Dentsu Webchutney has roped in Ajay Ahluwalia as Executive Creative Director. He will be based out of the agency’s Gurugram office.His last stint was with Contract Advertising where he handled some of the biggest brands in the country including Microsoft, Ten Sports and JKTyre.
Commenting on Ahluwalia’s appointment, Sudesh Samaria, chief creative officer and co-founder, DentsuWebchutney, said: “It’s great to have someone of Ajay’s experience on board in a digital environment, especially when the lines between mainline and digital are blurring as we speak. We look forward to him driving infectious ideas which resonate with the DentsuWebchutney culture.â€
Ogilvy India in association with Ogilvy Pakistan has unveiled a campaign for Shan Foods, one of Pakistan’s biggest brand of spices and recipe mixes. The campaign features a Chinese couple who have recently moved home, to drive home the point that sharing food can break all barriers and start new friendships.
Said Sukesh Nayak, ECD, Ogilvy Mumbai: “Everywhere in the world the neighbourhood has changed. But the connection shouldn’t. This empowering story of a Chinese couple living in Lahore and finding new friends is great example of how barriers break with the taste of great food.â€
Added Nikhil Mohan, Vice President, Ogilvy Mumbai: “The new campaign for Shan is the outcome of a wonderful collaborative effort once again with our team in Pakistan, as well as a brave client who placed their full trust in the team. After the success of our last Ramadan campaign, we needed to come up with something that would once again strike an emotional chord with the viewer and the collaboration helped achieve just that.â€
Sapient Razorfish, a part of Publicis Groupe announced that Himani Kapadia has assumed the position of CEO, India, Sapient Razorfish and DigitasLBi effective immediately. In this new role, Kapadia will be responsible for the growth of both businesses in India by leveraging the complimentary propositions and offerings of the brands, to help clients reimagine their business through radical customer-centricity. Charulata Ravi Kumar, who led the Sapient Razorfish India business, moves on to pursue other opportunities.
“India is a strategic market for us with immense potential. The combined capabilities of Sapient Razorfish and DigitasLBi across consumer, digital, experience, data and technology, offer a unique advantage to our clients as they partner with us on their digital transformation journey. With Himani at the helm of both brands in the market, I am excited at the opportunity we have to help clients in the region truly reimagine their propositions for a rapidly changing consumer set,†said Rajdeep Endow, Managing Director, Sapient Razorfish, Asia Pacific.
“We are thrilled to have Himani taking on the role of CEO for India. Having known Himani for a number of years, her experience in India coupled with her focus on doing what’s best for her clients reassures me that she will help lead our clients through the digital transformation journey, Also, Amaresh Godbole, MD, DigitasLBi India, who has done a brilliant job leading and growing the brand in India, will continue his current role as MD, reporting into Himani,” said Annette Male, CEO, DigitasLBi, APAC.
Abhijit Dube has joined TBWA\Mumbai as General Manager with immediate effect. Reporting to CEO Govind Pandey, Dube will be responsible for driving growth for the agency and its clients.
Said Govind Pandey, CEO TBWA\India, “Abhijit’s appointment is key to TBWA\Mumbai operation, which shift to a more focused, less traditional, Digital First model. His appointment adds further depth to a strong team of extremely talented individuals who are agents for change.â€
Dube was until recently senior vice president at Lowe Lintas where he was responsible for managing the global portfolio of Lifebuoy Soap, where he lead the global roll-out for the brand’s most recognised communications. He also led the Saffola, Pepsi, Horlicks, Nourischo and MTS accounts.
Happy mcgarrybowen has announced key structural changes to “further strategise its business approach and strengthen its top-line leadershipâ€.
As part of this change, Praveen Das, Co-founder and MD, Happy mcgarrybowen, will spearhead growth of the specialised units for Design, B2B and Social Behaviour Change Projects (SBCP).
On the path ahead, Das said: “The dream here is to use ‘design thinking’ to contribute something unique to design from India and create value for our clients. We also want to help B2B clients with solutions that fall between a digital and communication agency by leveraging technology and creating unique experiences with UI and UX, VR, AR, AI, Machine Learning, IOT (internet of things), etc. In SBCP too, we have been trying to use technology to solve communication challenges even as we patiently engage with continuous research and feedback to create and recreate communication for change. Yes, the process is slow but fulfilling and effective if done well. To accomplish this, we have put together a talented, top-of-line team of experts to deliver results.â€
Kartik Iyer, co-founder and CEO – Happy mcgarrybowen, will continue to oversee the advertising discipline for Happy mcgarrybowen. On the developments, Iyer said, “We have always wanted Happy mcgarrybowen to be a hybrid agency with multiple capabilities. Between Praveen and me, we are very clear what we want for Happy mcgarrybowen in the future. So it just makes absolute sense to split forces and give the attention each discipline needs.â€
Meanwhile, Happy mcgarrybowen has roped in Samarjit Choudhry as chief operating officer (COO), Advertising. Armed with more than 20 years of experience, Choudhry’s mandate will be to run and grow the agency’s advertising business across the country. Prior to this, Samarjit was with Ogilvy Bangalore where he held the position of chief growth officer. He was also instrumental in setting up Orchard in Bangalore and Black Pencil for the Leo Burnett Group. In his new role, he will report to Iyer.
Zenith, part of Publicis Media India, has strengthened its organisational structure and announced three senior-level hires.
Atul Sharma has joined Zenith as Senior Vice President in New Delhi and will be the business head for SBU that includes Nestle, Truecaller, Yatra, Hotels.com and others. Love Guglani has come on board as Senior Vice President for Zenith, based again in New Delhi, to lead the other SBU for Cargill, LVMH, Jabong, Micromax, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), Aviva amongst others. And the third hire is Swati Jha. She has joined Zenith as Senior Vice President to head the agency’s West India operations and will be based in Mumbai.
Tanmay Mohanty
Said Tanmay Mohanty, Group CEO, Zenith India: “Our best-in-class data, tools, insights and strategy have led to a high pitch win rate and great performance on existing businesses. We are pleased to announce these three senior-level hires for Zenith who will help us upscale our operations, in line with our accelerated growth and momentum. I look forward to our new appointees bringing in fresh vigour, enthusiasm and passion to the organisation and embracing Zenith’s unique and highly differentiated offering.â€
In India, Zenith’s key clients include Nestle, Parle Products,  Micromax, LVMH Group, Toyota, Bombay Dyeing, H&M , Singapore Tourism Board, Fox Networks, BASF and Singapore Airlines among others. Through Peformics.Resultrix, we handle digital duties on Airtel, ICICI Bank, Star India, Birla Sun Life Insurance, Tata AIG General Insurance, AirVistara among others.
WATConsult has launched a new property called WATInsights, under its market research division, Recogn. WATInsights will offer periodic reports providing insights and trends on the Indian digital landscape. Through these reports, WATConsult aims to help marketers understand the digital consumer better and translate the insights into actionable strategies.
The first report released is based on the usage of brand apps and their impact on brand consideration and here are the key findings of the study:
81 per cent of respondents are currently using or have used brand app(s), while 19 per cent have never used them
Majority of the respondents use news related brand apps followed by over-the-top (OTT) apps and business / finance apps
76 per cent of respondents discovered brand apps through their friends and family and 66 per cent were influenced by them to install
46 per cent discovered via ads featured on traditional media platforms (TV, radio, newspapers) and 48 per cent were influenced by them
58 per cent discovered brand apps via in-built app stores and 40 per cent were influenced. Surprisingly, 20 per cent discovered brand apps at the point of purchase and installed them straightaway
Relevance, Usability and Entertainment are the factors essential for improving the satisfaction levels of brand app users
A large majority of users are more likely to purchase a brand product / service after using the brand app than watching the brand’s add on media
Speaking on the report, Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, WATConsult said, “The changing demographics and technologies have brought about a shift in the way consumers engage with brands, products and services. The customers’ purchase and consumption behaviour is in a state of constant flux and marketers need to keep pace with this to stay relevant. Keeping this is mind, we have launched WATInsights, which will showcase industry insights and help marketers take better decisions in creating campaigns.â€
Law & Kenneth Saatchi & Saatchi has been appointed as the creative agency on record for Tata Metaliks which produces pig iron and ductile iron pipes in India. The account, which was won as a result of a multi-agency pitch, will be handled by the agency’s Kolkata office. The agency will be responsible for the integrated communications mandate on the brand.
Commenting on the win, Devraj Basu – Senior Vice President & General Manager, Law & Kenneth Saatchi & Saatchi said: “Proud to be associated with Tata Metaliks. A company with such exemplary vision and values. To build brand equity in this category and be truly distinctive in the B2B space would be at once interesting and challenging. We look forward to a great partnership.â€
Added Sanjiv Paul, Managing Director, Tata Metaliks Limited: “Tata Metaliks is at a crucial juncture now following the amalgamation of its pig iron and DI pipes businesses. There couldn’t have been a better time to partner with an agency like Law & Kenneth Saatchi & Saatchi to take ahead our creative mandate in sync with the Tata Group values. Ours is a B2B business primarily, both challenging and exciting. We look forward to our association with Law & Kenneth Saatchi & Saatchi, to build our brand perception in the minds of all our stakeholders, be it our customers, our employees or the community at large and take our brand to the next level.â€
Drunk driving is not a new problem. When ICICI Lombard decided to tackle this problem for its Road Safety Week initiative, it set out to do something that would stand out from the other work done on the subject.
ICICI created #IWillDriveYouHome and found Hemraj Sharma who lost his son to a drunk driving accident on April 4, 2016 and has now made helping others avoid the same fate his life’s sole purpose. He was completely on board as soon as he heard the idea and his fervour and courage helped take it to the next level, notes a communique.
It’s Mother’s Day this Sunday and Tata Sampann, with #ChangeTheRecipe, celebrates mothers and urges them to unapologetically embrace their imperfections.
Conceptualised by Leo Burnett India, the film is a depiction of the daily lives of modern moms and the pressures they face by society. Throwing light on their newest campaign, Sagar Boke,Head, Marketing – Consumer Products Business, Tata Chemicals said: “The Indian society has always had preconceived notions about the ‘perfect’ mother. To shatter these pre-existing notions, we launched our digital campaign, #ChangeTheRecipe, built around our insight that the definition of the ‘perfect mom’ has now evolved and come a long way. The reason for running the #ChangeTheRecipe campaign only in the digital sphere was to maximize reach and more importantly change perceptions within the current generation, predominantly present on social media.â€
Speaking about the core idea and execution, Rajdeepak Das, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett South Asia added, “With this new digital campaign, we wanted to tell all mothers that it was absolutely alright to be imperfect. Tata Sampann has definitely ‘changed the recipe’ for moms, underlining how imperfection is the new perfection. Women have a newfound fondness for experiments in the kitchen, and even embrace their happy culinary accidents. Very few brands in this category have been bold enough to execute a quirky idea like this one, and it is telling of how forward-thinking Tata Sampann is as a brand.â€
To strengthen the multi-specialty expertise of the agency and help build brands in this age of data-digital, driven convergence and complex consumer dynamics, DDB MudraMax has roped in SommnathSengupta as Head-Tech Innovations, OOH & Experiential.
With the DDB Mudra Group moving towards digital driven transformation, Sengupta would be playing a pivotal role at DDB MudraMax by putting digital and tech at the heart of each campaign.
At DDB MudraMax, he will be based out of Mumbai and will be working closely with Sanjay Shukla, President, DDB MudraMax (OOH, Events & Experiential).
Speaking on his association with DDB MudraMax, Sengupta said: “I am looking forward for an innovative association with DDB MudraMax. When we integrate technology with storytelling experience, we will be able to gather ‘data’ which is an integral part of any campaign. We will be providing in-house, end to end technology solution from Concept – Design – Execution for our clients.â€
Gour Gupta
Speaking on the  appointment, Gour Gupta, Executive Director, DDB Mudra Group and CEO, DDB MudraMax (OOH, Events & Experiential) said: “Somm’s restless passion for technology’s integration in storytelling and interaction delighted me. He is the right fit to drive our tech integration and content. Since technology is our ally in storytelling experience, we will be offering our clients a bouquet of tech innovations and content creations with the integration of Social media and Data.â€
iProspect India has hired Srikar Nagubandi as Senior Vice President – Operations. Prior to iProspect, he was Director, Media Engagement & Technology at W20 Group, New York.
Commenting on the appointment, Rubeena Singh, CEO, iProspect India said “We are elated to welcome Srikar on board the iProspect team. He brings immense value to the company’s capabilities with his extensive experience in global markets. We want to increasingly bring on board senior talent who can carry forward the learnings of developed and evolved markets to our clients, providing them with innovative and effective business solutions and helping them stay ahead of the curve. I’m positive Srikar will drive higher RoI and propose effective digital solutions to our existing and potential set of clients.â€
Rubeena Singh
Speaking about the new role, Nagubandi said: “In my experience in working with some of the best brands in the world, I have come to believe that it’s crucial to make the complex simple and the simple understandable and actionable for the client. Digital is only growing in complexity and the agency of the future needs to harness deep learning to innovate relentlessly and delight our clients. I am thrilled to be starting a new chapter with my role at iProspect India, and be a part of this ongoing evaluation in not only the fastest growing economy in the world, but an economy where digital advertising spend is experiencing double digit growth.â€
