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  • We want to be the poster boy for Web 3.0-led marketing in India: WATConsult’s Sahil Shah

    We want to be the poster boy for Web 3.0-led marketing in India: WATConsult’s Sahil Shah

    Hybrid digital agency, WATConsult from the Isobar India group celebrated its 15th anniversary this month by launching an NFT (Non-fungible Token) in the form of digital artwork. Titled ‘Once a WATizen, always a WATizen’, it contained the names of all its 1500+ employees- past and present- to commemorate the milestone. The digital-first agency, which saw some downs but mostly ups due to the pandemic, brought 2021 to a wrap with double-digit growth and a host of new client wins including 59 new mandates. These include brands like Cricbuzz, Licious, Sava Herbals, UB Group’s Kingfisher Radler & Heineken, Joy Cosmetics, Lead School, India Circus, Dr Oetker, BIAL to name a few.

    A key founding member, Sahil Shah has been with the agency for the last 13 years, and is credited with playing a significant role in shaping and building it.. Having joined the agency as a social media executive in 2009, Shah moved from being chief business officer- to managing partner in September 2021. He credits the agency’s recent successful run to the fact that post-2020, with client businesses bouncing back, everybody wanting to get into digital. He, however, does not discount the effort that went into building the brand up over the years, which he says has played its part in influencing the adoption of digital in the country to a large extent.

    As we tread into 2022, IndianTelevision’s Anupama Sajeet caught up with the WATConsult head Sahil Shah spearheading the agency’s India operations for an extensive conversation on the agency’s foray into the metaverse and what it hopes to achieve by being a first-mover in the NFT space. He also shares forth on the rollercoaster of a year that 2021 was, his expectations from the new year, and insights on the trends that will dominate the digital marketing industry in the months to come …

    Edited excerpts:

    On the concept behind NFTs and how can marketers use NFTs as an opportunity for growth?  

    NFTS, in the simplest terms, is digital real estate that cannot be replicated and is owned by an individual or entity i.e. digital ownership. It’s on the blockchain in the Web 3.0 world, which of course on the internet itself, but a highly decentralised form of it. So, there you have this NFT marketplace such as the Opensea, on which you can list your NFT creative and it can be monetised by selling. And that’s the reason there is a humongous commerce opportunity with NFTs for even Brands, and brands need to realise this.

    Another usage of NFTs for Brands is as memorabilia or collectibles by using the power of its user community. Anything that’s ownable can be marketed this way- brand mascots or advertising creatives, or a public figure’s legacy in sports, entertainment or Bollywood. The collection would be unique – it is digital art and people want to own a piece of that art. For example, a brand like Amul, which has some iconic creatives, can list them on an OpenSea and get die-hard fans to actually auction for it and trade, resell and make a business of it! So the uses are many – as CSR, business, promotions, public figure marketing- the possibilities are endless.

    On celebrating the 15th anniversary with NFT

    As an agency, we have been known for doing a lot of new-age stuff. We have dabbled in and got into areas which the majority may not be cognisant of. So the thought behind such an initiative was to commemorate the 15-year milestone by actually building something that remains on the internet forever, and can be owned by each and every WATizen- past and present. And the answer was NFT because they are, by nature, “non-fungible” and the ownership lies within the people, the community, or the person who uploads or lists it on the marketplace.

    We came up with the idea of etching everybody’s name on the creative and making it a part of history and keeping it on the OpenSea marketplace Ethereum blockchain forever. So that way each and every one of us is a part of it and everybody has a part to play in it. Essentially, it’s a way to thank each and every person who built this company over the years by making them a part of our history forever.

    In fact, the same day we launched our NFT, one of our clients actually gave us a written brief on exploring something with an NFT for them. They want to be the first-movers in their industry in this space. So I’m excited about moving towards building not just “India-class” but “world-class” solutions for marketing in a Web 3.0 world. It’s of course early days, but we want to be the poster boy for everything related to Web 3.0-led marketing in India. In that sense, WATConsult has been the “blueprint” for other competing agencies to watch and learn, as we’ve been able to lead changes in the industry over the years. And with the NFTs we continue to do so.

    On his priorities since taking over as managing partner last year

    My priority is to make sure that we get three to four things very right: One, is everything that’s centered around the creative use of digital for, that’s the core of what WATConsult was, is, and will be. Second, we want to be extremely high on everything that’s around client delight and customer focus and make sure we deliver on it, which’s in a way linked to our revenue, growth, P&L, etc. Third, we always want to be the first movers and the early adopters, while continuing to be in the news for the innovations that we bring to the table. Additionally, ‘Talent’ and ‘People’ for me is a big focus area, besides revenue and recognition, and I want to make sure the company gives back to its people by different ways and means.

    On the industry’s new emerging categories

    I think one of the new and emerging categories is everything ‘new-tech’- so anything that’s born out of digital, such as financial tech or fintech, e-commerce, food tech- for instance, brands like Licious, Edtech, and so on. The kind of categories that are coming up are very exciting because they understand digital innately, being fully digital themselves.

    Having said that, while that’s one domain where digital businesses are booming and scaling up, there are also the businesses that are legacy brands but are wanting to embrace digital. For eg: One of our big wins in e-commerce solutioning was the UB Group, where we acquired the mandate for their entire commerce duties last year, which’s online selling of its Kingfisher Radler & Heineken non-alcoholic beverage category. We’ve been scaling up their business on Amazon, Flipkart, etc which has given great returns to a client whose business was 99 per cent offline. If we are able to move that metric from 99 to even 95 per cent and create like a 400 per cent growth in e-commerce sales then it would be a huge validation for both the client and us.

    On any major trends that the digital marketing industry witnessed this past year / is witnessing

    One big trend that sparked in 2020 was the fact that India woke up big time to short videos. For the TikTok revolution that started around 2018-2019 and then scaled up in 2020, 2021 has been by far the year for content consumption in a short format- which is a 5-20 seconder clips and visuals- that everybody from Facebook, Instagram to YouTube adopted. That was one clear shift in consumer content consumption that was happening. At the same time, users are also hooked on long-form web-based content on OTTs and online. The bottom line is that video in both short forms as well as the longest forms- kept on growing and it continues to do so as a primary piece of content consumption.

    The second was definitely ‘Bharat’, with the growing internet penetration in India’s hinterlands, which we were fortunate enough to latch onto and build a multi-lingual and regional/ localised service solution around it.

    Third is data-tech or data-led solutions. One of the things the industry is moving towards is everything that technology can aid. Technology today has the power to create a life-size, 3-D version of anything we want it to be, like a ‘Virtual Influencer’. This trend has already been explored in markets like the US, Korea, or Japan, and is an example of how Tech is going to influence a lot of content creation and even creatives per se, and this is just the beginning.

    Another thing that the world started opening up to towards the end of 2021 (the Oct-Nov-Dec period) was the idea of Web 3.0 with NFTs, Cryptos, the Metaverse etc. It’s still early stage and an up-and-coming trend, but I think in the next few years it will change the way we interact.

    On Expectations from 2022

    From the industry, my expectation is to continue the digital growth at around 40 per cent Y-O-Y. I know we are at scale but there is a lot that digital can still do for brands and marketers are realising it. So I just hope the digital part of the pie continues to grow.

    Secondly from a 2022 perspective and maybe for years to come, I think the world is going to be hybrid- the way we work is going to be hybrid. I don’t see the culture of people in offices from 9 to 5 for five or six days a week coming back. And it’s honestly okay and maybe even a good thing- it’s a healthy way to operate where people connect in groups, as well as, detach and work by themselves. So hybrid is here to stay, possibly even post-Covid.

    Additionally, adoption into Web 3.0 while we continue to do our campaigns in the Today. At least for WATConsult, I wish that we continue to think into the future while we execute in the present. So our focus will be to keep pushing the bar for creative use of technology in the marketing communications space and continue being the blueprint for others to follow.

    On any personal learnings, you will take into the next year

    Although I have seen various changes in the last 13 years with the agency, the last one and half to two years have been a huge shift in the way of working, and in my personal & professional beliefs. So one of the major learnings I want to take forward is to make sure I declutter from all the noise around and focus simply on just two or three things that I want to move towards, personally as well as professionally.

  • WATConsult celebrates 15 years of inception with NFT

    WATConsult celebrates 15 years of inception with NFT

    Mumbai: WATConsult, an Isobar company and hybrid digital agency from dentsu India has completed 15 years of its inception this month. To commemorate the milestone, WATConsult has created a digital artwork in the form of NFT (non-fungible token). Titled ‘Once a WATizen, always a WATizen,’ it consists of 1500+ names including existing employees as well as the alumni of the agency.

    The objective behind launching this asset is to express gratitude and evoke pride among those who are and have been instrumental in the success of the agency by leveraging a contemporary twist. WATConsult is the first agency in India that has created and launched an NFT of its own, the agency said in a statement. 

    “15 years is no small feat. We look back on our journey very fondly and we feel so proud to be celebrating this milestone,” said Isobar India group CEO Heeru Dingra. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank our people, even those who no longer work with us, for the positive mark they have left behind. The NFT is our humble attempt to showcase our appreciation and gratitude towards every WATizen. I hope this brings a smile to their face.”

    “I am also thankful to our clients for placing their trust in us for so many years, the dentsu family for treating us as true partners and most importantly, our founder, Rajiv Dingra, for building a legacy that will be cherished and remembered for years to come,” she further added.

    With an aim to celebrate the occasion and dedicate the artwork to every WATizen, the agency will soon be hosting a virtual party on YouTube, wherein the team will unveil the website and announce some cool takeaways for its members.   

    Speaking on the milestone and the NFT launch, WATConsult managing partner Sahil Shah said, “15 years of building this company and a lifetime of memories that we will all cherish forever. I want to thank each and every person who has collaborated into making WAT happen; all 1500+ WATizens across the world, all 600+ clients we have worked with, the countless number of partners & well-wishers and our extended family & friends at Isobar & dentsu international. While I look back at what we have achieved in the last 15 years, I am also looking forward to the various feats we will achieve in the next 15.” 

    In the past year, the company has registered double-digit growth ensuring great revenue momentum. In terms of the new client wins, the company had the best year so far with 59 new mandates and projects won in 2021 alone, said the agency.

  • 53% online shoppers favour social commerce owing to affordability, transparency & convenience: Report

    53% online shoppers favour social commerce owing to affordability, transparency & convenience: Report

    Mumbai: The combination of social media with digital commerce is seeing huge growth in India considering the benefit it brings to customers as well as businesses. Currently, there are 157 million social commerce shoppers, which is 53 per cent of the total shoppers in the country, according to a report by WATConsult, an Isobar company. This number is expected to grow at a rate of 45 per cent to reach around 228 million by the end of 2022.

    The hybrid digital agency, from the house of dentsu India has released ‘Digital Commerce in India – Social Commerce,’ the second report of WATInsights – digital commerce series. The report by Recogn, WATConsult’s research division that provides consumer & business insights, explores the consumer sentiments and attitude towards using social media platforms for shopping.

    For businesses, it brings cost-effectiveness and reach through digital marketing, as it connects them directly to their customers. At the same time, the recommendations and comments help customers make a buying decision. This ensures that products are offered at affordable prices with an ability to shop on the platform itself rather than switching to other e-commerce apps or websites.

    As per the report, most consumers use social media apps like YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram to shop online. Apart from YouTube, the younger customers prefer to shop on Instagram and Facebook, while the older customers prefer to shop on Facebook and WhatsApp. Social commerce users are very likely to make online purchases from ShareChat in the future, says the report.

    While a large majority of these customers are thrilled with the concept of browsing through social media platforms and shopping at the same time, the shopping behaviour varies between males and females, the report noted. Most male shoppers scroll through social media without any intention of making a purchase and if they end up making one, it’s because the marketing campaign initiated by the brand has played a vital role in influencing the buyer. On the other hand, female shoppers specifically search for their preferable brand on the app to either know more about the product/service or to validate their final choice.

    Social commerce is becoming popular as more and more Indian customers are moving online and discovering newer ways of shopping. Moreover, it includes a range of immersive shopping experiences, wherein consumers can buy customised products/services without switching apps.

    “Social media and e-commerce are paving strong inroads in the regular Indian internet users’ daily routine. Since the shopping environment on social media has ripened, there is huge potential to drive sales through these platforms. Hence, the need for an optimised system revolving around building customer trust and creating seamless experiences is critical,” said Isobar India group CEO Heeru Dingra. “With the customer being at the core of these platforms, focusing on rich customer feedback in the form of comments, opinions, reviews, etc. will help brands cater to their audience effectively and improve their brand consideration and loyalty. This issue of WATInsights reports the pulse of today’s shoppers and serves as an invaluable resource for anyone who intends to demystify social commerce in India.”

    WATConsult managing partner Sahil Shah added, “Shopping was, is & will always be social. Platforms, behaviour and mediums will keep evolving while more and more people will go online to shop. This report gives a deep view into what the current consumer behaviour is and highlights that social media in paid, owned and earned terms does get the maximum contribution across the funnel; especially where it matters the most, e-commerce.”

  • Sahil Shah elevated to managing partner at WATConsult

    Sahil Shah elevated to managing partner at WATConsult

    Mumbai: WATConsult, the hybrid digital agency from the Isobar India Group has elevated erstwhile chief business officer Sahil Shah to the role of managing partner. Shah will spearhead the agency operations and continue to report into Isobar India Group CEO Heeru Dingra.

    The change is part of the network’s global plan to transform into the world’s most integrated group by 2024 and it also accelerates the market’s growth journey into dentsu India 2.0. The group will further support the delivery of Isobar’s services from India and the structure will promote collaboration and knowledge-sharing across the India team, said the agency in a statement.

    One of the key founding members of the organisation, Shah has played a significant role in shaping and building the agency since 2009. He has moved from strength to strength, successfully cultivating a culture of creativity and innovation within the agency. As managing partner, he will be responsible for bringing in new business for the agency.

    “Sahil is one of our strongest assets. His expertise in managing clients and the team is commendable. A great team leader, Sahil, along with the talented workforce at WATConsult, will continue to bring in new creativity to ensure the persistent growth of clients,” said Heeru Dingra.

    “After spending a decade and more in building this agency, my heart fills with pride as I watch it grow stronger each day,” said Shah on his new role. “The digital landscape has certainly evolved and the teams at WATConsult have kept pace with this change by delivering some path-breaking campaigns. As we move towards our next phase of growth as a network, my team and I look forward to taking on this new journey with power and gusto.”

    For the record, dentsu India has bolstered its digital, experiential and PR capabilities under the Isobar India Group, comprising the creative agencies Isobar India and WATConsult as well as PR agency, Perfect Relations.

  • SAVA appoints WATConsult as digital marketing partner for SAVA Herbals

    SAVA appoints WATConsult as digital marketing partner for SAVA Herbals

    Mumbai: SAVA Healthcare has appointed WATConsult, the hybrid digital agency from the house of dentsu India, as the digital marketing partner for its new herbal formulation business, SAVA Herbals. Through SAVA Herbals, the pharmaceutical company will be launching clinically proven herbal product offerings across various therapy areas. 

    As per the mandate, WATConsult will oversee social media management, media planning & buying, online reputation management and search engine optimisation for the brand. The key focus of the agency will be to drive the brand growth and complete execution of the strategies across all leading digital and social media platforms generating a high engagement rate and overall connection with the audience, said the statement.

    Speaking on the partnership, SAVA Group chairman, Vinod Ramchandra Jadhav said, “SAVA Herbals is an extension of the capabilities that we have built over the years in manufacturing herbal extracts of the highest purity. We truly believe that our association with WATConsult will help us grow and set new benchmarks as we promote our brand’s philosophy of making life feel good.”

    SAVA Healthcare head – R&D, Dr Sriram Padmanabhan added, “The products that are being launched by SAVA Herbals have been developed in-house and tested for clinical efficacy and safety in patients, which is very significant. WATConsult will help us spread this message and reach out to customers across.”

    Commenting on the association, WATConsult CEO, Heeru Dingra said, “Healthcare is of paramount importance especially in today’s times and so are companies like SAVA that intend to help improve people’s lives. Armed with a lot of new-age thinking and a digital-first approach, we are looking forward to helping the company further scale its efforts and accelerate business growth.”

  • For brands, localised digital content is the way to go: WATConsult’s Heeru Dingra

    For brands, localised digital content is the way to go: WATConsult’s Heeru Dingra

    NEW DELHI: One of the most interesting outcomes of the digital revolution in the marketing space has been an increase in the volume and popularity of content created in local languages. In turn, this has not only got more and more people interested in digital content, but also sizeably helped marketers target their communication better. Therefore, to understand the magnitude of evolving consumer trends in this space, WATConsult, a hybrid marketing agency from the house of dentsu International, conducted a unique research called ‘Digital, Diverse & Multilingual India’. 

    Research is the most crucial step for the marketing and advertising world, believes WATConsult CEO Heeru Dingra. Said she, “With the rise of digital marketing and phenomenal advancements in programmatic targeting, online ads can now be shown to a specific and relevant set of the audience only, saving resources and generating a much higher chance of interaction. The findings of this report can help further customise these ads as it provides language preferences and internet usage patterns for the audiences, among other things.”

    The next fundamental step is: know your audience. Dingra explained: “The report delves into and tries to uncover the behaviour of the audience with respect to a specific aspect – language preferences while consuming content, shopping online or simply browsing the internet. These insights can help the agencies and brands tailor their communications in accordance with their targeted audience’s preferences. The research helps you better know your audience and that is always desirable to the brands and the agencies.” 

    According to her, the insights of the report have the potential to create a much more comprehensive picture if viewed in conjunction as well as in comparison. 

    Perhaps the most interesting and unusual finding of the study was that it estimated close to 70 per cent of all internet users will access the internet in their local language by the end of 2020. “The research also resulted in detailing out different sets of the audience consuming video content on varying video streaming applications. These apps have contributed substantially to the growth of the mobile application market, facilitated greatly by the advent of 4G and inexpensive handheld devices,” added Dingra.

    As per the report, 73 per cent of the audience belonging to the age group of 45-54 years use YouTube to watch online content, so does 30 per cent of the audience belonging to small metros and the top four cosmopolises. The younger audience (under 18 years) however, use video streaming apps like Hotstar, Amazon Prime, along with YouTube to consume content in the local language. Housewives, being an essential audience group in themselves, prefer to use YouTube to watch online video content. 

    The report also highlighted that people prefer to consume video content on technology, dadgets, fashion and sports in English. 

    On being asked how this information can help content creators, Dingra elaborated, “The audience prefers to watch video content on food, entertainment and education mostly in the local language, because for most people educational content becomes easier to understand and entertaining videos become vastly more enjoyable when consumed in one’s regional language. For most, no such feelings are associated with the video content on technology, gadgets, fashion and sports. They are purely for gathering information or gaining hard knowledge, which is why English comparatively prevails as the preferred medium. It basically boils down to knowing one’s content, one’s audience and ultimately what the audience wants, wherein this report might be able to lend a helping hand.”

    The research for the report was undertaken using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Firstly, a quantitative survey was conducted among a sample size of 1474 respondents, which was followed by in-depth interviews with the industry stakeholders in addition to qualitative interviews amongst consumers. Stratified random sampling across age groups, genders, occupations, zones and town classes was used to gather the required data. The research duration was from April 2020 to June 2020.

    Including respondents from different zones of the country viz. north, south, east and west, the research was conducted in towns and cities classified as the top four metros (i.e. Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai), next five metros (i.e. Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Surat) and small metros (i.e. cities with a population between one million to four million). The age group of the respondents was rather expansive, ranging from below 18 years old to above 55 years old, belonging to various occupations – housewives, students, working professionals, etc. The profile of the users was based on internet usage in the local language and accessing it mostly on mobile phones.

  • Transformation is an on-going process, never complete: RD&X Network founder Rajiv Dingra

    Transformation is an on-going process, never complete: RD&X Network founder Rajiv Dingra

    NEW DELHI: Like most people around us, serial entrepreneur Rajiv Dingra counts himself among those who polished their cooking skills during the Covid-2019 lockdown. Now he can now make two mean recipes to perfection: masala paneer and masala chicken. However, unlike most people, that’s not his only achievement. He also happened to work on his new entrepreneurial venture, RD&X Network – a unique deep-tech network to drive brand, business, media, and data transformation that he launched on 27 October 202o. In a recent candid conversation with Indiantelevision.com’s Mansi Sharma, he spilled the beans about his new company, the culture he is expecting to create, and how his creator instincts prompted him to develop something dynamic. 

    On his exit from WatConsult 

    Dingra, who was associated with Dentsu International (then Dentsu Aegis Network) as the chief mentor and advisor for  WATConsult till January 2020, a company that he had founded 13-years back, said that resigning from the agency was certainly not a very easy decision, but he was willing to take the entrepreneur’s seat again. 

    He said, “I had given up my complete stake in WatConsult in December 2019 and within a few days I knew that I did not want to continue as another employee. I do not mean to say that the status of a CEO is anywhere lesser than an entrepreneur but it was more about who I really am. I see myself as a creator, someone who can bring different ideas to life. Also, I was very sure that we had created a brilliant team at WATConsult and nothing would go wrong even if I leave.”

    Another reason that contributed to his exit was the internal transformation that is actively happening across Dentsu offices globally. “I am a person who can’t do three things at a time. I have to disconnect completely from one thing to focus on another and that’s why I preferred to move out.” 

    Read more stories on Rajiv Dingra

    On starting RD&X

    However, when he had put down his papers almost a year ago, he had no idea what his next step would be. But the Covid-2019 pandemic gave him the opportunity to dive deeper into the data and tech space and create RD&X. 

    “I had no idea what I would be doing when I resigned from WATConsult, I just knew that I wanted to create something new, transformative, and disruptive. My last day there was in January this year when Covid-2019 pandemic had just started spreading, but it was nowhere in India. At that time, I realised that deep tech is going to be the next big thing, so I started exploring it. In another era, I would have taken more time to launch something of this stature and vision, but with the pandemic, I knew the time was just right and along with our core team, we worked intensively to put it together.”

    With RD&X, Dingra plans to create a global network of data and technology companies that are aiming to lead the next leg of development. He is already in advanced-level talks with a number of small and mid-sized companies in the US, SEA, and EMEA markets to grow the network and is expecting to make some big announcements in the coming six months. 

    “I'm open to investing in, acquiring, and even buying out some early-stage companies to fit in our larger vision. We are right now investing right now for skill and not for scale, so the core idea right now is to aid our inorganic growth and create strong teams across geographies and then focus on the organic part of it. At the same time, we are creating in-house flagship solutions and looking forward to expanding our India team.” 

    On offerings of RD&X

    For Dingra, the term RD&X is the amalgamation of three things; real-time data, disruptive technologies, and exponential growth and that’s what is on offer at his new entrepreneurial venture. 

    “We bifurcate our core services in four key areas: structured brand transformation, business transformation, media transformation (across buying, planning, and selling spaces), and data transformation. As we go along, we will further fine tune these areas and introduce better tools and technologies to achieve exponential growth for our clients,” he elaborated. 

    “We are going to leverage technology to create and aid new business models. The examples of these are companies like Urban Clap and TikTok. While the former used the latest technology to transform how business is done at salons or home cleaning services, etc., TikTok based on real-time data and technology, did social media in a completely new and unique way.” 

    On the brand identity of RD&X

    While RD&X stands for the exponential growth driven by real-time data and disruptive technologies, the brand name also signifies his own initials, and X stands for the x-factor of all entrepreneurs who are investing in the venture, quipped Dingra. 

    “The brand name signifies an entrepreneurial network which is transformist in nature, which has the attitude of constantly learning, evolving, and making new mistakes,” he explained. 

    The logo, designed by Dingra, hints at the constant juggle between market profits and losses. “If you look at our logo, it has three colours: red, black, and white. Black and red colours have a great significance in the business world; they reflex the profit and loss situations. For me, profit and loss are a unique matrix– for example, Kodak was in the black when it suddenly vanished, and Instagram had been in the red for the longest time but today it is one of the most popular social media platforms. So, it is all very volatile and it comes to the spirit of the team to take none of this seriously. The white stands for the canvas in which these other colours stand; means that no matter where you are today, you will always be on a blank canvas and have the opportunity to transform yourself for better.”

    He continued, “The infinity sign on our logo is not connected completely. It signifies that transformation is never complete, it’s ever going.” 

    On the geo-agnostic, remote-first culture of RD&X

    Dingra is excited to create a unique geo-agnostic work-culture at RD&X, something that has been made immensely easy by the pandemic-induced lockdown and the evolved work-culture. He foresees the firm as a completely employee-first organisation and has created a massive culture and people manifesto for it. “To me, being employee-first means giving up the blanket rules and regulations that we have for all the employees. We need to stop seeing them as another resource but rather as individuals and that is what is going to be our core focus at RD&X,” he said.

    Additionally, he’s willing to create a hybrid work model for the employees. “We will be investing in physical spaces, definitely, so that people have a place to get together and discuss ideas and work together, but we want to be remote-first. That means, people can work from anywhere they want; if they are comfortable at their own homes, they can choose to work from there, but if there are people who are more productive and comfortable in office-spaces, they can come and work from the office. There is going to be no compulsion of any sort for anyone.” 

  • WATConsult’s Rajiv Dingra launches RD&X

    WATConsult’s Rajiv Dingra launches RD&X

    NEW DELHI: Rajiv Dingra (previously founder and CEO of WATConsult, a digital agency part of global network Dentsu International) has announced the launch of his latest entrepreneurial venture, RD&X Network — a deep-tech network that will drive brand, business, media and data transformation helping businesses globally become real-time, disruptive, and thereby achieve exponential growth.

    RD&X Network endeavours to leverage the impending deep tech and business model disruption across marketing, advertising, media, and business consulting with its unique transformational offerings. An initial corpus of $10 million has been committed for its organic and inorganic growth worldwide. Aiming to be a geography agnostic and remote-first company, its expansion plans include strategic acquisitions and investments in early-stage companies in areas of deep tech, gig economy, mar-tech, and ad-tech. Parallelly, in-house flagship solutions are also currently under development.

    While the India hub will serve as a global capability centre powering shared services and technology, there will be three international hubs in the US, EMEA, and SEA respectively. These hubs will function as centres of excellence offering brand, business, media, and data transformation services. RD&X Network is currently in advanced stages of discussion with multiple disruptive early-stage companies in each of these markets to join the network and plans to be fully operational across global markets by the end of Q2 2021.

    RD&X Network founder and CEO Rajiv Dingra said, “This decade belongs to deep tech disruption and every organization around the world will need to evolve through transformation to stay relevant today and grow in the future. We believe that the gig economy coupled with deep tech will create new business models that are agile and effective to scale globally. The disruption caused by the pandemic provided us with a huge opportunity of building a global network in the new normal. The impact of COVID-19 has accelerated the necessity for businesses to rapidly adopt technologies like AI, Blockchain, Robotics, XR, and IoT to navigate an uncertain future. We are already seeing early-stage companies at the forefront of this disruption and we are excited by our ongoing discussions with them. We look forward to such disruptive companies becoming a part of our network.”

    Rajiv started his entrepreneurial journey at the age of 20 in 2005. He founded his second venture WATConsult in 2007 which became a globally awarded digital agency from India with a team of 400 people. In 2015, he sold the majority stake in WATConsult in a successful multi-million dollar exit and became a part of the global advertising network Dentsu International. He stepped down from his position of Founder & CEO after 13 years in January 2020. During his time at Dentsu International, he played a key role as a lead member of the Digital Council and the Executive Board.