ITV

Tag: Unilever

  • Leo Burnett ropes in Amritraj Thakur as VP – planning

    Leo Burnett ropes in Amritraj Thakur as VP – planning

    MUMBAI: Leo Burnett has appointed Amritraj Thakur as vice-president- planning at its Delhi office.

     

    In his new role, Thakur will work closely with Leo Burnett executive vice president – integrated strategy planning Antony Rajkumar in sharpening the agency’s strategic focus on key clients.

     

    Thakur started his career in advertising in 1999 and soon left the industry to become a specialist in the consulting space. He moves back to advertising with Leo Burnett after a long hiatus, and having worked with many multinational clients in diverse areas such as strategy planning, business analysis, consumer research, etc.

     

    He joins from Intellecap Consulting India where he worked as associate vice president.

     

    Leo Burnett India North president Samir Gangahar said, “Amritraj comes with rich experience in communications and more recently in consultancy. In him, we have found a strategist who has the ability to grasp business problems and think through compelling solutions that will add value to clients’ businesses. In his experience of over 15 years, he has acted as the change enabler for many clients across industries. I’m sure his strength in strategy and business analysis will prove to be an incredible asset to us.”

     

    Leo Burnett India executive strategy planning Antony Rajkumar added, “Amritraj has spent a large part of his career in the consulting space, solving complex business problems for both Indian and International clients. That experience coupled with his temperament, natural intelligence and passion to study and influence human behaviour, will add tremendous value to our clients’ businesses, and thus for the agency itself. It’s great to have someone like him on the team.”

     

    Thakur said, “Leo Burnett’s outlook on how the client’s business is evolving and the role communication companies can play in the change is spot on. I’m truly excited to be a part of the team that believes in defining the purpose brands and creating targeted and meaningful conversations with consumers. After having worked in the consulting space for more than 10 years, I was looking to get back to advertising. I would be foolish to have missed the Leo Burnett opportunity, as it has in its team some of the finest strategic thinkers in the country.”

     

    Over the years Thakur has worked with Unilever, Bosch, NCSoft, RDF Media, Danone, in designing new market entry strategies, implementing sustainable business models, managing marketing and communication requirements and new product launches.

  • WPP’s tenthavenue & Ozonetel partner to strengthen mobile marketing platform

    WPP’s tenthavenue & Ozonetel partner to strengthen mobile marketing platform

    MUMBAI: WPP’s tenthavenue and Ozonetel have inked a partnership to strengthen developing market mobile marketing platform – Electra.

     

    The new tenthavenue and Ozonetel partnership sees the development of new features and improved capabilities on top of the existing Electra platform – a single technology stack through which advertisers can deliver mobile asset formats through USSD, SMS, Interactive Voice Response and compressed video routes across 150 countries.

    Combining the Electra platform capabilities with Ozonetel technology means that brands can utilise enhanced mobile marketing capabilities including:

     

    ·  Measurement of consumer behaviour and engagement levels in real time for a more comprehensive understanding of what content will work

    ·  Consolidation and delivery of value exchange mechanisms, such as mobile airtime and talk-time top-ups to consumers

    ·  The delivery of personalised content and messaging to the consumer through an advanced logic engine

    ·  Multiple enterprise communication models to scale the offering to across all brands and categories of a company

     

    The deal will also allow tenthavenue to integrate new messaging pipes to work with Electra to create new media distribution products moving forward.

    Tenthavenue CEO for Emerging Markets Sudipto Roy said, “According to Mary Meeker’s 2015 Internet Trends report, there are still 3.12 billion feature phones globally and yet most technologies focus on an in-app advertising based eco-system for mobile. It’s for this reason, combined with the emergence of smartphone ad-blocking technologies, that there is a stronger demand for device ubiquitous mobile formats and subsequently a gap in the market for a platform that can do this at scale (with robust data, content optimisation capabilities and measurement). We are resolving that gap by improving Electra and embedding it with the ability to drive ‘value exchanges’ with the consumer, taking them a few steps closer to actual sales and loyalty than traditional approaches do.”

     

    Ozonetel growth advisor Anurag Banerjee added, “We are a product centric company, much like Hubspot and our solutions enable hundreds of companies to manage personalised communications with their customers. We are excited to now extend this support to WPP clients.”

     

    Tenthavenue global CEO Rupert Day said, “This deal is an incredible leap forward for brands operating in developing markets who understand the value in reaching consumers with optimal personalised content. The partnership with Ozonetel aligns with tenthavenue’s investment in TMARC in January 2014, the leading USSD mobile platform in South Africa. It reflects our vision of driving personalised communications of value to the consumer, and elevates the tenthavenue proposition across Asia, Africa and very soon, LatAm.”

    The Ozonetel technology platform underpins more than 1000 enterprise customers globally, providing clients with a single entry to connect with over four billion addressable connections through 226 telecom operators. Current clients include Unilever, Zomato and Big Basket.

  • Omnicom names Anil Jayachandran as communications planning head, Malaysia

    Omnicom names Anil Jayachandran as communications planning head, Malaysia

    MUMBAI: Omnicom Media Group has appointed Anil Jayachandran as head of communications planning in Malaysia.

     

    In his new role, Jayachandran will be working on key client accounts across OMD and PHD to drive thought leadership and best strategy practices.

     

    Jayachandran brings with him a diverse skillset on board, with over two decades of experience working across marketing, advertising, and research functions in strategy-related roles, including tenures at the likes of JWT, Unilever, Lintas, Ogilvy & Mather, McCann Erickson and Omnicom Group.

     

    With a career that spans geographies, Jayachandran has previously been based in India, Egypt, Malaysia, Bahrain and Dubai.

     

    He joins the Omnicom Media Group team from his role as strategy planning director at Leo Burnett.

     

    Omnicom Media Group Malaysia CEO Andreas Vogiatzakis said, “Anil’s incredible strategic mind, deep in-market knowledge and breadth of experience working alongside clients to produce innovative solutions makes him a valuable addition to the team. I am certain his hire will be instrumental in strengthening Omnicom Media Group’s strategic output for our clients, and we are more than delighted to welcome Anil on board.”

     

    Jayachandran added, “I am excited to be joining the talented team at Omnicom Media Group, and hope my experience and background will be able to complement current and future offerings.”

     

    Jayachandran reports to Vogiatzakis in his new role, and his position is effective immediately.

  • JWT acquires minority stake in Turkey’s Wanda Digital

    JWT acquires minority stake in Turkey’s Wanda Digital

    MUMBAI: J. Walter Thompson Company has acquired a minority stake in Turkish digital agency Wanda Digital.

     

    Founded in 2006 and employing 80 people in Istanbul, Wanda’s clients include Turkcell, L’Oreal, Nestle and Unilever.

     

    Wanda offers a range of services including campaigns, social media, platform development and games and apps.

     

    The agency’s unaudited net sales for the year ended 31 December, 2014 were approximately $ 3.4 million, with gross assets at the same date of approximately $ 2.3 million.

     

    Following the transaction, Wanda and J. Walter Thompson’s local office, Manajans J Walter Thompson Turkey, will operate independently, but jointly invest in new technology and innovative projects.

     

    Since 2010, Manajans J. Walter Thompson Turkey has tripled its revenues and won over 40 awards including the “Global Smarties” in 2014.

     

    Turkey is one of the Next 11 growth economies where WPP companies (including associates) generate revenues of over $1 billion and employ over 10,000 people. In Turkey itself, WPP companies (including associates) generate revenues of around $120 million and employ approximately 1,300 people.

  • Unilever partner Big Sync Music opens Singapore office

    Unilever partner Big Sync Music opens Singapore office

    MUMBAI: On the eve of Asia’s premier music conference, Music Matters, which kicks off in Singapore this week, specialist music agency and global Unilever partner, Big Sync Music, has officially opened its new Asian regional office in Singapore.

     

    The company has appointed Angel Lee as country manager and Marine Cremer as music supervisor.

     

    Lee, who comes from the Singapore Economic Development Board, is now responsible for overseeing all of Big Sync’s work across Asia – supported by Cremer.

     

    Big Sync, with current offices in London and New York, works with brands and creative agencies on global and regional advertising campaigns. It recently announced a global partnership with Unilever, making Big Sync the single supplier for its music services across all 400 plus brands in all territories covering music strategy, licensing, creative music search and amplification.

     

    In her previous role, Lee was responsible for charting and driving growth in Singapore’s music and entertainment industry by successfully establishing music businesses in Singapore for Asia. In her new role at Big Sync, she will drive the company’s business development strategy in the region as well as work with creative agencies on advertising campaigns for some of Unilever’s biggest brands such as Cornetto, Ponds and Lux.

     

    Lee said, “It is a privilege to be joining a young, fast growing, creative and energetic company that is both passionate about music and highly strategic in branded partnerships. It is an exciting time to be joining the company as there is tremendous growth in viewing music as a key building block of brand owners’ content strategy across Asia. I’m looking forward to leading a dynamic team to help different clients across Asia find the best sonic strategies for their brands, the right music solutions for local campaigns and being able to tap into Big Sync’s huge global network of music providers to do that.”

     

    Lee has over ten years’ experience in strategy, marketing and management roles across a range of music companies including digital roles at Interscope Records in Santa Monica and Sony Music in Los Angeles.

     

    Cremer was in-house music supervisor and audio producer at DDB Paris for 12 years and a creative at JWT before that, working on global campaigns from VW and Audi to Neutrogena and Nike.

     

    Big Sync Music CEO Dominic Caisley said, “Angel and Marine form the ideal team to help build on our successful first 18 months in business. Their combined talents in the music and advertising industries and also their local knowledge enhance the overall Big Sync Music offering and with a team firmly on the ground in Singapore. We look forward to helping more brands with their music strategy and also building even better relationships with local music providers. I’m taking part in a panel discussion at Music Matters Live in Singapore on Wednesday 20 May discussing how music is licensed in advertisements and look forward to learning more about the music industry in this region.”

  • Grey India appoints Vishal Ahluwalia as Bangalore head

    Grey India appoints Vishal Ahluwalia as Bangalore head

    MUMBAI: Grey Group India has appointed Vishal Ahluwalia as vice president and office head of its Bangalore ops. He will be reporting to Grey Group India chairman and managing director Sunil Lulla.

     

    Ahluwalia joins Grey with two decades of marketing communications experience, across various geographies and disciplines. In his various avatars, he has headed businesses and has been an entrepreneur. Until recently, he worked as a member of the Board of IRIS Worldwide, in which he spearheaded the digital and retail verticals. Prior to that he was TBWA South India head; JWT -Taipei head for Unilever business and has also had stints with Contract and JWT.

     

    “Vishal brings a great blend of advertising savviness and digital smarts to Grey. His experience across geographies and diverse categories, will strengthen the leadership team at Grey. He will take further our integrated offerings to various clients and enable their brands to be famous and effective,” said Lulla.

     

    Ahluwalia added, “I am very excited about the prospect to bring my skills across various stream to Grey Group’s rich and diverse client roster. I do believe the future requires us to be able to deliver services in a wholesome and integrated fashion. I am delighted to return to Bangalore which has always been a springboard for my learning and my success.”

     

  • Unilever, Acumen and Clinton announce $10 million initiative to support farmers

    Unilever, Acumen and Clinton announce $10 million initiative to support farmers

    MUMBAI: Unilever, Acumen and the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, have launched a landmark Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action called the Enhanced Livelihoods Investment Initiative (ELII) to improve the livelihoods of as many as 3,00,000 smallholder farmers and their communities in Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

     

    Former President Bill Clinton and Frank Giustra, co-founders of the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, Unilever CEO Paul Polman, Acumen founder and CEO Jacqueline Novogratz, announced the collaboration on a panel at the Clinton Global Initiative’s 2015 Winter Meeting in New York City. The ELII will be a three-year, minimum $10 million investment initiative to catalyze economic growth and alleviate poverty amongst low-income communities in the developing world, while creating more inclusive and sustainable value chains. One of the primary goals of the partnership, which leverages Acumen’s and the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership’s market-based approaches to poverty alleviation, will be to create and scale-up privately-held enterprises which will support smallholder farmers and link them to Unilever’s global supply chains and distribution networks.

     

    “I’m excited about this partnership between the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, Acumen, and Unilever, which will improve the lives of smallholder farmers by bringing them into global markets and distribution networks, empowering hundreds and thousands of people to expand their skills and lift themselves from poverty,” said Clinton. 

     

    “We believe that in the long term, successful businesses can only be sustainable ones. Our vision is to decouple our growth from our environmental footprint and increase our positive social impact. We can only do this by working with others. This partnership has the potential to dramatically increase the scale of what we can do to support smallholder farmers, empower women across our supply chains and in turn help build sustainable, viable businesses that alleviate poverty. Ultimately, we see this as a new model for creating a vibrant ecosystem of enterprises across supply chains.” said Polman.

     

     According to the International Fund on Agricultural Development, 2.5 billion people are involved in smallholder agriculture globally, accounting for an estimated 500 million small farms producing 80 per cent of the food consumed in emerging markets, from Southern Asia to sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, the increasing trend in global demand for food in developed as well as emerging countries, driven in part by population growth, has created opportunities for the expansion of smallholder agriculture.

     

    However, many of these smallholder farmers face challenges to accessing and adopting beneficial agricultural innovations that can help pull them out of poverty, as the companies providing them with those products and services face a number of challenges in reaching these customers and achieving profitability.

     

    Leveraging the findings from a recent study titled Growing Prosperity: Developing Repeatable Models to Scale the Adoption of Agricultural Innovations, Unilever’s, Acumen’s and the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership’s investments will help these companies overcome these challenges.

     

    Novogratz said, “It is my hope that this partnership will set a new standard for how social enterprises and corporations must work together if we are to achieve a shared vision of creating more inclusive economies that bring dignity and positive change to those traditionally left behind by traditional aid and capital markets.”

     

    Added Giustra, “This partnership builds on our years of experience and success creating and scaling enterprises globally that bring thousands of smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs into the supply chains and distribution networks of large multinational corporations, like Unilever. Under this model, entrepreneurs and farmers will gain access to capital and skills training – all essential tools needed to pull them out of poverty.”

     

    All three organisations will engage their global teams across India, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean in a collaborative process to identify investments, provide capital and deliver technical expertise and capacity building to support enterprise development and impact measurement work.

  • McDonald’s India appoints Kedar Teny as marketing and digital director

    McDonald’s India appoints Kedar Teny as marketing and digital director

    MUMBAI: Hardcastle Restaurants Private Limited (HRPL), a master franchisee for west & south India operations of McDonald’s and a subsidiary of Westlife Development, has announced the appointment of Kedar Teny as director-marketing and digital.

     

    Teny’s primary responsibility will be to spearhead and shape the marketing agenda for the brand across consumer engagement platforms and he will directly report to McDonald’s India (west & south) MD Smita Jatia.

     

    Speaking on the new appointment, Jatia said, “We have strengthened our senior management team with the appointment of Kedar Teny as director –marketing and digital. As we make a coordinated and concerted push to augment our status as an innovator and disruptor in the QSR industry, Kedar’s immense creativity and strategic thinking will help strengthen the McDonald’s position in the market.”

     

    “Kedar is joining us at a hugely exciting time. With the expansion of new communications channels and developments across our growing product mix, he will be instrumental in leading and developing successful multi-channel marketing solutions in a fast paced and competitive digital environment,” she added.

     

    Teny began his career with iB&W in 1997 as a Management Trainee and has almost seventeen year of experience in the field of brand management, strategic planning, and advertising. After iB&W, he joined Lowe Worldwide, one of the leading advertising agencies as account executive in 1999. He has also worked on many iconic brands at Lowe Worldwide in India and South East Asia, and thereon made the shift to marketing at Airtel and then Unilever.

     

    A music aficionado and a cricket enthusiast, Teny holds a masters in business administration, with a specialisation in marketing, from the Institute of Management Studies, Indore.

  • Harish Manwani to retire as HUL’s chief operating officer

    Harish Manwani to retire as HUL’s chief operating officer

    MUMBAI: After 38 years of service, Harish Manwani, Unilevers’ chief operating officer has decided to hang his boots.

     

    Manwani will retire from Unilever on 31 December 31; however, he will continue in his capacity as the non-executive chairman of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL).

     

    Manwani, who had joined HUL as a management trainee in 1976, grew the personal products business from a nascent business to one of the key growth engines of the company. Subsequently,  he enjoyed success in many roles, covering both categories and markets, and across many parts of the world. This included stints as SVP Global Hair Care & Oral Care and Home & Personal Care president first of Latin America and later of North America.

     

    Unilever CEO Paul Polman said, “Harish is an inspirational leader and leaves a remarkable legacy. He has been at my side in helping to drive the turnaround of Unilever, making this once again one of the most admired companies in the world. Over the last three years, especially as Chief Operating Officer, Harish has been instrumental in the transformation of the company. Under his leadership we have seen a step-change in our go-to-market organisation and there has been a relentless focus on flawless execution globally.  He has role-modelled the 4G sustainable growth model – Competitive, Consistent, Profitable and Responsible – which has become such a strong focal point for the Markets.”

     

    Paul added, “I would like to thank Harish once more for his enormous contribution.  He is both a friend and a much admired and respected business leader. In everything he has done, Harish has lived the values that make Unilever such a great company. Through his passion, commitment and endless energy, he leaves a lasting impact on the business he has served with such distinction. I will personally miss his friendship and wise counsel.”

     

    As COO, Manwani’s key achievement have been his leadership of the global markets where he established and aligned the market clusters across the world behind a clear agenda, creating a better and more integrated go-to-market organisation. It has also allowed the business to be managed more dynamically, resource allocation to be done more efficiently across markets and best practices to be transferred more seamlessly. This has allowed Unilever to become increasingly more competitive in a tougher business environment.

     

    Manwani  said, “I am deeply grateful to all those colleagues who have helped to make the last 38 years at HUL and Unilever so memorable and fulfilling. It has been a privilege to serve such a great company. Today, Unilever is in a strong position with a clear strategy and capabilities to drive long-term responsible growth. This makes it a good time for me to make this personal transition. I look forward to working with Paul and the leadership team over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition and to further build our growth agenda.”

     

  • Missed being at Cannes Lions? Don’t fret, take a look

    Missed being at Cannes Lions? Don’t fret, take a look

    MUMBAI:  At the 61st edition of Cannes Lions a lot has happened that one would want to a keep a note of.

    Think of any big name from the media, marketing, advertising industry and they were there, sharing their experiences and views on the industry. Keeping those who couldn’t attend the festival of creativity, the organisers promotes its major happenings real time across Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

    From session highlights to picture updates; ad men, agency networks, other attendees were all out on social posting.

    Indiantelevision.com lists down 20 thought provoking tweets and tidbits to bring home the flavour of Cannes Lions 2014…

     

     

     

    Unilever News @Unilever  

    “Marketing was about making a myth and telling it. Now it’s telling a truth and sharing it” — Marc Mathieu @Unilever #CannesLions

    Ogilvy & Mather @Ogilvy  

    “You achieve more from failure than you do from success.” –@JaredLeto at #CannesLions #OgilvyCannes MT @ThamKhaiMeng

    Ogilvy & Mather @Ogilvy 

    We are all born creative. We just got it educated out of us. –@ThamKhaiMeng #OgilvyCannes #CannesLions

    Ogilvy & Mather @Ogilvy  

    Selling ideas is a hard job… Avoid those who make it more complex. They often nitpick without real solutions. #CannesLions #OgilvyCannes

    Ogilvy Cape Town @OgilvyCT

    Use creativity to solve a problem you’ve never seen. That’s what drives the world. @neiltyson #canneslions #ogilvycannes

    Ogilvy & Mather @Ogilvy  

    Successful people lose more than they win… Find insight after losing. Find faults after winning. #CannesLions #OgilvyCannes

    Ogilvy & Mather @Ogilvy  

    Your first job is the second part of your education. #CannesLions #OgilvyCannes

    Cannes Lions @Cannes_Lions

    “The best thing about the fall of BlackBerry and the rise of Apple is the win of creativity,” – @kanyewest @PulseofCulture #CannesLions

    Cannes Lions @Cannes_Lions

    “If people are saying you’re wrong, that’s a good sign that you’re probably a genius” – @SteveStoute @PulseofCulture #CannesLions

    Cannes Lions @Cannes_Lions  

    Global advertising doesn’t work. It glides past people, isn’t part of their culture, doesn’t touch them-John Hegarty @bbhlondon #CannesLions

    Cannes Lions @Cannes_Lions 

    ‘You cannot market an artist like a yogurt, but you can definitely market a yogurt like an artist’ Olivier Robert-Murphy @UMG #CannesLions

    Cannes Lions @Cannes_Lions  

    ‘Bad advertising online is shit. Bad advertising on mobile is just offensive’ – @ddroga #CannesLions

    Weber Shandwick US @WeberShandwick 

    “If you’ve got nothing to say, the technology doesn’t matter” #profaneandpolitical #wscannes2014

    Tracy @TracybradyHH · 

    The biggest risk is not to take a risk. Be brave. #ipgCannes2014 #HHCannes #CannesLions @WeberShandwick #unapologetic

    Rufus Leonard @rufusleonard 

    “Risk is the mother of #innovation” says Tim Webber @Framestore @Cannes_Lions #CannesLions