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Tag: Shashank Lanjekar

  • Taproot Dentsu announces key leadership changes

    Mumbai: Taproot Dentsu, the creative agency from the house of dentsu India, has announced key leadership changes on Monday as it gears up to get future-ready. The twelve-year-long journey of the agency and its distinctive culture has built a line-up of new leaders who are now ready to take on the mantle, dentsu announced.

    Ayesha Ghosh, who had been heading the Mumbai office, has been appointed as chief executive officer. She will now be responsible for both Mumbai and Gurgaon offices. Ghosh has been with Taproot Dentsu since December 2015. She has led a very profitable office and has helped win important new businesses while nurturing and protecting a culture that allows creativity to flourish.

    Partnering her closely in taking on the mantle is Shashank Lanjekar. He has been elevated to the role of chief strategy officer and will now be in charge of strategic planning for both the Taproot Dentsu offices in Mumbai and Gurgaon. Thus far, he had been heading Planning for the Mumbai office, ever since he joined in 2017. 

    Pearl Vas, who has been with the agency since 2018, takes on more independent responsibilities in Mumbai. She will now be promoted to senior vice president – Strategic Planning.  

    Under the overall creative leadership of Taproot Dentsu co-founder and chief creative officer (CCO) Santosh Padhi, the creative team for the Mumbai office has been expanded and divided into four units, each to be headed by a senior creative person.

    Neeraj Kanitkar, with an experience of 14 years (nine of those in Taproot Dentsu), is the creative lead for Facebook for which he has won the agency awards at Spikes and AdFest. He will be promoted to the executive creative director (ECD). Yogesh Rijhwani has been with the agency for close to five years with a total experience of 13 years. He has been handling Aquaguard and Set Wet. He too will be promoted to ECD. 

    The other two senior creative leads will be Abhishek Deshwal and Purva Ummat. Abhishek joins from Lowe Delhi as ECD, with noteworthy creative work to his credit on Google, Olx, Micromax, and Vivo. Purva Ummat joins the agency from McCann Erickson Delhi, as senior creative director. She comes with extensive creative exposure on brands like Truly Madly, Truecaller, Hotstar, Myntra, and Dominos.

    Abhinav Kaushik, who was Executive VP on the Honda business among other brands, has been promoted to head – Taproot Dentsu, Gurgaon while Titus Upputuru remains very ably in charge of creative for the Gurgaon office.

    “The average age of the agency coming further down is the right sign for us being future-ready. Creativity is at the core of our business and we are lucky to have got a wonderful variety of creative leaders in the form of Neeraj, Yogesh, Abhishek and Purva fronting the agency to take it to the next level, along with Ayesha and Shashank in their new national head roles,” said Taproot Dentsu co-founder & CCO Santosh Padhi.

    Meanwhile, Taproot Dentsu co-founder and CCO Agnello Dias who has been stepping back for a few years from active work, will further dial down his involvement. He will continue as a consultant for key brands only. His association with dentsu international ends this month.

    “I’m delighted that Taproot Dentsu has produced and attracted this kind of talent. Both Neeraj and Yogesh have been with us for many years and the quality of work they have produced in the last couple of years shows that they’re ready for the next step. I have been around these past few years to make sure that they are ready and now that it’s clear they are, I have decided to step back further,” said Dias.

    Umesh Shrikhande retired as CEO in March this year, after having strengthened the strategic function at Taproot Dentsu, to drive result-oriented work and also nurtured a very humane work culture. The much-awarded and internationally recognised, Santosh Padhi, will continue as co-founder and CCO and will have a more hands-on role in both Mumbai and Delhi offices.

    Taproot Dentsu CEO Ayesha Ghosh said, “It’s as exciting as it is nerve-racking to step into this role! Nerve-racking, because the standards set are very high. And these are tough times for business. Exciting, because we have young blood, hungry to prove a point. Either way, this is an adrenaline-pumping opportunity and with this super talented team, we are set up to win.”

    Taproot Dentsu CSO Shashank Lanjekar said, “I see this as a once-in-a-career opportunity to lead a young team to pull off some good work. With a fresh set of minds in the planning teams of Mumbai and Delhi, it only helps the strike rate for great work to be created.”

  • IPL 2019’s ‘Game Banayega Name’ campaign aimed at younger, contemporary audience

    IPL 2019’s ‘Game Banayega Name’ campaign aimed at younger, contemporary audience

    MUMBAI: IPL is not only prominent for its matches but is also a platform for advertisers to make a mark, similar to the Super Bowl in the US. This year too, broadcaster Star India in collaboration with Taproot Dentsu has created a beautiful campaign which along with promoting the series also tells the heartwarming tale of the players participating in it. The ‘Game Banayega Name’ docu-series highlights the stories of uncapped talents who got recognised because of their game at IPL.

    Taproot Dentsu head-strategy planning Shashank Lanjekar shares that the idea behind the campaign was to offer something unique. He says, “When 11 campaigns of a particular brand have already happened, the first question you normally ask is what is new. How do we say something new and also in a way that has never been seen before? That’s how the whole process began for us and incidentally, we came across the line that is written on the IPL trophy, in Sanskrit, which reads ‘Where Talent Meets Opportunity’. So, we picked from there and the campaign was conceptualised.”

    ‘Yatra Pratibha Avasara Prapnotihi’ is the credo of the IPL game and highlights how the tournament gives opportunities to rank outsiders, to stand with and also play against established international players like Dhoni and Kohli.

    ECD Pallavi Chakravarti continues, “The part of the brief (shared by Star) was that they wanted something that appealed to a cricket loyalist as much as is to the infrequent viewer. They wanted something that speaks to everybody. So, for all of us, the thought was to capture the universality of the game. The idea of a newcomer who joins the team to make a name for him connected well to the thought.”

    Speaking about the lyrics for the campaign, Chakravarti reveals that the peppy words were co-written by her along with a lyricist. She says, “We wanted to say it in an easy manner that is neither too cumbersome nor too ‘Shuddh Hindi’ or too English. It had to be younger and contemporary so it appeals the most of the audience. The song tells the philosophy (of the game) but not in a very philosophical way.

    Co-founder and CCO Agnello Dias shares that it was very taxing to be a part of such an interesting and unique campaign. Summing up his thoughts about it, he says, “I can think of an old saying that states that when you enter a casino, you might win or lose, but if you don’t enter it, you will definitely lose. So, it was a challenge that we took.”

    It is for the first time that the players from all the eight teams have come together for a campaign like this, and the energy on sets was undoubtedly infectious. Chakravarti mentions that the players were very cordial to one-another as well as the boys on the other side of the wall. Dias notes that not only the concept but also the way the ad was shot was very interesting. He shares that the screen that the players are seen pushing in the ad is not a special effect, but an actual panel with a camera attached to it.

    The docuseries has been shot with five young players, who were selected by a joint decision taken by BCCI and Star India. The main campaign ad has garnered around 15 million so far, as shared by the team.

  • Parle-G’s new campaign celebrates the unsung hero of biscuits

    Parle-G’s new campaign celebrates the unsung hero of biscuits

    MUMBAI: Parle Products, India’s leading manufacturer of biscuits and confectionery, has partnered with Taproot Dentsu, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network India, to launch a series of five films for its flagship brand Parle-G.

    In all its humility and unchanged goodness over the decades, Parle-G has remained the largest selling biscuit brand across the world. However, in the face of constant expansion in the biscuit category, the brand somewhere seems to have become a default, taken for a granted pick, instead of an active, desired choice. Consequently, Taproot Dentsu’s task here was to move Parle-G right up in the emotional consideration set of consumers, thereby reminding them of what Parle-G really is — the unsung hero of biscuits!

    Taproot Dentsu Mumbai executive creative director Pallavi Chakravarti says, “Parle-G is a staple. Quite like our rice and pulses. It is like that one person everyone has in their life who has always been there, albeit on the side-lines. This campaign is a celebration of relationships that we seldom acknowledge but without which life isn’t quite the same. It’s a message that only a brand as iconic as Parle-G can give. Because come to think of it, everyone has eaten one and everyone has a human equivalent, if they just take the time out to think of it.”

    “The idea is based on the human tendency to take the familiar for granted. This campaign uses this tendency to point out how invaluable the familiar in our lives is while making a compelling connection with the brand Parle-G,” adds Taproot Dentsu Mumbai head of strategic planning Shashank Lanjekar.

    Speaking about the campaign, Parle Products category head Mayank Shah mentions, “Over the years, Parle-G was strongly positioned as a staple given that it is associated with health and nutrition. However, a consumer research that we conducted recently revealed that Parle-G has moved beyond being a staple and is now an emotion. Through this campaign, we want to celebrate that emotion and the bond a consumer has with Parle-G by showcasing how there are relations in our life which are never acknowledged but have played a significant role in making us who we are.”

  • Hockey India League gets Meridian Mumbai and OgilvyOne on board

    MUMBAI: Creative agency Meridian Communication Mumbai has added Hockey India League to its existing client portfolio, following a multi agency pitch in Delhi a couple of months ago. OgilvyOne has bagged the digital mandate.

    Meridian Communication Pvt. Ltd head of office Samrat Bedi said, “Giving hockey its rightful place in India, is something that we all talk about. The League is a superb opportunity for us to be a part of the team that will re-position the game in a manner that appeals to newer and larger audiences.”

    Hockey India secretary-general and Hockey India League chairman Narinder Batra said, “Meridian & Ogilvy One’s passion came through during the pitch. The league is going to showcase the world’s best talent and boundless energy. Meridian and Ogilvy One brought such energy to the table and we are happy to choose it as our communication partner.”

    OgilvyOne Worldwide India president Kunal Jeswani said, “It is very exciting to have the opportunity to launch the Hockey India League and rekindle the country‘s passion for the sport. It is a great challenge and we look forward to it.”

    Meridian Communication Pvt Ltd VP planning Shashank Lanjekar said, “Sport in India is uni-dimensional and that‘s just so unfortunate. It’s easy to blame and complain about the lack of other sports facilities but it’s not easy to initiate a change. And that‘s exactly what Hockey India has done. A spark that we hope slowly takes the shape of a flame and soon rages into a forest fire like the IPL. We hope to make this ambition our communication effort as well.”

  • Meridian wins creative mandate of hungama.com

    Meridian wins creative mandate of hungama.com

    MUMBAI: Meridian Communications Mumbai has won the creative mandate for hungama.com and bollywoodhungama.com along with its apps business.

    The win followed a multi agency pitch which saw participation by Metal Communication, Network Advertising, Interface and Brand Insights.

    Meridian head of office Samrat Bedi said, “The Hungama win, on the back of the Vespa win, is once again a testimony to Meridian‘s strength in blending strategic thought with effective and inspiring creative work. The relevant use of new-age media and ideas that won hands down on high cut-through and freshness is where Meridian scored. In Hungama, we have a brave client who inspired us to push ourselves harder. Eventually, it was the chemistry and passion on both sides that brought us together.”

    Meridian VP account planning Shashank Lanjekar added, “Hungama.com is a brand that is young, fun and futuristic. We hope to partner them in creating work that mirrors these values.”
    Meridian VP client servicing Mohit Ahuja added, “At Meridian, we believe in creating long term buzz platforms, as opposed to mere taglines. Given the digital youth space that Hungama operates in, this approach is a perfect fit.”

    The communication agency also won the creative mandate for Voltas ACs this year and made changes in its creative leadership earlier this month.