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Tag: Ashish Bhasin

  • The Dentsu Aegis Network agency maintains the same prediction as made in April: 12% growth for 2016 and 13.9% for 2017

    Indian ad market to maintain 12% growth: Carat

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leading media agency network and the Dentsu Aegis Network’s Carat has released its updated Global Ad Spend Report for the year 2016-17.  In Asia Pacific, the buoyant Indian advertising market continues to lead growth prospects of +12.0% in 2016 and +13.9% in 2017. It may be remembered that according to its findings published in April 2016 (see story here: http://www.mxmindia.com/2016/04/12-adspends-growth-in-2016-carat/), Carat had predicted the same numbers: 12% in 2016 and 13.9 in 2017.

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Says Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO South Asia at Dentsu Aegis Network, Chairman Posterscope and MKTG Asia Pacific: “Carat had anticipated that the advertising spends in India will grow by 12% in 2016 and in our latest forecast, we continue to maintain that. This makes India one of the fastest growing markets in APAC and the world. We also anticipate that given the tailwinds through the macro economic factors, GST and other reforms, 2017 will have an even better growth of 13.9%. Digital will continue to be the fastest growing medium, accelerating both its growth rate and its relative market share, in 2017. We expect the digital growth to be about 31.5% in 2016 and to accelerate to nearly 40% in 2017. Mobile will drive the digital growth immensely and India will transform from a “Mobile First” to a “Mobile Only” market very rapidly, aided by better broadband penetration and drop in data rates. What is also unique about India is that all types of media, including print, still continue to grow, albeit at different rates. This is the first time an in-depth, realistic analysis of this magnitude has been done for our market and I am sure, in consonance with its leadership position, Carat will continue to provide the industry with accurate and realistic market information. This not only helps our clients get a good preview to the forthcoming year but also helps us devise our business strategy by continuing to be at the cutting edge of changes and not only predicting tomorrow but in many ways influencing it for our business and our clients.”

     

    Meanwhile, based on data received from 59 markets across the Americas, Asia Pacific and EMEA, Carat’s latest global forecasts show that advertising spend will reach US$548.2 billion in 2016, accounting for a +4.4% year-on-year growth. The healthy outlook is fuelled by a buoyant 2016, marked by high-interest media events including the UEFA EURO championship, the Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, as well as the upcoming US presidential elections.

     

  • Prior to this Gautam Mehra was Vice President – Social Media at iProspect, a Dentsu Aegis Network company

    Dentsu appoints Gautam Mehra as Chief Data Officer

    By A Correspondent

     

    Gautam Mehra

    Dentsu Aegis Network has announced the launch of Data Sciences in India In an attempt to help clients and marketers understand and predict the influences of human behaviour on media and advertising. Data Sciences has been designed to effectively catalyse the decryption and interpretation of the overwhelming amount of data that agencies within the Dentsu Aegis Network explore and exploit every single day to drive efficiencies for its clients. Meanwhile, the team will also face clients directly and come up with customized solutions for them.

     

    Led by Gautam Mehra, Chief Data Officer, Dentsu Aegis Network India along with Vivek Bhargava, CEO, iProspect India, the division houses a capable team of economists, statisticians and computer scientists. Apart from driving efficiencies within the network, the team will come up with data driven solutions to solve complex problem of clients, help effective data management within the group and that of the client and will work with all the network companies to bring Data, Analytics and Technology together to provide business intelligence at the click of a button. Prior to this, Mehra was Vice President – Social Media at iProspect, a Dentsu Aegis Network company.

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Commenting on the launch, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network, Chairman Posterscope& MKTG Asia Pacific said, “In order to take a leadership position in managing the ever-growing Data requirements for our clients, we have invested in a team of experts, led by Gautam, who will use technology to bring Data and Analytics together. We want to invest ahead of the curve as leaders in the Digital Marketing services to ensure that Dentsu Aegis Network clients in India get the best-in-class Data Management solutions, of a world standard. Vivek Bhargava will be the executive sponsor for the team and this will help us further strengthen our position in Digital Marketing services.”

     

    He added, “With Gautam and the team, we are welcoming the avenues of smarter marketing by not just providing our clients with data, but also giving them tools  that can help them make better business decisions.”

     

    Vivek-Bhargava

    Expressing his view on the new initiative, Vivek Bhargava, CEO, iProspect India said, “Data rests at the centre of all brand marketing in modern times. The new-age marketer keenly studies customer action and envisions disruptive products and campaign communication in accordance. It was a no-brainer therefore that as a network that leads in digital capabilities, we had to own a data division that adds immense value to our client campaigns across categories, in-turn boosting business achievements. This is definitely a sign of exciting times ahead.”

     

    Said Mehra, “Digital plays a critical role in the evolution of marketing. Data is being generated everywhere, that too volumes and volumes of it. The first challenge was to measure and collect it. The second obstacle to store data, which resulted in concepts like the cloud. And the third hurdle was to analyse and fructify it. And that’s where the need for a data team came into place. At Dentsu Aegis Network, we believe that data is a multiplier, not just a layer and needs to be analysed in milliseconds. Our Data labs consist of contemporary propriety tools that will positively provide effective and practical solutions to clients. I’m thrilled to be given this unique opportunity and certain that the data division will see great success.”

     

  • Dentsu Communications will now be known as Dentsu India, Dentsu Marcom will be Dentsu One and Dentsu Creative Impact will be known as Dentsu Impact. Taproot Dentsu and Dentsu Webchutney remain unchanged

    Dentsu Aegis announces rebranding of creative agencies. Taproot & Webchutney unchanged

    By A Correspondent

     

    Transformation appears to be in the air at Dentsu Aegis Network’s Dentsu Branded Agencies. In a move to help clients better leverage the capabilities of a global network, Dentsu Aegis Network has realigned agencies across several countries under three groupings.

     

    Consequently, Dentsu Communications will now be known as Dentsu India, Dentsu Marcom will be Dentsu One and Dentsu Creative Impact will be known as Dentsu Impact. Taproot Dentsu and Dentsu Webchutney remain unchanged.

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network, India & South Asia: “This new nomenclature is a first step towards expanding and reinforcing the global and regional services we provide our clients in India. It will help us serve our global clients better as well as acquire more new business.”

     

    Commenting further, Bhasin said, “We are consolidating our capabilities under a global agency network, with a uniform identity across markets, in order to strengthen the coordination across our network and expand the high quality service we consistently provide. The most important ingredient in creating innovation in an ever-changing environment is collaboration. This realignment will fuel, just that in newer, more efficient ways. This will help us further accelerate the tremendous success that Dentsu Branded Agencies have experienced in India over the last year, including the spectacular performance at Goafest awards and in the area of new business.”

     

    However, while some names may change, but leadership or teams at the individual units stay unchanged. Simi Sabhaney will continue as CEO and Vipul Thakkar as NCD of Dentsu India, Harjot Narang as President and Titus Upputuru as NCD of Dentsu One, and Amit Wadhwa as President and Soumitra Karnik as NCD of Dentsu Impact. Meanwhile, Narayan Devanathan continues as the Group Executive and Strategy Officer of Dentsu Branded Agencies, India.

     

  • Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network (Aegis Media India Pvt Ltd), was elected Vice-President of the Association

    Nakul Chopra elected President of AAAI

    By A Correspondent

     

    Nakul Chopra

    Nakul Chopra, CEO – South Asia, Publicis Communications India Pvt Ltd, was elected President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2016-2017 at its Annual General Body Meeting held recently.

     

    Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network (Aegis Media India Pvt Ltd), was elected Vice-President of the Association.

     

    Other members of the Executive Committee include CVL Srinivas from Group M Media India Pvt Ltd, Ganesh Baliga from Fifth Estate Communications Pvt Ltd, Kunal Lalani from Crayons Advertising Ltd, Pranav Premnarayen from Prem Associates Advertising & Marketing, Rana Barua from Contract Advertising, Srinivasan K Swamy from R K SWAMY BBDO, T Gangadhar from Mediaedge:Cia India and Vivek Srivastava from Innocean Worldwide Communication Pvt Ltd.

     

    Immediate Past President, Dr M G Parameswaran will be the ex-officio member of the new AAAI Executive Committee.

     

  • In India, an estimated 1,500 Dentsu Aegis Network employees across offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata Bangalore, Chennai and Kochi contributed their time towards a social cause

    Dentsu Aegis Network reaches out to 2500 children on ‘One Day For Change’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network organised the third edition of its corporate social responsibility programme, ‘One Day For Change’, on June 3, 2016.

     

    With children playing the central role in the programme this year, the India chapter of this global initiative successfully reached out to as many as 2500 children across the country.  An estimated 1,500 Dentsu Aegis Network employees across offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Kochi were engaged to execute the project, “Champions For Children”.

     

    In India, the key focus of the ‘One Day For Change’ (ODFC) programme was held across four categories – digital, education, health and entertainment.

     

    As part of the digital push, the network’s Delhi office visited Kushi Rainbow Girls Home to donate   laptops and conduct sessions on excel & IT skills. Meanwhile, the employees also visited the Earth Saviours Foundation and interacted with more than 300 mentally challenged children.

     

    In Mumbai, Dentsu Aegis Network touched the lives of 1100 kids across nine child welfare organisations. It is pertinent to note here that the Dentsu Aegis Network employees also created a Fun Fair for more than 200 children suffering from various forms of cancer to entertain them all through the day. The event was attended by none other than Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, the chief guest for the day at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel.

     

    The company also arranged an educational excursion for 100 underprivileged children, supported by Umang Foundation, to Nehru Science Centre, Worli. Additionally, the group set-up a dental health check-up camp at Madras Wadi, a slum area near Worli, where 300 children turned up for the event.

     

    The network was sub-divided into teams of 20-50 in Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Kochi. Each team visited a particular child welfare shelter to execute a variety of creative workshops.

     

    Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai also tied up with various hospitals and NGOs to organise a blood donation drive for kids with Thalassemia and Cancer. Over 250 bottles of blood were donated by Dentsu Aegis Network staff across all regions.

     

    Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network said, “One Day For Change is extremely important to us at Dentsu Aegis Network. It gives all our employees an opportunity to give back to the society, as a team. More important than what we volunteer in kind and cash is the time we all volunteer together. We hope to continue many of these activities throughout the year. It really feels good, as a team, to be able to do our bit.”

     

    One Day For Change is an annual social commitment by the Dentsu Aegis Network, where employees from each of the countries are encouraged to go out and volunteer on the same day.

     

    Last year, over 800 employees volunteered in India contributing 2,200 staff hours. While the final numbers are still trickling in, it is estimated that in 2016 in India 1,500 employees volunteered over

     

  • Here's what a cross-section of industry persons said on the Union Budget from the M&E standpoint

    What they say about Budget 2016-17

     

    Here’s what a cross-section of industrypersons said on the Union Budget from the M&E standpoint

     

    Rakesh Jariwala, Partner & Head – M&E Tax Advisory – India, EY (Ernst & Young)

    “As part of the budget proposals, India has levied an equalisation levy – what is known as ‘google tax’ globally. The tax @ 6% of the consideration will apply on services relating to online advertisement, provisions on online ad space or other facility or services for the purpose of online advertisement, when such services are provided by a non-resident to either an Indian resident or a non-resident having a permanent establishment in India. The payer for these services are required to deduct 6% prior to making the payment. This is the first time that online services are being taxed in India.”

     

    Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18, and Chairman, National Media and Entertainment Committee, CII:

    “Kudos to the government for presenting a disciplined and inclusive budget. The emphasis on rural development and commitment to the fiscal deficit target augur well for the economy in the long-run. The proposal for a more conducive excise duty regime for STBs and other ‘entertainment-access devices’ is welcome. While many of us from the industry were anticipating more sector-specific announcements, I’m sure that this budget will benefit the larger economy and therefore, by extension, have a positive impact on our industry as well.”

     

    Ashish Bhasin’s (Chairman & CEO South Asia – Dentsu Aegis Network and Chairman Posterscope & MKTG – Asia Pacific):

    “Overall there are some positives and some negatives in the Budget. On the positive side, not increasing the service tax is a positive, particularly for the advertising and media sector. General expectation was that Service Tax may go up in anticipation of higher GST rates. Controlling the fiscal deficit and several steps to invigorate the rural economy and rural consumption are positive signals. A rural consumption revival will help the economy and the advertising and media sector tremendously. On the negative side, there was an expectation, based on what the Finance Minister said in the past, that corporate tax rates would come down. That is not to be so for most large companies. Introducing double taxation on dividends  is also a negative.  In balance this seems to me to be a mixed bag budget with a positive bias. If it is able to spur overall economic growth, we could see good times ahead for the advertising and media sector.”

     

    M K Anand, MD & CEO Times Network

    “Digitisation, in my opinion is the most important factor for the Broadcast sector currently, we are very happy about the excise duty changes proposed for Set Top boxes which will help in the last mile infrastructure of DAS 3 and 4. Overall a stable and positive fiscal situation is good for the economy and that will support our Ad Sales growth projections. All in all Budget 2016 looks good for the Broadcast sector.

     

    Vivek Gambhir, Managing Director, GCPL:

    “Overall, this is a responsible “Rural First” Budget that attempts to revive demand, while continuing on the path of fiscal consolidation. For the FMCG sector, initiatives to support the revival of rural and urban consumption should help bring growth back on track. Focused efforts on alleviating rural distress and uplifting the agrarian economy, will help put more money in the hands of farmers. Statutory backing of the Aadhar scheme will ensure more targeted delivery of benefits to those who need it. The need of the hour is job creation and focusing on skilling and education to make people more employable. The implementation of transformative reforms, like the GST, at the earliest, are however imperative to fast track economic growth and boost consumer confidence. Given the Government’s intent to stick to its path of fiscal consolidation, we look forward to an interest rate cut or more liquidity in the system to drive private capital investment. Going forward, given the plethora of schemes that have been announced, it will be important to deliver on the promises made through effective on-the-ground execution.

     

    Sanjay Sethi, CEO, Shopclues.com

    “Finance Minister Mr Arun Jaitley has certainly made several important announcements for start-ups in his Union Budget speech. We are pleased that a sizeable sum has been allocated for ventures founded by women entrepreneurs and members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. This is a great step towards empowerment and inclusive growth for those communities that have hitherto found less representation in business. The fact that start-ups will get 100% tax exemption for three years  out of 5 years  and long terms capital gain for unlisted companies has been reduced from 3 years to 2 years will also be a great boost to the economy and will aid in creation of jobs. However, we do believe that overall a lot more impetus could have been given to the start-up ecosystem through this budget.”

     

    Sanjeev Gupta, MD, Global Advertisers:.

    “We are glad that there is no increase in taxes. Since the government is said to be pro-development and has allotted significant money for the rural infrastructure, railways and road development, we think it’s a positive sign for our future. We are also seeing great potential in expanding our reach to small cities now. The finance minister has also hinted at amending motor vehicles act for better transportation facility in the country. This may give us the opportunity to position our ads more effectively while on the move. We feel that in this critical economic condition, the budget has been so far satisfactory for the advertising industry.

     

  • Chaired by Rajni Menon, Executive Vice President, Carat India, the Council will primarily focus on helping women reach their highest potential based on merit, facilitate a path for more women occupying leadership positions in the organization, provide an avenue for a structured mentoring process and create an environment which is safe and equal.

    Dentsu Aegis Network launches DAN Women’s Council

    By A Correspondent

     

    In an attempt to encourage women to continue and reach top positions inside corporate India and also to create an environment where theycan grow and flourish, Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN)has established the DAN Women’s Council.

     

    Rajni Menon

    Chaired by Rajni Menon, Executive Vice President, Carat India, the advisory committee will have Nipun Kapur, COO, WATConsult, Divya Karani, CEO, Dentsu Media, Sunita Prakash,Senior Vice President, Dentsu Marcom, Neha Mayekar, Vice President, Finance, Dentsu Aegis Network, Dimple Maheshwari, Director – HR, Dentsu Media, Harsha Joshi, Executive Vice President – Group Trading, Dentsu Aegis Network, Komal Verma, Associate Vice President-Human Resources & Administration at Fountainhead-MKTG and Simi Sabhaney, CEO, Dentsu Communications as its key members.

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    “Our women leaders and managers will continue to play a very crucial role in taking us forward as we move ahead to become the No. 2 marketing communications agency group in India by the end of 2017. Today, we are already the leading network when it comes to creating a balanced and uniform work-environment for our women workforce in India. Now, our ambition is to surpass global standards and makeDAN the gold standard for encouraging the women talent force. I believe our women managers are second to none,” said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia – Dentsu Aegis Network and Chairman Posterscope & MKTG – Asia Pacific.

     

    “Though at an overall level the DAN numbers are significantly healthier than the industry average, we felt it was time to take a proactive step as leaders of the marketing communications industry to ensure that in a growing network, the environment and policies are conducive to grow the women numbers at all levels,” Menon added.

     

    The DAN Women’s Council will primarily focus on helping women reach their highest potential based on merit, facilitate a path formore women occupying leadership positions in the organization, provide an avenue for a structured mentoring process and create an environment which is safe and equal.

     

  • Within the Dentsu Aegis Network structure, Fountainheadand psLIVE India will be merged to form Fountainhead-MKTG

    Fountainhead is now Fountainhead-MKTG

    By A Correspondent

     

    After the recent acquisition of Fountainhead Entertainment by the Dentsu Aegis Network, Fountainhead and psLIVE India will be merged to form Fountainhead-MKTG. For the record, MKTG is a leading global lifestyle-marketing agency with its headquarters in New York. Fountainhead Entertainment is a 20-year-old experiential marketing and events agency with over 200 employees and offices in  Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

     

    The first phase of this merger will focus on knowledge transfer, import of technology and training while equipping the group for more effective service. The aim is to increase the effectiveness of experiential marketing and direct consumer marketing by using group expertise and knowledge.

     

    With this influx of international expertise, safety standards, design and technology, Fountainhead MKTG will attempt to raise the bar when it comes to producing events within the country. “While officially we are a full-service marketing agency, in reality we are a creative group of people who come to work everyday to create unique, disruptive and innovative projects for our clients,” said Brian Tellis, CEO, Fountainhead-MKTG.

     

    Another high emphasis area will be the creation of intellectual properties for brands that will be supported by all of the Dentsu Aegis Network.

     

    Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, added: “In India, the lifestyle marketing solutions market is growing at twice the rate of the ATL market. With Fountainhead, a leading player in India and MKTG, a leading global player, we now will have the best offering of global standards, through Fountainhead MKTG. This is another big step forward in helping us achieve our mission of being the second largest agency group by end 2017 in India, overturning for the first time the existing ranking which has historically been in place for over 80 years in India.”

     

  • Harjot Narang, currently Branch Head of Dentsu Marcom, is promoted to President, Dentsu Marcom

    Dentsu elevates key resources across centres in India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Narayan Devanathan

    Dentsu India has announced a slew of senior elevations across its offices in India. Narayan Devanathan, currently CEO of Dentsu Creative Impact Group and National Planning Director (Dentsu India – North) is promoted with immediate effect to the newly created role of Group Executive & Strategy Officer, Dentsu India. In his group executive role, Narayan will be the chief steward of the Dentsu brand in India, ensuring consistency of vision and output, in line with Dentsu’s global philosophy of Good Innovation. He will also play the role of an integrator with the other members of the Dentsu Aegis Network, both within and outside India, helping leverage the power of the network. In his group strategy role, Narayan will drive a culture of effectiveness that delivers unmatched results for clients. In addition, Narayan will continue to helm the two specialist units of Dentsu Mama Lab (dedicated to connecting brands with mothers meaningfully) and Citizen Dentsu (dedicated to connecting brands with social purpose).

     

    Harjot Narang

    Harjot Narang, currently Branch Head of Dentsu Marcom, is promoted to President, Dentsu Marcom. In recognition of Harjot’s solid contribution to the agency’s turnaround over the last four years, and his continued drive to catapult the agency to be counted among the top three agencies in the Delhi / NCR market, Harjot will be charged with driving the pace of growth at Dentsu Marcom.

     

    Amit Wadhwa

    Amit Wadhwa, currently Branch Head of Dentsu Creative Impact, is promoted to President, Dentsu Creative Impact. Over the last four years, Amit has grown from heading the account management function to overseeing the branch’s operations, and has grown the agency from strength to strength. His charge, with more autonomy, will now be to transform the creative reputation of the agency while achieving never-before scale.

     

    C.P. Arora

    C.P. Arora, currently the Group CFO for Dentsu branded agencies in India will have an expanded role in the Dentsu Aegis Network in India as well. He will now, in addition to his existing responsibilities, take charge as CFO, Dentsu Aegis Network India (North).

     

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Commenting on the developments, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network, South Asia, said, “We are now at the forefront of our next phase of growth in our creative agencies and it is important for us to recognize the excellent talent pool that we have within the network and give them more autonomy to better service our clients. Narayan, Harjot, Amit and C.P. are amongst the best that we have in the network and I am sure that, they will drive the Dentsu Creative Agencies to new heights and help Dentsu Aegis Network become the second largest agency group in India by end-2017, overturning for the first time the existing ranking which has historically been in place for over 80 years in India.”

     

     

  • TSL, which operates in 16 geographies including India, will work with brands to innovate their supply chain of storytelling and thereby help them invest in the most engaging and effective content solutions for their media ecosystem

    Dentsu Aegis launches The StoryLab in India, Sunil Kumaran joins as country head

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sunil Kumaran

    The StoryLab (TSL), the specialist content agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has expanded its footprint into India with a slew of product offerings in the area of content partnership, curation, original content and content investment, Dentsu Aegis Network has roped in Sunil Kumaran to head TSL in India. Based out of Mumbai, Kumaran will be guided by Carat India Managing Director Kartik Iyer who also bears the title Executive Sponsor for TSL.

     

    TSL, which operates in 16 geographies including India, will work with brands to innovate their supply chain of storytelling and thereby help them invest in the most engaging and effective content solutions for their media ecosystem, notes a communique

     

    Prior to this, Kumaran was Chief Strategy Officer at Reliance Broadcast. There, Kumaran comes with over 20 years in strategy, media planning and buying and has worked with agencies including JWT, Lowe Lintas and Rediffusion.

     

    Commenting on the launch, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO South Asia – Dentsu Aegis Network said, “Content is an exciting space for us to be in. Clients are increasingly looking at how they can ‘influence’ the consumers more effectively than just increasing their ‘reach’ through traditional forms of advertising.”

     

    Added Iyer, “An entity like TSL is the need of the hour as brands look to accelerate the effectiveness of their ecosystems through innovative content solutions that can deliver scale, engagement and advocacy.  We are very happy to have Sunil Kumaran on board who brings with him years of strategic media planning experience and deep understanding of this space.”

     

    Said Kumaran, “I’m very excited about this new initiative which is based on the philosophy of providing a superior value proposition to clients. Media convergence has disrupted the traditional advertising-led marketing communications model and ‘Content’ is one of the most valuable assets within media companies’ and brands’ ecosystems.  I am looking forward to doing some exciting work across brands within the Dentsu Aegis Network Group.”

     

  • Other members include Ambi Parameswaran, Sam Balsara, Rana Barua, Ashish Bhasin, Jaideep Gandhi, CVL Srinivas

    Nakul Chopra named Chairman of Goafest Organizing Committee

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Club and Advertising Agencies Association of India, announcedGoafest 2016 with Nakul Chopra, CEO, Publicis South Asia as the Chairman of Goafest Organizing Committee.The other members on the committee are:

    • President, Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAA’s of I) & Advisor, FCB Ulka Advertising | Ambi M G Parameshwaran
    • Founder, Chairman and MD at Madison World | Sam Balsara
    • Chief Executive Officer at Contract Advertising | Rana Barua
    • Chairman and CEO at Dentsu Aegis Network | Ashish Bhasin
    • Managing Director at Jaya Advertising | Jaideep Gandhi
    • CEO at Group M, South Asia | CVL Srinivas
    • CEO at LHAMPL | Shashi Sinha
    • CEO at JWT | Tarun Rai
    • Group CEO at Madison Media | Vikram Sakhuja
    • Group CEO at Zee Media Corporation | Bhaskar Das
    • Chief Corporate Sales and Marketing Officer at Dainik Bhaskar Group | Pradeep Dwivedi

     

    Commenting on his appointment, Ambi M G Parameshwaran – President, Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAA’s of I) said, “Nakul has been in this industry for over 30 years now. He has been leading Publicis in India through this last decade. I am very excited to see what plans he has in store for us this year!”

     

    Welcoming the announcement, Raj Nayak, President of The Advertising Club said, “This is wonderful news. Nakul has been instrumental in driving Goafest to success in the recent past. With his proven track record in managing high performing agencies, he is truly the best man for the job! I look forward to work with him to make Goafest 2016 a roaring success!”

     

    Nakul Chopra stated,” To have been given the opportunity to Chair the Goafest Organizing Committee is an honor. There’s still a lot of work to do in strengthening Goafest and together, I hope we can build upon the good work of the past years.”

     

  • Following 2014 Acquisition of US-Based MKTG INC, Network Framing Up Sports and Entertainment, Experiential and Lifestyle Capability Worldwide

    Dentsu announces launch of new agency MKTG

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network announced the formation of a ninth global network brand, MKTG, the lifestyle marketing agency it acquired in August 2014. The move further strengthens the network’s sports and entertainment, experiential and lifestyle marketing offering and continues its expansion around the globe.

     

    In addition, Out-of-Home agency Posterscope’s experiential arm, psLIVE’s offices across Europe and Asia Pacific, South Africa’s Crimson Room, Australia/New Zealand’s Apollo Nation and leading US-based sports and entertainment consultancy Team Epic will be realigned as part of MKTG over the next 12 months.

     

    Leveraging its collective experience, global network and resources, the realigned agency will provide clients with a truly integrated through-the-line service offering including sports and entertainment consulting, experiential marketing, sponsorship identification, negotiation and activation, hospitality, strategy, research and insights, custom measurement, digital and creative capabilities, content development, design and retail marketing.

     

    “As a network, we are constantly evolving to meet the demands of our clients, to be responsive to the needs and desires of consumers and to remain pioneering in the evolution of our industry,” said Jerry Buhlmann, CEO Dentsu Aegis Network and Executive Officer of Dentsu Inc. “The tremendous growth and importance of lifestyle marketing made it clear that strategically it was time to unify our like-minded businesses as one single brand. We are completely committed to building out our lifestyle marketing offering and integrating the combined strength of these services to deliver on a far larger and broader scale.”

     

    “Something that sets Dentsu Aegis Network apart is that we are constantly reevaluating our businesses and are willing to reorganise ourselves to best serve our clients; ultimately providing the best value we can,” said Annie Rickard, Global Brand President, Posterscope; Global Chairman, MKTG. “With this realignment, we can now provide a seamless offering across lifestyle, sports and entertainment for our clients and allow all of our agencies to benefit from this platform.”

     

    “We are truly excited about this next chapter and the opportunity to work across the network to deliver unrivaled lifestyle marketing solutions for brands,” said Charlie Horsey, Global Brand President, MKTG, CEO MKTG USA. “The realignment will also greatly benefit our current long-standing client base and our employees who now have the ability to plug into resources and opportunities around the globe.”

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Ashish Bhasin, chairman & CEO South Asia – Dentsu Aegis Network, chairman Posterscope and psLIVE – Asia Pacific said, “In India, the lifestyle marketing solutions market is growing at twice the rate of the ATL market. With Fountainhead, a leading player in India and MKTG, a leading global player, we now will have the best offering of global standards, through Fountainhead MKTG, which will make us the best lifestyle marketing solutions agency in India. This is another big step forward in helping us achieve our mission of being the second largest agency group by end 2017 in India, overturning for the first time the existing ranking which has historically been in place for over 80 years in India.”

     

    As the agencies transition towards operating as one global brand, MKTG will grow from 450 full time employees and 7,000 brand ambassadors in the United States, to nearly 1,000 full time employees in 14 countries, providing a truly global lifestyle marketing solution for clients. MKTG will be headquartered in New York City.