Tag: Manas Lahiri

  • Manas Lahiri back at Havas India as chief growth officer

    Manas Lahiri back at Havas India as chief growth officer

    MUMBAI: After years of charting remarkable successes across the advertising world, Manas Lahiri returns to where it all began—Havas India.

    In a move that echoes both nostalgia and forward momentum, Lahiri steps back into the fold as chief growth officer, poised to reignite the spark of innovation and propel the network to greater heights.

    A seasoned leader with a knack for transformative growth, Lahiri’s homecoming marks the beginning of a new chapter for one of India’s fastest-growing communications networks.

    Lahiri’s appointment marks his return to Havas India, where he previously served in multiple roles, including MD of Havas Creative India (formerly Havas Worldwide India), between 2018 and 2023. In his new role, Lahiri will collaborate closely with the executive leadership team and report to Havas India, SEA, and north Asia group CEO, Rana Barua.

    Barua welcomed Lahiri’s return, emphasising the significance of his role in the network’s growth trajectory, “Manas’ return to Havas India comes at a crucial time as we continue our strong momentum as a proven integrated and future-facing network. With Havas India’s phenomenal transformation over the past few years, we needed a proven leader to scale our growth ambitions further. Manas’ strategic acumen, extensive industry experience, and deep understanding of our network’s values make him the ideal choice to take on this role.”

    Prior to rejoining Havas India, Lahiri held the position of executive growth partner at VML India, where he played a pivotal role in expanding the agency’s presence and securing key accounts. His career spans over two decades across advertising, brand marketing, and business leadership, including roles at Ogilvy, McCann, and Contract India. Lahiri has worked with marquee brands such as Samsung, Amazon, Coca-Cola, and Reckitt, providing him with a holistic perspective on brand strategy and growth.

    Sharing his enthusiasm, Lahiri said, “I am thrilled to rejoin Havas India at such an exciting juncture. Havas has always been close to my heart, and the network’s journey of transformation into a consolidated, client-centric ecosystem is truly inspiring. I look forward to contributing to this next phase of growth by driving meaningful partnerships, fostering innovation, and building on the strong foundation created by Rana and the team.”

    An MBA graduate from Bangalore University, Lahiri began his career on the client side, working with brands like Motorola and Samsung in sales and marketing before transitioning to advertising. During his previous tenure at Havas Creative India, Lahiri played a critical role in reshaping the agency, driving business wins, and strengthening client relationships. His expertise lies in fostering growth strategies, building high-performing teams, and delivering integrated solutions that yield tangible results.

    This appointment underscores Havas India’s commitment to strengthening its leadership team and fostering innovation across its integrated network.

  • Havas Worldwide names Jigisha Chawla as EVP for Gurgaon office

    Havas Worldwide names Jigisha Chawla as EVP for Gurgaon office

    Mumbai: Havas Worldwide, the creative arm of Havas Group India has appointed Jigisha Chawla as executive vice president for its Gurgaon office. She will report to Havas Worldwide (Creative) managing director Manas Lahiri and will work across key clients of the office.

    Havas Worldwide (Creative) Gurgaon is one of the biggest operations of the agency in India, with over 100 employees, according to the conglomerate. Apart from its biggest client Reckitt, the unit also manages some of India’s leading brands including Dabur, William Grant, Suzuki, Fortis Healthcare, and several others. 

    Over the last three years, the Gurgaon office has bagged several new clients including Stashfin, Renewbuy, Vivo, Jimmy’s Cocktails, Info Edge, and several others, said the statement.

    “With the exponential growth of the Gurgaon unit, we are focussed on beefing up our senior leadership and our product,” Manas Lahiri said. “Jigisha will play a pivotal role in enhancing and strengthening our client relationships and widening our product portfolio.”

    A seasoned advertising and communications professional with over 20 years of experience, Jigisha’s expertise is ingrained in traditional advertising with knowledge of its tenets in brand building with a good understanding of new-age media and the importance of technology to create brand stories. 

    “Over the last couple of years, Havas Group India and all its units have completely turned around and have built a new perception in India. The agency is going through fantastic momentum, and I am looking forward to making a meaningful impact in this growth story,” said Jigisha on her appointment.

    Jigisha has spent a major part of her career with Ogilvy and has managed several marqueebrands and led key client businesses across diverse categories, including MNCs, Government, Non-profit organisations, and Healthcare businesses of Ogilvy Delhi. She has led many integrated teams and brings substantial global project management experience on board.

  • Havas Group India elevates Manas Lahiri as MD

    Havas Group India elevates Manas Lahiri as MD

    New Delhi: Havas Group India has announced a restructuring of its senior leadership team at Havas Worldwide (Creative) India to drive business growth, consolidate client management. Effective immediately, the agency has elevated president North Manas Lahiri to the role of managing director, and Ravinder Siwach, currently the national creative director to the role of executive director and national creative director of Havas Worldwide (Creative) India. 

    With over 19 years in advertising and marketing, Lahiri carries experience across sectors, including FMCG, IT, Telecom, and Auto. And Siwach has nearly two decades of experience in many leading agencies. Both have been determined and helped in the overhaul of Havas in the last few years and have been exemplary for the group, said the agency on Monday.

    Lahiri will continue to report to Group CEO Rana Barua and will lead both the offices (Gurgaon and Mumbai) of Havas Worldwide India. He will work closely with the leadership team of the other Havas group companies to drive growth, digital innovations and help in the overall integration across businesses and functions, said the agency. While Siwach will continue to report to Havas Group India’s chief creative officer and chairman Bobby Pawar.

    “We have witnessed an exponential growth in a short span of two years and have added a phenomenal set of new clients and talents across both our offices.  It was time to recognise a strong leadership to drive the client consolidation and take charge of the day-to-day operations of Havas Creative,” Havas Group India – group CEO Rana Barua said. “Manas is a seasoned leader and has driven both organic and inorganic growth for the network, and Ravinder has done an incredible job in scaling up Havas India’s creative prowess under Bobby. Together they have been amazing partners, demonstrated solid team spirit, skill, commitment, and resilience. I am confident that they will scale up Havas Creative, India to greater heights.”

    Havas Group India chief creative officer and chairman Bobby Pawar said, “Ravinder and Manas are a rare pair of leaders who are equally passionate about creating great work and growing the agency. The way they collaborate sets the right tone for the rest of the team.”

  • NortonLifeLock launches first communication campaign in India with Havas Group

    NortonLifeLock launches first communication campaign in India with Havas Group

    MUMBAI: Cybersecurity company NortonLifeLock has launched its first communications campaign in India with the aim to create awareness amongst consumers to help protect their personal data.

     The communication pivots on the fact that our data is now even more vulnerable than ever and ‘prying eyes’ are on the prowl to steal it.

    The ad points out that without protection on our devices, hackers can easily see what we send over WiFi or peek into our devices and steal financial and personal information for nefarious purposes. This B2C offering from Norton gives the users multiple layers of protection which includes a VPN for online privacy, device security with anti-virus, password manager and more.

    The integrated campaign, conceptualised by Havas Creative and Havas Media in India, is being shared widely across TV, OTT, radio, and digital media.

    APJ digital and advertising director Janet Shi said: “With this new integrated media campaign, we aim to bring our award winning protection to even more Indian consumers and households, to keep you safe from the ever increasing and sophisticated cyber threats putting your privacy at risk.”

    Havas Gurgaon managing partner- north  Manas Lahiri added: “NortonLifeLock wanted to solidify their position in India through their multiple offerings. The film narrates the importance of online security especially in the current situation where there has been a rise in cybercrimes.”

  • Havas Gurgaon appoints Manas Lahiri as GM

    Havas Gurgaon appoints Manas Lahiri as GM

    MUMBAI: Havas Group India has announced the appointment of Manas Lahiri as general manager of Havas Gurgaon. Lahiri's mandate includes bringing in new business and managing overall operations of the Delhi branch, leveraging Havas Group’s integrated capabilities.

    With over 16 years of experience in advertising, Lahiri has worked with agencies like Contract Advertising, McCann, Ogilvy & Mather and Creativeland Asia. Working across sectors which include IT, telecom, FMCG and auto, he has managed renowned brands like General Motors, Google, Dabur Samsung, Motorola, Lenovo, Amazon, Shell, Acer, NIIT, and Reliance.

    Havas Group India group CEO Rana Barua said, “For Havas India Advertising operations in North, we needed a driven and capable leader who is not only aligned with our vision of exponential growth in terms of winning new clients, attracting versatile talent, and demonstrating our integrated strength but is equally comfortable leading a strong Havas team and our partnership with Reckitt Benckiser. In Manas, we have the perfect leader who will help me drive both mandates and make our operations stronger, more relevant both externally and internally.”

    “I am very excited to be part of the Havas India team. The concept of Better Together truly comes to life here with our various offerings from Havas and our partnering companies from Vivendi Group. We now need to strengthen our communication solutions to local and global clients.  My focus will be on driving on aggressive business growth, creating exciting work for our clients and building a team that lives up to Havas’s global standards of creativity," added Lahiri.