MxMIndia

Tag: Brijesh Jacob

  • The premise: There are prevalent biases against women, senior individuals, differently-abled individuals when it comes to athleticism and the film highlights these biases well

    DDB Mudra creates war cry for MuscleBlaze

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leveraging insights from the lives of fitness and sports enthusiasts, MuscleBlaze is unveiled a new digital campaign – ‘Ziddi Hoon Main’ created by the DDB Mudra Group.

     

    Commenting on the brand, Sameer Maheshwari, CEO & Founder, Muscleblaze, said: “Muscleblaze is committed to connect and communicate meaningfully with fitness enthusiasts. We believe “Zidd” as a concept will strike an instant chord with fitness consumers and strengthen Muscleblaze position as a leading sports nutrition brand in India.”

     

    Speaking on the campaign, Brijesh Jacob, Chief Creative Technologist, DDB Mudra Group, said: “The brand team had just come off a huge hit with Tum Nahin Samjhoge. The benchmark had been set. But more importantly we felt that it was time to lay down a platform that can be ownable and on which we could build the brand. Zidd, is that platform and we believe is easily extendable to both internal as well as external audiences.”

  • The activation has been conceptualised and executed by DDB Mudra Group

    McDonald’s executes I-Day initiative

     

     

    Reaching out to consumers in a cinema hall may not be new but driving their participation through an on-screen message is unique in a sense. This is what McDonald’s did this Independence Day partnering with DDB Mudra Group for an experiential campaign to bring this message alive among a captive audience base.

     

    Speaking on the activation, Seema Arora Nambiar, Senior Vice President – Strategy, Innovation & Capability, Hardcastle Restaurants said: “McDonald’s launched Happy Price combos to celebrate variety, affordability and value for money offering. Happy price combos now allowed people to choose what they want without compromising. Thus the #BeDifferentTogether found its leap in terms of messaging and activation among the movie goers, to be able to celebrate their differences and yet be together”.

     

    Added Brijesh Jacob, Chief Creative Technologist, DDB Mudra Group: ”We wanted to go beyond a traditional film or a post for Independence Day. We thought that movie theatres would be the best place to conduct this activity as a theatre inherently houses different people, who are together. And being a patriotic occasion, using the ‘Stand Up’ formula just before the national anthem made perfect sense!”

     

  • Yes, it will be one soon with Sonal Dabral announcing his departure, and Rahul Mathew and Brijesh Jacob taking on the creative mantle + quick chat with Sonal Dabral

    An all-new top deck at DDB Mudra…

     

    By A Correspondent

    Starting tomorrow, July 1, the offices of the DDB Mudra Group will have an all-new top deck. The process began on April 1, when Vineet Gupta, earlier the Chief Digital Officer was appointed as Group CEO (Designate) and Aditya Kanthy, earlier Chief Strategy Officer was appointed Group Managing Director (Designate). Effective tomorrow,  Gupta and Kanthy will formally take over as Group CEO and Group Managing Director respectively. Giving them company will be a new National Creative Director in Rahul Mathew and Brijesh Jacob as Chief Creative Technologist. Jacob will continue to be Joint Managing Director at 22feet Tribal Worldwide. Meanwhile, Madhukar Kamath will stay on as Executive Chairman till December 31 and Sonal Dabral will continue to be Chairman and Chief Content Officer till September 30.

     

    I still think I am 28: Sonal DabralSonal Dabral

    So what precipitated Sonal Dabral’s decision to move on from the DDB Mudra group? After all, he has been – other than Madhukar Kamath – the face of the agency, and a very celebrated creative person in the Indian advertising industry.

    Just recently present in at least two international award events, Dabral is one of the few Indian creative honchos who has had a long leadership experience at an international level. His past has seen him hosting television shows, and his interests include film direction and the finer things in advertising, honed as they have been at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

    Late on Thursday, Dabral had tweeted to a contact: “Bravo! Live your dream…” So when MxMIndia spoke with Dabral hours after the story was officially out, we asked whether we could say the same to him now. He said it’s been in the offing for a while has been “thinking about it for some time”.

    Dabral is tightlipped about his plans post September and will announce them in a fortnight to a month – perhaps sooner. We then asked him the sensitive question: did the entry of the new regime at DDB Mudra lead him to quitting the group. The fact that they are much younger than him, with lesser experience and of course there’s a change of guard in the agency with Madhukar Kamath also moving on? “The new team is excellent and I have worked very closely with them – both Adithya and Vineet.” It’s got nothing to do with their taking on larger roles, he said. And when we asked the same question in a different way, he pointed to being not being fazed by these things. “I still think I am 28!”

    A mail sent to all DDB Mudra employees on Friday (today) records Dabral’s contribution to shaping the group and “bringing it to where it currently stands”, adding: “His humility and passion reflects in the work we do…. I don’t think we can thank him enough.” The next line in the mail refers to the transition: “He has been fully invested in this decision and I have no doubt that he will provide all the guidance and support…”

    Whatever be the reasons for the parting of ways, both Dabral and the rest of the DDB Mudra dispensation have ensured it’ll be smooth and happy.

    Meanwhile, what will Agra boy Sonal Dabral do next? There are some who do know what it’s gonna be. We don’t. Now will be do an ‘agracadabra’, as is Twitter handle? Watch this space.

     

     

    The fresh change  has happened with Sonal Dabral, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, DDB Mudra Group, announcing a transition in the group’s creative leadership.  To facilitate a seamless transition, both Jacob and Mathew will be working closely with Dabral until end September 2017, after which he will pass the baton. It may be recalled as per the earlier announcement, Kamath will continue to work closely with Gupta and Kanthy as Executive Chairman of the DDB Mudra Group till end December, 2017.

    Both Mathew and Jacob will jointly lead the overall creative product of the Group and will report to Gupta.

    In his new role, Mathew will be responsible for the creative product of the DDB Mudra West while Jacob will be responsible for the creative mandate of the DDB Mudra North, DDB Mudra South, DDB MudraMax (Media, OOH and Experiential) and 22feet Tribal Worldwide. As mentioned earlier, this will be in addition to Jacob’s existing role as the Joint Managing Director, 22feet Tribal Worldwide.

    Speaking on the transition, Sonal Dabral said in a statement: “I have enjoyed my five years in the DDB Mudra Group, working with a great young team here. I’m happy that in the past few years, we were able to put together a strong creative team with able leaders in all the different entities and offices of the Group. As I move on from the DDB Mudra Group to different creative challenges, I’m excited to announce that Rahul Mathew and Brijesh Jacob will now take on the mantle of leading the creative at the Group. Both Rahul and Brij are very experienced creative leaders and will make a strong combination to lead the Group. Where Rahul brings his storytelling and advertising experience to the table, Brij’s experience with technology and new media, which comes from him leading 22feet Tribal Worldwide for over a decade; makes them a strong combination for any client’s business. I will work closely with both of them over the next few months, to ensure a smooth transition. I wish Rahul, Brij and DDB Mudra Group all the very best.”

    Dabral had joined DDB Mudra with much fanfare in March 2012.

    A little about Mathew: He joined DDB Mudra West in 2014 as the Creative Head. Since then, he has worked closely with Dabral and Rajiv Sabnis, Managing Partner, DDB Mudra West to innovate the agency’s product and to create work for the agency’s diverse client roster including brands like Big Bazaar, Century Ply, Godrej, Lipton, Johnson and Johnson, Volkswagen and Symphony to name a few

    And about Jacob: He started with Rediffusion Y&R and after being ECD at Grey, in 2009 he co-founded 22feet, which was later acquired by DDB Mudra.

     

  • The 5-yr-old digital media firm will merge with Tribal and its core team will manage the joint entity + comments from an M&A consultant & Prasanth Mohanachandran

    Flying high! 22feet sells out to DDB Mudra [updated today]

    L-R 22feet co-founders Deepak Nair, Vineet Gupta, Brijesh Jacob and Vinod Moolacherry

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    One more Indian digital major gets gobbled up. Bangalore-headquartered 22feet has been acquired by media and marketing services conglomerate Omnicom Group.

     

    On Monday, Omnicom’s DDB Group announced the acquisition of 22feet. The five-year-old digital marketing firms in India will merge with nine-year-old Tribal Worldwide India creating a new entity known as 22feet Tribal Worldwide which will be a part of the DDB Mudra Group.  22feet has in its roster brands such as Café Coffee Day, Fastrack, Lenovo, Heineken, Kingfisher, Red Bull and Axe.

     

    Madhukar Kamath

    The new entity – 22feet Tribal Worldwide – will be spearheaded by the core team of 22feet and not that of Tribal. Vineet Gupta will be Managing Director, Brijesh Jacob is Joint Managing Director and Deepak Nair will be Chief Operating Officer. The three will report directly to Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO and Managing Director, DDB Mudra Group. They will also work closely with Tribal Worldwide network in APAC and across 42 countries.

     

    The fourth 22feet co-founder Vinod Moolacherry will take charge of White Canvas, the Bengaluru-based full-service agency set up by the foursome. White Canvas has not been acquired by Omnicom as part of the deal on 22feet. Meanwhile, Venkat Mallik, president of Tribal India and RAPP, the marketing and CRM agency, will now move to look after RAPP, with what a spokesperson told us is an expanded and new global vision for that business.

     

    Said Mr Kamath on the acquisition: “With digital at the heart of DDB Mudra Group’s agenda, we are extremely happy about joining forces with 22feet. In just five years, 22feet has grown leaps and bounds. With this energy and Tribal Worldwide’s global reputation and reach, I’m excited to see what this magic of mergers can create.”

     

    John Zeigler

    Added John Zeigler, Chairman and CEO, DDB Group Asia Pacific, India and Japan: “We see this as a strategic move to continue evolving our capabilities in the fast-moving Indian market. DDB Group has accelerated its capabilities to offer clients the best-in-class local digital expertise at 22feet, coupled with best-in-class global knowledge of the Tribal Worldwide network. I believe this is a game-changing event for the DDB Mudra Group in India.”

     

    According to a financial advisor to many media M&A deals who requested anonymity, the acquisition is a win-win for DDB and 22feet. For digital media entrepreneurs who have sold out to advertising majors, the scale of a large network and international clients is a huge pull. And for ad firms, who have not been very strong on digital, acquiring smaller firms and thereby talent, legacy and clients is a sureshot way of getting digital prowess that clients seek. The added advantage, said the M&A specialist, is that networks could also look at converting a part of these digital shops to delivery hubs for offices elsewhere in the world.

     

    According to Prasanth Mohanachandran, CEO of AgencyDigi, who sold his agency eDeltaC Communications to Ogilvy in 2001, the 22feet buy will do a world of good for Tribal in India. “It’s an excellent agency worldwide, and the acquisition will help leapfrog the operations here,” Mohanachandran said

     

    Meanwhile, there is excitement amongst the 22feet co-founders who will now steer 22feet Tribal. Said Vineet Gupta on the announcement: “We are extremely excited to be a part of the DDB Group family. At 22feet, we share DDB’s passion for innovation and technology and look forward to delivering best in class digital solutions to our clients across markets as 22feet Tribal Worldwide.”

     

    Brijesh Jacob and Deepak Nair echo similar sentiments. “We are extremely happy with this opportunity to operate on a global canvas,” said Nair.