MxMIndia

Tag: ajit varghese

  • Will be responsible for overall advertising revenues

    Disney Star appoints Ajit Varghese as Head of Network Advertising Sales

    By Our Staff

     

    Disney Star today announced the appointment of Ajit Varghese as Head of Network Advertising Sales. In this role, he will be responsible for overall advertising revenues of Disney Star’s television and digital businesses and for driving growth through transformative sales and channel strategies, creating alliances and business development. Varghese will also develop the long-term vision and define the strategic direction of the sales organization. He will report to K Madhavan, President & Country Manager, Disney Star.

     

    Said K Madhavan: “Ajit is a highly respected and well regarded professional within the advertising and marketing fraternity. I am confident that under his leadership, we will be able to unlock significant value and create more opportunities to further grow our market leadership.”

     

  • To lead its marketing efforts

    ShareChat appoints Akshat Sahu as Director Marketing

    By Our Staff

     

    Akshat Sahu
    Akshat Sahu

    ShareChat, the social media platform, has announced the appointment of Akshat Sahu as Director, Marketing. He will be reporting to Ajit Varghese, Chief Commercial Officer, Moj and ShareChat.

     

    Welcoming Sahu to ShareChat, Varghese said: “Akshat brings in a strong set of skills and his expertise in branding and marketing will add a lot of value to our team. He is a proven marketing leader with strong strategic acumen, in-depth consumer insights and highly efficient operational focus. We hope he will bring immense value and spread our brand reputation across the diverse group of stakeholders as we continue to build ShareChat on our long-term strategy.”

     

    Added Sahu: “I have always been intrigued by the diversity of India and it is a special opportunity to be working with a company that is pioneering the Indic language conversations in the internet space. I am looking forward to contributing to the company’s growth with my core area of expertise and making ShareChat a household name in India.”

     

  • He will be responsible for driving monetisation at ShareChat, leading its marketing efforts and spearheading content partnerships to drive revenues

    Ajit Varghese joins ShareChat as Chief Commercial Officer

    By A Correspondent

     

    ShareChat, the social media platform in Indic languages, has announced the appointment of Ajit Varghese as its Chief Commercial Officer.

     

    Prior to joining ShareChat, Varghese was Global President at GroupM;s Wavemaker and worked with industry giants like  Vodafone, L’Oreal, Huawei, IKEA, Paramount Pictures, Chanel, Xerox, Netflix, Chevron, Beiersdorf, and Tiffany.

     

    Known to be an exceedingly passionate leader, at ShareChat, Varghese will expandi and  strengthen the platform’s revenue efforts, and building a robust monetisation approach with strategic content partnership. He will also spearhead its marketing functions, to be inclined towards brand elevation, aligned with business centricity. He will be reporting into Farid Ahsan, COO and Co-founder at ShareChat.

     

    Welcoming  Varghese,  Ahsan said: “Brand marketing and monetisation is going to be the core focus of ShareChat and we will direct our efforts towards elevating the brand positioning through strategic communications approach. Ajit, with his leadership capabilities and expert knowledge of the media, marketing and advertising domain, will play a critical role in further building brand awareness, deepening relationships with our business stakeholders and driving ShareChat toward the next phase of growth. Having held many globally influential   roles across his 25+ years of experience, his expertise will help us build ShareChat for the future and it is a matter of great pride to have him on our leadership team.”

     

    Added Varghese: “Having previously worked and transformed several global organisations, it has always been a hidden desire to contribute towards transforming an Indian organisation to global repute. I believe ShareChat in the next few years will evolve as the default partner to every brand, homegrown and global, who intends to engage with the internet-first population. As the digital advertising landscape awaits the inclusion of over 400 million new internet users, mostly inclined towards native languages, ShareChat will stay at the forefront of unveiling a new digital era. This will be an exciting journey for me as I look forward towards contributing to ShareChat’s growth and building a win-win relationship with our community of users, partners and business stakeholders.”

     

    An alumnus of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, and a graduate in agriculture engineering from Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Varghese has worked across India, Singapore and London and in leadership in Wavemaker (WPP), Maxus (WPP) and  Madison World.

     

     

  • The Wavemaker CEO – South Asia speaks on the GroupM agency's three years in India, his journey at the helm, Gurugram v/s Mumbai, and the rivalry with sibling Mindshare

    MxM Live with Ajay Gupte

     

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Wavemaker India celebrates its third anniversary on Monday, November 9, and we speak with Ajay Gupte, CEO – South Asia, Wavemaker, on the occasion.

     

    Gupte took charge in January 2020, and we know of the tumultuous times across the world after that. A coincidence of course. The marketing services business was badly hit given the events and advertising spends going south post that.

     

    But in this period, Wavemaker – part of WPP’s GroupM network – has managed to reinvent itself and forge ahead, says Gupte. There is a beefing up of the top deck. Some noteworthy work. And development of analytical tools that are now adopted within Wavemaker global framework.

     

    In a freewheeling interview with MxMIndia Founder and Editor-in-Chief Pradyuman Maheshwari, Ajay Gupte speaks on a cross-section of issues around the business, around Wavemaker, his settling back into the country, the job, Gurugram versus Mumbai, the rivalry with sibling Mindshare. And more.

     

    Watch. Enjoy. Like.

     

  • The position was created after Harish Shriyan’s exit was announced in July 2019

    Omnicom Media Group Kartik Sharma to helm Omnicom Media Group in India

    Caption: Photo Montage: Rafiq Barak. It may be noted that Kartik Sharma will join OMG only in mid-2020.

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s now confirmed. Omnicom Media Group has appointed Kartik Sharma as CEO for its operations in India. Sharma joins the Omnicom entity from GroupM’s Wavemaker, where he was most recently CEO for South Asia. He is slated to join the network mid-year. His exit from Wavemaker was announced on Wednesday (January 29). The position was created after former OMG CEO Harish Shriyan’s exit was announced in July 2019.

     

    With over 25 years of media experience under his belt, Sharma has served in a leadership capacity at some of the largest agency networks, including Mindshare, Lintas Media, Madison Media and Maxus and managed clients such as L’Oreal, Mondelez, Netflix and Vodafone. In his new role, Sharma will work closely with Priti Murthy, CEO of OMD India, and Jyoti Bansal, CEO of PHD India, on chartering the continued growth of the agency brands in India.

     

    Speaking on the appointment, Tony Harradine, CEO of Omnicom Media Group Asia-Pacific, said in a statement: “A revered leader with an impressive track record, I am thrilled that Kartik has joined us. I have the utmost confidence in his ability to steer our business to even greater heights in one of the most important markets in Asia.”

     

    For those not in the know, Omnicom Media Group is the media agency network owned by Omnicom, the global. advertising services conglomerate. According to a report in Campaign, OMD occupies the top spot by projected billings in the COM vergence 2019 global billings rankings report. GroupM’s Mindshare is second in the ranking and Carat is #3. In India, GroupM occupies the top slot amongst media agency networks, and OMG is as of now perhaps at #5.

     

    Clearly, Sharma has his role cut out for him. He took charge of Maxus from Ajit Varghese in January 2014 and there has been no looking back since. Sharma has led both Maxus and Wavemaker to winning the coveted Agency of the Year title at the Emvies.

     

     

  • He is relocating to Dubai to officially join Wavemaker on June 10

    Wavemaker appoints Rabe Iyer as MENA CEO

    By A Correspondent

     

    Wavemaker has appointed Rabinder Thirumurthy, also known as Rabe Iyer, as CEO for Wavemaker MENA. The announcement was made by Ajit Varghese, Wavemaker’s Global President of Market Development. Iyer joins from a position as Managing Director of GroupM India media agency Motivator, based in Delhi. He is relocating to Dubai to officially join Wavemaker on June 10th.

     

    Said Varghese: “I’ve known Rabe since he joined Motivator and I’ve always been impressed by his commitment to excellence. He’s a proven leader with strong business acumen and I’m sure that he, together with our fantastic leadership team across the region, is perfectly positioned to make Wavemaker MENA a formidable future-facing agency.”

     

    Added Iyer: “Wavemaker’s ambition, it’s obsession with the purchase journey and desire to connect and scale its capabilities, is exciting. I believe that MENA has a large potential for growth and I look forward to working with the talented team here to deliver on the agency’s ambition across the region.”

     

     

  • The APAC CEO is likely to move to London next year

    Ajit Varghese to take on global role at MEC-Maxus merged entity

     

    By A Correspondent

    Former Maxus India head and currently CEO of Maxus Asia Pacific Ajit Varghese is all set to take on a global role in the yet-unnamed entity born out of the merger of MEC and Maxus.

     

    Varghese will in all likelihood move to London as head of market development, looking after over 45 markets other than the top eight markets globally, including India.

     

    While for Varghese this would mean not overseeing India operations something that he has done with much success and passion (and aggression), but, industry insiders say, it’s a big promotion and can be the next step towards a bigger responsibility.

     

    According to reports, Tim Castree, the CEO of the merged entity, isn’t too keen on silos being set up in the form of regions. Hence all key market heads will report directly to him, and the rest – 45-odd currently – will be headed by Varghese. Varghese, who has spent 11 years in Maxus, had moved to the role of APAC CEO in January 14.

     

    Meanwhile, it’s also learnt that the CEO for the merged entity for India will be announced soon. While rumour mills suggest that it may be Kartik Sharma, given his success with Maxus South Asia since Varghese moved to a larger role and a healthy portfolio of clients in the Maxus kitty, one has to the await the final announcement on this for next week.

     

    A student of Xavier Insitute of Management, Bhubaneswar, Varghese was COO, Madison World before he joined Maxus in 2006.

     

  • The winds of change are blowing across the media agency world, and GroupM has done this to better operational efficiencies

    Business as usual for Maxus & MEC in India. For now…

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    That last bit of the headline is most critical. For now.

    Because the winds of change are blowing across the media agency world. There are huge pressures on operational efficiency – cutting costs and flab wherever necessary, combine forces whenever it’s possible and bracing oneself for a world where technology will drive business.

     

    And for WPP-owned GroupM, one of the world’s largest media agency and services conglomerates and clearly the numerouno in India, the situation is the same. And like for any smart strategy consultancy, the writing on the wall is clear. Only the fittest and smartest will survive.

     

    But the decision to maintain the status quo in India, while effecting changes across the world, means a lot.

     

    Although globally MEC is bigger, Maxus is huge in India. Sibling Mindshare may be way ahead, but Maxus has traditionally been very aggressive in the marketplace. Two years back in fact it beat Mindshare at the Emvies, the annual media agency award conducted by Advertising Club. Recently, it bagged the coveted ITC account which was earlier held by Madison and was fiercely contested that involved multiple agencies.

     

    MEC was founded in January 2002 with WPP buyingout CIA’s parent, Tempus. MEC was formed by the merger of The Media Edge and CIA. In 2010, the agency was rechristened MEC from Mediaedge:cia.

     

    In November last year (2016), MEC announced a new global CEO in Tim Castreereplacing Charles Courtier.

     

    Maxus, on the other hand was formed in 2008, though it did exist in some others before. Lindsay Pattison is Global CEO of Maxus, but last month she was also appointed Chief Transformaton Officer of GroupM. She currently holds both charges.

     

    This is what Pattison today after the announcement of last evenng:

    Transformational news from @Groupmworldwide today exciting for@Maxusglobal@MECideas and @Essencedigital Proud to be part of this

    — Lindsay Pattison (@lindsaymaxus) June 1, 2017

     

     

    Meanwhile, let’s revisit the story that MxMIndia carried on the site last evening:

    GroupM has announced a portfolio restructure which is essentially entails the merging if the global operations and teams of its agencies MEC and Maxus into a new, billion dollar revenue, media, content and technology agency under the leadership of MEC’s CEO Tim Castree.

     

    However, Maxus will continue to operate as an agency brand in India with the support of the newly formed global agency as well as the GroupM network. Ditto with MEC which will continue as is. In the near future, MEC will be rebranded to reflect the new global brand.

     

    GroupM’s portfolio will now comprise three successful global media agency networks — Mindshare, MediaCom, and the new company – each with more than one billion dollars in annual revenues, plus an innovative digital-first agency, Essence. GroupM also plans new investments across all of its agencies and its [m]PLATFORM data and technology capabilities.

     

    “We’re committed to improving our service to clients. These moves will give us greater focus, help us innovate, and improve our speed of delivery,” said Kelly Clark, Global CEO, GroupM in a statement.

     

    Since Clark became global CEO in October 2016, GroupM has made a number of organisational changes. Clark recently appointed Lindsay Pattison as GroupM’s Chief Transformation Officer to lead a range of transformation initiatives.

     

    Meanwhile, in a communique, GroupM said it is committed to the expansion of Essence, its digital-first agency, by adding traditional media capabilities and a larger geographic footprint to the agency’s existing media and creative credentials. In time, Essence will also lead several key GroupM client relationships as part of this restructure, the note added.

     

    GroupM acquired Essence in November 2015. “The leadership team at Essence is excited about the opportunities this creates for our clients and our people,” said Christian Juhl, CEO, Essence. “Our mission is to make advertising more valuable to the world; with this infusion of talent, capabilities and markets, we can do this now on a bigger stage.” Clark named Castree CEO of MEC in November 2016.

     

    “Maxus and MEC share common values and ambitions. Both networks have a strong local market presence and entrepreneurial drive. Together, we believe we can create an exciting new media, content and technology agency which we look forward to introducing soon,” said Castree.

     

    “We’ve clearly signaled our ambition to transform, and we mean business,” said Pattison. “This allows us to more meaningfully invest in each agency’s future – retaining and attracting the best talent with inspiring and rewarding workplaces, creating differentiated cultures and approaches, and sharing in a focus on helping clients win.”

     

    Bottomline:

    It’s business as usual for Maxus and MEC for now in India

    Clients of both agencies needn’t worry. Conflicts, if any, will be ironed out

    There will be rationalisation in teams, with movements from one grouping to the other. This will help populate the team of Essence

     

    The communication teams of GroupM, MEC and Maxus are tightlipped about giving out any more info, but there is indeed worry about what responsibilities some key folks in both agencies will be given once the merger happens fully.

     

    For now, Ajit Varghese, CEO APAC at Maxus will continue in his current role, but it will be interesting to see what his next role will be given that Maxus Indiia will continue as is, though for the rest of the world, things will change

     

  • Munro replaces Nathan Cook, the former Maxus APAC Head of Trading

    Maxus APAC appoints Anita Munro as Head of Trading

     

     

    Maxus Asia-Pacific has appointed Anita Munro as Maxus Asia Pacific Head of Trading. Munro replaces Nathan Cook, the former Maxus APAC Head of Trading who moves to Australia as GroupM Deputy Trading Director.

     

    Munro has an excellent track record in Maxus over last three years and has been working with Nathan Cook and eaMunro replaces Nathan Cook, the former Maxus APAC Head of Tradingrlier with Simon Porter, overseeing the investment and negotiations for key accounts including Loreal, Huawei, Jetstar, Unicharm and working closely with countries to drive trading practice to deliver client KPIs at a local level.

     

    Munro has 15 years of experience across both Australia and APAC, based out of Hong Kong for the last five years. Her career has focussed on trading and tactical planning across all key industry segments. She has also gained strong experience in planning and team leadership, and multiple facets of the digital landscape giving her a unique versatility in the role.

     

    In the new role, she will be working closely with Nick Binns, CIO GroupM APAC and will lead the trading and investment product for clients across the APAC market, supported by Scotty Ho (Associate Trading Director), bringing the best in class capability of GroupM trading to Maxus’ client base.

    Said Binns: “Anita joined the regional trading team over five years ago and immediately took to the then position naturally; injecting immense passion, dedication and energy into the role and local trading teams. Anita’s style being consistently to get the job done, whilst delivering unprecedented media value and new thinking to advertisers, and at the same time being a pleasure to work with. I very much will continue to enjoy working with Anita in this new role, and I know she will succeed and deliver winning results for Maxus and their clients.”

    Added Maxus APAC CEO Ajit Varghese: “Anita has been a great asset to the Maxus regional team already since few years and giving her the opportunity to lead the practice for entire APAC is a natural and well deserved promotion. She is a great leader of people and teams, goes beyond just looking at buying as a silo and integrates the knowledge of planning, buying, data, content and digital and that’s gives her the extra edge to lead client conversations and KPI. Am sure she will be taking it a notch higher for the clients in the new role and help Maxus grow the business further.”

     

  • Based out of Singapore, Rose will be responsible for ensuring that the client’s experience is world class

    Rose Huskey joins Maxus as APAC Client Leadership Head

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ajit Varghese, Regional CEO Maxus Asia-Pacific, has announced that Rose Huskey has joined the Maxus Regional team as Maxus APAC Client Leadership Head. Prior to this, Rose spent four years as the Maxus Vietnam Managing Director.

     

    Based out of Singapore, Rose will be responsible for ensuring that the client’s experience is world class, integrated product and thinking into brand marketing as its leans into change in the ever evolving world.

     

    Rose is an advertising executive with 18 years of experience at some of the largest and most successful agencies in the world, specializing in developing solutions to client’s challenges and bringing them to life in the online and offline world. Before joining Maxus, GroupM Rose held positions at OMD in Vancouver, Canada and Future Shop where she was responsible for conceiving, managing and developing advertising and communication solutions.

     

    Rose Huskey

    Huskey said: “The media industry has never been more exciting and interesting. The convergence of online and offline experiences means that people now have more choice than ever before on how, when and where they access the media they want. Maxus helps our clients leverage a wide spectrum of media opportunities to seize opportunities and fight off competitive threats. ”

     

     

    Ajit Varghese

    In announcing Rose’s appointment, Ajit Varghese, CEO, Maxus Asia Pacific, states “We are very excited to have Rose join our Regional leadership team. Given all her extensive experience in managing clients, building high performance teams and leading growth in one of our highest performing countries, she’s absolutely the right person to drive central leadership for our network clients and lead our teams to flawlessly execute across multi markets. At Maxus, we always aim to provide successful career options within the group for star performers and Rose certainly meets that criteria”

     

  • It runs on the VSocial platform that reads environmental signals in real-time and keeps the agency and its clients one step ahead of the curve

    Maxus rolls out dialogue engine MESH

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ajit Varghese

    Ajit Varghese, CEO, Maxus Asia Pacific announced the launch of Marketing Command Centre “MESH” by Maxus in partnership with Vocanic. Maxus MESH is a dialogue engine which runs on the VSocial platform that reads environmental signals in real-time and keeps the agency and its clients one step ahead of the curve.

     

    Said Ajit Varghese, “Since the beginning, marketing has always started with understanding people. And as practitioners in marketing, there’s no better source for understanding people than social. Maxus MESH is an initiative which underlines our belief of making Social central to our business as we lean into this changing environment.” He continues, Maxus MESH is based upon the core philosophy that technology underpinned by people and driven by process can drive exponential business growth for our clients. This will not only help Maxus represent the consumer voice to marketers better, but also develop communication plans with richer insights, meaningful content and lead it into more conversations/ conversions.”

     

    Martin Shaw, Maxus APAC digital head said, “For us it is critical to put the consumer at the center. And once we truly understand her, we are then able to develop communications that are smarter, more relevant and that cuts to the heart of her needs.Maxus has collaborated with Vocanic, GroupM’s in-house social media agency to build 9 robust MESH installations in our Philippines, India, Australia, Vietnam and Hong Kong offices. The scale of these installations will be astonishing. In each office we will have 10 large HD screens powering numerous data sources ranging from brand social buzz, competitor tracking, social influencers, contextual, to owned and paid.”

     

  • Ajit Varghese's "unfinished agenda" of being numero uno at Emvies was accomplished by Kartik Sharma & team

    Maxus wins big at Emvies 2014

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    In September 2013, when it was announced that Ajit Varghese was promoted to an Asia-Pacific role at Maxus, we asked him whether there was any unfinished item on the agenda. Knowing how fiercely competitive he is, although always gracious in praise for his competitors, we were digging for an answer he gave us. “May be winning at Emvies is an unfinished agenda,” he said with a smile.

     

    Maxus, given Mr Varghese’s spirited leadership over the years and with Kartik Sharma at the helm ever since he moved to Singapore, has ensured the Maxus flag flies high.

     

    At the 14th edition of the Emvies on Wednesday night, soon after an all-new logo of the Advertising Club was unveiled by recently re-elected President, Pratap Bose, Maxus was the clear winner. Ahead of runner-up by a good 55 points.

     

    But the icing on the cake was that not only was Maxus the Best Media Agency of the Year, it also won the Grand Emvie along with client Tata Global Beverages for the Power of 49 campaign. In fact Tata Global Beverages shared the Best Media Client of the Year with Hindustan Unilever for its seven big wins for the Power of 49!

     

    “We have accomplished a lot over the last seven years,”  Mr Varghese told MxMIndia. Unable to attend the ceremony as he was in Shanghai, the Maxus South Asia Managing Director said: “Emvies was a summit that was left unconquered. Although we came close and gave a tough fight but you know there is less room for No 2 and No 3 in life. We wanted our clients to feel the No 1 status of their work getting showcased as “the best”.

     

    And what’s his sentiment now that the Summit is scaled? “What a feeling to get it all! Agency of the Year, Client of the Year and the Grand Emvies!!!  I truly believe that today every Maxusite who is and has been part of this journey feels he or she is a winner! That’s makes us proud. Cheers to Kartik and team to continue the Maxus Creativity, Passion and Entrepreneurial spirit. A new journey has begun with a bang!”

     

    Among other notables, Samyak Chakrabarty of DDB Mudramax bagged the Gold in Young Emvie of the Year with the Silvers shared by Alka Bhavnani of Mindshare and Vikesh Jain of Maxus.

     

    As for the rest of the story, the tables below tell it all.

     

     

    Photograph: Facebook post by Gaurav Hirey, GroupM Chief Talent Officer South Asia