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Tag: Ashutosh Srivastava

  • CEO South Asia Prasanth Kumar 'PK' to also head MENA & Africa. Amrita Randhawa is CEO – APAC

    Mindshare elevates PK, Amrita Randhawa

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mindshare, the global media agency network from WPP’s GroupM stable, has today announced two major leadership changes.

     

    Amrita Randhawa is promoted to Asia Pacific CEO. Randhawa, who was previously the CEO for Mindshare Greater China will remain based in Shanghai, where she will continue to manage Mindshare China as its Executive Chairperson, in addition to her overall Asia Pacific duties.Prasanth Kumar (PK) is promoted to the position of CEO for MENA and Africa in addition to his current role as the CEO for South Asia. It may be recalled that Ravi Rao, earlier CEO South Asia, held the role of CEO, Mindshare MENA. Although we do not have any official word on this, according to the information we’ve received, Rao will take charge of a new cluster.

     

    Randhawa has been with the agency for over 12 years working across elhi, Mumbai, Beijing, Shanghai and APAC Regional office in Singapore. During her time, as Greater China CEO she oversaw the elevation of the agency to its current dominant position in China topping every league in the market including the RECMA qualitative and quantitative leagues, R3 AgencyScope and making the China office the global lead contributor to Mindshare’s new business wins. She has also since taking on the remit of Greater China last year worked with the leadership in both Taiwan and Hong Kong to transform both markets. Randhawa’s leadership has been recognized at several forums including the inaugural Women Leading Change Awards, Campaign 40 under 40, Ad Age China’s Women to Watch and Campaign’s Greater China Agency Leader of the Year.

     

    In her new role she will focus on the agency’s product, especially delivering the balance of brand and demand services for marketers and ensuring that Mindshare adapts and evolves in line with client’s needs first and not agency agendas.

     

    Commenting on the appointment Randhawa said: “We often say Mindshare has an Asian heart with our first office being in Taiwan. Asia is the star of our network and I take this responsibility with an incredible sense of humility. Sitting at the crossroads of data, content, technology and analytics, this is the time for the media agency. Working with the incredible leadership team we have in each of the APAC clusters especially in Himanshu, Katie and PK, our focus will be to ensure that Mindshare is ahead of the pack and charts the path for what is possible for media agencies today and tomorrow. The media landscape is changing in every corner of Asia at an incredible speed and working with the amazing breadth of talent we have in this region to create our future is a phenomenal opportunity.”

     

    PK has been CEO for South Asia, where he oversaw rapid expansion in the market bringing the agency to a dominant position according to RECMA.  During his time as the Mindshare India CEO he developed a record for not just the most number of new business wins by a single market, but also a tradition of external accolades, which included such highlights as a Glass Lion at Canes and an average of over 250 external awards per year.

     

    Commenting on his appointment, PK said: “This recognition in the context of the strong talent profile we have built in the purple family means a lot to me as it reflects our commitment to focus, serve and collaborate with our clients fueling their business growth. Marketing is morphing and so are we in terms of how we think, act and behave for our clients and their business outcomes. This expanded role gives me the opportunity to widen my perspectives and cross-pollinate our learning and initiatives for smarter, faster, better practices for our clients and our purple talent. I am thrilled and excited to be working with the new markets – Middle East and Africa, as these markets along with India and South Asia are probably the fastest growing economies on the planet. I am very proud and confident of my team. Together we will make the purple flag fly newer heights!”

     

    Randhawa and PK in their new role will continue to work with Ashutosh Srivastava, the Executive Chairperson & CEO for Growth Markets, comprising of APAC, MENA, Africa & Russia/CIS.’

     

    Commenting on the appointments, Srivastava said, “Amrita and PK represent the very best of Mindshare. They have both been transformative in their leadership approach to two of our biggest markets and have made Mindshare the dominant force it is today. These two represent the future of Mindshare for some of our most important markets globally. I look forward to them continuing to transform Mindshare’s vast network of offices in this region to stay relevant and highly valued business partners to their clients.

     

    Both roles are effective immediately.

     

     

  • Industry leaders join forces to drive the agenda for mobile marketing and empower businesses to harness the power of mobile

    MMA announces new appointments to Asia Pacific Board of Directors

    By A Correspondent

    The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has announced the appointment of six new Board Members, to its Asia Pacific Board of Directors. Elected by the MMA’s APAC membership, the newly-appointed board members will serve a two-year term, beginning immediately.

    The new Board Members include: Vipul Chawla, Managing Director, Pizza Hut – Asia Pacific, Yum! Brands; Pham Nha Uyen, Regional Marketing Manager, Coca-Cola Indochina; Richard Murphy, Corporate Vice President, Digital; Growth & Foundational Markets, McDonald’s Corporation; D Shivakumar, Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd.; Vikas Gulati, Managing Director, APAC, AdColony; David Porter, Vice President, Media, AAR, Unilever Asia Pte Ltd.

    “The appointment of some of the most influential marketing leaders to its APAC Board reflects MMA’s commitment to leading the mobile industry, and driving our charter in such a fast growing and diverse region,” said Ashutosh Srivastava, Chairman of the MMA APAC Board of Directors, and Chairman & CEO for AMEA, Russia/CIS, Mindshare. “Asia is the fastest growing market for mobile. I look forward to join forces with these industry leaders to accelerate growth of the mobile marketing industry and help marketers, publishers and technology providers across the region unlock the full potential of mobile to drive business growth.”

    Continuing board members, whose terms were not up for re-election include: Jayesh Easwaramony, VP & GM, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, InMobi; Dong Hyun Kim, Asia Digital/eCommerce Leader, Procter & Gamble; Bessie Lee, CEO & Founder, Withinlink; Vishnu Mohan, Chief Executive Officer, Havas Media Group Asia Pacific; Dick Van Motman, Chairman & CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network South East Asia; Dan Neary, Vice President of Asia Pacific, Facebook; Sean Rach, Chief Marketing Officer, Prudential Corporation Asia; Praveen Sharma, Regional Director, Mobile Sales and Solutions, Google APAC; Joe Nguyen, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, comScore, Inc.; Rahul Welde, Vice President – Media, Unilever.

    “The role mobile plays in marketing strategy is now indisputable, and the outstanding composition of our Board is testament to the power mobile has in building business capabilities for brands across the region,” said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director for MMA in APAC. “I believe the new Board will propel the mobile marketing industry to greater heights, and I look forward to working with them to drive MMA’s agenda and develop best practices for the industry, be it viewability standards or multi-touch attribution, so that marketers can execute their business strategies more effectively.”

  • The veteran CDO for Mindshare Asia Pacific has added the Middle East and Northern Africa to his scope of work

    Mindshare expands Sanchit Sanga role to also be CDO for APAC & MENA

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sanchit Sanga

    Mindshare has expanded Sanchit Sanga’s role of Chief Digital Officer (CDO) for Mindshare Asia Pacific to also include the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA).

     

    In his role as CDO for Mindshare Asia Pacific, Sangaled the agency’s FAST rollout, which offers clients a series of industry leading digital and technology solutionss.  With this promotion, notes a communique, Mindshare is looking capitalise on his success in crafting custom built brand and performance marketing products for more clients using open source technology, AI and data products.

     

    Sanga has been with Mindshare since 2003, when he joined as the National Director for India.  He has since been in several roles for both the agency and GroupM and has been Mindshare APAC’s CDO since April 2015.

     

    Commenting on the new role Sanga said: “I am stoked to be working more closely with our trailblazing MENA team. Under Tony Bourached’s leadership as the digital head for MENA, we have reinvigorated the region with some stellar digital innovations and we will continue to redefine the region with fresh approaches to digital marketing. Our regions for APAC & MENA have many similarities in terms of digital evolution and it’s only natural that the teams work more closely to shape Mindshare digital products and our business outcome services under Mindshare FAST.”

     

    Added Ashutosh Srivastava, CEO, AMEA and Russia/CIS: “Sanchit is an industry leader and has been on the leading edge of marketing technology for years.  His work in establishing FAST in APAC, driving excellence in execution, and setting up industry standards on brand safety, fraud avoidance and viewability have been extraordinary – not just in the results that they deliver for clients, but with the flawless rollout of each client offering. With the launch of [m]Platform, GroupM’s technology offering that consolidates digital and data assets, we want to accelerate capability building and scale up all the products we have developed at the Singapore hub for growth markets. It is great to have someone with Sanchit’s experience and ability leading the effort in more offices.

    Sanga’s role is effective immediately.

     

  • On Day3 of Cannes Lions 2016, Indian agencies score big with a Grand Prix and 2 Golds in Glass and more!

    It’s a Grand Prix for Mindshare!

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s been happy days for the Indian contingent at Cannes.

     

    Some rich pickings in the awards that were presented on Monday evening, the second day of the International Festival of Creativity, better known as the Cannes Lions.

     

    After Medulla being crowned the ‘Healthcare Agency of the Year’ on Day 1, Day 3 saw really rich pickings for India, even though there may have been some disappointments for a few favourites.

     

    Mindshare India bagged the Grand Prix for Glass Lions for ‘The 6-Pack Band’, a branded content campaign for Hindustan Unilever’s Brooke Bond Red Label tea.

     

    This is the second consecutive year where an Indian agency has won a Grand Prix in the Glass Lions. Last year, it was BBDO India for Touch the Pickle. The award was picked up by Ashutosh Srivastava and Gowthaman Ragothaman as Mindshare South Asia CEO Prasanth Kumar was in Mumbai.

     

    Meanwhile, BBDO India and Ogilvy bagged Gold at Glass Lions for their works ‘Ariel Matic – Dad, SharetheLoad’ and ‘Make Love Not Scars – Beauty Tips by Reshma’ respectively.

     

    Earlier in the evening, in Radio Lions, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi was awarded two Silvers for Thomas Cook and Contract Advertising won a Bronze for Nokia in the same category. In Print & Publishing, JWT won a Bronze for its Sleep Apnoea campaign. In Promo & Activation, Leo Burnett India brought home a Bronze Lion for Bajaj V.

     

  • Rooney's new role will have him overseeing all aspects of growth across the agency, and he will work closely with Mindshare’s leadership team to optimize their product development, business plans, and create new revenue streams

    Mindshare appoints Kevin Rooney as Chief Growth Officer

    By A Correspondent

     

    Kevin Rooney

    Mindshare APAC has appointed Kevin Rooney to the role of Chief Growth Officer, Mindshare Asia Pacific.

     

    He takes on this new role in addition to his current position as Managing Director, m/six Asia Pacific, the group’s boutique agency, which has seen rapid growth since opening their doors in 2013.  With over 50 clients, across their four markets (Malaysia, Indonesia, India & Singapore), m/six has been pound for pound the most successful agency in GroupM, and this move will bring the highly successful growth model that m/six cultivated to Mindshare.

     

    Rooney’s new role will have him overseeing all aspects of growth across the agency, and he will work closely with Mindshare’s leadership team to optimize their product development, business plans, and create new revenue streams.

     

    With nearly 12 years’ experience within WPP roles across North America, Global and APAC, in both management and business development positions, Rooney is well placed to drive Mindshare’s growth in the region.

     

    Ashutosh Srivastava, CEO, AMEA & Russia/CIS, commented on the appointment: “Running a start-up agency is a difficult venture, and Kevin has proven with m/six that passion and agility can lead to an excellent track record for both an agency and their clients.  I am delighted to have him working with us again and look forward to having him bring this same spirit and mindset to Mindshare.”

     

    Rooney takes over from Wendy Walker, who left the agency to become CMO of Manulife in July of 2015.

     

  • The change comes as Helen McRae is appointed Mindshare UK CEO

    Mindshare expands emerging markets group under Ashutosh Srivastava

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ashutosh Srivastava, Chairman Asia / CEO Emerging Markets Group Mindshare, has added the Middle East and Africa to his remit.

     

    The change comes as Helen McRae is appointed Mindshare UK CEO, a role she will combine with her responsibility as Chair of Mindshare Western Europe, representing Europe on the GroupM Europe board. Helen’s Africa responsibilities will now pass to Srivastava, who’s extended remit will cover APAC, Russia, the Middle East and Africa.

     

    Nick Emery, Global CEO, Mindshare said: “Ashutosh continues to broaden his scope and influence as all our best people do.  I’m delighted that his influence will now have a direct effect on Asia, Africa and the Middle East. We will be all the richer for it.”

     

    Ashutosh Srivastava, Chairman Asia / CEO Emerging Markets Group Mindshare, said: “The intent of this is to more strongly connect the growth markets together in the same way that many of our clients have organised themselves and so helping them unlock that growth through a strong, joined up network of resources.”

     

    At the same time, Christof Baron will take on the role CEO of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to drive Mindshare growth in the region and oversee the international development of German based clients. Christof will also continue his role as non-executive Chairman of Mindshare Germany.

     

  • Mindshare scored high on Vitality and Structure. All GroupM agencies made it to the list of the Top 10 agencies in India

    Mindshare is #1 as per latest RECMA ratings

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leading marketing services agency Mindshare emerged as the No 1 media agency in India as per RECMA’s latest qualitative assessment for all leading media agencies in India. Mindshare has scored high on the parameters of Client Profile, Momentum, Competitive Pitches and Resources to emerge as the leading agency in India.

     

    Said Ashutosh Srivastava, Chairman, Emerging Markets at Mindshare: “I’m pleased to see this endorsement from RECMA for the agency’s position in India. Mindshare continues to be at the leading edge there – in harnessing data to power more creativity and innovative use of media platforms for marketers, and bringing to life its proposition of Adaptive Marketing”.

     

    Gowthaman Ragothaman, Chief Operating Officer, Mindshare Asia Pacific added, “I am particularly satisfied with the recognition on structure and vitality. We continuously re-engineer our teams in line with the changing demands from our clients as well as the media and marketing landscape. Our suite of services now reflect a full-fledged marketing communications company”

     

    Speaking on the new ratings by RECMA, Prasanth Kumar, CEO, Mindshare South Asia said, “This is a win for each and every member of the Mindshare team. Mindshare has always been the leader in innovation, and we believe it is extremely vital for us to prepare ourselves and our clients for a relevant tomorrow. With our adaptive marketing philosophy, we have ensured our clients have the competitive advantage, and their communication is superlative. We are grateful for their belief in us, to deliver on our common goals of brand building. We are proud of the fact that our clients continue to work with us on initiatives that are continuously pushing the boundaries of media investment and communication, as we successfully redefine the media industry in India.”

     

    The RECMA country Qualitative Evaluations offer an extensive and up-to-date assessment of the media agencies based on a set of performances indicators.

     

  • Sanchit takes on the role after two years as Digital leader for South Asia & South East Asia

    Sanchit Sanga promoted to Head of Digital Services, APAC at Mindshare

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sanchit Sanga

    Mindshare APAC, the global media agency network part of WPP has appointed Sanchit Sanga to the role of Head of Digital Services for Asia Pacific to be based in Singapore.

     

    Sanchit takes on the role after two years as Digital leader for South Asia & South East Asia. In his new role as Head of Digital APAC, Sanchit will focus on the continued development and delivery of Mindshare’s digital services to marketers, working closely with the regional in-market digital leads and global teams.

     

    Mindshare continues to focus on expanding their digital services from digital performance product integration, to working with GroupM partners like Vocanic to offer innovative Social solutions, to building an in-house Mobile Marketing practice – partnering with innovative start ups like Footmarks. As part of the drive to continually raise the quality of the digital product, Mindshare has increasingly focused on aspects such as precise audience targeting and multi-screen planning, working with partners like Crayon Data, Xaxis and the Mindshare Trading hubs.

     

    Ashutosh Srivastava, Chairman, Asia Pacific & CEO, Global Growth Markets, Mindshare Worldwide, commented on the appointment: “We are privileged to have highly talented people like Sanchit in the Mindshare family. Over the years, Sanchit has developed trusted relationships with our clients, which continually assists us to lead the industry in digital thinking. It is an exciting time to be in our business, where our understanding of media, technology and effective data usage is becoming more and more central to brand success.”

     

  • Industry honchos and rivals – past and present – are all praise for Madison and Sam Balsara

    Madison@25: Andre Nair, Ashutosh Srivastava,Vikram Sakhuja, Shashi Sinha, Lynn de Souza, Ambika Srivastava & Divya Gupta on the formidable frenemy

    Madison and Sam Balsara are so close to each other’s identity that while talking of one, people start talking of the other. The same happened in the case of these honchos. It is almost as much a tribute to 25 years of Sam Balsara in the industry as it is for Madison World.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Andre Nair, (Former CEO GroupM South Asia), Chief Operating Officer, DatVietVAC Group Holdings

    For me, Sam Balsara & Madison represent two aspects; each the maker of the other.

     

    Madison: Joyously Indian to its core, they’re a competitor to be reckoned with. They jealously retain their clients and pitch clever, selectively & aggressively; no secret to their success & expansion over 25 years. And, through its history, Madison has grown & given opportunity for new bold leaders, like CVL Srinivas & Punitha Arumugam, to rise.

     

    Sam: Outside the competitive arena, as a key industry leader, he lives up to that old Ogilvy aphorism – a gentleman with brains, who works tirelessly with other leaders for the general betterment of the industry.

     

    Here’s to Madison and their next thriving 25 years!

     

     

     

    Ashutosh Srivastava, Chairman & CEO, Global Emerging Markets, Mindshare Worldwide

    My first encounter with Sam was years ago when I used to run Fulcrum (Unilever’s media AoR@HTA ,now JWT), prior to setting up of Mindshare in India – when Sam was looking for a person to replace Sriram who had moved to Singapore with Starcom. Sam was by then a charismatic industry leader with high credibility among clients, and Madison was seen by the advertising firms as an upstart, disrupting the establishment and breaking up the full service agency model.

     

    While I did not end up joining him in Madison, I did end up joining that industry. That one conversation with him really deepened my resolve to do what I could, along with other like minded colleagues, to get WPP to bring Mindshare & Maxus (Maximize in those days) to India. The rest, as they say, is history! Personally speaking, it certainly inspired me to get to where I am today, and I hold Sam in the highest regard as a pioneer in the market, who showed us the way. Even after WPP set up GroupM and carved out a dominant share in the market, we always saw Sam and Madison as a worthy ‘frenemy’ in the market. ‘Frenemy’, because they had similar values as us, they were a worthy competitor in pitches who always had good talent, had trusted relationships with their clients and for a long time, were very careful about who they chose to work with – Sam is always a man of his word, and was extremely careful not to overcommit to new clients without first making sure his existing clients got the highest value out of their relationship with Madison. So bitter competitors in pitching for new business, but similar views and vision on what would grow and strengthen the media agency sector. And eventually as frenemies, we ended up doing a JV together, to set up an independent Mediacom in India !

     

    Congratulations and best wishes for your 25th!

     

    Vikram Sakhuja, CEO, Maxus Worldwide

    I’ve known Sam for 20 of the 25 years Madison has been in existence. It dates back to 1993 when in P&G I took on the Media Manager role. In those days Media planning and buying were managed through full service agencies, and I introduced the notion of a consolidated Buying AOR (subsequently both Planning and Buying). Madison won the pitch, and Sam’s personal entrepreneurial style had a lot to do with it. With Sam’s support we pioneered the afternoon slot / as well as India’s first daily strip – Shanti on DD. And that was a start of a very productive relationship that continued when I moved to Coca-Cola and held a Media pitch there. Sam’s greatness lies in his high client orientation, his indefatigable energy, his deal making angles and in those days an ability to get quality talent like D Sriram, CVL Srinivas, Ajit Varghese and Lakshmi Narsimhan into Madison to work on our business.

     

    Even as a competitor it is a pleasure to work alongside Sam. He is a true statesman and puts industry interests above own. He continues to have an amazing eye for detail, and is practical to boot. For me, Madison and Sam are inextricable. I have learnt a lot of the Media I know from him, and he continues to inspire. I wish both him and Madison warmly on this milestone.

     

    Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Media Brands

    I have immense regard for Sam as an individual. At the time when media was not much recognized by the industry, he came to the forefront and provided industry the needed pedigree. It was largely his efforts that brought credibility to media buying business,

     

    Madison has definitely grown a lot – and created many milestones. Challenge now is to scale up and keep the momentum going. Organisation is built on culture and systems – and I am sure focus is on the side now – Sam whenever he decides to leave, would leave a legacy. Challenge is to take it up from there.

     

    Lynn de Souza

    Madison and Sam have always fascinated me. A true blue Indian story of guts and glory, innovation, ambition and perseverance. And often a bit of healthy jugaard!

     

    They believe in the strength of long term relationships, and are not afraid to ask for what they deserve. Sam’s energy is legendary and he built a successful empire largely on his ability to drive himself, and build lasting relationships with key team players and clients.

     

    I wish them 25 more years of pathbreaking game-changing success.

     

    Ambika Srivastava, Chairperson Vivaki Exchange India, Vivaki

    I have always admired and respected Sam. There are two things that I would love to mention – one, that Madison has provided very good talent to industry in leadership roles – CVL Srinivas, Ajit Varghese, Punitha Arumugam. It is just amazing. It is a place from where leaders have emerged – it is Madison’s great contribution to the industry, and a tribute to Sam’s leadership.

     

    Second, Madison has always been very tough competition. When you win against Madison – the win is far sweeter, because the competition one knows is formidable. It is not that every pitch we competed has converted into a win for us – but whenever it has happened, it has been exciting.

     

    I admire Sam for his energy and that he finds time to do so much for the industry as well.

     

    Really very good people.

     

    Divya Gupta, CEO, Dentsu Media

    My full salute to Sam and his team

     

    Madison’s client roster, the deep relationship and tenure it enjoys with these clients, speaks volumes.

     

    Just when you think you have managed to get a lead on Madison, Sam pulls out a rabbit from nowhere! By far one of the toughest competitors to go up against in a business pitch… I have had the misfortune of learning it the hard way!

     

    Sam’s passion, drive, tenacity is legendary. Madison stands testimony to this.

     

    I wish Madison and Sam an equally dynamic and successful future.

     

    Interviewed by Ritu Midha