Tag: Dentsu Aegis Network

  • Samarjit Choudhry takes charge of Happy mcgarrybowen, Soumitra Karnik takes additional charge as CCO

    By A Correspondent

     

    Happy mcgarrybowen, which was hit by complaints of sexual harassment of its founders and their eventual ouster, has elevated Samarjit Choudhry to the role of President while Soumitra Karnik has been assigned with the additional charge as Chief Creative Officer (CCO).

     

    Samarjit Choudhry

    Speaking on his appointment, Choudhry said: “mcgarrybowen has a strong philosophy of solving real problems. They truly operate as a media-agnostic agency. In India the foundation for this is already there and the agency has been operating as Happy mcgarrybowen for over two years now. My mandate is to take it to the next level. Other than communication, we already have a strong design practice and in conjunction with the other offerings from DAN, today we offer our clients a one stop solution for whatever their needs might be. I look forward to taking the opportunity to take the legacy forward. And all we ask is, ‘Give us your biggest problem’.”

     

    Soumitra Karnik

    Speaking about the role, Karnik added: “Happy mcgarrybowen is a phenomenal creative brand and has an enviable body of work to prove it. All these years, I have greatly admired them from a distance and I count my blessings for being given this opportunity to be a part of their creative trajectory.  I assume this role with utmost confidence only because the culture of HMB will not have it any other way. I shall take my mandate from Gordon Bowen, our Global CCO, in the coming days and will talk about it soon. Personally, I’d like to build a collaborative creative culture where everyone works with everyone and everyone learns from everyone. There is so much talent out there in the world and sometimes all it takes is a simple call to say, ‘Hi, I have this idea and I need you to make it even more amazing’. Most clients deserve a spectacular package. Anything less is just plain misfortune.”

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Said Ashish Bhasin, CEO Greater South, Dentsu Aegis Network and Chairman & CEO India: “With its new leadership in place, I am more than confident that the agency is now in extremely able hands. Happy mcgarrybowen has always been a brand to reckon with and I have no doubt that Samarjit and Soumitra, together, will further fuel this brand legacy and help Happy mcgarrybowen scale new heights.”

     

     

  • Dentsu launches its own blockchain engine

    By A Correspondent

     

    The data sciences division of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India has announced the launch of its own ‘DDLCoin’ with an aim to power transactions on DAN Data Labs.

     

    Commenting on the launch of the ‘DDLCoin’, Vivek Bhargava, CEO DAN Performance Group said: “Trust and transparency has become almost a necessity in the way we enter into contracts with our clients. The recent wave of distrust in the advertising ecosystem has provided many in the industry with sleepless nights. With the use of trust-building technologies like distributed ledgers – known as the blockchain, the adtech industry has the unique opportunity to rebuild trust by creating a more transparent ecosystem for all. It gives me immense pride to be a part of a network that has the capability to service this modern need of clients and be pioneers in adopting this technology.”

     

    Added Gautam Mehra, Chief Data Officer- South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network: “DAN Data Labs has been known for being the industry gold standard in driving innovation in the way we plan and execute campaigns in the modern-day digital ecosystem. It has been our vision to provide a solution for whatever the need of our clients may be when it comes to data driven marketing. The product has been known to be swift to adapt to the changing environment by being constantly updated with the latest tech, advancements in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence and now trust systems like the blockchain.”

     

     

  • Dentsu Aegis Network expands Anand Bhadkamkar’s role to CFO & COO South Asia

    By A Correspondent

     

    Anand Bhadkamkar, CFO, Dentsu Aegis Network – South Asia, has been given additional charge of Chief Operating Officer India. This follows Dentsu Aegis Network’s (DAN) announcement to promote Ashish Bhasin to the expanded role of CEO Greater South, Dentsu Aegis Network and Chairman and CEO India. With this announcement, Bhadkamkar will now also be responsible for driving operational excellence in business and oversee support functions including HR and IT in India.  He will continue to report to Ashish Bhasin.

     

    Commenting on the appointment, Bhasin said: “Anand is exceptionally dependable, comes with strong leadership capabilities and has a very strong understanding of our markets, clients and services. Dentsu Aegis Network India is currently standing amid enormous market opportunities and with my expanded role and new geographies to look after, it was imperative for Anand to take up the operational responsibilities. Anand has always been integral to DAN operations and, in some ways, this is a formalisation of this duty. I strongly believe that Anand will successfully implement and integrate our strategies to take this growth forward.”

     

    Commenting on his new role, Bhadkamkar said: “I am extremely excited and honoured to take on this additional responsibility. I look forward to embarking upon a new chapter in my career, having been part of the company’s journey over the past 10 years now. Dentsu Aegis Network India is very well-positioned in today’s digital and transformational environment. I look forward to supporting the Group in its next growth phase and continue driving operational excellence across the organisation in South Asia.”

     

     

  • Merkle Sokrati achieves unique feat on YouTube for Performance

    By A Correspondent

     

    Merkle Sokrati, the data-driven performance marketing agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has been recognised for its achievement on YouTube for Performance reaching a 100 per cent client adoption rate.

     

    Anubhav Sonthalia

    Said Anubhav Sonthalia, CEO Merkle Sokrati: “We are committed as always to lead the way in incorporating any innovation that can help our customers. Over the last year, we have seen YouTube emerge as a strong performance platform. As the leading performance agency in the country, we wanted to ensure that all our clients are leveraging the full power of innovative formats like TrueView for Performance, and we are excited to see 100% of our clients are already betting on this format.”

     

    Aditya Swamy

    Added Aditya Swamy, Head of Agency Partnerships, Google India: “We collaborated closely with the Merkle Sokrati team to set up integrated client onboarding with custom performance creatives from Ignition Labs using the Search-Up approach, and bespoke measurement solutions. It’s exciting to see the speed at which Merkle Sokrati’s clients have adopted YouTube for Performance, and I am looking forward to seeing our teams redefining performance video advertising excellence.”

     

     

  • Agnello Dias appointed Creative Chairman, DAN India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India has announced the appointment of Agnello Dias, Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder Taproot Dentsu, as Creative Chairman, Dentsu Aegis Network India. In his new role, Dias will now also guide and mentor the creative output of all DAN India companies even as he continues his services with Taproot Dentsu.

     

    Said Aggie, as he is known in the industry: “Taproot Dentsu is now a robust, full-fledged agency, based in two cities and run by a team of capable and talented professionals. In fact, this is the team that has been at the forefront of everything the agency has done for some time now. With the structure now in place and Paddy (Santosh Padhi) leading the way with the rest of the team, it was felt that I could stretch myself to also work with the other hungry and talented teams across the DAN network in India. It is an exciting part of my life’s journey and I hope it’s fruitful for all.”

     

    Speaking on Dias’s enhanced role, Ashish Bhasin, CEO Greater South, Dentsu Aegis Network and Chairman & CEO India said: “It is really delightful to add on an additional responsibility of Creative Chairman DAN India to Aggie. The entire creative community in India looks up to Aggie for his tremendous achievements. His mentoring of creative talent across all DAN India agencies will make DAN India an unbeatable creative powerhouse. I am really glad that Aggie has agreed to stretch himself and share his unparalleled talent across the group. I look forward to him chairing the DAN India Creative Council.”

     

     

  • Dentsu India appoints Malvika Mehra as CCO; to also launch Dentsu India Tomorrow Lab

    By A Correspondent

     

    Malvika Mehra

    Dentsu India, the brand solutions agency from the Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), has roped in Malvika Mehra, erstwhile Founder and Creative Director of Tomorrow Creative Lab, as Chief Creative Officer. As part of the mandate, Mehra will now be responsible for the agency’s creative duties across all offices. Dentsu India will also launch Dentsu India Tomorrow Lab – the new Design and Innovation unit, under her creative leadership. Meanwhile, it is learnt that Rahul Sengupta, who was Chief Creative Officer, has moved on.

     

    With over two decades of building brands across Ogilvy and Grey, and her own independent venture, Tomorrow, Mehra is a two-time Cannes Gold Lion and D&AD pencil winner, and served on the jury at international advertising and design festivals like Cannes, Clio and Spikes Asia.

     

    Speaking on the new appointment, Simi Sabhaney, CEO, Dentsu India said: “I am delighted to welcome Malvika to the Dentsu family. I have worked with her in the past, and I must say it was a rather fruitful experience. I respect Malvika for her fine design thinking ability, entrepreneurial spirit and her hunger to create great work that works.”

     

    Added Mehra said, “Change is the only constant. Anyone worth his or her salt interested in creating game changing brands of the future, needs to be agile and learn to adapt, quickly. Joining Dentsu India as CCO, has been the most interesting pivot in my entrepreneurial journey. With the backing of the robust, truly collaborative DAN network and teams and a solid, go-getter business partner in Simi, I get to play that fancy word, intrapreneur for real. And continue to place the brand, at the golden intersection of ideas (of course), but also design and technology, for all our amazing clients.

     

  • Ashish Bhasin now CEO of DAN Greater South, in addition to Chairman & CEO, India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Dentsu Aegis Network has promoted Ashish Bhasin, currently Chairman and CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network – South Asia to the expanded role of CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network Greater South and Chairman and CEO of India.

     

    With this announcement, Bhasin will now also be responsible for overseeing India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Myanmar. He will continue to be based out of India and report to Takaki Hibino, executive chairman of Dentsu Aegis Network APAC.

     

    Commenting on the appointment, Takaki Hibino said: “Ashish has proven himself to be an exceptional leader. Under his direction, India today stands to be one of the most important revenue growth markets for Dentsu Aegis Network globally. I know he will be able to replicate the same story for the important Southeast Asia markets as well, even as he continues to fuel growth in his current responsibilities for South Asia.”

     

    Added Bhasin: “I am extremely excited to take up this new challenge. The newly formed Greater South region is extremely important for Dentsu Aegis Network. Both Southeast Asia and South Asia are very interesting and high potential markets. I feel very lucky to be leading this fantastic set of leaders and managers and hope to take Dentsu Aegis Network forward during these interesting and transformational digital times. Since I have had experience in running Southeast Asia in the past, in some ways it feels like a homecoming and I am excitedly looking forward to it.”

     

    Bhasin’s remit will exclude Singapore which, as a regional hub, will be led by Masaya Nakamura in addition to his role as deputy chairman and chief growth officer of Dentsu Aegis Network APAC.

     

     

  • Dentsu Aegis Network SEA acquires digital marketing agency Happy Marketer

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network SEA announced the acquisition of the Happy Marketer Group, a data-driven digital marketing agency headquartered in Singapore. Post-acquisition, it will be rebranded as Happy Marketer, a Merkle company. Established in 2009, Happy Marketer has digital marketing delivery centres in Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Mumbai in India with over 40 employees and handles clients such as Practo, Urban Ladder, Standard Chartered Bank, and Amity University.

     

    Sid Phil Teeman, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Southeast Asia and Singapore: “Southeast Asia is a critical growth driver for Merkle’s expansion.With this acquisition, the delivery and management of data analytics and customer experience marketing, which are Happy Marketer’s key competencies, will take the front seat, helping Dentsu Aegis Network reinforce itself as a key player. This also translates into greater opportunities to penetrate new and existing clients’ ecosystems in the Indian subcontinent.”

     

    Added Zhengda Shen, President, Merkle Asia Pacific: “Bringing Happy Marketer into the Merkle family is critical to our Asia-Pacific expansion strategy. The acquisition will significantly accelerate Merkle’s ability to bring its full suite of services to the Southeast Asian market. Happy Marketer has positive brand recognition and a strong reputation. Its data-driven and customer experience enablement approach, strong core service offerings, and dynamic culture align closely with Merkle.”

     

    Joining the leadership team from India are Happy Marketer Managing Partner, Prantik Mazumdar, and Founder and CEO Rachit Dayal, who will report to Ted Bray, Managing Director and Chief Growth Officer of Merkle Asia Pacific.

     

    Added Rachit Dayal, Founder and CEO at Happy Marketer, and Prantik Mazumdar, Managing Partner of Happy Marketer: “Our business has rapidly scaled in the last 10 years, and it’s been an absolute blast forming a #HappyTribe of clients and employees who look forward to mastering the next disruption. And as we look on to the next 10 years, we are excited to partner with Merkle and Dentsu Aegis Network to help more businesses drive into the future. We intend to work closely to create a winning playbook to capture market share through our data-driven, technology-led, people-based marketing solutions.  Merkle’s incredible story of passion for technology, and Dentsu Aegis’s global presence with Asian values are a huge source of inspiration for us. We feel an instant cultural fit and look forward to be part of their transformation journey. This is one of the best gifts we could have imagined as part of our 10-year celebration.”

     

     

  • Posterscope predicts 12-15% growth for OOH in 2019

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s the season for adspend forecasts. And here’s for OOH only from Dentsu Aegis Network arm Posterscopre. The 2019 is expected to be another important and exciting year for OOH in India, it notes expecting growth rate to be anywhere between 12-15 per cent.

     

    Posterscope India predicts disruptive growth this year on the back of important events like the upcoming General Elections, Cricket World Cup, and the Indian Premier league among other marquee events.

     

    It notes that digital out-of-home (DOOH) inventory will continue to increase and reach the levels of respectability it deserves while its share of revenue will see a significant rise. New categories of advertisers will come to the fore and dislodge some traditionally strong advertising categories. Meanwhile, newer infrastructure will provide varied and interesting advertising options.

     

    Here are some of the key developments that Posterscope believes will continue to drive OOH’s rapid evolution:

     

    Data-driven OOH: Campaigns will be driven using data that go beyond demographics to online behaviour, card transactions, app usage and location analytics to decide where the OOH ads should appear.

     

    ROI-led OOH: ROI will be the driving force in the next 12 months. Posterscope India expects to see boundaries in OOH being pushed through digitisation, automation, scientific planning tools, machine learning and cross-media collaborations to drive and achieve returns that are in line with other media offerings.

     

    Growing digital OOH: With DOOH inventory increasing, advertisers can now unlock at scale the flexible capabilities of DOOH by running creative bespoke to key triggers such as time, audience and weather. Posterscope’s ROOH digital OOH exchange is pioneering efforts in this space.

     

    Cluttered event calendar: The year being a particularly busy one in terms of large ticket events from sports, entertainment and even elections, we believe there will be a surge of investments from a varied base of advertisers.

     

    Location intelligence: As locations-based marketing specialists, Posterscope India believes in its ability to act as a common thread to tie multiple data sets together to create a clear OOH story about what’s changing the way out-of-home is being offered.

     

    Smart cities: A new area of urban development is upon most major cities globally, and in India, this is coined under the ever-ambiguous term and scope of ‘Smart Cities’. The way in which technology will redefine everyday tasks, transport and logistic services is now becoming a reality. Via partnerships with leading smart city development organisations, The Digit Group and DG Cities, Posterscope India is creating opportunities and encouraging brands to lean in, learn and redefine how this investment can last a lifetime.

     

    Disruptive OOH: Consumers are now always connected with more than 90% of OOH consumers using their phone whilst OOH in each week. In addition, we spend over two hours every day on social and messaging platforms sharing the things we stumble across and catch our eye in the OOH space. Now more than ever, disruptive innovations can deliver attention and engagement far beyond where it stands in the real-world through digital sharing.

     

    Said Fabian Cowan, Director, Posterscope India: “In a fast-paced ever-changing out-of-home ecosystem, having informed intelligence of what are going to be the drivers of change is critical to our offerings and client associations. We firmly believe that we have the leading technology platform, the best planning tools, the strongest data and analytics capabilities, the most advanced automation programme, the broadest and most diversified view of the out-of-home channel and, most importantly, the best people to manifest and deliver the best ooh solutions.”

     

    Added Haresh Nayak, Group MD, Posterscope – South Asia: “As industry leaders we are driving change across the medium. Our predictions are not only based on year-long research and a close watch on trends but also based on our understanding of how cities and consumers transform with advancements in technology, access to data, infrastructural developments and evolved travel patterns. 2019 is poised to be a very exciting year for OOH and our predictions depict that amply.”

     

     

  • Dentsu Aegis gets badged as Facebook Marketing Partner

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network India has announced that it is an official Facebook Marketing Partner (Ad-Tech), claiming it is the first global agency network to receive a badging for Ad-Tech.

     

    Said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network: “Aligned with our global vision of being a 100 per cent digitally-led business, DAN Data Labs is just the kind of innovation that drives our growth towards that mission. Led by Gautam, the Data Sciences team has had a record of driving innovation in digital marketing by bringing to the forefront new technologies to transform the way we do business today not only in India, but in several other countries around the globe.”

     

    Added Gautam Mehra, Chief Data Officer- South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network: “We are proud to be recognised by Facebook as a Facebook Marketing Partner and being vetted for excellence in exactly the things needed to drive successful marketing campaigns. Receiving this validation is an added testament to the success DAN Data Labs has enjoyed in the 30+ markets where the platform has delivered efficiency at scale. It is indeed an honor to be the first Global Agency Group to receive this badge and continue to achieve client satisfaction through innovation on a worldwide level. With this new partnership, we hope to continue to build new solutions on the backbone of Machine Learning and being exposed to even more product alphas from Facebook.”

     

     

  • Columbus India wins mandate for Max Life Insurance

    By A Correspondent

     

    Columbus India, the data-driven digital marketing agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has won the mandate for strategic performance marketing initiatives and tele-sales process for Max Life Insurance. The account was won following a direct pitch and will be handled out of the agency’s Gurugram office.

     

    This engagement will help Max Life Insurance Company deploy a unique “End-to-End Performance model” powering a new growth model for digital customer acquisition.

     

    Speaking on this, Manik Nangia, Director & Chief Operating Officer, Max Life Insurance said: “The unique solution offered by Columbus is in line with our wing to wing customer journey thinking. This model presents a potential to maximise customer opportunity through a data driven marketing model integrated at the core with a tele-sales capability – all under one roof. These capabilities are typically absent in the conventional performance marketing setups.”

     

    Added Nitin Sabharwal Chief Business Officer, Columbus India: “We are extremely excited to take on this role of an End - to – End service provider that will help Max life Insurance reach larger audience using digital distribution channels, and also achieve cost effective sustainable revenues using digital marketing platforms.”

     

     

  • Digital to contribute 29% of ad market by 2021

     

    On Wednesday, the Dentsu Aegis Network’s DAN Digital Report was released in the presence of a cross-section of the media and marketing professionals. Here are key highlights from the report and an executive summary:

     

    :: As of 2018, the Indian advertising market stands at Rs 61,878 crore ($8.76 billion) and is estimated to grow with a CAGR of 10.62% till 2021 to reach a market size of Rs 85,250 crore ($12.06 billion).

     

    :: “The digital advertising market size is around Rs 10,819 crore ($1.3 billion) and the estimated CAGR growth will be 31.96% and the market will expand to Rs 24,920 crore ($3.52 billion).

     

    :: Television and print take the largest share of media spends at 70% aggregated followed by digital media at 17%. Digital will contribute 29% of the ad market size by 2021.

     

    :: Currently, BFSI is the biggest spender on digital media with a contribution of 38% of all their marketing budgets. This is followed by consumer durables (36%), e-commerce (34%) and telecom (31%). FMCG spends heavily on the television (63%) and the retail sector spends largely on print (54%) medium of advertising.

     

    :: The advertising expenditure on the digital advertising formats is led by social media (29%) followed by search (25%), display (21%) and video (20%).

     

    :: The main drivers of the growth of digital media will be voice, vernacular and video. Apart from this, some of the other drivers of digital media growth will be engaging mobile experiences based on augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).

     

    Executive Summary:

    :: Internet penetration and adoption of digital media in India is growing at an unprecedented rate, which is creating huge opportunities to tap into the unchartered arena of digital space in newer ways. The ever-evolving digital industry and the advancement of technology opens various opportunities to interact with the audiences. Marketers can now choose innovative ways to reach out to their target audience and cater to the demand to create unforgettable experiences for them.

     

    :: As of 2018, the Indian advertising market stands at Rs 61,878 crore ($8.76 billion) and is estimated to grow with a CAGR of 10.62% till 2021 to reach a market size of Rs 85,250 crore ($12.06 billion). The digital advertising market size is around Rs 10,819 crore ($1.3 billion) and the estimated CAGR growth will be 31.96% and the market will expand to Rs 24,920 crore ($3.52 billion).

     

    :: Television and print take the largest share of media spends at 70% aggregated followed by digital media at 17%. Digital transformation is being adopted at a substantial scale, which in turn, is increasing the adoption of digital media at a rapid pace.

     

    :: Currently, BFSI is the biggest spender on digital media with a contribution of 38% of all their marketing budgets. This is followed by consumer durables (36%), e-commerce (34%) and telecom (31%). FMCG spends heavily on the television (63%) and the retail sector spends largely on print (54%) medium of advertising.

     

    :: The advertising expenditure on the digital advertising formats is led by social media (29%) followed by search (25%), display (21%) and video (20%). The BFSI vertical spends the largest share of its digital media budget on search (38%), while FMCG spends the largest share of its digital media budget on video (33%).

     

    :: Currently, 18% of all digital media is bought programmatically and has grown from 15% last year. The major reason for the growth are technological advancements,  improvements in data science & analytics, implementation of algorithm to automate various procedures, better ad fraud detection and improved data policies & regulations. The rapid increase in the penetration of mobile devices and internet has led to 47% of digital media spends on mobile devices and is expected to grow at CAGR of 49% to reach spends share of 67% by 2021.

     

    :: Machine Learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) will see heavy adoption and implementation in various media in the near future. The main drivers of the growth of digital media will be voice, vernacular and video. Apart from this, some of the other drivers of digital media growth will be engaging mobile experiences based on augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). In the near future, data-driven decision-making and business strategies will be more transformative and will entail building and merging of different types of business models and its implementation.

     

    Commenting on the report, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO- South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network said, “Today, you no longer have to sell ‘digital’ to a client. This is the only medium which gives you a very measurable ROI, and almost an immediate impact. We have about 500 million people on the internet today and in the next three to four years, another 300-400 million people will join in. Concurrently, the next phase of internet users will speak regional languages and as a result, you will probably see a lot more advertising in regional languages on digital in the years to come. Dentsu Aegis Network understands this scope. Consequently, we are over-weight on digital. Of our 3500 people, more than 1600 are in our digital agencies. Nearly 48% of our revenues comes from digital at a time when the market average in India is still 15-17%. As leaders in digital, we recognise the need for an industry level research report which not only covers the market size but also gives a direction towards which this industry is moving. The lack of detailed and accurate Digital Advertising Spends is surprising for a medium that lends itself to measurement. It is to fulfil this gap that all the 8 agencies of the Dentsu Aegis Network i.e. Isobar, iProspect, Merkle Sokrati, WatConsult, Dentsu Webchutney, SVG Media/Columbus, Fractal and Amnet collaborated again for the 3rd edition of our Digital Report that extensively covers digital trends, spends and insights across all sectoRs The report has now become the industry standard for digital marketing and this year the report summary will also be available on Alexa.”