MUMBAI: TBWA India has hired Rohit Mukherjee as executive creative director at its Gurgaon office, tasking him with sharpening the agency’s disruption philosophy and raising the creative bar for clients.
Mukherjee, who brings close to 20 years in advertising, joins from Dentsu Creative Isobar where he rose to group executive creative director, leading integrated, digital-first campaigns for major Indian brands. He began his career with an internship at Rediffusion Y&R and went on to stints at Publicis, Mccann, DDB Mudra and Bates, shaping campaigns for Airtel, Nestlé, Colgate-Palmolive, Dabur, Diageo and Kia Motors. Among his best-known works is Colgate’s “Kya aapke toothpaste mein namak hai?” platform.
TBWA India, chief creative experience officer, Russell Barrett called Mukherjee “an accomplished creative individual with a great pedigree of ideas and executions,” adding that he was “just the right kind of pirate to lead and inspire the office forward.”
For his part, Mukherjee said he relished the agency’s disruption credo. “To create in any field, you need to disrupt. The very fact that for tbwa, disruption is its raison d’être is provocation enough for any creative,” he noted.
Mukherjee’s work has earned recognition at Cannes Lions, Spikes, Kyoorius, Abbys, Effies, New York Festival, Adfest and the Clios. Off duty, he is a collector of stories, whether through photography, trivia or conversations with strangers.
MUMBAI: Dentsu India has snapped up one of the industry’s sharpest minds. John Thangaraj, the veteran planner and brand whisperer, has been appointed as chief strategy officer – creative & media, marking a bold move in the agency’s push for tighter integration across its verticals.
The appointment, effective May 2025, sees Thangaraj bring two decades of battle-tested experience across advertising, media, consumer research and brand building to the Japanese holding group’s India operations. He moves from Havas India, where he served as CSO for a year.
Dentsu’s gain is no small scalp. Prior to Havas, Thangaraj was the group CSO at FCB group India, steering strategy across multiple marquee clients, and also held senior roles at Mindshare, MullenLowe Lintas group, Rediffusion Y&R and adidas.
Known for mixing consumer insight with street-smart cultural acumen, Thangaraj has worked on everything from fizzy drinks (Pepsi) to luxe kicks (adidas originals), search portals (Shine.com) to search-for-meaning campaigns (HT’s “It Is Time”). His career boasts a few Bronze Effies, a cult GSK ‘Innovation Lab,’ and even a side hustle decoding the super affluent Indian for LG.
Now based in Gurugram, the strategy maven is expected to turbocharge Dentsu’s “one brand” promise with unified thinking that aligns creative sparks with media muscle.
For an industry constantly torn between the mad men and the math men, Thangaraj’s appointment might just be the best of both worlds.
MUMBAI: She’s got exposed to leading a channel, building a cult motorcycle brand, and she’s even turned entrepreneur before returning to the advertising world. The lady in question is Tanisha Sharma who has just moved to the Havas Creative Network as executive vice-president from FCB India where she was senior vice-president for nearly three years.
A bachelor of arts degree in history followed by a post graduate diploma in marketing and advertising from Xavier Institute of Communication got Tanisha her first ob at Rediffusion Y&R in 2005 as a senior account executive. From there, she moved to JWT into account management where she stayed for almost a couple of years. And then came a surprising and unexpected leap into the world of television with her being appointed a manager of MTV where she crafted out strategies for the youth-oriented service for two and a half years.
With that experience behind her she was drafted as senior brand manager for Royal Enfield – a stint she kept for two years and some months after which she founded a card company which created bespoke invitations and stationery. That did not last for longer than two years and six months following which it was back to advertising with her joining Dentsu Impact as general manager in 2019. A gradual progression upwards saw her becoming associate vice-president – a position which she left to join FCB India. And now she is at Havas Creative.
Imagine, what will pop up in your mind when you hear ‘Let’s do it’ or ‘Ho jaye’, something naughty or kinky? But, these are words regularly used by Bongs in their day-to-day lives. Hoichoi however made it into a happening and impactful campaign.
The recently-launched OTT platform Hoichoi buzzed with a creative campaign called #hoyejak. Designed by Rediffusion Y&R, it created a hype across social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Hoichoi was launched on 20 September by Shree Venkatesh Films (SVF), an Indian media and entertainment company headquartered in Kolkata. #hoyejak by Hoichoi, an ad-free platform with a collection of seven original web series till date and three more to launch by the end of October, was preceded by some funny one-liners which created a lot of curiosity amongst the Bengalis during Durga Puja.
The faces of the campaign were none other than the Hoichoi and SVF team members themselves. #hoyejak hoardings dotted the skylines of Kolkata and were strategically placed at various locations to grab maximum eyeballs. Hoichoi co-founder Vishnu Mohta, interacting with Indiantelevision.com‘s Kirti Chauhan, said, “Hoichoi means happening of positive activities around you. Excerpts from an interview where Mohta shared insights about campaign:
Tell us about your marketing strategy to promote Hoichoi?
In the first six months, it is all about creating brand awareness. We are not looking to the brands and advertisers in the initial phase because we are offering Hoichoi in an advertising-free form to provide uninterrupted viewing. So, we have used all our considerable SVF properties across cinemas and screens, digital and social properties to promote hoichoi.
We believe advertising must be disruptive and highly engaging, just like the original content on Hoichoi. We launched an innovative #hoyejak teaser campaign to promote Hoichoi. It was an outdoor campaign and became the most talked about campaign of the city this Durga Puja. We had Hoichoi hoardings across the high-traffic parts of the Kolkata skyline, and those drew a lot of attention and generated conversations across mediums.
What does ‘hoyejak’ mean and how was the response to the campaign?
See, both, Hoichoi and Hoyejak are two very common, everyday terms used by Bengalis in their day to day conversations, and obviously were chosen because they establish an automatic connect. #hoyejak translates to “let’s do it” in English, and “ho jaye!” in Hindi. Not only the words, but also the faces we used were really pleasant, everyday faces to reflect the average Bengali on the streets of Kolkata. In fact, we used Hoichoi and SVF team members themselves in the campaign, and together, the creatives and the entire approach sustained the buzz and brought a smile to the faces of the public.
Tell us about the timing of Hoichoi launch, and the campaign rollout
Well, some very funny one-liners preceded the #hoyejak campaign, which created curiosity amongst Bengalis. Designed by Rediffusion Y&R, we had strategically decided to launch Hoichoi in the Durga Puja festive season, because it is obviously the best time of year to roll out anything for Bengalis, not just in India, but worldwide. The Puja holidays not only see Bengalis turn out in their festive best with their families, but also see most Bengalis travelling back from outside Bengal to their homes or loved ones in Kolkata and across the entire state.
Our choice of OOH locations which included the airport and Howrah station along with other high-traffic areas, gave our campaign in Kolkata a very high OTS and helped it make a big impact. It also had a lot to do with the creative content of course – not only were the ‘tease and reveal’ creatives very entertaining, but the fact that nine out of 14 creatives talked about Durga Puja, helped the campaign receive great word of mouth publicity.
How many locations did you cover across Kolkata?
Many. Right off, I can recall Howrah Station, Ultadanga, Science City, Syed Amir Ali Avenue, Rashbehari Metro, Harish Mukherjee Road, Ruby crossing, Gariahat Flyover, Garia, B. T. Road, AJC Bose Road, Gurusaday Road and the airport.
How much did you invest for the promotions?
I regret I would be unable to share the cost, but suffice to say that it was an extensive campaign that was put up across numerous prime OOH spots in Kolkata, and we did not hold back on it in any way.
How was it received by the viewers?
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were buzzing. On the day of the Hoichoi launch event (20 September), #hoichoi trended pan-India at the no.1 position, with #hoyejak at no. 2. Prominent Tollywood stars took to social media to congratulate SVF on the grand launch of hoichoi. Both our hashtags, #hoyejak and #hoichoi, together generated over 3000 conversations and 47.9 million impressions, reaching approximately 6.8 million people within four hours of the launch.
MUMBAI: Jagatjit Industries has handed the creative and digital mandate of its Aristocrat Whisky portfolio to Rediffusion Y&R’s Delhi office, following a multi-agency pitch.
Rediffusion Y&R’s mandate comprises of the Aristocrat Whisky brands, namely Aristocrat Premium Whisky, AC Black Whisky, AC Neat Whisky, AC S EK C Whisky, Aristocrat Whisky.
Jagatjit Delhi COO Anant Iyer shared, “Rediffusion Y&R was chosen for the creative mandate, as well as brand strategy. We found their creative most strategic and fresh in media dark industry like ours. It is an opportunity for them to infuse fresh energy in the brand portfolio and take it to newer heights.”
Rediffusion Y&R CSO Navonil Chatterjee said, “We are proud to be associated with this brand which has a rich heritage and legacy. All through this pitch, our proprietary strategic tool, the BAV (Brand Asset Valuator), came in very handy in helping us get a deeper understanding of the category, consumer and brands.”
MUMBAI: Jagatjit Industries has handed the creative and digital mandate of its Aristocrat Whisky portfolio to Rediffusion Y&R’s Delhi office, following a multi-agency pitch.
Rediffusion Y&R’s mandate comprises of the Aristocrat Whisky brands, namely Aristocrat Premium Whisky, AC Black Whisky, AC Neat Whisky, AC S EK C Whisky, Aristocrat Whisky.
Jagatjit Delhi COO Anant Iyer shared, “Rediffusion Y&R was chosen for the creative mandate, as well as brand strategy. We found their creative most strategic and fresh in media dark industry like ours. It is an opportunity for them to infuse fresh energy in the brand portfolio and take it to newer heights.”
Rediffusion Y&R CSO Navonil Chatterjee said, “We are proud to be associated with this brand which has a rich heritage and legacy. All through this pitch, our proprietary strategic tool, the BAV (Brand Asset Valuator), came in very handy in helping us get a deeper understanding of the category, consumer and brands.”
MUMBAI: Hamdard has rolled a new TVC for its herbal cough and cold remedy product; Joshina. The campaign positions the brand as a means to protect users from the effects of seasonal change and an impending cough and cold situation.
The new campaign depicts an engaging narrative through the personification of Cough and Cold that makes people incapacitated. Shown from the perspective of ‘Mr. SardiZukaam’ (Cold & Cough) depicts his plight that people are no longer scared of him as children continue to ride their bicycles in the rain; the elderly savor ice-creams in the severe cold, amongst other scenarios.
The campaign has been developed by Rediffusion Y&R, and was shot by Jigsaw Pictures Productions. The creative will be carried forward in the form of a TVC and on various digital platforms.
Speaking on the key insights of the campaign, Hamdard chief sales and marketing Mansoor Ali, said,“With the advent of monsoon, people especially the young and the aged, are susceptible to common cold easily. With this campaign, we want to re-instill people’s faith in the power of herbal products that are fast, healthy and with no side-effects. The campaign is cheeky but delivers a strong message and brings the value of the product in the fore-front effectively. We sincerely believe that the Joshina TVC will be remembered for the differentiated treatment and narrative.”
Hamdard Laboratories senior brand manager Nilotpal Singh said, “Joshina as a product in the category is different. To have the syrup at the onset of the first signs of cold is itself a “Prevention”. This year the creative takes a bash at cold that we believe relishes at the thought of incapacitating us. Joshina takes away its wing and that makes the advertising this year so interesting”.
MUMBAI: Hamdard has rolled a new TVC for its herbal cough and cold remedy product; Joshina. The campaign positions the brand as a means to protect users from the effects of seasonal change and an impending cough and cold situation.
The new campaign depicts an engaging narrative through the personification of Cough and Cold that makes people incapacitated. Shown from the perspective of ‘Mr. SardiZukaam’ (Cold & Cough) depicts his plight that people are no longer scared of him as children continue to ride their bicycles in the rain; the elderly savor ice-creams in the severe cold, amongst other scenarios.
The campaign has been developed by Rediffusion Y&R, and was shot by Jigsaw Pictures Productions. The creative will be carried forward in the form of a TVC and on various digital platforms.
Speaking on the key insights of the campaign, Hamdard chief sales and marketing Mansoor Ali, said,“With the advent of monsoon, people especially the young and the aged, are susceptible to common cold easily. With this campaign, we want to re-instill people’s faith in the power of herbal products that are fast, healthy and with no side-effects. The campaign is cheeky but delivers a strong message and brings the value of the product in the fore-front effectively. We sincerely believe that the Joshina TVC will be remembered for the differentiated treatment and narrative.”
Hamdard Laboratories senior brand manager Nilotpal Singh said, “Joshina as a product in the category is different. To have the syrup at the onset of the first signs of cold is itself a “Prevention”. This year the creative takes a bash at cold that we believe relishes at the thought of incapacitating us. Joshina takes away its wing and that makes the advertising this year so interesting”.
MUMBAI: Out of six shortlisted entries from India, Rediffusion Y&R Mumbai bagged a Silver Lion and PHD India Mumbai won a Bronze Lion.
Rediffusion Y&R won the Silver Lion for Tata Motors’ ‘Dipper Condoms’ campaign under the Public Health & Safety sub-category. The innovative campaign was to create awareness of use of condoms and prevention of AIDS among truck drivers. Using the colloquial nuances popular amongst the truck drivers, the agency helped the brand create the campaign.
In India, most trucks have the phrase ‘Use Dipper At Night’ written behind urging fellow drivers to use “Dip headlights at night.” Taking a queue from it, Rediffusion Y&R created a condom brand and named it ‘DIPPER’. It was then packaged inspired truck art that the truck drivers would immediately relate to.
This is the second award the campaign has grabbed this year at Cannes Lions. Earlier Rediffusion Y&R India had picked up a single Bronze for its entry ‘Dipper Condoms’ in the Health & Wellness Lions category.
“The campaign is a result of over two years of hard work on the program for Tata Motors. Given that it is different from putting up a TVC, the success of the program brings us joy and validates the work that went into shaping it. The awards are an icing on that cake,” informed a delighted Rediffusion Y&R India president Dhunji S Wadia.
Apart from this, Hindustan Unilever’s campaign for Active Wheel Detergent – ‘Lo Kar Lo Baat’ – also grabbed a Bronze in the media category created by PHD India (Mumbai) for its use of mobile.
MUMBAI: Out of six shortlisted entries from India, Rediffusion Y&R Mumbai bagged a Silver Lion and PHD India Mumbai won a Bronze Lion.
Rediffusion Y&R won the Silver Lion for Tata Motors’ ‘Dipper Condoms’ campaign under the Public Health & Safety sub-category. The innovative campaign was to create awareness of use of condoms and prevention of AIDS among truck drivers. Using the colloquial nuances popular amongst the truck drivers, the agency helped the brand create the campaign.
In India, most trucks have the phrase ‘Use Dipper At Night’ written behind urging fellow drivers to use “Dip headlights at night.” Taking a queue from it, Rediffusion Y&R created a condom brand and named it ‘DIPPER’. It was then packaged inspired truck art that the truck drivers would immediately relate to.
This is the second award the campaign has grabbed this year at Cannes Lions. Earlier Rediffusion Y&R India had picked up a single Bronze for its entry ‘Dipper Condoms’ in the Health & Wellness Lions category.
“The campaign is a result of over two years of hard work on the program for Tata Motors. Given that it is different from putting up a TVC, the success of the program brings us joy and validates the work that went into shaping it. The awards are an icing on that cake,” informed a delighted Rediffusion Y&R India president Dhunji S Wadia.
Apart from this, Hindustan Unilever’s campaign for Active Wheel Detergent – ‘Lo Kar Lo Baat’ – also grabbed a Bronze in the media category created by PHD India (Mumbai) for its use of mobile.
