MxMIndia

Tag: Deepak Nair

  • This association aims to change the way the industry looks at branded content, by making craft and authenticity an integral part of online storytelling

    Untold and 101 India ink branded content partnership

    By A Correspondent

     

    Untold, 22feet Tribal Worldwide’s content platform, has teamed up with 101 India, a youth portal creating content aimed at urban Indian audiences. This association aims to change the way the industry looks at branded content, by making craft and authenticity an integral part of online storytelling.

     

    Speaking on the partnership, Cyrus Oshidar, Managing Director, 101 India said: “Young people today are exposed to over 500 messages from different brands. Not only are we competing with them for eyeballs, we are competing with the world wide web for time. To get our messaging to reach the right audience, it’s important that we cloak the brand in interesting content, ideally a combination of the two. With our experience of understanding and creating content for the millennials, we feel Untold is the right partner for us, where story takes precedence over branding – a strategy that’s also been their key to success with both consumer and client. We look forward to working together and creating a narrative that is entertaining and relatable.”

     

    Added Deepak Nair, CEO, 22feet Tribal Worldwide & Chief Growth Officer, DDB Mudra Group: “Untold, over the years, has curated content that is rooted in the real; creating unique brand experiences. The partnership of Untold and 101India will further leverage this depth of knowledge and specialization to create rich immersive content properties for our clients.”

     

     

  • The agency has appointed Vanaja Pillai to head its Bengaluru business

    22feet Tribal Worldwide strengthens top deck

    By A Correspondent

     

    22feet Tribal Worldwide has made some key appointments on the people front. The agency has appointed Vanaja Pillai to head its Bengaluru business.

     

    And in the North, Vishal Mehra has been appointed to spearhead the building of the agency’s digital planning practice. In addition to this, he will also be responsible for growing the team and the business for 22feet Tribal Worldwide’s North unit. In the West, Rohan Talati has been elevated to head the business operations for the agency’s Mumbai team.

     

    Meanwhile, to strengthen the agency’s digital strategy function, Ramraaj Raghunathan has been elevated to the position of Head- Strategy, 22feet Tribal Worldwide. And lastly, Azharuddin A, erstwhile new business lead with the agency, will lead a focused mandate on User Experience & Branded Products.

     

    Speaking on these appointments, Deepak Nair, CEO- 22feet Tribal Worldwide and Chief Growth Officer- DDB Mudra Group said: “We couldn’t be in a better position than we are in today. Over the years, we have nurtured the best talent in the industry and have continued to attract the best in class. Our young leadership team is a testimony to that. I am confident that this team will see us become stronger than ever.”

     

     

  • At DDB Mudra, MuscleBlaze would be managed by the agency’s Gurugram unit

    Muscle Blaze chooses DDB Mudra as creative partner

    By A Correspondent​

     

    Following a competitive multi-agency pitch, the DDB Mudra Group has won the creative duties for Muscle Blaze, a sports nutrition brand. As a part of the mandate, the agency would be responsible for its digital and brand strategic planning.

     

    At DDB Mudra, Muscle Blaze would be managed by the agency’s Gurugram office led by Jaipal Singh, Director- Brand Engagement, DDB Mudra North on the account management front and by Tushar Handa, Senior Strategist, DDB Mudra North on the strategic front.

     

    Speaking on the partnership, Sameer Maheshwari, Founder and Managing Director, Muscle Blaze said: “As we forge ahead aggressively to change the fitness landscape of India, we needed an agency that thinks strategically and has a superlative creative product. DDB Mudra exhibited a keen understanding of the category and customer during the pitch process. We look forward to build brand MuscleBlaze with them.”

     

    Added Deepak Nair, Chief Growth Officer, DDB Mudra Group said: “The Indian consumer market is progressively warming up to the consumption of nutrition and dietary supplements. Since its launch, MuscleBlaze’s quality products have helped the brand create a band of loyalists; whose numbers are growing by the hour. We are excited to partner with MuscleBlaze to aid their growth story in India. I am sure that creating conversations for this brand will be an absolute delight.”

     

     

  • It truly is the next big thing in marketing communications and so many other industries

    DDB Mudra partners with Hotify to provide AI-powered solutions

    By A Correspondent

     

    The DDB Mudra Group has announced a partnership with Hotify to launch Artificial Intelligence-led marketing and communication products and services.

     

    Quoting on the partnership, Deepak Nair, Chief Growth Officer, DDB Mudra Group said, “As the digital ecosystem continues to evolve, it is imperative that we look towards creating more meaningful solutions for our clients in all facets of their business. This partnership with Hotify AI, with their incredible wealth of knowledge, expertise, and robust platform, is a bold step in creating value for our clients across the Group.”

     

    Speaking on the partnership, Ankur Dinesh Garg, Chief Executive Officer, Hotify AI Group said: “We are on a mission of enterprise AI adoption and our partnership with the DDB Mudra Group is a great milestone for us. Hotify has an eco-system driven strategy, where we work as AI enablers to our partners, who in turn bring significant domain expertise and existing clients relationships with large enterprises. Our partnership with the DDB Mudra combines our AI capability with the agency’s domain expertise- to deliver AI-led success in consumer marketing segment and increase ROI, efficiency and predictability for the DDB Mudra Group’s clients”.

     

     

  • In this role, Deepak will be overseeing the Group’s growth agenda with special focus on Technology, Data and Analytics

    DDB Mudra Group appoints its first Chief Growth Officer

    By A Correspondent

     

    Deepak Nair

    The DDB Mudra Group has announced the appointment of Deepak Nair as the group’s first Chief Growth Officer. Along with this position, Nair will also manage the responsibilities of 22feet Tribal Worldwide as its Chief Executive Officer.

     

    In this role, Deepak will be overseeing the Group’s growth agenda with special focus on technology, data and analytics.

     

     

    Vineet Gupta

    Speaking on the appointment, Vineet Gupta, CEO, DDB Mudra Group said, “The world has changed and we acknowledge that. We also realize the importance of growth – not just for the clients we partner with, but also for our people. I am excited to welcome Deepak on board as the Chief Growth Officer. Deepak is an entrepreneur at heart and has been an incredible partner in the 22feet story. I am confident that his passion for building teams, capabilities and collaborations will help us take progressive leaps towards being increasingly relevant in today’s world.”

     

    Said Nair on his appointment:“In an evolving advertising landscape and a digitally mature marketplace, the opportunity to be a part of the DDB Mudra Group’s growth story is incredibly exciting. I look forward to collaborating with Vineet, to create a future-ready partner for our clients across the group while continuing to drive innovative technology solutions & growth for our clients at 22feet Tribal Worldwide.”

     

  • 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.