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Tag: Mandeep Malhotra

  • The Social Street beefs up leadership team

    The Social Street beefs up leadership team

    MUMBAI:The Social Street is making significant investments in its senior leadership team. The agency has roped in Shonali Sharmaa as the managing partner for the experiential business vertical and Shilov Mani as the senior vice president in planning. Both the senior executives will report to Mandeep Malhotra and will be based in Mumbai.

    The Social Street CEO and founding partner Mandeep Malhotra said, “Both of them come with exceptional capabilities and inherent understanding of brands, markets and consumers.”

    Sharmaa added, “We have heard it for years; collaborate, work together, integrate. Yet, we still seem to push our clients agenda, be it in digital, activation, retail, OOH, et al in silos. My aim is to have ‘One seamless thought process across media’ to make The Social Street the most effective marketing communications agency.”

    Mani said, “What drew me to The Social Street was Pratap and Mandeep’s vision to build a future-ready agency.”

    Sharmaa has 15 years of experience in experiential marketing. She has worked with agencies like Ogilvy, Bates, among others, as an integrated marketing specialist and has built the requisite skill set and experience to lead from strength to strength. She has serviced clients in telecom (Idea, Vodafone, Motorola, Samsung), FMCG (Pepsi, Cadbury’s) and Media (National Geographic, Discovery Networks).

    In his 16 years of work-experience, Mani has spent five years in supply chain management, working with Mahindra and Total Fina Elf, before joining Ogilvy & Mather handling media buying, planning and client servicing. He moved to the DDB Mudra Group to handle their OOH, activation, events and retail executions. Mani has won numerous awards at MAA, PMAA, Abbies, Effies, Emvies, OAC and WoW. He has worked with clients such as HUL, HSBC, HT, Ashok Leyland, ITC, Uninor, HCC, Idea, among others.

  • The Social Street beefs up leadership team

    The Social Street beefs up leadership team

    MUMBAI:The Social Street is making significant investments in its senior leadership team. The agency has roped in Shonali Sharmaa as the managing partner for the experiential business vertical and Shilov Mani as the senior vice president in planning. Both the senior executives will report to Mandeep Malhotra and will be based in Mumbai.

    The Social Street CEO and founding partner Mandeep Malhotra said, “Both of them come with exceptional capabilities and inherent understanding of brands, markets and consumers.”

    Sharmaa added, “We have heard it for years; collaborate, work together, integrate. Yet, we still seem to push our clients agenda, be it in digital, activation, retail, OOH, et al in silos. My aim is to have ‘One seamless thought process across media’ to make The Social Street the most effective marketing communications agency.”

    Mani said, “What drew me to The Social Street was Pratap and Mandeep’s vision to build a future-ready agency.”

    Sharmaa has 15 years of experience in experiential marketing. She has worked with agencies like Ogilvy, Bates, among others, as an integrated marketing specialist and has built the requisite skill set and experience to lead from strength to strength. She has serviced clients in telecom (Idea, Vodafone, Motorola, Samsung), FMCG (Pepsi, Cadbury’s) and Media (National Geographic, Discovery Networks).

    In his 16 years of work-experience, Mani has spent five years in supply chain management, working with Mahindra and Total Fina Elf, before joining Ogilvy & Mather handling media buying, planning and client servicing. He moved to the DDB Mudra Group to handle their OOH, activation, events and retail executions. Mani has won numerous awards at MAA, PMAA, Abbies, Effies, Emvies, OAC and WoW. He has worked with clients such as HUL, HSBC, HT, Ashok Leyland, ITC, Uninor, HCC, Idea, among others.

  • The Social Street ropes in Heena Mistry as head of events and experiential business

    The Social Street ropes in Heena Mistry as head of events and experiential business

    MUMBAI  The Social Street has roped in Heena Mistry to head the events and experiential business; she will operate out of their Mumbai office.

    Mistry, brings with her over 15 years of experience and moves from SOI Live Marketing & Events, where she was a Director and lent her expertise with hundred plus marketers, leading brands, pan India across various industries.

    The Social Street founding partner and CEO Mandeep Malhotra commented on the development, “Heena is very well known in the industry for her impeccable delivery on various brand requirements. She is renowned for her ability to exceed client expectations. She brings to our team a sense of great commitment and prudence, which is hard to find these days.”

    Commenting on her new role, Mistry says “It’s a matter of pride for me to be associated with TSS. I join this team with great expectations and delight. I am very confident on building on the immense learning I had at SOI Live Marketing. Mandeep & Pratap have a clear vision for The Social Street and knowing that they wanted me on the team gives me loads of confidence to do well. I am certain that my partnership with The Social Street will add a new dimension to my career.”

    Mistry went on to add, “I feel events and experiential marketing is a lot more than just brand activations.” According to her it’s all about delivering a memorable 360-degree integrated marketing solution.

  • The Social Street ropes in Heena Mistry as head of events and experiential business

    The Social Street ropes in Heena Mistry as head of events and experiential business

    MUMBAI  The Social Street has roped in Heena Mistry to head the events and experiential business; she will operate out of their Mumbai office.

    Mistry, brings with her over 15 years of experience and moves from SOI Live Marketing & Events, where she was a Director and lent her expertise with hundred plus marketers, leading brands, pan India across various industries.

    The Social Street founding partner and CEO Mandeep Malhotra commented on the development, “Heena is very well known in the industry for her impeccable delivery on various brand requirements. She is renowned for her ability to exceed client expectations. She brings to our team a sense of great commitment and prudence, which is hard to find these days.”

    Commenting on her new role, Mistry says “It’s a matter of pride for me to be associated with TSS. I join this team with great expectations and delight. I am very confident on building on the immense learning I had at SOI Live Marketing. Mandeep & Pratap have a clear vision for The Social Street and knowing that they wanted me on the team gives me loads of confidence to do well. I am certain that my partnership with The Social Street will add a new dimension to my career.”

    Mistry went on to add, “I feel events and experiential marketing is a lot more than just brand activations.” According to her it’s all about delivering a memorable 360-degree integrated marketing solution.

  • ‘Advertising is only a sliver of marketing:’ Pratap Bose

    ‘Advertising is only a sliver of marketing:’ Pratap Bose

    Seven months back ad man and former Ad Club president Pratap Bose embarked on his entrepreneurial journey with The Social Street, a digitally driven agency that looks at advertising as part of the many marketing solutions that an advertiser seeks. Joining him in the initiative were partners Mandeep Malhotra, Arjun Reddy and Pradeep Uppalapati — all pioneers in different fields.

    After his exit from DDB Mudra as the chief operating officer, it was natural that The Social Street’s launch would make headlines with all industry’s eyes trained on its proceedings. Now, seven months later, with the buzz receding, we find the workings of this new fledgling agency becoming more and more shrouded in mystery. “It is a conscious decision to not reveal our account wins, as we don’t want to be in that game,” Bose simply answers when queried about the same. 

    Currently operating through 10 satellite offices with 160 employees who handle over 50 clients to boot, The Social Street credits its quick growth to its unique positioning in the market. In a candid chat with Indiantelevision.com’s Papri Das, Bose speaks on the advertising philosophy the start-up agency holds, their game plan for 2016, his thoughts on retail and shopper marketing and why their focus is not advertising.

    Excerpts:

    How has life been as an entrepreneur? What are the biggest changes that you have observed from your past role?

    Not much honestly. I am not someone who has worked in 10 agencies in the last 25 years of my career. In terms of work hours, the pressure and handling people, it comes very naturally to me. The only thing that has changed is that it’s my business and I am not answerable to any chain of superiors or hierarchy. I am the one accountable. There is no reporting to New York or Hong Kong, for example. It certainly brings a fresh perspective now that I am on the other side. Now I can see things far more realistically from a client’s point of view.

    When you work for a large agency, I think fundamentally you are chasing revenue rather than cultivating good strategic work. I am not saying that has always been so but in the last five years or so, the pressure on margins and revenues from an agency’s point of view is getting more acute than ever before. And performance, no matter what the industry says, is evaluated on a quarter by quarter basis on revenue target achievements. 

    How does The Social Street differ from that mindset? What is its advertising philosophy? 

    In any business numbers are very important, especially so for start-ups, though I prefer not to call us one. Because if you are not profitable as an agency, whether you operate with 20 people or 200 people, there is always going to be a strain on the business. But you are not accountable to every person in the organisation who wants to know what the numbers are. If your fundamentals in the strategy is bang on then we believe the numbers will happen in any which way. We have an offering and range of services that really sets us apart from most agencies. I am not competing with any creative agency as the market I want to penetrate, is world apart. 

    If I have to round up, we have seven buckets of businesses, which includes out of home, traditional media like television, print and radio, experiential, branded content, shopper and retail, rural, youth and sports marketing and cause marketing. Then there are specialisations that come with each.

    How was year 2015 for The Social Street? Did you set any benchmarks when it comes to the work and mandates? How was it in terms of new business?

    It takes time to build an organisation. Nothing happens in six months’ time. Having said that, have we done well? I think so, yes. The fact that we have opened 10 satellite offices and three main offices, hired around 160 people, and managed to get over 50 clients onboard is great progress, I feel. It was a conscious decision to not publicise about the account wins. We prefer to put all the investments upfront so in that regard I feel we have broken traditions in the business as well. And the experiment has paid off for us. Clients are happy with us. For seven months, I feel that is a pretty large amount of progress.

    Your expertise is legendary in the industry and now you have Deepak Singh onboard. Tell us how this appointment helps the agency reach its advertising philosophy? 

    The creative process and approach we take to a client is one of our differentiating aspects. So therefore, the kind of people we are looking for are new age thinkers who are willing to look beyond TV commercials and newspaper ads. 

    Today the market needs creatives to think like clients who are seeking accountability. So I am looking for creatives who are not afraid to talk about how we are delivering incremental sales through the most creative process, of course. So Deepak fit the bill perfectly and hence he is onboard with us. He shares the same advertising philosophy as we do. 

    The Social Street was recently making headlines for its partnership with Rediffusion. Please tell us the thought behind this partnership and how it will play out?

    The Social Street and Rediffusion have worked together twice in the past during our initial days. It worked well for both the companies and the vibes were just right. The clients were happy too. That led to the idea of taking our partnership on a bigger scale. We decided to offer the entire gamut of our services to the entire group. We are having a separate unit of about 35 – 40 people, for that who will closely work with Rediffusion on all their clients. We will cater to their Out of Home needs, experiential, digital and other requirements, rather than core media. We won’t be making TV commercials for them, Rediffusion will cater to their creative needs instead.

    Being a fairly new company, was it difficult to penetrate the market?

    Though we deal in core media, I am not really focusing in the advertising part of it. I am not looking forward to making TVCs and newspaper ads. There will be some as they are bread and butter and I need to pay the bills as well. But at the end of the day my focus is to deliver business solutions in a way that delivers ROI for the client. Therefore I don’t see creative agencies as competition. For us, it’s more about solving business problems or finding innovation business solutions with data consulting and analytics. We have a unique positioning in the market thanks to the various and distinct services we can offer, all under the same umbrella. Clients see value in going to one agency and getting all their requirements fulfilled than knocking at 10 different doors.

    Though several forecasts predict that digital ad spends are growing by leaps and bounds, television still remains the most preferred medium for advertisers to invest in. What do you have to say to that?

    I am not looking into advertising budgets of brands, I am looking into marketing budgets. The advertising spends are a fraction of what brands and clients have put together for their marketing. For example’s sake, if there is a large retailer owning 500 stores in india, those 500 stores are the most important part of his business. He puts in way more effort and money into those stores, which could be easily ten times of what he spends on advertising them. If I have the ability to measure every customer who is walking in his store and profiling and understanding them, to help him create a marketing strategy for them in a creative way, they will see far more value in it. It is very important to understand the distinction between marketing and advertising. Advertising is only a sliver of marketing.

    What are your thoughts on the current landscape of marketing?

    I feel that shopper marketing, which is one of the most important tools in the western world, should be paid more heed to. If a shampoo brand spends Rs 50 crore in advertising but doesn’t get picked up by the shopper in the mall, what use is that? So at the moment of truth, whether you go to the roadside kirana store or a mall, you go from being a consumer to a shopper. That science, research and understanding is massive and we need young professionals to understand that.

    What is interesting is that the same shopper market is now turning to digital marketing as well, as more and more consumers choose to shop online, which calls for completely different game plans. There are studies done in western markets on ways to influence customers even in their online shopping experience.

    Where do you see most of your business coming in from? 

    From clients who are seeking solutions in anything that is process and tech driven, because that’s where there is a huge amount of incremental value to the clients. That is where the growth will happen for us.

    If I were to break it down, I see the entire experiential marketing space coming back in the business. Obviously digital will grow, there’s no doubt about it. I also see some clients looking for content based solutions, which may even be viral videos etc. I also see a huge scope in the rural marketing category as there are hardly any players in the business who have a strategy in place, but that’s where brands are spending. And last but not the least, retail and shopper marketing, as I said, holds a lot of promise for us.

  • ‘Advertising is only a sliver of marketing:’ Pratap Bose

    ‘Advertising is only a sliver of marketing:’ Pratap Bose

    Seven months back ad man and former Ad Club president Pratap Bose embarked on his entrepreneurial journey with The Social Street, a digitally driven agency that looks at advertising as part of the many marketing solutions that an advertiser seeks. Joining him in the initiative were partners Mandeep Malhotra, Arjun Reddy and Pradeep Uppalapati — all pioneers in different fields.

    After his exit from DDB Mudra as the chief operating officer, it was natural that The Social Street’s launch would make headlines with all industry’s eyes trained on its proceedings. Now, seven months later, with the buzz receding, we find the workings of this new fledgling agency becoming more and more shrouded in mystery. “It is a conscious decision to not reveal our account wins, as we don’t want to be in that game,” Bose simply answers when queried about the same. 

    Currently operating through 10 satellite offices with 160 employees who handle over 50 clients to boot, The Social Street credits its quick growth to its unique positioning in the market. In a candid chat with Indiantelevision.com’s Papri Das, Bose speaks on the advertising philosophy the start-up agency holds, their game plan for 2016, his thoughts on retail and shopper marketing and why their focus is not advertising.

    Excerpts:

    How has life been as an entrepreneur? What are the biggest changes that you have observed from your past role?

    Not much honestly. I am not someone who has worked in 10 agencies in the last 25 years of my career. In terms of work hours, the pressure and handling people, it comes very naturally to me. The only thing that has changed is that it’s my business and I am not answerable to any chain of superiors or hierarchy. I am the one accountable. There is no reporting to New York or Hong Kong, for example. It certainly brings a fresh perspective now that I am on the other side. Now I can see things far more realistically from a client’s point of view.

    When you work for a large agency, I think fundamentally you are chasing revenue rather than cultivating good strategic work. I am not saying that has always been so but in the last five years or so, the pressure on margins and revenues from an agency’s point of view is getting more acute than ever before. And performance, no matter what the industry says, is evaluated on a quarter by quarter basis on revenue target achievements. 

    How does The Social Street differ from that mindset? What is its advertising philosophy? 

    In any business numbers are very important, especially so for start-ups, though I prefer not to call us one. Because if you are not profitable as an agency, whether you operate with 20 people or 200 people, there is always going to be a strain on the business. But you are not accountable to every person in the organisation who wants to know what the numbers are. If your fundamentals in the strategy is bang on then we believe the numbers will happen in any which way. We have an offering and range of services that really sets us apart from most agencies. I am not competing with any creative agency as the market I want to penetrate, is world apart. 

    If I have to round up, we have seven buckets of businesses, which includes out of home, traditional media like television, print and radio, experiential, branded content, shopper and retail, rural, youth and sports marketing and cause marketing. Then there are specialisations that come with each.

    How was year 2015 for The Social Street? Did you set any benchmarks when it comes to the work and mandates? How was it in terms of new business?

    It takes time to build an organisation. Nothing happens in six months’ time. Having said that, have we done well? I think so, yes. The fact that we have opened 10 satellite offices and three main offices, hired around 160 people, and managed to get over 50 clients onboard is great progress, I feel. It was a conscious decision to not publicise about the account wins. We prefer to put all the investments upfront so in that regard I feel we have broken traditions in the business as well. And the experiment has paid off for us. Clients are happy with us. For seven months, I feel that is a pretty large amount of progress.

    Your expertise is legendary in the industry and now you have Deepak Singh onboard. Tell us how this appointment helps the agency reach its advertising philosophy? 

    The creative process and approach we take to a client is one of our differentiating aspects. So therefore, the kind of people we are looking for are new age thinkers who are willing to look beyond TV commercials and newspaper ads. 

    Today the market needs creatives to think like clients who are seeking accountability. So I am looking for creatives who are not afraid to talk about how we are delivering incremental sales through the most creative process, of course. So Deepak fit the bill perfectly and hence he is onboard with us. He shares the same advertising philosophy as we do. 

    The Social Street was recently making headlines for its partnership with Rediffusion. Please tell us the thought behind this partnership and how it will play out?

    The Social Street and Rediffusion have worked together twice in the past during our initial days. It worked well for both the companies and the vibes were just right. The clients were happy too. That led to the idea of taking our partnership on a bigger scale. We decided to offer the entire gamut of our services to the entire group. We are having a separate unit of about 35 – 40 people, for that who will closely work with Rediffusion on all their clients. We will cater to their Out of Home needs, experiential, digital and other requirements, rather than core media. We won’t be making TV commercials for them, Rediffusion will cater to their creative needs instead.

    Being a fairly new company, was it difficult to penetrate the market?

    Though we deal in core media, I am not really focusing in the advertising part of it. I am not looking forward to making TVCs and newspaper ads. There will be some as they are bread and butter and I need to pay the bills as well. But at the end of the day my focus is to deliver business solutions in a way that delivers ROI for the client. Therefore I don’t see creative agencies as competition. For us, it’s more about solving business problems or finding innovation business solutions with data consulting and analytics. We have a unique positioning in the market thanks to the various and distinct services we can offer, all under the same umbrella. Clients see value in going to one agency and getting all their requirements fulfilled than knocking at 10 different doors.

    Though several forecasts predict that digital ad spends are growing by leaps and bounds, television still remains the most preferred medium for advertisers to invest in. What do you have to say to that?

    I am not looking into advertising budgets of brands, I am looking into marketing budgets. The advertising spends are a fraction of what brands and clients have put together for their marketing. For example’s sake, if there is a large retailer owning 500 stores in india, those 500 stores are the most important part of his business. He puts in way more effort and money into those stores, which could be easily ten times of what he spends on advertising them. If I have the ability to measure every customer who is walking in his store and profiling and understanding them, to help him create a marketing strategy for them in a creative way, they will see far more value in it. It is very important to understand the distinction between marketing and advertising. Advertising is only a sliver of marketing.

    What are your thoughts on the current landscape of marketing?

    I feel that shopper marketing, which is one of the most important tools in the western world, should be paid more heed to. If a shampoo brand spends Rs 50 crore in advertising but doesn’t get picked up by the shopper in the mall, what use is that? So at the moment of truth, whether you go to the roadside kirana store or a mall, you go from being a consumer to a shopper. That science, research and understanding is massive and we need young professionals to understand that.

    What is interesting is that the same shopper market is now turning to digital marketing as well, as more and more consumers choose to shop online, which calls for completely different game plans. There are studies done in western markets on ways to influence customers even in their online shopping experience.

    Where do you see most of your business coming in from? 

    From clients who are seeking solutions in anything that is process and tech driven, because that’s where there is a huge amount of incremental value to the clients. That is where the growth will happen for us.

    If I were to break it down, I see the entire experiential marketing space coming back in the business. Obviously digital will grow, there’s no doubt about it. I also see some clients looking for content based solutions, which may even be viral videos etc. I also see a huge scope in the rural marketing category as there are hardly any players in the business who have a strategy in place, but that’s where brands are spending. And last but not the least, retail and shopper marketing, as I said, holds a lot of promise for us.

  • Rediffusion-Y&R Group partners with The Social Street

    Rediffusion-Y&R Group partners with The Social Street

    MUMBAI: Rediffusion – Y&R Group and The Social Street have entered into a strategic alliance to provide value added marketing services to clients of Rediffusion – Y&R, Everest Brand Solutions and Rediffusion Wunderman effective from 1 March, 2016.

     

    The alliance will enable Rediffusion-Y&R Group’s clients to benefit from The Social Street’s network, capabilities, and expertise in bringing together more effective and optimised solutions to clients. This integrated offering will include digital, media, experiential, out of home, retail, entertainment, cause marketing and also extends to semi-urban and rural activations and outreach.

     

    Rediffusion-Y&R Group president Dhunji S Wadia said, “This is one of the deepest integrations to date, marking yet another milestone in the Group’s plan for a consolidated media investment management operation. Our services are designed to offer an integrated yet seamless solution across the communications continuum. The focus is to bring competitive advantage to our clients and our companies.”

     

    The Social Street founding partner and chairman Pratap Bose added, “This is going to be a very exciting journey for both Rediffusion and us. It will be a great growth story to tell the world. Our shared vision and collective capabilities should help us serve nothing but the best to all the clients as part of this alliance. We are all focused on one single client centric objective through this alliance and that is unlocking value for clients. With the wealth of expertise in both Rediffusion and TSS, I have no doubt in saying that we will make it the strongest and successful alliance ever.”

     

    The Social Street founding partner and CEO Mandeep Malhotra said, “I am personally very excited about this alliance and looking forward to creating many stories together in this journey with Rediffusion. My career in the agency world started with Rediffusion and it feels now that the circle is getting closer. There is nothing more exciting for me then working with energetic, talented, committed and a fun team. Organisations that partner or compliment each other in this manner are going to be more nimble footed in the future, in creating customer-oriented value.”

  • 2015: From employees to employers, a year of transition in media

    2015: From employees to employers, a year of transition in media

    MUMBAI: 2015 saw India retain its title of being the world’s third leader in start-ups. What is interesting to note is that entrepreneurship not only thrived in the technology sector but also showed a sharp increase in the field of media and entertainment.

    Follow the year’s calendar closely and you can see it checkered with launches of new bespoke media ventures and innovative digital solutions companies.

    This was the year when we saw creative heads, vice presidents and marketing heads of leading agencies and media houses leaving their plush corporate jobs and taking on the challenge to establish their own companies.

    Creative stalwarts like Abhijit Avasthi and Gaurav Seth, who were often considered torch bearers in their former organisations, made headlines as they decided to move on to launch independent agencies.

    The world of start-ups is dynamic and unpredictable unlike the stable portfolios that these executives enjoyed until they decided to cut the cord as the lure to explore new avenues and expand their horizons eventually won.

    As the year comes to an end, Indiantelevision.com lists 10 such media professionals who embarked on their entrepreneurial journeys in 2015.

         Abhijit Avasthi: The media had a field day when Ogilvy & Mather chief creative officer Abhjit Avasthi put in his papers out of the blue last year. The mystery was    unravelled six months later, when Avasthi announced his new creative solutions start-up Sideways, of which he is a co-founder. Aimed to be a multi-dimensional    creative solutions provider, Avasthi even gave an open invitation to professionals from different industries to join his new venture.

     

       Ajay Chacko and B Saikumar: Industry veterans and Network18 associates, who severed ties with company almost at the same time, came together    after a long time to team up with media and broadcasting veteran Ronnie Screwvala to form a new digital media company called Arré. The venture aims  at establishing a digital brand, which will offer multi-genre¬, multi-lingual content across video, audio, text and other traditional and new age art forms.

     

       Barkha Dutt: Media professional or not, there is hardly anyone unfamiliar with this veteran journalist, who anchors NDTV’s prime time shows. Therefore, her  announcement to quit the news network as an editor to start her own digital multi-media company has saddened several fans of Dutt – the reporter. As she firmed up  plans for her new venture, she moved to the role of consulting editor for the news channel, while remaining closely associated as the anchor for The Buck Stops Here  on weeknights and We The People on weekends.

     

        Cyrus Oshidar: Former MTV man, who is known for his involvement with iconic shows such as MTV Bakra, Roadies, et al, made a comeback this year with what he  does best – telling stories about young urban India. Through videos, photos and tongue-in cheek style of articles, branded content start-up 101 India is designed to  be the window to open-minded listless and creative millennials and what they find interesting.

     

         Gaurav Seth: Those who have known Gaurav Seth as the senior vice president of Sony Entertainment Television did a double take when he ended his  relationship of over six years with the broadcast network to co-found Purple Canvas. Fresh in the picture, this new content creating start-up already  has its first television series underway.

     

        Nitin Suri and Chraneeta Mann: When two highly creative individuals get together, the combination always leads to creation and  that’s exactly what happened when former Dentsu national creative director Suri and Rediffusion Y&R national creative director Mann  joined hands to form The Mob. Funded by the wholly owned subsidiary of Mogae Media, the venture aimed to marry television  commercials and content with mobile phones.

     

           Prakash Nathan: This former UTV Disney India operations head and UTV Motion Pictures vice president too recently rolled out India’s first ever digital media  market titled CineMArkets Digital Solutions along with partners Girish Kumar and Inkswipe Consulting LLP. Backed by his experience of two decades, Nathan is already  leading this CineMArket into new avenues.

     

         Prashant Bhatt: Colors fiction head Prashant Bhatt, best known for shows likeMadhubala and Udaan, surprised one and all in the first half of the year  by venturing into production. Bhatt launched the new production house – Studio B&M – along with his business partner and cinematographer Sanjay  Memane. The one year old production house is already slated to produce Mastaangi for Channel V.

     

         Pratap Bose: As the DDB Mudra Group chief operating officer, Bose helmed several path breaking projects and even donned the hat of the Ad Club president.  Therefore his decision to take on the role of an entrepreneur and start his own creative agency – The Social Street came as a surprise to the industry at large. His  former colleagues and associates Mandeep Malhotra, Arjun Reddy and Pradeep Uppalapati were quick at his heel, and joined his new venture as partners.

     

        S Yesudas: The most recent executive to join the start-up bandwagon is former managing director of Vizeum India and media expert S Yesudas.      Along with partners Ajit Nair of MX Advertising and Amit Tripathi from IdeateLabs, Yesudas plans to disrupt the current industry with their ‘unagancy,’  which is christened triggerbridge. From the way the agency is spelled to its operational objectives, triggerbridge comes across as having an innovative  and modern outlook towards the current advertising space.

     

    There’s no doubt that these ever so crucial moves from leading media houses and agencies have created an indelible void in their respective companies. Whether or not the sudden mushrooming of such start-ups pose any competition to the existing industry leaders, only time will tell. But one thing’s for sure, some of these executives have managed to inspire several of their loyal teammates and colleagues to follow in their footsteps, leaving many empty shoes to fill in their former workplaces.

    Even as the curtains draw on 2015, the coming year holds a lot of promise and will see many of them making an impression in the media and entertainment ecosystem.

  • Pratap Bose’s ‘conglomerate of agencies’ to launch in 25 days

    Pratap Bose’s ‘conglomerate of agencies’ to launch in 25 days

    MUMBAI: Over the last one month, a spurt of new agencies have been added to the Indian media, advertising and digital sectors. Adding to the new launches will be ad man Pratap Bose’s new ‘conglomerate of agencies’, which is just 25 days away from launch.

     

    Putting all speculations to rest, Bose, the former DDB Mudra Group chief operating officer, confirms the development to Indiantelevision.com saying, “We are 25 days away from the launch and there is a lot of work happening on the back end. We are yet to decide the agency’s name and logo. Everything is slated for announcement in time to come. We want to build the organisation into a one stop shop for the brands’ needs.”

     

    According to Bose, his new venture will be a “media communications conglomerate” and will have multiple equity stake holders.

     

    The new venture will drive core competencies across different divisions in the media, be it creative, communications, branded content, outdoor, media planning and buying, retail and digital amongst others.

     

    “Apart from this, the conglomerate will consist of five-six companies, each focusing on their expertise. Initially the agency will not cater to advertising and communications, but we do intend to expand those verticals later,” Bose informs.

     

    Bose also reveals that the agency is on the look-out for various investment options. While he refused to disclose any figures, reports doing the round say that the agency is looking for an initial investment of around $10 million.

     

    Bose, who has more than two decades of experience in advertising, has been working on the new venture for the last four-five months and is in the process of building a formidable team. Joining him is Mandeep Malhotra, who recently quit DDB MudraMax, where he was president and head of its OOH, experiential business and retail cluster.

     

    Last year Bose quit DDB Mudra Group as COO, where he worked for six years. Prior to that,he has worked with Ogilvy & Mather for 15 years in various positions. He is also the president of The Ad Club.

  • DDB MudraMax ropes in Kavita Sadana as group account director

    DDB MudraMax ropes in Kavita Sadana as group account director

    MUMBAI: DDB MudraMax has appointed Kavita Sadana as group account director. She will be spearheading DDB MudraMax’s Ahmedabad operations and businesses including experiential, media, outdoor and retail.

     

    Sadana said, “Ahmedabad and Gujarat contain clients, who are mostly entrepreneurs and owners. They prefer a single window solution from their partner agency. Hence, offering all the four services under single identity will be our biggest strength. This market operates on a lot of trust and DDB MudraMax enjoys the finest reputation here. With this combined advantage, we can surely look at excellent business volumes and putting DDB MudraMax Ahmedabad as a strong player on the national map. I am very proud to be associated with the agency and I look forward to working under the leadership of Sathyamurthy and Mandeep.”

     

    Sadana joins DDB MudraMax with over two decades of experience in the marketing communications fraternity. She has worked across platforms and sectors with organisations from media publishing, entertainment and advertising functions. Her experience includes working at strong and innovative organisations like Asian Age, Radio City, Amagi Media Labs, Fun Multiplex and Freihert Mydia to name a few.

     

    DDB MudraMax president and head Mandeep Malhotra said, “It’s great to have Kavita on board. Other than her experience, she brings a lot of joy and pride in working with great perseverance and professionalism. We are looking forward to her contribution in making Ahmedabad office a rocking and self-sustaining one.”

     

    DDB MudraMax-Media president Sathyamurthy Namakkal added, “She is an excellent addition to the team and fortifies our team in the Gujarat market.”