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Tag: Dentsu Aegis Network

  • Agency to manage Online Reputation and Digital Listening for brand…

    WatConsult adds HMD Global to its client roster

    By A Correspondent

     

    WatConsult, the Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) digital agency, has won the Online Reputation Management (ORM) and Digital Listening duties for HMD Global, the home of Nokia Phones. The agency bagged the account following a multi-agency pitch and will now handle the brand from its Mumbai office.

     

    Ruchira Jaitly

    Said Ruchira Jaitly, Chief Marketing Officer – India, HMD Global: “I am excited to have WatConsult on board on this journey. Nokia phones are one of the most trusted and revered consumer tech portfolios in India and I cannot emphasise enough the need for us to continue building this trust into every aspect of our digital marketing efforts as we grow. We hold WatConsult to our highest expectations and know they will help us to maintain and build our credentials with our consumers and fans, bringing top skills and latest tech to the table.”

     

    Heeru Dingra

    Speaking on the win, Heeru Dingra, CEO, WatConsult added: “It is our pleasure to have partnered with HMD Global for Nokia Phones, one of the most renowned brands in the mobile segment. This boosts our ORM vertical’s brand bouquet along with our capabilities in technology as we bring in more Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the listening business. With digital and social listening emerging as essential tools for brands, we look forward to assisting them in their digital voyage with the best of our solutions and strategy.”

     

     

  • He will continue to report into Simi Sabhaney, CEO, Dentsu India

    Dentsu India elevates Indrajeet Mookherjee to President

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu India, the brand solutions agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), has promoted Indrajeet Mookherjee, erstwhile Executive Vice President, to the role of President, effective immediately. He will continue to report into Simi Sabhaney, CEO, Dentsu India.

     

    Indrajeet Mookherjee
    Simi Sabahaney

    Under the fresh mandate, I Mookherjee will lead the agency’s flagship businesses that include Toyota and ITC Foods. He will also take charge of the agency’s Chennai and Kochi offices that service numerous prestigious brands such as MRF, TVS Housing, Waycool, Jos Alukkas and Geojit, as part of their client roster.

     

    Commenting on the appointment, Sabhaney said: “Indrajeet is one of our finest managers who leads from the front, a mentor to many and a true partner to clients alike. In the many years I have known him, his ‘never-say-die attitude’ and passion to win has been a driving force for his team. Equally adept at ‘farming’ and donning the ‘hunting’ hat, he has led and consolidated significant new business wins for the agency. I believe, in his new role, Indrajeet will take the agency to greater heights.”

     

     

  • Menon will now be Head of Solutions Development & Chief Strategy Officer

    DAN India elevates Rajni Menon

    By A Correspondent

     

    Rajni Menon

    Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN has promoted Rajni Menon to Head of Solutions Development and Chief Strategy Officer for DAN Solutions India. Prior to this, Rajni was CEO for Carat India, the flagship media agency from the house of DAN India.

     

    In her new role, Rajni will lead the development of solutions, strategy, and research for the recently launched DAN Solutions India and report to its CEO, Narayan Devanathan.

     

    Narayan Devanathan

    Commenting on the appointment, Devanathan said: “Strategy is the art of unlocking value through problem-solving without giving primacy to the form the solution takes. As someone who has been doing that throughout her career, Rajni is a natural when it comes to helping deliver the promise of DAN Solutions. As we see a new confluence in marketing today, beyond just the re-integration of creative and media offerings, Rajni’s stock-in-trade, along with her untiring energy, vast experience, and intuitive grasp of what moves business, make the idea of a solutions-orientation practicable and credible. I’m thrilled to have Rajni join DAN Solutions, and look forward to us partnering clients and colleagues to greater success.”

     

    Elaborating on her role, Menon said: “Connecting the brand and the consumer is what really excites me. Therefore, with this opportunity, it seems like my playing field has exploded. The prospect of working closely with an extremely gifted talent pool at DAN in co-creating brand and consumer connections and experiences is what I am really looking forward to.”

     

     

  • Executed by iProspect India, #SeeGoodDoGood is an initiative by the brand to support the livelihoods of the sales staff at optical stores

    iProspect India & Essilor launch the #SeeGoodDoGood campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Essilor has partnered with iProspect India, the digital agency from Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), to launch the #SeeGoodDoGood campaign.

     

    Executed by iProspect India, #SeeGoodDoGood is an initiative by the brand to support the livelihoods of the sales staff at optical stores. The agency’ is assisting Essilor to disseminate the brand’s first-of-its-kind initiative in the optical industry across India, digitally. It is pertinent to note here that the agency’s Bengaluru office assisted to churn out supportive communication pieces for the campaign.

     

    Talking about the initiative, Krishna Kumar Revanur, Branch Head – South, iProspect India said: “Digital medium is helping brands to communicate during such difficult times. We are happy to partner with Essilor on their latest campaign.”

     

    Added Maarten Geraets, CEO – South Asia, Essilor: “By leveraging the digital medium, we want to reach out to the ones affected by the pandemic and help as many as possible.  #SeeGoodDoGood campaign is one of our several initiatives that is meant to support our partners in trade to relaunch themselves post the Covid-19 crisis. The campaign will help the stores revive and support their staff as we drive more footfalls to the store. We are all together in our efforts to fight the current crisis and everyone – brand or an individual – need to help and support each other.”

     

     

  • The first debate in the series will be held on Saturday, June 20, 2020 at 6.15 pm

    Ad Club’s announces interactive digital debate series titled ‘Vice & Versa’

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Club has announced a digital debate series titled Vice & Versa. Moderated by Agnello Dias, Creative Chairman – Dentsu Aegis Network & Founder, Taproot Dentsu, the debate will see industry veterans Santosh Desai, CEO, Future Brands and Josy Paul, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India. The first debate in the series will be held on Saturday, June 20, 2020 at 6.15 pm. The live streaming will be done on Zoom, Youtube and Facebook.

     

    The theme of the firset debate is Brand Purpose – Responsible Or Opportunistic. Speaking about the debate series, Partho Dasgupta, President, The Advertising Club said: “These are unprecedented times requiring all brands and organizations to adapt and reinvent their media and brand strategies.  The digital debate series has been curated to provide insights and guidance on how to empower brands to thrive in the new normal. We are sure that Agnello along with Josy and Santosh will make this an interesting session full of breakthrough ideas and insights.”

     

     

  • It’s billed as the world's first gaming DSP for programmatic advertising across APAC

    DAN India’s data sciences division launches ‘Dentsu Play’

    By A Correspondent

     

    DAN India’s data sciences division has launched ‘Dentsu Play’, billed as the world’s first gaming DSP for programmatic advertising across APAC.

     

    Gautam Mehra

    Commenting on the launch, Gautam Mehra, CEO, DAN Programmatic & Chief Data Officer, DAN – South Asia said: “With the growing frictionless payment facilities, mobile phone prices, data rates and promotion of localized content, there has been a surge in the gaming ecosystem within the country that has only propelled further in the lockdown era. The increasing demand from clients to understand more about these audiences to build strong consumer-brand relationships has been a long-standing pain point. The absence of a single ecosystem to understand and buy these audiences in a seamless manner has been a key challenge for advertisers that we are now able to resolve with Dentsu Play. Dentsu Play will overlay complex machine learning algorithms to better segment audiences and identify opportunities that yield maximum value for brands as well as gaming partners integrated with the ecosystem. It will also be capable of serving completely playable ads that have known to have high engagement rates and are a capability of only a handful of DSPs that exist today. Dentsu Play will bring to the forefront better control over performance and insights, whilst ensuring the best of technology deployed to ensure brand safety and transparency.”

     

    Sunil Naryani

    Added Sunil Naryani, Vice President Commercials & Partnerships, Amplifi, Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific: “The pace at which gaming and e-sports in the Asia Pacific region is growing is absolutely phenomenal. New startups are mushrooming the space every month. The industry has already attracted some of the biggest names in the global ecosystem such as Youzu, Nazara, Unity Tencent and Alibaba investing in it and has over 500 game development companies actively invested. Forging a unique and one of a kind partnership with Unity Technologies, Dentsu Play will expand the network’s capabilities in programmatic gaming with the ability to deploy engaging creatives at scale across the APAC region.”

     

     

  • Anita Kotwani joins Carat India as CEO

    By A Correspondent

     

    Carat India, the flagship media agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), has roped in Anita Kotwani as its chief executive officer (CEO). 

     

    Kotwani was until recently at Mindshare India where she held the position of Senior Vice President, New Business and Client Lead, The Walt Disney Business. In a career spanning more than two decades, 16 of which have been with Mindshare, Kotwani has been instrumental in leading client relationships for brands such as the ABG, Kellogg, ICICI Group, Facebook, Byju and The Walt Disney Company amongst others, for the West zone. Additionally, she has also helped build diversified offerings across data, digital and content, driving exponential growth for Mindshare India over the last two years.

    Kartik Iyer
    Kartik Iyer

    She will report to Kartik Iyer, President Media Brands and Amplifi and will be responsible for the agency’s strategic progress and business growth, nationally. She will also focus on developing and leading significant tools and capabilities within Carat to help deliver enhanced integrated solutions to clients. Speaking on her appointment, Iyer said: “I am delighted to have Anita Kotwani join our team at Dentsu Aegis Network India. In her new role, Anita will help futureproof Carat India as the agency gets ready to take on the new opportunities that the changing market dynamics has to offer.” 

     

    Anand Bhadkamkar
    Anand Bhadkamkar

    Added Anand Bhadkamkar, CEO, DAN India: “Anita is an industry veteran. She is known for her dedication and diligence and has worked across multiple categories including consumer durables, financial services, FMCG and other MNC brands. I wish her all the luck as she charts fresh new path for Carat India, beginning now,” 

     

    Elaborating on her mandate, Kotwani said: “Carat was the world’s first media agency to form with the belief that media has the power to transform businesses and this holds true even in today’s times. It is indeed Redefining Media. With DAN’s unique operating model under its single P&L structure, one can draw on the capabilities of its sister companies – including that of its dedicated OOH, Digital, Performance, Marketing Effectiveness and Creative agencies, to access world class specialisms and create bespoke teams to meet client specific needs. There is scale, specialisation and integration at the core, and with my expertise in leading client relationships and growing diversified offerings, I am super excited to lead the Carat brand for India.”

  • KickStrat is a 24-week training programme that allows young and budding talents to explore account planning and strategy as a significant career choice

    Isobar to nurture future strategists

    By A Correspondent

     

    Isobar India, the digital agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), has announced the launch of ‘KickStrat’, an internship opportunity to foster future strategists.

     

    KickStrat is a 24-week training programme that allows young and budding talents to explore account planning and strategy as a significant career choice.

     

    Speaking on the launch, Shamsuddin Jasani, Group MD, Isobar South Asia said: “We are excited to launch this program and train our future strategic leaders. We intend to enable ‘strategic planning’ for interested candidates who can think fast and think hard. This program will help transform new talent into capable strategists for the future. At Isobar, we believe in nurturing culture and a value system that is unique and will help the industry at large.”

     

    Added Gopa Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, Isobar India: “We are excited to launch this programme for all the budding brand strategy planners. As we see a shift in the entire communication landscape where everyone is looking at driving transformation, planners will play an important part in driving strategic relationships with clients and help in long-term development and retention. There is a huge dearth of talent, and this program aims to enable and nurture new talent.”

     

     

  • Nabendu Bhattacharyya, CEO & MD – Milestone Brandcom, will spearhead the initiative

    Milestone Brandcom unveils OOH revival plan

    By A Correspondent

     

    In an attempt to smoothen the damage that the OOH sector continues to face in India under the coronavirus threat, Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India has embarked upon multiple initiatives to future proof the group along with working closely with other DAN markets from the network to further strengthen its capabilities.

     

    As part of these initiatives, Milestone Brandcom, the out-of-home agency from the house of DAN India, will lead the programme to augment the agency’s OOH business by adopting new technology, media insights and best practices by working closely alongside the agencies in the network and getting the best practices from other markets. Nabendu Bhattacharyya, CEO & MD – Milestone Brandcom, will spearhead the initiative. In the coming period, Bhattacharyya will be alternating between the US and India offices to introduce the best practices and learnings to DAN India in addition to catalysing Milestone Brandcom’s OOH business capabilities in the market and provide connect to its Indian businesses. Bhattacharyya will continue to report into Anand Bhadkamkar, CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network India.

     

    Anand Bhadkamkar

    Speaking on the initiative, Bhadkamkar said: “The post-Covid world will summon a new era. It will demand new ways of working and thinking across businesses. Fresh strategies will have to be charted to improve business productivity. We will have to re-invent the way we work and bring in more resilience in our businesses to embrace the disruption in the market in a post COVID scenario. Therefore, to inculcate innovation, and introduce fresh learnings and perspectives into the business, Nabendu will drive this initiative. He will continue leading Milestone Brandcom, alternating between the US and India offices.”

     

    Nabendu Bhattacharyya

    Commenting on his new role, Bhattacharyya said, “US controls nearly 50 per cent of the world’s ad industry. So what better than to start there, import their technologies and ideas, and use their learnings to enhance Milestone Bandcom and DAN India brands. I strongly believe that Dentsu as a network will help in the growth of India’s advertising structure and Milestone Brandcom will strengthen its position as a flagship brand of DAN India. I am also convinced that the whole world will come out of these challenging times soon and large markets like the US will accelerate economic growth faster than ever.”

     

     

  • The tool has been launched under the umbrella of DMC Explore

    DAN launches Dentsu Marketing Cloud Video+ for OTT

    By A Correspondent

     

    The data sciences division of the Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India has announced the launch of ‘DMC Video+ [Dentsu Marketing Cloud Video+]’, a tool that provides an agnostic approach towards planning and buying on over-the-top TV (OTT) platforms.

     

    Shamsuddin Jasani

    Commenting on the launch, Shamsuddin Jasani, Group MD, Isobar- South Asia said: “The Indian OTT ecosystem is hyper competitive and has attracted varying types of players, each of whom offer varied value propositions to consumers. This has created a somewhat fragmented ecosystem with no accurate measure of how brands should engage and activate these audiences. With rapid increase in consumption of online content – primarily fueled by OTT Video, audio and gaming, the ecosystem suffers from the absence of a single source of truth when it comes to buying inventory from these platforms. The Dentsu Marketing Cloud Video+ presents a unique solution to this problem by creating a single ecosystem to understand and buy these audiences in a seamless manner, limiting the rise of another walled garden ecosystem.”

     

    Gautam Mehra

    Added Gautam Mehra, CEO, DAN Programmatic & Chief Data Officer, DAN – South Asia: “In an environment that is now heavily focused on reducing wastage, brands know they need to move budgets from linear TV and traditional advertising towards digital advertising driven by OTT. They however, tend to play it conservatively when they aren’t sure exactly how much of shift will achieve the best ROI. In the absence of transparency, unified insights and audience buying system for OTT consumers, there exist several inefficiencies within the ecosystem. The promise of the Dentsu Marketing Cloud Video+ product is to plug this gap, thereby guiding brands on their journey of capitalizing on audiences who are increasingly mobile and engaged in consuming high quality production content on OTT rather than traditional video consumption of user generated content.”

     

    The tool has been launched under the umbrella of DMC Explore through which clients are not only enabled to gain deep insights into the content consumption of audiences in the OTT ecosystem, but can also activate selected segments for their campaigns.

     

     

  • Wendy Clark appointed Global CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN)

    Wendy Clark to join DAN as Global CEO in Sept

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN  has announced the appointment of Wendy Clark as Global CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network.

     

    Clark brings almost 30 years’ of industry experience having worked for global brands such as The Coca-Cola Company and AT&T, as well as industry-leading agency roles. She joins Dentsu Aegis Network in September 2020 from Omnicom where she held the role of Global President & CEO for DDB Worldwide. Prior to Omnicom, Clark spent seven years at The Coca-Cola Company in global and regional operating roles, culminating in her promotion to Coca-Cola’s President of Sparkling Brands and Strategic Marketing.

     

    Wendy Clark

    Said Clark: “It’s both an incredible honour and deep responsibility to join DAN at this crucial time. Given such unprecedented global change it’s more important than ever that we’re completely focused on creating insightful, informed, important ideas for brands, businesses and their customers. The focused investments made by DAN over the last few years to acquire and grow the right assets, talent and capabilities, enabling modern marketing solutions, is undeniable and ready-made for today’s marketplace and beyond.”

     

    Clark will report to Tim Andree, Executive Chairman, Dentsu Aegis Network and will be appointed Executive Officer Dentsu Group Inc. at the same time as she joins the business in September with the approval of the Board of Dentsu Group Inc. Andree has been Executive Chairman of DAN since its founding in 2013, adding the CEO role to his responsibilities for the past 15 months, and he has lead the search process.

     

    Added Andree: “Following a thorough and considered global search, I am happy to welcome Wendy as our new CEO and look forward to working together to drive our ambitious agenda forward. With her combined experience of walking in the shoes of the client, coupled with her leadership in running a large global creative agency network, Wendy is the stand-out choice for the role. Her experience is hugely complementary to DAN’s growth plans over the coming decade where Dentsu’s long-standing history of client-centricity combined with an ability to deliver fully integrated solutions will be critical. Wendy will join us as the world is emerging from a period of unprecedented challenges. I am confident that her strong leadership style and comprehensive experience will inspire our people, connect with our clients to help drive their brands forward and continue our focus on providing integrated global solutions while building excellence into every part of the rapidly changing marketing ecosystem we serve.”

     

     

  • The partnership will enable clients to connect with users on TikTok

    Merkle Sokrati inks content partnership with TikTok India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network’s Merkle Sokrati has inked a strategic partnership deal with TikTok in India. The partnership will enable clients to connect with users on TikTok.

     

    Sameer Singh

    Commenting on the association, Sameer Singh, Vice President – Monetisation, TikTok India said: “TikTok as a platform has championed the art of creative content marketing with unique ad formats that effectively drive engagement. The platform’s immersive short-form videos also allow brands to express their content and voice creatively. We value partnerships such as the one with Merkle Sokrati and are sure that this will further accelerate client benefits.”

     

     

    Anubhav Sonthalia

    Added Anubhav Sonthalia, CEO, Merkle Sokrati: “Digital media continues to evolve into a myriad web of features and ad formats. Based on our decade-long experience in helping brands get strong ROIs on their spends, I strongly believe that understanding and reacting to your audiences is extremely crucial, irrespective of the digital channel. TikTok is a phenomenally engaging platform. It is a definite opportunity to gain visibility and revenue and this is where our potential as a marketing agency lies.  I am excited to see the results driven by our teams with our client partners such as Dunzo, PharmEasy, Tata Sky and more.”