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Tag: Sulina Menon

  • Asha Kulkarni joins Rise advisory board to promote gender diversity in mediatech

    Asha Kulkarni joins Rise advisory board to promote gender diversity in mediatech

    MUMBAI: Asha Kulkarni, vice-president of  partnerships &  ecosystem**  Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel), has announced her involvement with the Rise advisory board, a nonprofit organization that champions gender diversity within the broadcasting and media technology sectors. 

    Under the leadership of Shivani Kochhar in India, Rise focuses on impactful initiatives designed to empower women through programs like an annual mentoring initiative, the Rise Awards that honor outstanding women, and the Rise Up Academy that aims to inspire the next generation. Recently, media veteran Sulina Menon too had been co-opted onto  the board too. 

    Asha expressed her gratitude for the opportunity, stating, “It’s a privilege to contribute to empowering women and promoting inclusivity in our field. Serving as a mentor for the past year has been incredibly rewarding.” She invites others to support Rise and join their dynamic community.

    With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, Asha has developed expertise in launching and scaling OTT/D2C platforms, managing large delivery teams, and fostering strategic partnerships across the media value chain.

  • Media veteran Sulina Menon joins Rise India Chapter’s advisory board

    Media veteran Sulina Menon joins Rise India Chapter’s advisory board

    MUMBAI: Sulina Menon, a seasoned professional with over 37 years of experience in advertising and communications, has joined the advisory board of Rise India Chapter. Rise is a global organisation committed to fostering gender diversity in the broadcast and media technology sector, with initiatives such as its award-winning mentoring program, the Rise Awards, and the Rise Up Academy that inspires the next generation.

    Having served as a mentor at Rise for the past two years, Sulina expressed her excitement about contributing further to the organization’s mission to empower women and promote inclusivity. 

    She remarked, “Being part of this transformative journey is an honor.”

    Sulina’s career spans leadership roles across major advertising agencies, broadcasters, and brands, including Zee group, Carat Media, Cheil, Starcom, and Omnicom group. Her extensive portfolio includes work with globally renowned brands like Airtel, Gillette, Nestlé, Samsung, Dabur, and Levi’s, where she helped shape impactful brand strategies.

    An ICF-approved Grow More Coach, Sulina is also passionate about mentoring high-performing individuals and leaders, offering strategic counsel to help them overcome challenges and realize their potential. Known for her empathetic and intuitive coaching style, she combines deep industry knowledge with a results-driven approach to foster growth and innovation. She currently runs her own consultancy Media Power and has been doing so for the past three years or so. 

    As a new advisory board member, Sulina aims to leverage her expertise to further Rise’s mission of creating a more inclusive industry and inspiring the next generation of leaders.

  • GUEST COLUMN: Paradox of Choice – How to influence consumers to pay attention to your brand

    GUEST COLUMN: Paradox of Choice – How to influence consumers to pay attention to your brand

    Mumbai: Twenty-four hours in a day and a zillion media choices to be made! This is the new regular day in the life of a consumer.

    From numerous apps to dime a dozen platforms along the consumer journey, audiences and advertisers are facing a present-day that is rife with limitless choices. Why? But of course, thanks to the internet, data, technology, and personalisation – things we have all become accustomed to. But there is a subtle undercurrent these trends ride on the back of – a paradox of choices!

    The internet has increased connectivity, and penetration is only expected to scale higher with time. The pandemic is accelerating pre-existing industry trends and altering consumer behaviours. In the context of the visual culture, we live in, courting the consumer with packaged and positioned choices is the first step, in the series of many, on the path to forging long-term relationships with them. And this journey is full of the subtle art of choosing.

    Evolving M&E landscape

    With the growth of the Indian digital segment, Television, online video, and social media are emerging as the top entertainment media. According to IBEF, internet browsing has gone up by 64 per cent with increased uptake of news, music, and AVGC. There is a marked shift from offline to online consumption for news with 45-minutes to an hour spent on news on social media and apps.

    Content to Commerce is the new consumer purchase journey. With cumulative time spent over two and a half hours per day, Indians are flocking to their social media accounts and consuming content in genres of news, comedy, the art of cooking, and culture. Then there is influencer-led content and shoppable ads here to delight consumers through the journey of content consumption across social channels.

    OTT Triggered Growth

    OLV and OTT platforms have witnessed a meteoric rise as the new entertainment destination. As per a report by Deloitte, popular platforms have garnered a 45-55 per cent increase in paid subscriptions after the outbreak of the pandemic with audiences spending 95-minutes daily on OTT channels. Rising demand for content and affordable subscription packages has triggered this growth. AVOD segment is anticipated to grow more by 2025. Vernacular adoption has also been accelerated during the pandemic and the momentum is here to stay with more than 13 per cent growth as compared to pre-Covid-19 levels, mostly from the hinterland of India.

    E-commerce Search Engines

    E-commerce and social apps are changing how consumers discover new products. Influencers have emerged as the new brand ambassadors and have evolved as a new marketing channel from discovery to conversion. Video commerce and social commerce are key and emerging conversational commerce-enabling brands are driving their D2C model through messaging apps like WhatsApp that the consumer is already acquainted with and uses extensively.

    The influx of short-form video apps is a testimony to this growth. Current statistics show that Indians spend five times more time on homegrown short video apps than global Instagram reels and YouTube shorts. Apps like Trell, Chingari, Sharechat, Roposo, etc. trail only Google and Facebook ecosystem in terms of time spent by Indians. Voice-based technology is breaking the literacy barrier in India. Searches on voice are expected to grow to 50 per cent, a 10x Increase in multilingual voice assistants is expected.

    All of the above trends indicate that the touchpoints to expose a probable consumer to a product have exploded. Meticulous decisions are required by industry mavens to validate the choices they make on one end. On the other, the consumer is scavenging for informed, yet simple choices to make better decisions, faster.

    For instance, at OMD, we balance the act with attention planning. In a world that is chaotic with choices, brands and advertisers need to be present on platforms their audiences are – adapting to consumer sentiment, being nimble, and providing a media mix of digital solutions to brands not hinged on a tall order but realistic metrics – distinctive packaging to cut through the clutter with creativity. After all, with the impact that the pandemic has had on inventory and ad rates, 2022 in the advertising world is going to be more about influencing the consumer to pay attention to your brand versus competitors and the journey will be interesting.

    (Sulina Menon is the chief client officer at OMD India. The views expressed in this column are personal and Indiantelevision may not subscribe to them.)

  • OMD India strengthens its leadership team

    OMD India strengthens its leadership team

    MUMBAI: In a move to strengthen its core leadership team, OMD India has promoted Sulina Menon to the newly created role of chief client officer, while Lalit Agrawal has been elevated to the role of head of OMD India – West.

    The promotions are in line with the executives’ long-standing track record of achievements and will enhance the agency’s leadership capabilities as it continues to take on fresh growth in the Indian market.

    Menon takes on her new role with immediate effect and will work closely with OMD India’s CEO, Priti Murthy, in building the OMD brand nationally. A media veteran with multifaceted experiences, Menon has worked across media agencies, television channels and on the client-side at Samsung. Since joining Omnicom Media Group in 2013 to lead on planning for the network’s Delhi office, Menon has proved her mettle and earned the status of a trusted partner to the agency’s longstanding clients. In this new role, she brings her media agnostic approach, helping clients to focus on what really drives value for their brands instead.

    Speaking on her promotion, Menon says,  “I am really excited about energising our team in India to drive data-enabled, integrated solutions for our clients and look forward to seamlessly on-boarding our new clients. It’s important for us to continue evolving our approach for clients and OMD is well equipped to future-proof their businesses. I am excited to be a part of the journey.”

    In his new role as Head of OMD India – West, Agrawal will drive and consolidate fresh avenues for growth. His presence as a strong business leader is already felt by some of the most iconic brands,  and his consistent delivery of innovative solutions to complex business problems has earned him respect and appreciation from both local and regional clients. During his eight years with OMD, he has been instrumental in delivering several innovations and industry-first initiatives – a feat that he will undoubtedly continue as the agency continues to expand its presence in West India.

    Speaking on his appointment, Agrawal adds, “OMD is now well underway on its new path, with a rejuvenated focus on helping clients make ‘Better Decisions, Faster’. I am thrilled to be part of this momentous occasion as we extend our footprint in West India and I look forward to working with our clients and teams to make a mark for this region.”

    Speaking on the promotions, OMD India CEO Priti Murthy mentions, “I am delighted to partner with Sulina and Lalit in their new roles. As an agency that is committed to generating business results for our clients, both Sulina and Lalit embody this value proposition, having spent considerable time in the industry and at OMD. These promotions are also a testament to the talent of our teams, taking our agency from strength to strength. I look forward to working closely with them both in navigating OMD’s continued journey of growth in India.”

     

  • Sulina Menon quits SMG to join OMD

    MUMBAI: Sulina Menon has joined media agency Omnicom Media Group yesterday as managing partner –North.

    Menon confirmed her movement to Indiantelevision.com. She will continue to be based out of Delhi.

    Her last stint was with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) India as executive director, where she worked for more than three years.

    Menon started her career in 1986 with Interface Communications as a trainee and then moved on to work with organisations like O&M, McCann Ericsson, Zee TV and Carat Media Services.