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Tag: performance marketing

  • Ketan K Bharati joins The House of Abhinandan Lodha to lead media

    Ketan K Bharati joins The House of Abhinandan Lodha to lead media

    MUMBAI: Ketan K Bharati, the marketing maverick who has shaped campaigns across telecom, FMCG, tech, and media giants, has now planted his flag at The House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL) as head – media strategy & performance marketing.

    With a career spanning nearly two decades and marquee brands like Truecaller, Reckitt, Vodafone, Disney Star, and GroupM in his rearview mirror, Bharati’s next chapter promises to blend data muscle, storytelling flair, and go-to-market wizardry for one of India’s most ambitious real estate disruptors.

    Bharati, was most recently VP – global marketing ops at Truecaller, where he steered GTM rollouts, global launches, and even lit up Times Square.

    Backed by stints managing Rs 500 crore media portfolios, landing Gold at Spikes Asia, and anchoring revenue surges at Fox International and Reckitt, Bharati is no stranger to performance-led growth. His Vodafone days saw him turn cricket carnivals into brand goldmines with the IPL and World Cup. At GroupM, he cracked efficiency gains for brands like Dove and PepsiCo with data-first media buying.

    At HoABL, he’s expected to fuse full-funnel performance with digital-first thinking, supporting the brand’s audacious land-tokenisation push and national expansion.

    In a world where land is being reimagined as a lifestyle asset, HoABL’s latest hire signals it’s not just playing the game. It’s rewriting the script.

  • Adcounty Media marks eight year milestone with eye on IPO and deeper global expansion

    Adcounty Media marks eight year milestone with eye on IPO and deeper global expansion

    MUMBAI: Adcounty Media has clocked eight years of digital dominance, marking its anniversary with global milestones, platform innovations, and bold plans for public listing. What began in 2017 as a mobile-first ad network has transformed into a full-stack marketing engine spanning 30+ countries, redefining how brands engage with digital audiences.

    The company, co-founded by Chandan Garg and Aditya Jangid with Abbhinav R. Jain (CFO), Delphin Varghese (CRO), and Kumar Saurav (CSO), has grown into a multi-million-dollar digital business with strongholds across India, LATAM, southeast Asia, the middle east, and Europe. With campaigns spanning gaming, BFSI, e-commerce, edtech, travel, and entertainment, Adcounty Media has focused its mission on simplifying complexity and delivering measurable brand impact.

    In a significant move that underscores its ambitions, Adcounty confirmed its IPO plans for the coming months. This follows its 2023 certification as a Great Place to Work®, cementing its reputation as a people-first, performance-focused organisation.

    Adcounty’s arsenal of proprietary tech includes:

    ●    Bidcounty: An in-house DSP for AI-powered programmatic buying across mobile, CTV, web, and DOOH

    ●    Opsis: Performance marketing suite built for CPL and CPS-driven user acquisition

    ●    Genwin: Conversion-first lead engine with real-time scoring, multi-channel targeting, and optimised landing pages

    ●    iSearch Ads: AI-based app store optimisation for high-intent installs

    ●    SeeTV: A connected TV commerce solution targeting 30 million+ households

    ●    Brand safety & Fraud detection: Enterprise-grade security and transparency infrastructure

    Operating out of eight global offices, the company is actively expanding its footprint in the middle east and southeast Asia. It has ramped up hiring across media sales, game development, app monetisation, and programmatic roles to support this next phase of growth.

    “We’re not just connecting brands and consumers. We’re rewriting how performance marketing works across the funnel”, said Adcounty Media MD Garg. “The future lies in AI-led storytelling, shoppable media, and immersive, measurable experiences”.

    With an eye on the trillion-impression economy and brand-safe, results-driven strategies, Adcounty Media appears well poised for its next act: scaling with speed, intelligence, and intent.

  • NP Digital India ropes in Venkata Gavaskar Dontha from iProspect India

    NP Digital India ropes in Venkata Gavaskar Dontha from iProspect India

    MUMBAI: The performance-driven digital marketing agency, NP Digital India, has welcomed Venkata Gavaskar Dontha as its new head of digital operations. Armed with over 17 years of expertise in performance marketing, SEO, social media, and analytics, he’s stepping in to lead client growth, revenue expansion, and the next wave of digital innovation tailored for the Indian market.

    Venkata joins NP Digital India from iProspect India, where he helmed the performance practice, driving cross-functional teams to award-winning success. His strategic vision helped the agency bag prestigious Agency of the Year titles, cementing his status as a digital marketing trailblazer. Now, at NP Digital India, he’s all set to shake things up.

    The appointment of Venkata is part of NP Digital India’s aggressive growth strategy. Over the past few months, the company has strategically onboarded two senior leaders, reinforcing its commitment to expanding global digital solutions in India.

    “We are thrilled to welcome Venkata to our leadership team. His remarkable expertise will be key to our strategy of integrating technology-driven digital services and SEO, enabling us to deliver global products in the Indian market. In fact, over the last couple of months, we have strategically onboarded two leadership positions to strengthen our executive team and accelerate our growth. This is just the beginning of a transformative phase for NP Digital India,” said NP Digital India CEO & co-founder Prady.

    Venkata, too, is ready to hit the ground running. “I have always admired the digital marketing insights of Neil Patel. Now, joining NP Digital India gives me a unique opportunity to both learn and apply my existing experience within a company that embodies an innovative, ahead-of-the-curve approach. I’m excited to transform digital challenges into creative, performance-driven solutions for our clients,” he said.

    NP Digital India is on a mission to dominate the digital marketing space, and bringing in leaders like Venkata only strengthens its commitment to innovation and client success. With his expertise, the company aims to drive operational excellence, expand revenue streams, and continue leading the charge in digital marketing’s technological evolution.

  • NP Digital India secures content marketing mandate for Kotak Securities

    NP Digital India secures content marketing mandate for Kotak Securities

    MUMBAI: In a move that strengthens its position in the digital marketing space, NP Digital India has won the content marketing mandate for Kotak Securities, one of India’s most trusted brokerage firms. The collaboration is set to elevate Kotak Securities’ off-site content marketing efforts, ensuring wider reach and improved search visibility.

    By deploying a data-driven and strategic content marketing approach, NP Digital India will work to amplify Kotak Securities’ digital presence. The goal? Making Kotak Securities the go-to authority in capital markets by distributing optimised, high-impact content that resonates with a larger, more relevant audience.

    NP Digital India MD Rubeena Singh expressed excitement about the partnership, “We are thrilled to collaborate with Kotak Securities in strengthening their content marketing strategy. Our expertise lies in crafting performance-driven content solutions that not only improve visibility but also drive meaningful engagement. This partnership reflects our commitment to delivering impactful digital strategies that contribute to business growth.”

    As competition in the financial services sector intensifies, a robust content marketing strategy is no longer optional—it’s essential. NP Digital India will leverage its expertise in SEO-driven content marketing, audience insights, and digital storytelling to position Kotak Securities as a thought leader in capital markets.

    This win cements NP Digital India’s growing reputation as a trusted partner for brands seeking innovative, results-oriented digital marketing solutions. With a blend of creativity, data, and performance, NP Digital India continues to push the boundaries of digital marketing, redefining industry standards in India and beyond.

  • Performance marketing agency The Automobile group set up as 2025 dawns

    Performance marketing agency The Automobile group set up as 2025 dawns

    MUMBAI: When you are itching to leave your mark on the world, the best way to do so is to turn entrepreneur. Give to the winds your fears, and take the plunge. With resolution as your motto, go ahead and do it.

    And, what if you fail? Well, you get up and begin again! It’s not how many times you fall, but how many times you get up that makes you a success.

    At least, that’s what Shwetank Pandit and Yash Vardhan believe in and they have fulfilled that  belief by setting up a digital agency called The Automobile group.

    Its  focus: transform how automobile brands connect with their audiences. By partnering with leading auto aggregator platforms and leveraging targeted digital campaigns, the agency says it will  help auto companies to  drive visibility, engagement, and measurable results.

    “It’s a New Year. It’s a new era in automobile advertising,” said Yash on Linkedin.

    “Both Yash and I have been friends for 10 years or more. The agency is built on the foundation of that friendship that combines trust, passion, and innovation to create an AI-driven platform that delivers results,” added Shwetank.

    Both said that The Automobile group is “a first-of-its-kind performance network designed to revolutionise how automobile brands connect with buyers. In an industry where precision and impact are everything, we’re here to help brands accelerate their reach and drive measurable outcomes.”

    Their entrepreneurial initiative is based on such a solid idea and need that the duo found their initial investors within a month and they already have their first round money in their bank account. 

    The two have divided their co-founder responsibilities amongst  themselves: while Shwetank is charge of delivery, Yash has taken on the responsibility of the business.

    Shwentak has close to 18 year of learnings in the digital world having worked for Tangence Solutions, Tyroo, Cardekho, Kinesiz Media, and Convertup Media either in mobile advertising or on ad networks or in media sales and planning.

    Yash too has got his hands dirty in digital media with stints in Digifish3, SilverPush, Convival Cords, ConvertUp Media, Moca Technology and click2commission over his eight year career.

    Their well-rounded exposure to the RoI driven world of performance marketing is what gave them the confidence to cobble together their start up.

    Making a solid pitch to potential clients both Yash and Shwetank said: “As you (CMOs, digital marketing  heads and media agencies) gear up to make 2025 a breakthrough year for your brand, The Automobile group is your partner in driving growth. Whether you’re launching a new model, boosting brand awareness, or optimising digital campaigns, we’re here to turn your vision into reality.”

    Will the automobile marketers help turn Shwetank and Yash’s vision into reality?

  • Akshit Kaushik goes from Google to Lenskart as performance marketing head

    Akshit Kaushik goes from Google to Lenskart as performance marketing head

    MUMBAI: When you get an opportunity to lead performance marketing at a company which is building a category would you take it up or let it go?

    Well, Akshit Kaushik said yes and he’s joined Lenskart as head of performance marketing. He says he’s going to make every marketing penny count and drive best in class ROI.

    The company is sure to benefit from the his experience at Google which he quit after a five and a year stint learning the tricks and trade as senior campaign manager, performance marketing lead and finally as global CX and quality lead- Google ads.

    Akshit has also had a four-year assignment with Amazon where he had varied roles right from marketing manager (for Junglee) to category manager to senior category manager -Amazon Renewed. A two-year term with Godrej Interio as marketing manager resulted in him picking up the skills of demand generation, understand media trends and build relationships. 
     

  • DSP Mutual Fund hands over performance marketing duties to Puretech Digital

    DSP Mutual Fund hands over performance marketing duties to Puretech Digital

    Mumbai: Puretech Digital has bagged the performance marketing mandate of DSP Mutual Fund, one of the leading mutual fund investment companies backed by the 150+ year old DSP Group. As a part of this partnership, the agency will handle digital media planning along with performance marketing for the brand.

    Bagging the mandate in a multi-agency pitch, Puretech Digital will be responsible for driving growth with the help of its specialised services under performance marketing, both paid and organic. Additionally, the agency will focus on crafting effective and innovative solutions to amplify the growth and reach of the brand.

    Speaking on winning the new client, Puretech Digital senior vice president Kamaljit Saini said, “We are incredibly delighted to be associated with the DSP Mutual Fund Team. With our performance marketing abilities and strong data-driven approach, we look forward to creating new benchmarks in growth together.”

    Adding to it, Puretech Digital CEO Prashant Deorah said, “Adding DSP Mutual Fund to our clientele is a testimony to the good work we do in the BFSI sector. We are glad to partner with a heritage brand like DSP Group, and we look forward to our association with them.”

    Commenting on the partnership, DSP Mutual Fund vice president for digital business Manish Rathi said, “We believe Puretech Digital has strong expertise in the digital marketing space, and we are already seeing some promising early results. This association will help us innovate and creatively meet our business growth plans.”

  • GUEST ARTICLE: Mobile OEM advertising solutions are helping D2C brands ace their performance marketing game this festive season

    GUEST ARTICLE: Mobile OEM advertising solutions are helping D2C brands ace their performance marketing game this festive season

    Mumbai: Due to conservative market behaviour since March 2019, covid-19 has restricted businesses from taking a full-scale marketing approach. However, mobile user penetration has grown enormously since the same period in India due to the increase in usage of internet services and the affordability and economic viability of smartphones. The upsurge in the use of mobile technology has led to an accelerated growth in the consumption of D2C mobile apps. Moreover, with mobility and in-person interactions returning to life in 2022, consumer behaviour toward D2C brands is also drastically growing.

    As the festive season in India is about to hit the roof, D2C brands are expected to garner significant attention and demand, and consumer sentiment looks upbeat, particularly in tier I & II cities. For these brands, the expectation of such seasonality means growth in revenue through performance marketing, as consumer brands during special promotions and festivals in India are proven to generate more business.

    Boom expected in the post pandemic era…

    As per the ‘Second Festive Pulse Survey by The Trade Desk/Nasdaq: TTD,’ there will be a 68 per cent increase in Indian shoppers this festive season with nearly seven in 10 shoppers intending to shop on D2C sites. While observing the current trends, there is increased competition between D2C brands as they become more focused on their ad spends to maximise growth during this festive season despite the concerns over rising inflation.

    App marketing opens up avenues to acquire loyal users for D2C brands…

    Indian D2C brands are thriving with an omnichannel marketing avatar that includes a mix of DOOH, TV, and digital ads using search and social, print, and more. While measuring the success of traditional marketing methods is difficult, one can effectively measure the ROAS (return on ad spend) with performance marketing through mobile OEM (original equipment manufacturer) app marketing.

    Leveraging OEM app marketing strategies to acquire users during this peak festive period can give D2C brands a more lucrative ROAS and increase user engagement. In addition, with mobile OEMs, D2C marketers can tap into untapped audiences and help them unlock a newer and more efficient revenue stream.

    Mobile OEM advertising offered by mobile OEMs such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Samsung can help D2C brands with enabling app discoverability: D2C brands can leverage appographic targeting to target users with similar apps and unique app interests beyond the category during the festive season.

    Appographic targeting with mobile OEMs is potent in providing high-value users and acts as a powerful strategy for app marketers.

    Better Visibility: To increase ad visibility during special promotions or festivals like Diwali in India, D2C mobile apps can take full advantage of “app store featuring” with display formats such as Splash and Interstitial ads. In addition, mobile OEMs offer unique ad placements for special shopping and discount cards during the festive season.

    Increased re-engagement: Few mobile OEMs offer down-the-funnel re-engagement for m-commerce apps with special placements during the festive season to regain static users who have been inactive on the app. For such occasions, featured custom placements are highly recommended for increased brand awareness. In addition, D2C apps can also get consultations about the kinds of creatives that best work for the festive season to get the maximum reach and engagement.

    Getting the most of your app marketing strategy for ‘22 festive season…

    While developing creatives for display ads, app marketers must be highly attentive to ensure that their brand resonates with the colour scheme and fonts. It best helps the users identify and engage with the brand. Secondly, since mobile media buying inventories get increased bidding from app advertisers during the festive period, D2C marketers need to book high-impact branding placements on a timely basis. Before the pricing increases, D2C marketers need to plan media buying effectively. Equally important is to explore PMP deals at private marketplaces with mobile OEMs where app marketers can bid on high-performance-based suggested inventories.

    As consumers buy more from brands directly from the brands’ websites or apps, D2C brands should rightfully leave no stone unturned to scale their app marketing efforts and get some fresh eyeballs with a positive outlook on engagement and retention.

    The author of this article is AVOW co-founder Ashwin Shekhar.

  • Interactive Avenues appoints Ashutosh Nagare as vice president & head of performance marketing

    Interactive Avenues appoints Ashutosh Nagare as vice president & head of performance marketing

    Mumbai: Mediabrands India’s Interactive Avenues announced the appointment of Ashutosh Nagare as vice president & head of performance marketing. Nagare will be based out of the company’s Mumbai office and will report to the company’s executive vice president of media, Harish Iyer.

    As national lead for performance marketing, he will focus on growing the company’s performance portfolio by leveraging a mix of innovative strategies, robust partnerships, automation tools, and Reprise’s very own FLOW framework – which focuses on the seamless movement of consumers from discovery to purchase.

    Prior to this, Nagare has 12+ years of rich experience in digital marketing and has worked with leading brands like Reliance Communications, Dr. Batra’s, ALTBalaji, Tikona Digital Networks, and TrueFan.

    “As an integrated digital agency with a stellar track record, Interactive Avenues has unlocked incredible opportunities for me to create an impact in the performance marketing space. I look forward to elevating the North Star Metric for brands using a holistic combination of media, experience, and content strategies,” commented Nagare.

    Interactive Avenues Amardeep Singh added, “Ashutosh has deep experience of delivering business outcomes for brands across various verticals, including healthcare, telecom, entertainment, and technology. We are confident his proven expertise and leadership skills will help us deliver next-gen performance solutions that power scale and efficiency for our customers.”

    Interactive Avenues is India’s leading full-service digital marketing company with offices in Mumbai (headquarters), Gurugram, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkata. They offer a comprehensive range of cutting-edge services, including media, programmatic, data & analytics, e-commerce, paid search, social media, SEO, ORM, creative, and web development, under one roof with multidisciplinary teams.

  • GUEST ARTICLE: Performance based tracking platforms are ensuring customer centricity and empowering them to grow their business at scale

    GUEST ARTICLE: Performance based tracking platforms are ensuring customer centricity and empowering them to grow their business at scale

    Mumbai: Across geographies, the performance marketing ecosystem is constantly growing and has become more complex over time. It has witnessed fast-tracked growth on the sidelines of both the rise of SaaS platforms and the popularity of affiliate networks. According to Emarketer, total digital ad spending is projected to reach $526.17 billion by 2024, up from $332.84 billion in 2020. The onset of the pandemic made businesses take notice of monetary resource allocation like never before. As a result, in the post-pandemic era, new age tracking platforms enable businesses to make data-driven decisions and scale their operations at the most competitive price points. All this has been made possible by offering the highest level of automation, which continues to empower companies and ventures of all sizes with the tools they need to stay competitive and scale their business.

    Need for tracking platforms to put customers at the centre of all of their actions

    The current market offerings provide limited data insights and require substantial manual work. There are still ample numbers of cases where account managers spend a large extent of their working time conducting repetitive tasks such as approving offers, notifying clients, or creating Excel tables to derive insights. Performance tracking platforms need to listen to customer feedback and, based on that, build their technology stack. Equally important is to remember that every client has different needs and requirements, and they need to be provided with tools so that marketers can successfully measure and optimise campaigns at an affordable price.

    Understanding the four key ways of demonstrating customer centricity and its impact on business growth.

    Never before has it been more important for performance tracking platforms to give customers the freedom to adapt technology to their needs while also reacting to post-pandemic changing environments. This includes modifying, filtering, and enhancing events in real-time.

    Businesses should be given a broad range of tools instead of a one-size-fits-all solution. At the same time, providing clients with full control over their traffic to prevent fraud is indeed the need of the hour.

    Clients should have all their marketing needs in one platform. Automation is key to streamlining processes and giving clients more time to focus on high-value tasks that will grow their business.

    In this regard, performance tracking networks should make critical analytics consistently available on a marketer’s dashboard, making it easier and faster to view performance and take action when necessary. By ensuring customer data reliability through the platform’s comprehensive data display, tracking networks can enable agency partners to have all their data accessible from a single dashboard. They should provide customers with real-time information and innovative automation to give customers time to focus on analytics, strategy, and scaling their business.

    Tracking platforms should strive towards putting customer value at the centre of all of their actions. It is imperative to understand the needs of every customer in order to derive the potential value that they can expect from using the tracking platform.

    Last but not the least, right from onboarding to daily operations, offering customer support services at the highest standard is just as important as the innovative tools and technology that help businesses to scale. These are two sides of the same coin: the innovative technology needed to help businesses scale, and a support service that helps them get the most out of a tracking platform. The onboarding process should be personalised for each client, ensuring that they get the most out of the platform’s innovative tools. Separate dedicated onboarding sessions play a crucial role in helping customers get familiar with their way around the tool from the very beginning. Once clients get familiar with the tool, focus should be put on understanding their use cases to help reiterate key features (such as the automation engine and optimization features) that set the chosen platform apart from other market players. Providing short explainer videos that directly showcase certain features—from how to set them up to refining them for a client’s specific purposes and more – is yet another useful route.

    Time and again, it has been proven that a customer-centric approach empowers marketers to scale their companies, resulting in satisfied customers. If tracking platforms can continue to focus on innovating reliable technology while also putting in place excellent customer service, they can certainly help in accelerating their clients’ business growth.

    The author of this article is Yogeeta Chainani, co-founder & chief executive officer (CEO), Swaarm.