology in shopping online will leave voice assistants to suggest products to buy. Link to the report: https://go.mmaglobal.com/TheVoicePlaybook 

    Voice technology will become the next great disruptor and India as a market is very receptive to voice as a medium, opined Isobar India COO Gopa Kumar. “Consumers are very receptive to it, but there is still very little information on how voice tech will affect the various digital marketing platforms or the marketing mix. This playbook aims to decode that and will help to position yourself or your brand ahead of the curve,” he added.

    Voice technology has also become integral to the entire value chain, especially after the pandemic – a fact which marketers have begun to recognise. “In post-pandemic times, contactless experiences, increased voice searches, consumption of vernacular languages, conversational commerce are riding the wave,” said MMA India country head Moneka Khurana.M

    According to Slang Labs’ co-founder and Obsessive Dictator, Kumar Rangarajan brands are unable to capture the full potential of this huge market. “When Slang Labs started about four years ago, the marketing was still focused on the digital-savvy and majorly urban population of India. Post-Covid, even the non-digital savvy populations in urban and rural areas are getting on board the digital highway. This is where we see Voice Playbook 2021 enabling marketers to understand the key challenges faced by this huge untapped market and engage accordingly.”

  • Isobar India launches experience-led transformation consulting practice ‘Isobar Consulting’

    Isobar India launches experience-led transformation consulting practice ‘Isobar Consulting’

    NEW DELHI: Isobar, the digital agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), has announced the launch of Isobar Consulting in India. A global transformation consultancy, Isobar Consulting will help brands define their digital transformation strategies. It will also help brands construct roadmaps to unlock their exponential business growth within the country while reinforcing Isobar's strategic capabilities to deliver experience-led transformation and ensuring excellence in the delivery of end-to-end solutions to clients.

    The offering has been developed to respond to the demand for customer-centric solutions to drive growth. It has been built on the strong plinth of Isobar India Group's existing consulting capabilities – powered by Fractal Ink and Isobar India. For the record, Fractal Ink and Isobar India have strong experience in delivering experience-led transformation projects in markets such as India, Switzerland, Mauritius, Indonesia, Kenya, Egypt, and parts of the Middle East.

    In its initial phase, Isobar Consulting will help companies build their digital culture. It will create digital transformation roadmaps by identifying internal operational efficiencies and opportunities to ace the X-factor for end consumers, partners, and employees, and, thus, foster the industry’s 4.0 capabilities.

    Isobar Consulting will be led by Priyanka Agrawal, co-founder, COO and chief strategy officer, Fractal Ink, as country head. Additionally, the agency has also appointed Rahul Vengalil as chief business officer, Isobar Consulting. Both Agrawal and Vengalil will report into Shamsuddin Jasani, Group MD, Isobar South Asia.

    Shamsuddin said, “We have been readying ourselves to launch this world-class experience-led transformation business for almost six months now. However, we wanted to fine tune it before launch and now, on the back of two big wins, we are launching Isobar Consulting. I feel that by drawing capabilities from two of the finest agencies within the Isobar India group – Fractal Ink and Isobar India, we can deliver a roadmap for a lot of businesses that seek this transformation. experience-led transformation is our key offering, and we genuinely believe that we have a substantial competitive advantage in this space. With the addition of this service, the Isobar India Group can deliver end-to-end solutions to clients – right from consulting to delivery.”

    Agrawal added, "The digital world is changing at a break-neck speed. We realised we need a new formula for the new era that a traditional consulting or design agency alone cannot deliver – an experience-led innovation consulting. We merged the design strategy, creative, and digital capabilities of Fractal Ink and the broad reach, mar-tech experience, and deep business and brand strategy of Isobar India to create something that brings immense value to our clients and catapults their growth. With depth, commitment, and impact in our DNA, we strive to orchestrate the capabilities to truly change the game and deliver insights at speed and solutions at scale. We are looking forward to be a part and reason for the digital transformation success stories of companies.”

    Speaking on the appointment and launch, Vengalil commented, "Digital platforms and technologies have become an integral part of consumer journeys today. It is not an advertising platform for them. They are transacting, communicating, researching, building relationships, banking, etc. It is a different life for consumers on digital. Forward-looking businesses need to understand consumer needs and solve their problems using digital solutions. For this, we need to change the existing advertising codes and reorient the entire organization to keep consumer needs and problems at the centre.”

    Isobar Consulting will drive this experience-led Transformation practice across all Dentsu Aegis Network offices in India.

  • Isobar India to nurture future strategists with ‘KickStrat’

    Isobar India to nurture future strategists with ‘KickStrat’

    MUMBAI: Isobar India, the digital agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), has announced the launch of ‘KickStrat’, an internship opportunity to foster future strategists.KickStrat is the most comprehensive and exclusive 24-week training programme that allows young and budding talents to explore account planning and strategy as a significant career choice. The advertising industry demands new talent that can think fast, smart, and different. Keeping this in mind, the ‘KickStrat’ programme promises to transform new talent into proficient and effective strategists for the future.

    Isobar south Asia group MD Shamsuddin Jasani said, “We are excited to launch this program and train our future strategic leaders. We intend to enable 'strategic planning' for interested candidates who can think fast and think hard. This program will help transform new talent into capable strategists for the future. At Isobar, we believe in nurturing culture and a value system that is unique and will help the industry at large.”

    “We are excited to launch this program for all the budding brand strategy planners. As we see a shift in the entire communication landscape where everyone is looking at driving transformation, planners will play an important part in driving strategic relationships with clients and help in long-term development and retention. There is a huge dearth of talent, and this program aims to enable and nurture new talent,” added Isobar India COO Gopa Kumar.

    “The industry has steadily moved away from the traditional model of account planning. Today, strategy is at the core of collaboration. It is present at every intersection of different functions. We, at Isobar, believe in nurturing talent, and with KickStrat, we want to build capable new-age strategists who can lead not just from the front but from the center,” opined Isobar India lead – north, account planning Mamtah Sabherwal.

    The beginning is always challenging to shape a successful career. Thus, Isobar India has decided to establish that pillar for those young minds who are ready to dive into the world of new learning and discoveries. This 6-month program involves a unique blend of intensive classroom learning, live projects, research, and a variety of assignments. After the first three months of rigorous classroom training and research projects, the chosen few will advance to the next three months of on-the-job training, which may eventually lead to a full-time position, if lucky. In these times of fewer opportunities, the agency believes that the launch of this program will help train and build future strategic leaders.  

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  • Isobar India ropes in Rohit Mukherjee as Creative Director South

    Isobar India ropes in Rohit Mukherjee as Creative Director South

    MUMBAI: Isobar India, the digital agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network, has appointed Rohit Mukherjee as the creative director, South. Mukherjee will report to Anish Varghese, chief creative officer, Isobar India. His last stint was with Bates India where he worked as associate creative director.  

    Varghese said, “I am thrilled to see Rohit on board with his rich and varied experience in brand building. I am confident that the blend of his experience and Isobar’s culture of digital-first thinking will empower us to produce exceptional work to drive our vision of experience-led transformation, powered by creativity.”  

    Armed with 14 years of experience, Mukherjee has worked with Rediffusion, Publicis, McCann and DDB Mudra.

    Mukherjee added, "Isobar has been making all the right noises with some phenomenal work that has created a lot of chatter. With Isobar's digital-first philosophy and approach to advertising, it is charting the right course for the industry in general; and what intrigues me the most, with such a philosophy, is the concept of having an ‘adda’ with your consumers, wherein storytelling is two-way traffic. So, it’s a no-brainer that I need to be a part of this journey. Exciting times ahead!”  

    It is pertinent to note that Mukherjee has won close to 50 national and international advertising awards. These include the New York Festivals, the Global Award, Spikes, Clio’s, RX Club, Abby, e4m IDMA, Campaign India Digital Crest, Emvies, Effie, MMA Global Smarties, Festival of Media and Flames Asia Awards, amongst others.