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Tag: Starcom Mediavest Group

  • Deepak Sharma joins Rediffusion as executive director

    Deepak Sharma joins Rediffusion as executive director

    Mumbai: Deepak Sharma has joined Rediffusion Media and Communications as executive director. He was previously associated with Starcom Mediavest Group as managing director for over five years.

    “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as executive director at Rediffusion Media and Communications,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post, announcing his move.

    In his career spanning almost two decades, Sharma held senior-level positions at Starcom for almost 17 years. Previously, he worked with agencies like dentsu and GroupM.

  • Times’ Vineet Sodhani joins Spatial Access as CEO

    Times’ Vineet Sodhani joins Spatial Access as CEO

    MUMBAI: Spatial Access, a media audit company, has a new leader at the helm; Vineet Sodhani has taken over as the CEO.

    Spatial Access co-founder and chairperson Meenakshi Menon is excited about the transformation that is under way. She says: “As media moves into a new era of complexity, Spatial Access, under the new leadership, will simplify it for its clients with custom solutions, many of which will be first time in the industry. With Vineet (Sodhani)’s strong background in research and strategy, we will provide valuable insights, a lot of it in the public domain, so that the industry gets more value.”

    Sodhani has two decades’ experience in media strategy, sales and marketing in India and the US. In the past, he has worked for Times Television Network, Starcom Mediavest Group, Hansa Research Group, AC Nielsen and ORG-MARG. In 2012, he co-authored Guide to Indian Markets and is presently working on his second book.

    Sodhani says: “Spatial Access has that rare combination of a great customer and knowledge base. This strength will be used to drive value for every rupee spent on advertising, be it ATL, BTL or digital. We will raise some critical questions, for example, transparency, ROI and wastage.”

  • Motivator appoints Upali Nag as National Head-Insights and Innovation

    Motivator appoints Upali Nag as National Head-Insights and Innovation

    MUMBAI: Motivator, a GroupM agency, has appointed Upali Nag as National Head – Insights and Innovation. Upali will work out of the agency’s Bangalore office and will report to V.Narayanan, Chief Growth Officer, Motivator. Her role will involve providing strategic business solutions and data-driven insights to Motivator’s growing client base besides building the business and project consulting practice.

    Speaking on the new addition to the team,Motivator MD Rabe Iyer said, “In the last couple of years, we have been fast tracking our journey to build a strong client business performance framework and product. Upali has fantastic experience to build sustainable strategies to deliver to broader client conversations. Upali will distinctly add value to nailing the clients’ central challenges in the context of marketing and manageable interventions. She will partner with Motivator, GroupM and WPP units to build a strategic framework to address the same. Her ability to identify and use the right lens in addressing client business issues will further fuel our performance centricity.”

    On her new assignment, Nag added, “I am extremely excited and happy to join Motivator- India. GroupM has always been ahead of the industry in terms of its vision and commitment towards building knowledge and people assets which are geared for the future. This, combined with the fact that most of the Motivator clients are intrinsically Indian clients, makes the journey even more interesting and exciting. This is my second stint at GroupM, and in many ways, feels no less than a homecoming.”

    An alumnus of MICA Ahmedabad, Upali brings to Motivator a rich experience of 18 years in media strategy, planning and development of business solutions. She started her career with the then known, Initiative Media, Lintas and since then has been associated with companies like Universal McCann, Starcom Mediavest Group, Yahoo and GroupM. Some of the brands she has worked on include TVS, Tata Tea, Himalaya Wellness, Wipro Consumer Care and SAB Miller among others.

    Upali Nag also has substantial experience in setting up organization teams, processes and in strategic consulting. Following her business consulting practice, she has successfully driven projects on Consumer Understanding, Business Development, CRM, Business Analytics, Data Solutions and Identifying Performance Metrics.

  • Motivator appoints Upali Nag as National Head-Insights and Innovation

    Motivator appoints Upali Nag as National Head-Insights and Innovation

    MUMBAI: Motivator, a GroupM agency, has appointed Upali Nag as National Head – Insights and Innovation. Upali will work out of the agency’s Bangalore office and will report to V.Narayanan, Chief Growth Officer, Motivator. Her role will involve providing strategic business solutions and data-driven insights to Motivator’s growing client base besides building the business and project consulting practice.

    Speaking on the new addition to the team,Motivator MD Rabe Iyer said, “In the last couple of years, we have been fast tracking our journey to build a strong client business performance framework and product. Upali has fantastic experience to build sustainable strategies to deliver to broader client conversations. Upali will distinctly add value to nailing the clients’ central challenges in the context of marketing and manageable interventions. She will partner with Motivator, GroupM and WPP units to build a strategic framework to address the same. Her ability to identify and use the right lens in addressing client business issues will further fuel our performance centricity.”

    On her new assignment, Nag added, “I am extremely excited and happy to join Motivator- India. GroupM has always been ahead of the industry in terms of its vision and commitment towards building knowledge and people assets which are geared for the future. This, combined with the fact that most of the Motivator clients are intrinsically Indian clients, makes the journey even more interesting and exciting. This is my second stint at GroupM, and in many ways, feels no less than a homecoming.”

    An alumnus of MICA Ahmedabad, Upali brings to Motivator a rich experience of 18 years in media strategy, planning and development of business solutions. She started her career with the then known, Initiative Media, Lintas and since then has been associated with companies like Universal McCann, Starcom Mediavest Group, Yahoo and GroupM. Some of the brands she has worked on include TVS, Tata Tea, Himalaya Wellness, Wipro Consumer Care and SAB Miller among others.

    Upali Nag also has substantial experience in setting up organization teams, processes and in strategic consulting. Following her business consulting practice, she has successfully driven projects on Consumer Understanding, Business Development, CRM, Business Analytics, Data Solutions and Identifying Performance Metrics.

  • Cannes Lions: Starcom MediaVest Group grabs ‘Media Network of the Year’ award

    Cannes Lions: Starcom MediaVest Group grabs ‘Media Network of the Year’ award

    MUMBAI: Starcom MediaVest Group has bagged the ‘Media Network of the Year’ award at the ongoing Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Three days into the annual festival, SMG’s total across all categories includes 34 wins and 120 shortlists.

     

    ‘The Media Network of the Year’ win comes as a result of SMG’s three Silvers, nine Bronzes and 14 shortlists in the Media Lions category. Winning campaigns have come from clients including Bank of America, Esurance, Heineken and Samsung, among others.

     

    The win has come less than two weeks after SMG was named the Most Effective Agency and Most Effective Agency Network by the Effie Index at the North American Effie Awards Gala in New York, where Publicis Groupe also took top honours as Most Effective Holding Company. In April, SMG was awarded Agency Network of the Year at the Festival of Media Global Awards in Rome for the second year in a row.

     

     “I couldn’t be more proud of the work SMG is producing for its clients around the globe,” said Starcom MediaVest Group Global CEO Laura Desmond.

     

    “Winning Media Network of the Year after our previous wins is truly incredible and proves that we’re at the top of our game. The work we’re producing for our clients is inspired by creativity and informed by converged data, a combination that is clearly resonating with the industry. We’re thrilled to be able to create these campaigns for our clients and have that hard work and dedication recognised here at Cannes,” added Desmond.

  • SMG Convonix wins 24 clients in the last quarter of FY 13-14

    SMG Convonix wins 24 clients in the last quarter of FY 13-14

    MUMBAI: Starcom MediaVest Group’ integrated digital marketing arm SMG Convonix has won 24 new clients in the last quarter across sectors like education, FMCG, travel, banking and finance, e-commerce and technology.

     

    SMG Convonix CEO Vishal Sampat said, “Most of our recent wins were after multi-agency pitches and are testimony to the strength of our offering and thought and rigor that the teams put into campaigns. We continue to work with the same core principle of trying to solve business problems by leveraging synergies across digital solutions, analytics and technology. Going forward, our focus will be on growing the media offering and delivering cutting-edge impactful campaigns enabled by the right technology.”

     

    Tata Global Beverages has awarded the Global SEO mandate for their brands to SMG Convonix, which includes Tetley and Eight o’ clock. The new roster of clients also includes IMS Learning Resources, Tuffware and e-commerce biggies such as Pepperfry and Reseller Club. SMG Convonix has, in a focused manner, expanded its base and experience in Consumer Electronics by bagging The Mobile Store and The Electronic Store. In addition to the Indian wins, a significant number of clients from other markets like the US have also augmented the roster.

  • SMG India wins Gold at the 5th edition of I-Com global summit 2014

    SMG India wins Gold at the 5th edition of I-Com global summit 2014

    MUMBAI: Starcom MediaVest Group has been awarded the prestigious I-Com Data Creativity Award for their media analytics work on Axis Bank in India. I-Com received more than 80 award submissions from various agencies across the globe and ten shortlists were invited to the Global Summit in Seville for the final round. SMG India was represented at the 5th I-COM Global Summit 2014 by Aarti Bharadwaj, VP,  SMG India Data &Analytics.

     

    “This win is a milestone for the analytics practice within SMG,” said Malli CR, CEO, SMG India.“SMG India has emerged as a center for product development and thought leadership in analytics that is then scaled across the globe. The India team has executed complex marketing analytics projects for SMG offices in India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia.”

     

    SMG India is focused on digital, content and analytics at the core of what it offers to its clients with a belief that precision marketing, scaled content and innovation fueled by real time data and analytics are central to the future of the industry.

     

    SMG’s pioneering work in this area provides a possible measurement system that helps brands evaluate all media, traditional and offline using the same metrics. This addresses a major gap in the media industry: marketers are familiar and comfortable with the measurement metrics of traditional media using GRPs, reach and frequency. Digital, as a medium, is highly measured, and with a great level of accuracy. However, the measurement metrics of digital are not comparable with the metrics of traditional media making the comparison of efficiency metrics across media highly challenging.

     

    SMG’s winning work with Axis Bank used advanced attribution modeling techniques to derive a framework that captures the impact of paid, owned and earned media on business, be it sales or salience, in a mesh of direct and indirect effects. The framework, therefore, evaluates the role of all media investments by the brand in terms of effectiveness in driving business. All media, be it traditional or digital media, are evaluated in terms of their relative contribution toward business, enabling comparison across media.

     

    Speaking of their future forward signature POEM approach, Bharadwaj said: “The well-researched consultancy rendered to our clients has helped allocate investments so as to optimize paid media while also amplifying owned and earned media content. We are extremely proud to have won GOLD at an esteemed global platform like I-COM Data Creativity Award this year for Axis Bank.”

     

    Delighted at the win, Mr. SagnikGhosh, Head  Marketing, Axis Bank extended his compliments to the team stating,  “ There were some very interesting observations &learnings that came through the POEM analysis done by SMG India. For a Bank of our size and presence, it is important to understand the attribution that goes towards the Owned Medium Vs. Paid or Earned. We have a large presence on ground through over 2,300 Branches and over 12,000 ATMs, which is itself of tremendous media value. We also have a robust digital presence through our website, online banking and social media assets. It was important to understand what contributes towards building the brand. We have taken some of the learnings on board and are in the process of making some changes to our media mix. “

  • Starcom MediaVest Group appoints Hanley King as chairman, SMG India

    Starcom MediaVest Group appoints Hanley King as chairman, SMG India

    MUMBAI: Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) has roped in Hanley King as chairman, SMG India. King will report to global operations president John Sheehy and will be based in SMG’s Mumbai office.  As chairman, SMG India, King will be focused on key client relationships, new business and commercial operations for the agency. SMG India CEO Malli CR and SMG Convonix CEO Vishal Sampat will dually report to King and will continue to lead daily operations for their respective organisations. 

     

    “Hanley is a consummate professional with a proven track record of delivering results across our globally networked clients,” said Sheehy. “Our recent acquisition of Convonix and our robust digital and analytics practice prove that our operations in India are among our most future-focused.  I look to Hanley to work hand in hand with Malli and Vishal to continue to build upon our momentum in India.”

     

    King was most recently SMG Global Client Lead for APAC, based in Singapore. In this role he managed multifaceted SMG client teams for Samsung, Mars Wrigley, Kellogg’s, Novartis and Bank of America and others across the APAC region. Prior to joining SMG, King was CEE President for Universal McCann, where he was responsible for 22 markets across the Central European region with 500 plus staff and billings of close to $1 billion. Prior to this role, he was UM CEO, Czech Republic, and previous to this he spent seven years working for media independents and full service communications agencies in his native New Zealand. In his career Hanley has worked on many global accounts in Asia, Europe or New Zealand spanning FMCG, Auto, Financial, Breweries and Telcos.

     

    “India is a fascinating, fast-paced and constantly evolving market,” King said. “And that’s why it’s such an honor to be joining SMG India and working with Malli and Vishal – a team that is so relentlessly focused on the future.”

     

    SMG India is leading the industry with its robust digital and analytics practice, as well as it best-in-class consumer insights work led by its Human Experience Strategist Network. SMG India’s client list includes Dabur, Axis Bank, Aircel and Ranbaxy In 2013, PublicisGroupe acquired Convonix, which aligned with SMG India. Founded in 2003, Convonix today employs more than 400 digital marketing specialists, making it the largest digital agency in India, serving such clients domestically as well as internationally as Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, Budweiser, Taj Hotels, DBS, Mahindra Holidays, Tata Global Beverages among others.

  • Mona Jain quits Vivaki Exchange

    Mona Jain quits Vivaki Exchange

    MUMBAI: When Lodestar UM and Cheil won the Samsung account, no one could have guessed that it would lead to Mona Jain putting down her papers from Vivaki Exchange.

    The brand’s account was earlier with Starcom MediaVest Group which it lost out to the IPG Mediabrand’s agency Lodestar UM in a multi-agency pitch.

    When indiantelevision.com contacted the CEO of the media agency, she was unavailable for comment. Jain was promoted to the position in 2011. Prior to that, she was the chief operating officer of the agency.

    Sources in the industry have confirmed the news and feel that it was kind of expected as the agency lost out to major clients in the recent past.

    Jain has more than two decades of experience in marketing communications. Over the years, she has worked with agencies such as Hindustan Thompson, Contract Advertising, Mudra Communications, ZenithOptimedia and Cheil Communications. She also has the experience of being on the ‘client side’ with short stints at Glaxo SmithKline.

  • Starcom MediaVest Group announces two key hires

    Starcom MediaVest Group announces two key hires

    MUMBAI: Starcom MediaVest Group has announced a couple of management changes and key appointments to strengthen the organisation.

    The media agency has appointed Gerald Roche as VP for the south division operating out of Banglore and Sameer Kapoor as VP at their Gurgaon office.

    Sameer Kapoor – Vice President Starcom Worldwide Gurgaon

    This announcement comes in the wake of SMG solidifying its position as an employer of choice and is a step towards becoming the leading Media Agency in the country.

    Starcom MediaVest Group India CEO Mallikarjunadas CR said, “The appointments of Sameer and Gerald reflect SMG‘s commitment to attracting the best and brightest talent to our agency.”

    “Sameer and Gerald are reliable leaders with robust backgrounds in business development and client relationship management. They will fit very well within our strongly established client-driven culture and we are sure they will continue their successful runs with us,” added Mallikarjunadas.

    On his appointment Roche said “I‘m truly delighted and encouraged that SMG, anchored by its analytics resources, has digital (and not just television) at the front and center of its media planning and I look forward to contributing to this team effort in no small measure”

    Gerald Roche – Vice President Starcom Worldwide South

    Prior to Starcom, Roche was heading the Media buying division for Madison Media Infinity and Platinum Media. In a career spanning over fifteen years he has worked with Sony Entertainment Television, Dubai Outdoor Media, Mindshare, Carat Media Services, OMD Dubai, Bozell Prime Dubai.

    He has handled different clients in his earlier stints like Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Bharti AXA Life Insurance, Britannia Industries, Cadbury / Kraft Foods India, IDFC, Marico, McDonald‘s India, Tata Chemicals and Turner Television (Imagine TV).

    Kapoor on the other hand brings to the table his decade long experience, he has worked with Madison Media Plus, Madison media, Initiative media, Optimum media solutions and Universal McCann with the various clients – Hyundai, General Motors , Maruti, Bharti Airteland Bacardi Martini. He will be heading Samsung for Starcom in his new stint.

    “I look forward to working with a great organisation and a great client like Samsung. Starcom is going from strength to strength; I‘m excited to be a part of this growth oriented organisation and being present while we achieve greater heights of success,” said Kapoor.