MxMIndia

Tag: Ajay Gahlaut

  • Mohanty will be instrumental in accelerating the agency's growth in the North region

    Joy Mohanty is CCO, Dentsu Creative

    By Our Staff

     

    Dentsu Creative India has announced the appointment of Joy Mohanty as its Chief Creative Officer. He will report into Ajay Gahlaut, Group Chief Creative Officer of the agency.

     

    Mohanty will be instrumental in accelerating the agency’s growth in the North India region.

     

    Commenting on the appointment, Gahlaut said:, “Dentsu Creative is transforming into a powerhouse of creativity. We are rapidly building capabilities to stay ahead of the curve in a dynamically evolving industry. However, the tallest structures are built on strong foundations. Joy’s appointment is, thus, vital to our plan for times ahead. He is a veteran who has worked on some of the most groundbreaking campaigns. I am certain that his experience will bring solidity and wisdom into the fresh, bubbling cauldron of creativity at dentsu.”

     

  • India brings home highest no of metals ever. Plus: Agency of the Year. And it’s an agency from BLR, not BOM or NCR

    Saare Jahaan Se Achcha

     

     

    By Our Staff

     

    If it was the Olympics, it would’ve merited a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But this is just an advertising festival, where work are recognised for commercial work, so perhaps expecting a call from the PM would be a bit much.

     

    The victories of the Indian contingent last week though are worthy of that call. Indian creative agencies brought home 47 metals, and this does not include the shortlists.

     

    Dentsu Creative Bengaluru was named Cannes Lions 2022 Agency of the Year, as well as awarded a Titanium, three Grand Prix, two Gold Lions and three Silver Lions for ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ for Vice Media. This also makes the campaign the most awarded campaign ever. Note: it’s an agency from Bengaluru and not Mumbai or New Delhi NCR.

     

    Said Amit Wadhwa, CEO, Dentsu Creative India. “When you begin Cannes Lions with a Grand Prix, you think you have already hit a lifetime achievement, but this week just got better and better. It is hard to describe how we feel on receiving three Grand Prix, let alone a Titanium and to top it all off, Agency of the Year – it is a moment to rejoice for each one of us at Dentsu Creative India. The team is just so proud of the work, but also the outcome too,” adding: “We got the world talking about something which really matters deeply, something which will change the way that historically important artefacts are handled in the future, and in turn could change the way that history is taught to millions around the world. Now that is very special indeed.”

     

    Added Ajay Gahlaut, Group Chief Creative Officer India, Dentsu Creative: “Winning the Agency of the Year is an emotion I cannot even begin to describe. When I used to watch other agencies win the title I often wondered if I ever would get that same honour. What they say is true. Dreams DO come true! I’m over the moon with the Titanium win along with the hat trick of Grand Prix and a whole lot of other metals. Not just me I think no one in the entire Indian ad industry has been part of such a huge haul of Lions ever before. And I do believe we are the first full-service Indian agency to win the title of Agency of the Year. I doff my hat to the entire team responsible for the Unfiltered History Tours. Those who are with us now and those who have moved on. Congratulations all. For now, it’s party time!”

     

     

    The other Grand Prix this year went to VMLY&R India’s ‘The Killer Pack’ campaign for Maxx Flash in the Health & Wellness Lions category to Leo Burnett for its ‘The Missing Chapter’ campaign for P&G India’s Whisper. This was a Grand Prix for Sustainable Development Goals Lions, again a first for India.

     

    Meanwhhile, Ogilvy India also brought home a Titanium Lion for  Mondelez  India’s ‘Shah Rukh Khan My Ad’ campaign. The work also bagged two Golds, a Silver and a Bronze.

     

    Said Piyush Pandey, Chairman Global Creative & Executive Chairman India, Ogilvy: “I am delighted that the people’s choice is also the jury’s choice. I am very proud of the team that worked on it.”

     

    As the table indicates, FCB has continued its winning spree and netted as many as 14 metals.

     

  • Introduces Dentsu Creative

    Dentsu expands its bouquet of networks

    By Our Staff

     

    Dentsu International’s Global CEO, Wendy Clark, and Global CCO Fred Levron have announced the launch of Dentsu Creative, Dentsu’s global creative network. Dentsu Creative will serve as the sole creative network for Dentsu international working with clients around the globe.

     

    In alignment with Dentsu’s global vision of designing a structure for horizontal creativity, Ajay Gahlaut, Group Chief Creative Officer, will now also be in charge of “infusing creativity” across Media and CXM besides Dentsu Creative in India.

     

    Led by Fred Levron, who joined Dentsu international as Chief Creative Officer in November 2021 and has demonstrated the transformative power of creativity throughout his acclaimed career; Dentsu Creative will comprise 9,000 creative experts in 46 markets connected to 37,000 media and CXM experts across Dentsu international and collaborate closely with Dentsu’s creative team in Japan. In the near future, further leadership announcements will be made as Dentsu Creative brings in the next generation of strategic, production, business and creative leaders.

     

    Said Levron:  “If you had the chance to build a brand new global creative network designed for the modern world, what would it look like? That is what we are answering with the launch of Dentsu Creative. Clients, talent and the industry at large are craving for a change: in the way we build brands, in the way we collaborate and in the role we give to creativity. If the current players have set the rules of the previous century, we have the ambition to set the rules for the decades to come.”

     

    Added Wendy Clark, Global CEO, Dentsu international: “At Dentsu, we’re building a modern agency network fuelled by horizontal creativity – a creativity designed to unify our people, their capabilities and our delivery for clients. We’re fortunate to draw from our Japanese heritage steeped in a relentless focus on craft, innovation and creativity. This legacy inspired our vision for modern creativity that was born in Japan and raised in a connected world. Dentsu Creative offers a simplified, modern creative proposition that answers clients’ needs for us to break down agency silos and inefficiencies and seamlessly connect our talent around the right client opportunities at the right time.”

     

    Said Amit Wadhwa, CEO India, Dentsu Creative: “Dentsu has over the years, time and again demonstrated innovation through creativity. With Dentsu Creative, we will unite our creative talent under one brand; this will further simplify client engagements and strengthen our creative prowess. Moving with times is important and now is the time to transform brands and businesses through the lens of Modern Creativity. Dentsu Creative ensures the best output for our clients and the best opportunities for our people, which is the most exciting part for me.”

     

    Added Gahlaut: “With Dentsu Creative, we will transform the creative face of dentsu as a network. As we add Modern Creativity to all the disciplines within the network and combine them, we will create a new-age powerhouse. Our aim is to bring profit and purpose together for our clients and our people. This is what the industry has been waiting for, and we are the forerunners of this breakthrough. Exciting times ahead!”

     

     

  • Gahlaut will be with the agency until mid-August and will see through a handover to teams and clients

    Ajay Gahlaut exits Publicis WW, Vikash Chemjong & Tito Mazumdar made Joint NCDs

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ajay Gahlaut
    Vikash Chemjong & Basabjit Mazumdar

    Ajay Gahlaut, CCO and MD of Publicis Worldwide, India (PWW) has decided to move on from the agency and pursue his passion on the personal front, a communique from the agency notes. He will be with the agency until mid-August and will see through a handover to teams and clients.

     

    The agency has also announced the elevation of Vikash Chemjong and Basabjit ‘Tito’ Mazumdar to the role of Joint National Creative Directors. The duo would take on the role of managing the creative mandate for all brands under PWW including Publicis Capital, Publicis Ambience, Publicis Beehive, Publicis Health, Publicis Emil and Publicis Business and will report to Srija Chatterjee, MD, Publicis Worldwide, India.

     

     

    Anupriya Acharya

    Said Anupriya Acharya, CEO, Publicis Groupe South Asia: “Working with Ajay has been a great experience even though our overlap has been only six months. He has built a great team here and we thank him for all his contributions. Am sure he will be successful in whatever he chooses to do next and our best wishes are with him.”

     

    Both Chemjong and Mazumdar had joined Publicis Capital over a year ago as National Creative Directors. Over the past one year, they have been instrumental in shaping the creative universe of some key brands under Publicis Capital including Beam Suntory, GUS, GPI, Nestle, Goodricke, Emami to name a few. Prior to joining Publicis, they both were Group Creative Directors at Ogilvy India and have over four decades of creative experience between them.

     

    Srija Chatterjee

    Added Chatterjee: “Ajay has been a great friend and a fantastic creative leader to have around. Over his 18-month long stint, he has helped build and nurture the creative process and output for a number of brands at the agency. I wish him a great ride in his future endeavours.” On the new roles for Vikash and Tito, Chatterjee said: “We are fortunate to be running on a group philosophy that thrives on the model of collaboration and ensure that we breed and train talent of great calibre. To that end, both Vikash and Tito come with over 40+ years of combined work experience and have been successfully leading the Publicis Capital business for the last one year, partnering some of our clients in delivering some great work. I look forward to them playing a key role in raising the creative bar.”

     

    Said Gahlaut: “For me it has been a wonderful year and a half at Publicis. I have made many friends, built a powerhouse creative team and done some nice work. The only reason for moving on is a desire to try new things. This is an extremely exciting time for all kinds of creative content in the country. I have a couple of interesting options I can explore. And while I will never say never to advertising, I thought it was a good time to attempt some things I hadn’t tried before.”

     

     

  • The creative idea was to rejoice every moment of your Bhojpuriya life to its unabashed best just like Bhojpuri movies do

    Publicis India rolls out integrated ad campaign for Zee Biskope

    By A Correspondent

     

    Publicis India has conceptualised a unique campaign for Bhojpuri movie channel Zee Biskope. It epitomizes the three main genres of Bhojpuri movies: action, romance and drama which are essayed by Zee Biskope’s brand ambassadors Pawan Singh, Khesari Lal Yadav and Niruaha respectively.

     

    Highlighting the marketing idea behind the campaign, Amarpreet Singh Saini, Business Head, Zee Biskope and Big Ganga said: “The idea behind the campaign was to capture the essence of Bhojpuri movies albeit with a clutter breaking rendition. The films were meant to connect with audience and at the same time establish the brand as a unique offering in the category. Each film takes a distinct and stand out route to introduction of the conflict, reveal of mega star and culmination into celebration of brand promise in three distinct styles. The high uniqueness score’ in brand survey corroborates the efficacy of this well thought out campaign. The collaboration with Publicis ensured authenticity and finesse across films, given their keen eye for detail and high thrust on sophistication in execution.”

     

    Added Ajay Gahlaut, MD & CCO, Publicis India: “We wanted to appeal to the sensibilities of the delightful people of Bhojpuri belt – witty, funny and unapologetically over-the-top. We are giving the people what they want with this campaign – unlimited entertainment at all hours of the day. We are happy to see our messaging having a great impact with the audience it is intended towards.”

     

     

  • The brand has signed on exciting new talent Siddhant Chaturvedi aka MC Sher of Gully boy fame, as its brand ambassador

    Publicis India rolls out inaugural ad campaign for Ustraa

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ustraa, the men’s grooming brand from Happily Unmarried, has launched its ad campaign titled Ustraawale.

     

    Highlighting the objective behind the campaign, Rajat Tuli, Co-founder, Ustraa said: “Ustraa’s brand personality is playful swagger. In our communication we wanted that to come across very strongly. The agency managed to do just that.”

     

    Adding his views, Rahul Anand – Co Founder Ustraa said: “This is our first brand campaign and a start of Ustraa 2.0, we are super excited about the way the ads have turned out.”

     

    Commenting on the thought process behind the campaign, Ajay Gahlaut, CCO & MD – Publicis India said: “Over the years I’ve realised that great work more often than not begins with a great set of clients. The rest is just semantics. In this case, we started the brainstorming session a couple of days before the presentation. We sat in my beautiful hotel room overlooking the Aravalli hills where we talked about everything under the sun except the brief! And despite our best efforts, an idea or two managed to sneak in and we had to cut short the partying and start typing some scripts about one Ustrawale!”

     

     

  • He will work alongside Vikash Chemjong and Basabjit ‘Tito’ Majumdar, who recently joined as NCDs

    Ranadeep Dasgupta joins Publicis India as ECD, North

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ranadeep Dasgupta

    Publicis India has announced the appointment of Ranadeep Dasgupta as Executive Creative Director. He joins Publicis India from 82.5 Communications where he was the Creative Head, North. He will work alongside Vikash Chemjong and Basabjit ‘Tito’ Majumdar, who recently joined as NCDs.

     

    Welcoming Rono to the Publicis family, Ajay Gahlaut, MD & Chief Creative Officer, Publicis Worldwide, India said: “Our creative team gets a leg-up in New Delhi with the coming in of Rono. He has a unique way of bringing brand ideas to life and I am delighted to have him steer a talented bunch of creatives under him. Together with Vikash & Tito, we look forward to seeing some outstanding and transformational pieces of work coming out of our New Delhi office.”

     

    Commenting on his role at Publicis India, Rono added: “It’s a wonderful opportunity for growth and to do some great work alongside some really talented people. This role presents both the challenge and the excitement of working in an agency that has an entirely new age perspective towards the business.”

     

  • Located next to partner agencies Leo Burnett India, Indigo Consulting, Content Factory, Prodigious and Arc Worldwide

    Publicis India shifts base to new office in Mumbai

    By A Correspondent

     

    Publicis India has announced its relocation to an all-new office in Mumbai’s iconic commercial landmark in Parel (East). Until last year, the office partly housed the India headquarters of WPP agency, Grey.

     

    Apart from being centrally located, the new space sports an open plan office arrangement with no cabins to facilitate collaboration that will allow room for multiple debates, discussions, and ideation. It includes two floors which seats over 350 employees.

     

    On the new office, Srija Chatterjee, MD, Publicis India said: “We’re all really excited to move into this new space. The aesthetics of the office space truly depicts our culture which is one of collaboration, integration and unrestrictive flow of work. Being right next door to the Leo Burnett, Indigo Consulting, Content Factory, Prodigious and Arc Worldwide teams, also helps us leverage our Power of One capabilities with a more seamless integration and collaboration on work. I would like to thank the team at Dragon Fly, for the amazing job they’ve done on the interiors. We look forward to an even better 2019.”

     

    Commenting on the move, Ajay Gahlaut, MD & CCO, Publicis India added: “New beginnings are always exciting. And as a creative person I firmly believe that environment has a huge impact on one’s state of mind and ability to create. This is a wonderful new office and I’m convinced that it will help us in reinvigorating our creative product. Our colleagues from Leo Burnett, Indigo, Arc, Content Factory and Prodigious are next door and, I believe, also a cheap bar right opposite. There can be no better formula for integration and the Power of One.”

     

    Sharing his views on the relocation, Neeraj Bassi, Managing Partner & CSO, Publicis India said: “Our new office space will be a new marker of the spirit of collaboration and integration that runs across Publicis Groupe. It will bring a new energy to our constant effort to deliver top-of-the-line creative solutions to our esteemed clients. And being in physical proximity to group companies would help deliver the Power of One philosophy in a more seamless manner. Watch out for the roar of the Lions!”

     

     

  • Ajay will begin his stint at Publicis on February 4, 2019

    Ajay Gahlaut joins Publicis India as CCO & MD

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s now official. Publicis Worldwide India has announced that Ajay Gahlaut has joined as Chief Creative Officer & Managing Director, Publicis Worldwide India and will be based out of the Mumbai office. Gahlaut will begin his stint at Publicis on February 4, 2019.

     

    Said Saurabh Varma, CEO, Publicis Communications, South Asia: “Anyone who knows Ajay or even follows him on Twitter, will know that he’s one of the finest storytellers in the country. His ability, experience and talent in transforming brands by creating stellar communication across formats or platforms is truly remarkable. With, Srija, Neeraj and Ajay at the helm, Publicis Worldwide India is going to be a force to reckon with. I welcome Ajay to the Publicis Groupe, and wish him the best of luck.”

     

    Added Srija Chatterjee, Managing Director, Publicis Worldwide India: “We’re in this phase of transformation at Publicis Worldwide India. Today, the industry is all about constantly listening to clients and anticipating their needs. It’s about delivering the best in-class creative idea and doing it over and over again for each of your brands. Ajay is one of those creative mavericks who has been able to do that, consistently for over a long period of time. I’m truly excited to work with Ajay and I look forward to a great partnership.”

     

    On joining Publicis Worldwide India, Gahlaut said: “I’m looking forward to my journey with Publicis. The new age thinking here excites me. It’s a nimble set up based on the principles of collaboration and integration to deliver the ‘Power of One’. The quality of work is already solid and I look forward to working with the teams to raise the creative bar both in terms of variety and quality of work.”

     

     

  • Ajay leaves Ogilvy to pursue his own interests

    Ajay Gahlaut moves on from Ogilvy

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s been doing the rounds for weeks. But now it’s official. Ogilvy India has announced the departure of Ajay Gahlaut, Deputy Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy India, CCO – Ogilvy North. Gahlaut leaves Ogilvy to pursue his own interests.

     

    Gahlaut joined Ogilvy for the second time, in November 2007. His first stint with Ogilvy was in 2001 and until 2005. In the last decade, he has worked to help build brands such as Pernod Ricard, BMW, KFC, Tacobel, Dabur, Perfetti, Mother Dairy, Pizza Hut,  Sprite, Best Foods, HT Mint, Philips, to name a few.

     

    Said Sonal Dabral, Group Chief Creative Officer & Vice Chairman, Ogilvy India: “Ajay did some excellent work in his decade long innings in Ogilvy Delhi. I’d like to thank him for building a great team and wish him all the best for all his future endeavours.”

    Added Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy South Asia: “Ajay is looking for life beyond advertising and for that reason, I cannot stop him just like I couldn’t stop Abhijit. If Abhijit was going to another agency, I wouldn’t have let him go. Everyone has a dream and unfortunately, I can’t fulfil that dream. He has done a stellar job and I am very proud of him. He worked very closely with me and I will miss him. He is a very dear friend.”

     

    So why did Gahlaut go? And what’s he doing next? And who’s going to helm the all-important Delhi/North India operations of Ogilvy next. We don’t have answers to these, though there are murmurs on why Gahlaut was keen on moving out. Since these are murmurs, perhaps they should stay that way. If we know for sure, we’ll come back with a report.

     

     

  • Campaign uses puppets as a creative device for the first time in the Indian QSR sector

    Abhay Deol springs in a surprise for Pizza Hut

    By A Correspondent

     

    Pizza Hut has released a new campaign featuring actor Abhay Deol and a gang of puppets. The film has been made by Corcoise FIlms and directed by Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy.

     

    Said Prashant Gaur, Chief Brand Officer, Pizza Hut (India Sub-Continent): “We take pride in serving the best, the freshest and the tastiest pizzas to all the pizza lovers in the country. We believe that every pizza lover deserves to experience the power of a truly great pizza. Our association with Abhay Deol  for this campaign will enable us to deliver the core proposition of our brand in the most entertaining and engaging way. Abhay stands for someone who is self-assured of his choices, has a great taste & is quite confident about it. We are sure our consumers will be overjoyed to see Abhay in this playful and distinctive ad from Pizza Hut,” he added.

     

    Said Ajay Gahlaut, Deputy CCO – Ogilvy India / CCO – Ogilvy – North: “For us at Ogilvy, this new campaign for Pizza Hut was more about having fun. What started with “let’s do something with puppets” got transformed so seamlessly into communication that works really well for the client and makes us think “wow we actually get paid to do this”. We see Pizza Hut as quiet, confident and self-assured brand, a personality type that is perfectly matched with that of Abhay Deol’s. He is cool, he speaks the language and you just know by looking at him that he will never settle when it comes to pizza. This year you can expect a lot of exciting things from Pizza Hut, both food wise and advertising wise and hopefully our new campaign will get folks to switch. Yes, we are quietly confident that once you go to (Pizza) hut, you’ll never want anything but.”

     

     

  • As part of this campaign, Sprite is launching six TVCs which have been created on the core message of refreshment

    Sprite shows Indians how to beat the heat with six ad films

    By A Correspondent

     

    Coca-Cola India announced the launch of a new campaign ‘Refreshment Full. Garmi Gul’ for Sprite.

     

    As part of this campaign, Sprite is launching six TVCs which have been created on the core message of refreshment. Commenting on the launch of the new campaign, Abhijit Datta, Director Flavours, Coca-Cola India said: “The idea around this campaign was to communicate Sprite’s promise of being the ultimate refreshment, and doing it in a way that underscores our authenticity and attitude. We wanted to reorient our storytelling style – creatively magnifying the difficult job Sprite has to Refresh us all in the scorching heat of the summer, which is a monumental task!”

     

    Commenting on the idea behind the TVC Ajay Gahlaut, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather, Delhi said: “For this summer campaign, we decided to focus on the core refreshment benefit of Sprite. The challenge was to communicate this simple benefit in an engaging and interesting manner and in the typical witty Sprite tone. After many iterations we decided on comparing the uselessness of various strange objects to the usefulness of a bottle of Sprite when it came to refreshing people in the hot Indian summer. The choice of the strange objects was not arbitrary. We chose those that made us giggle the most.”