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Tag: Kyoko Matsushita

  • Essence elevates T. Gangadhar as APAC CEO

    Essence elevates T. Gangadhar as APAC CEO

    NEW DELHI – Essence, a global data and measurement-driven media agency which is part of GroupM, has appointed T. Gangadhar aka Gangs as the company’s CEO for APAC. Succeeding Essence’s global CEO Kyoko Matsushita, who previously served as APAC CEO, Gangs will be responsible for driving continued client-centric innovation in data, analytics, and technology, as well as business growth and company culture across the agency’s fastest-growing region. Based out of Mumbai in India, Gangs will work closely with Essence’s global and APAC leadership teams and will continue to report to Matsushita.

    Gangs most recently served as president, growth and strategy, APAC for Essence, in charge of the agency’s business strategy, development, and growth. He first joined Essence in 2018 as chairman, India with more than two decades of experience in marketing, advertising, and media. He previously held the role of managing director, south Asia at MEC & senior vice president, head of marketing at Sony Entertainment Television in India, and began his career in creative agency account management and strategic planning.

    “Gangs’ extensive experience in the industry, his knowledge of Essence’s culture and our clients, and his vision for our business in the region make him the ideal person to lead us into our next phase of growth and innovation in APAC. As the most senior member of our regional leadership team, Gangs has done an outstanding job in partnering with me to navigate our business through the challenges of 2020 and I am truly excited about what we will be able to achieve with him at the helm in APAC going forward,” said Matsushita. 

    “I am honored to have the opportunity to lead this truly special agency in APAC. Essence is pioneering the use of data, analytics, and technology at a time when more and more companies are looking to take advantage of data-driven media and creativity. I am excited about leveraging our best-in-class capabilities to discover new ways to add value for our clients, consumers, and employees – in these current times and in the post-Covid2019 future ahead of us,” said Gangs.

    Since Essence’s entry into APAC in 2013, the agency has expanded rapidly across the region, opening offices in Beijing, Bengaluru, Delhi, Jakarta, Melbourne, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo. Essence’s diverse portfolio of clients in APAC now includes Airtel, Britannia, Coty, Faces Canada, the Financial Times, Flipkart, Games24x7, Google, Hermès, HMD (Nokia), Honda motorcycles and scooters, Livspace, Roborock, NBCUniversal, Nitori, Scoot, Toytron, Vedantu, Wakefit, War Horse, and Zee5.

  • Essence creates COO APAC role, ropes in new VP for client partner

    Essence creates COO APAC role, ropes in new VP for client partner

    MUMBAI: Essence, a global data and measurement-driven agency and part of GroupM, today announced the appointments of Kingshuk Mitra and Monica Bhatia to bolster its APAC leadership team. Earlier this year, Essence announced it had nearly doubled its APAC office count after opening operations in Bengaluru, Jakarta, Melbourne and Mumbai. The company is working towards an explosive regional growth.

    Mitra, former managing director of Maxus Philippines, has been named COO APAC, a newly created position. He has recently transitioned into his new role as Essence’s first COO of APAC, and will help APAC CEO Kyoko Matsushita, and wider regional leadership, to define and achieve the agency’s strategic priorities. He will also partner with client services and wider agency disciplines to ensure the delivery of consistent work quality to Essence clients, and to drive day-to-day operational effectiveness. Mitra will be based out of Essence’s Singapore office and will report to global COO Rich Mooney.

    “Essence has built its success on the back of operational excellence across verticals, which is an integral part of the agency’s DNA,” said Mitra. “The role in itself is very exciting to me, as it involves creating the backbone of the operational structure across various projects. This is pivotal as it brings the various disciplines under one umbrella. I look forward to joining the visionary team at Essence and being part of its ambitious growth plans in APAC.”

    Bhatia has joined as vice president, client partner to lead the Google business in APAC. In her new role, Bhatia will oversee the account across six APAC markets, including its Singapore-based hub. Specifically, she will be accountable for building and nurturing strong, collaborative client relationships across the region and driving account strategy. Bhatia will report into president and global client director Dave Marsey. Bhatia previously served as head of digital at Maxus, where she was charged with building the agency’s digital product proposition across 14 markets in APAC. Additionally, she led regional digital duties for key clients such as L’Oreal, Jetstar and Unicharm. Bhatia will be based out of Singapore and brings a wealth of experience in providing integrated media solutions to companies across FMCG, airlines, banking and food and beverage categories.

    “The media industry is changing so rapidly and in such a dynamic way,” said Bhatia. “It’s exciting to see how we can apply Essence’s data-led solutions to help clients achieve their marketing objectives. I’m excited to work with the best media practitioners in the industry who are committed to making advertising more valuable to the world.”

    “I’m thrilled to have Monica and Kingshuk join Essence. Their extensive leadership experience will further shape our operational excellence and data-driven solutions, both of which have a critical impact on our clients and their consumers,” said Essence global CEO Christian Juhl. “We are grateful for GroupM’s continued support, and appreciate the opportunity to leverage their talent mobility offerings from a cross-agency and geographic standpoint.”

    “Monica and Kingshuk are seasoned marketing leaders with extensive client and operations expertise, deep knowledge of the region as well as strong integrated media experience,” said Matsushita. “With their track record of success as digital leaders, they will be a tremendous asset as we continue to expand our footprint in APAC.”

  • GroupM cos appoint new leaders in India, south and north Asia

    GroupM cos appoint new leaders in India, south and north Asia

    MUMBAI: Tim Castree, Global CEO of MEC and CEO of “NewCo”, has announced that Kartik Sharma has been named as Managing Director of the new media, content and technology agency in India and South Asia when it launches in January 2018. Kartik has been Managing Director of Maxus South Asia since 2014 and in that time, has led the agency to outstanding new business growth and success.

    Tim Castree commented: “We’re creating a brand new billion-dollar revenue media, content and technology agency, dubbed ‘NewCo’ for now. With such ambition, comes a need for brilliant talent to lead and inspire, and so today’s news is very exciting for us. Under Kartik’s leadership, I am confident that we will have the right team in place to truly make NewCo a formidable future-facing agency in India and South Asia.” Kartik will report to GroupM South Asia CEO, CVL Srinivas and Tim Castree.

    Following GroupM’s recent commitment to adding offline media capabilities, an expanded geographic footprint and an influx of talent to the agency, Christian Juhl, global CEO of Essence, a global digital-first agency, today announced that T. Gangadhar, current Managing Director of MEC South Asia, will transition into the new role of Chairman of India and Managing Director of North Asia, Essence. Gangadhar will report into Kyoko Matsushita, CEO of Essence APAC. He will continue to be based in Mumbai.

    Anand Chakravarthy, who has served as Managing Partner at Maxus India since 2015, will be transitioning into the role of Managing Director of Essence India. Chakravarthy will report into both Gangadhar and Matsushita and will work closely with the regional leadership in his new role.

    Both Gangadhar and Chakravarthy will assume their new roles by January 2018. The Essence teams will be strongly supported by the GroupM network as they look to expand their presence in market. Christian Juhl commented: “India is such an important market for so many of our clients whose business challenges we work tirelessly to solve. Essence has built its credibility on being a data-centric agency that infuses technology and measurement across all media. We’re excited to expand our geographic footprint and apply our unique approach for our global clients looking for relevance in India. Gangadhar and Anand are experienced leaders who will help expand our presence.”