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Tag: Prashant Mehta

  • WPP hires former Accenture executive Prashant Mehta to lead its India GDC

    WPP hires former Accenture executive Prashant Mehta to lead its India GDC

    MUMBAI:  WPP is betting big on India. The creative transformation company early on 12 December announced that it was pumping more bucks into India by scaling up its global delivery centre  (GDC) operation in the country. It has brought on board  former Accenture executive Prashant Mehta as managing director to lead it with the responsibility of accelerating its growth globally, with the highest concentration of talent based in India.

    The specialist capability hub, which is accessible to all WPP agency teams around the world, will be headquartered in India. This further commitment to the market follows the November 2024 announcement of a new campus in Chennai,  WPP’s third after Mumbai and Gurugram.

    India’s is among its top 10 growing markets and a major source of tech innovation and creativity, and the company has been strategically scaling up its GDC team in the country.. Building on the company’s 11,000-strong workforce in the country, the GDC takes advantage of the significant resources and strong foundation of specialist expertise already in place to further accelerate WPP’s presence in the market.

    The GDC currently employs 10,000 people around the world and plays a critical role in WPP’s business transformation and simplification strategy. It unlocks WPP’s best-in-class specialist capabilities such as cloud modernisation, hyper-personalisation, composable commerce, VR and XR experiences, generative AI and product engineering to offer fully integrated and innovative solutions for clients. These services will complement existing agency expertise across media, content, customer experience (CX), commerce, technology, data and design.

    Prashant is an experienced digital transformation expert and joins WPP from Accenture, where he was global managing director of global assets at Accenture Song, responsible for its generative AI-led asset strategy, delivery and adoption. Prior to Accenture, he was the global chief product and delivery officer for Dentsu Creative & Experience, and group VP at Publicis Sapient.

    “Our GDC enables agency teams and their clients to tap into specialist expertise and new capabilities, “ said WPP CEO Mark Read. “It is underpinned by WPP Open, our AI-driven operating system for marketing transformation, fuelling growth and connecting the dots across our business. I welcome Prashant to WPP and look forward to working with him to develop our offering.”

    WPP  country manager for India CVL Srinivas, added: “As we look to drive further growth and transformation in and from India, we are excited to welcome Prashant Mehta onboard. The expertise of our team in India makes it the prime location to power our clients’ needs with a scaled world-class GDC.”

    Prashant Mehta pointed out: “It is an honour to be leading the WPP GDC, which has been built to evolve with the changing demands of our clients while delivering the highest standards of excellence. I look forward to working with our integrated teams as we harness AI and creativity to transform how we deliver growth for our clients.”

  • Isobar Launches In-housing Solution

    Isobar Launches In-housing Solution

    India:  Isobar, a global digital agency, has launched an in-housing solution to help businesses remodel their marketing approach on their digital transformation journeys.  Isobar’s In-housing solution, ‘Accelerate’ specifically enables clients to fast track their in-house capabilities, offering them a partnership that can quickly respond to business challenges and deliver custom solutions routed in a business’s insights and culture.

    This in-housing solution will leverage Isobar’s strategic, technology and creative expertise to jump-start and accelerate client’s in-housing solutions. It will utilise the expertise of Isobar with the convenience of a specialist team deployed on site at a client’s office.  The solution has been developed to provide clients with more control, transparency and visibility into their transformation journey, whilst connecting to the power of Isobar’s global network and creative, technology and innovation expertise.

    This in-housing solution utilises Isobar’s capabilities across Marketing, Commerce, Products & Service Design and Consultancy offerings to meet a range of client in-housing needs.   Isobar has demonstrated the delivery of in-housing projects across global markets, including global airline trade association IATA, in Switzerland and Gas & Oil company OK a.m.b.a., in Denmark.

    The global solution will draw from existing resources across Isobar’s 6,500 strong network in Americas, EMEA and APAC, and includes Isobar’s global consultants and technologists.

    This in-housing solution, ‘Accelerate’ offers four key services to help clients fast track their in-house capabilities –

        Turnkey solutions to incubate and bootstrap in-house teams, drawing on Isobar’s award-winning experience, capabilities and credentials
        Expert talent that can extend clients existing teams to help drive strategic initiatives within organisations
        Consulting services on the processes, training and insights needed for clients to effectively in-house teams
        Leveraging Isobar’s accelerators and products to enable businesses to increase velocity on clients in-housing their digital transformation journey

    Sue McCusker, Global Chief Client Officer, Isobar, “With our in-housing solution, we offer the best of all worlds, with our teams providing leading, award-winning expertise in driving experience-led transformation powered by creativity, technology and data.   The name ‘Accelerate’ reflects the integral role Isobar plays within a company during the marketing in-housing process and how it helps accelerate clients to better marketing efficiencies, transparency and control, to transform a businesses and brands.”

    Prashant Mehta, Global Head of Delivery, Isobar, “This is an exciting development for us in delivering more strategic value for our clients, leveraging the fantastic talent and vertical experience we have across disciplines. We are truly proud of the impact that we have already created for our clients globally in their transformation journeys with our in-housing solutions and look forward to being a true partner for our clients.”

    Shamsuddin Jasani, Group MD, Isobar South Asia states,” At Isobar, we’ve done some great work that has not only been appreciated by clients has also been recognized in the industry. We have strategic conversations and sit at the table and bring more value and work closely with our clients as a partner and not just an agency. We are already working with clients in India to bring this to life. I’m positive with ‘Accelerate’; we will bring in the right momentum and expertise required towards clients who are looking at in-housing their digital transformation journey.”

  • Komli Media raises $30 million to strengthen leadership position in Asia Pacific

    Komli Media raises $30 million to strengthen leadership position in Asia Pacific

    NEW DELHI: Komli Media, a digital media technology platform, recently announced that it has raised $30 million from new investor Peepul Capital.  

     

    Existing investors, Norwest Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson also participated in the funding. The company has raised funds to further invest in its key technology platforms and to strengthen its presence through integrated go to market solutions across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

     

    “As digital advertising grows in a fast and fragmented manner, it has become critical for the industry to focus on delivering integrated solutions across social, mobile, display and video,” said Komli Media CEO Prashant Mehta. “We have already seen strong adoption of our integrated solution along with algorithmic trading. With the increased funding, we plan to deepen our focus on innovative technologies, such as real time bidding (RTB), to deliver significantly greater value to our customers.”  

     

    Komli Media has built market-leading technologies such as Remarketing on its proprietary ATOM platform that has scaled across regions by delivering strong ROI metrics in display, social and mobile. The company recently integrated ATOM into Facebook’s RTB (Real-Time-bidding) platform – Facebook Exchange (FBX), making it one of the first adoptees in the region.

     

    “We believe that India and southeast Asia are at an inflection point in embracing digital advertising. Komli is a leading player in these key markets and with its technology platform, wide product suite and exceptional leadership team, the company should consolidate its current position even further,” said Peepul Capital investment director Venkat Shankar.

     

    “Komli’s success story is demonstrated by a CAGR of 200 per cent achieved over the past three years driven by innovative platforms coupled with aggressive organic and inorganic investments.  With this round of funding, we expect to further capitalise on the massive market opportunity and also accelerate our growth,” said Komli Media CFO Rakesh Malani.

     

    Avendus Capital was the leading financial advisor to Komli Media on this transaction.

  • Komli Media restructures APAC team

    MUMBAI: Digital media technology network Komli Media has restructured its business teams to further accelerate growth and meet customers‘ needs.

    Komli Media India and North America managing director Gulshan Verma has been promoted to the role of Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and will be responsible for all of Komli‘s business P&L. This new CRO Organisation will consist of all the regional and business managing directors across Komli Media worldwide.
    Prior to this, Verma has served Komli Media for over two years as its Vice President and country head for India & North America.

    Komli Media co-founder of and Southeast Asia (SEA) managing director Akshay Garg will take on the new role heading strategy and business operations across Komli globally. Garg was earlier vice president, international, for nearly three years at Komli Media during which he led Komli‘s international growth and strategy across UK, Australia and SEA, successfully leading all our international acquisitions and growing the SEA business to being the largest independent media network in the region.

    Both will report to Komli Media CEO Prashant Mehta.

    The newly created CRO Organisation will focus on addressing the marketer‘s need for integrated media solutions including those leveraging Komli‘s proprietary ATOM real-time bidding and mobile platforms.

    The CRO Organisation will have several new additions. Mathew Ward has been promoted to Komli Media SEA while Pritesh Patel has been made Komli Media India & Middle East managing director. Matt Sutton has been promoted to Komli Engage and Play managing director. He will be responsible for Komli Media‘s Social and video solutions across all markets. Varsha Brajesh has been promoted to data & analytics director. All of them will join Komli Mobile vice president and managing director Amit Bhartiya and Komli Media Australia and New Zealand managing director Andrew Reid in the CRO Organisation.

    Mehta said, “I am delighted to announce the new CRO Organization and strategy and operations function at Komli Media. Consumer behavior is changing across desktop, mobile, social and video in our core markets and therefore the message from our customers is very clear – we need to have an integrated approach that enables our sales teams to cross-sell solutions. Addressing this immediate need, Komli Media created the CRO Organisation, responsible for maximizing revenues and margins across all regions and products. The need for a dedicated strategy, planning and business operations is equally key to Komli‘s ability to scale, improve alignment across units and sharpen focus on key strategic priorities. With the development of the CRO Organization and the Strategy function, we are well-poised to scale our business successfully across APAC.”

    Verma said, “Komli Media has grown by leaps and bounds through a combination of great technology, best publisher partners and a world-class team. I look forward to ensuring that we continue to successfully uphold our commitment towards clients across APAC.” Akshay Garg said, “Since its founding more than six years ago, Komli Media has experienced rapid growth to become the leading independent media network across the APAC region. In my new role, I‘m looking forward to optimizing our strategy, planning and operations functions to scale our business and increase market share across APAC.”

  • Komli Media makes three appointments

    MUMBAI: Komli Media, a digital media technology platform, has appointed Apurva Dalal as VP and head of engineering, Ashwin Puri as VP and head of global business development and Rahul Bhargava as VP and head of products.

    Dalal will be responsible for building and scaling the Komli Media‘s technology platforms. He will drive the company‘s overall engineering and research vision to bring “industry-leading” technology solutions to customers.

    Meanwhile, Bhargava is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of Komli products, including crafting the company‘s product strategy, defining the road map and executing the go-to market plans.

    Puri will be responsible for business development and strategic alliances for Komli Media globally, including publisher relationships, data and technology partnerships and M&A activity.

    Komli Media CEO Prashant Mehta said, “Komli Media is focused on creating innovative advertising solutions for customers across the digital spectrum. These three key additions underscore the investment we are making to support our fast-paced growth. Apurva, Rahul and Ashwin have consistently demonstrated their strengths in innovation leadership, superior execution and the ability to scale across markets and products in high-growth environments. I am really excited about adding this winning combination to our global leadership team and the added momentum it will bring to Komli.”

    Dalal joins Komli from Google where he established the enterprise cloud computing R&D center at Google Hyderabad. During his seven-year tenure, he also led software engineering teams for AdWords, data warehousing and developer infrastructure.

    Prior to Google, Dalal spent five years at eBay‘s Silicon Valley offices, leading software engineering efforts for the search and high
    performance computing divisions.

    Bhargava brings over 20 years of experience in engineering, product, and business management for technology-driven products. Most recently, Bhargava was VP/GM of digital payments at American Express. Prior to that, he had led the Global Merchant Solutions team at Paypal.

    Prior to joining Komli Media, Puri had spent over 12 years in the mobile and consumer space in the US and APAC in product and business development roles at Sprint, VeriSign and Vuclip.

  • Zynga partners with Komli Media

    Zynga partners with Komli Media

    Mumbai: Komli Media, a digital media technology platform, has partnered with provider of social game services Zynga.

    This partnership gives Komli exclusive rights to sell web display ad and video inventories on all games across the Zynga platform in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

    According to Zynga, Social Media is the one of the greatest touch point for marketers to reach out to their target audience. Social gaming has gained popularity in the recent times due to its ability to foster a spirit of competitiveness, fun and interaction, and Zynga brings to the table some of the most sought after games.

    Komli Media CEO Prashant Mehta said, “Zynga is the brand name that comes to your mind when you think of Social Gaming. With millions of monthly active users playing games with Zynga, a whole new category has been created. Zynga and Komli will now allow brands all over Asia to connect and engage with their community in a unique manner.”

    Zynga head of sales and distribution Adam Sussman said, “Komli Media has a strong sales presence across Asia Pacific, and is known for their solid relationships with marketing influencers. We are happy to partner exclusively with Komli Media, to present our offerings to marketers across the regions.”