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Tag: Dentsu Asia Pacific

  • He joins Dentsu from KPMG where he is a Senior Partner, responsible for overseeing both Clients & Markets and Consumer Markets, Life Sciences & Internet Business

    Dentsu finally gets a CEO from outside. Harsha Razdan is CEO, South Asia

    By Our Staff

     

    If you remember, Dentsu, the advertising and marketing services network, had a series of exits. Topping it all was the exit of big boss Ashish Bhasin. And then started a massive hunt for a CEO. Almost every biggie in the business was met with.

     

    When they couldn’t find anyone, they called in old warhorse Sunil Lulla to stand in.  Lulla had just moved out of BARC and was busy growing his own consulting gigs. But that was till December.

     

    And yesterday (Thursday), Dentsu Asia Pacific announced the appointment of Harsha Razdan as CEO, South Asia. This is effective May 1, 2023. So we will see him at Goafest 2023.

     

    Said Rob Gilby, CEO APAC, Dentsu: “India has been through the most profound and impressive digital transformation and the future of the digital economy is bright; with new opportunities being generated by the advent of 5G, proliferation of affordable devices, and the development of a new economy accessible to all,” adding: “Harsha is an exceptional leader with a deep strategic understanding of the competitive landscape. His background in brand building, overlayed with deep knowledge of tech-driven transformation brings formidable cross-capability expertise and will drive growth opportunities in creating a new value ecosystem for clients with consumers at the centre.”

     

    Added Razdan on his appointment: “It is a very exciting time to be leading an agency network in India, especially with the significant progress we are seeing in the digital development of our market and what that means for brands. India is leap-frogging other markets in its adoption and development of new technologies, and it’s critical that agencies are capitalising on new opportunities for brands to speak to new consumers. I can’t wait to get started.”

     

    Razdan has worked with PepsiCo and Unilever, and consulting practices including Accenture where he spent four years in the UK. He joins Dentsu from KPMG where he is a Senior Partner, responsible for overseeing both Clients & Markets and Consumer Markets, Life Sciences & Internet Business. He also sits on the Advisory Leadership team as well as the Global Consumer & Retail leadership team.  He will be based in Mumbai reporting to Rob Gilby, CEO APAC, dentsu.

     

  • Asia Pacific is critical to the future growth of Dentsu

    Dentsu APAC promotes nextgen leaders

    By Our Staff

     

    Dentsu Asia Pacific has announced the promotions of Sharan Jaswal to General Counsel APAC, Luke Speers to Chief People Officer APAC, both effective April 1 and Paul Koppelman to Chief Financial Officer, APAC effective May 1.

     

    Said Wendy Clark, Global CEO, Dentsu international: “Asia Pacific is critical to the future growth of dentsu and our clients. I am delighted to see the promotions of three executives in the region, bolstering the existing team with exceptional people who have grown through our organisation.”

     

  • To mobilise 10,000 young creatives to help cut food waste

    Dentsu International launches first global ‘Rise Up’ Challenge

    By Our Staff

     

    Dentsu International has announced the launch of its first global ‘Rise Up’ Challenge to upskill 10,000 young people in digital media and creative communications and showcase its best campaign ideas to inspire consumers to drastically reduce their food waste.

     

    Said Anna Lungley, Chief Sustainability Officer, Dentsu international: “Food waste is not just a matter of what gets left on plates – the world is squandering natural resources, harming biodiversity and increasing emissions simply by throwing away too much of the food we produce. The Rise Up Challenge is a rallying cry to a generation of young people who want to make a difference in this world. Through The Code we can give them the tools and techniques to not only campaign for sustainable behaviour change but also build the work ready skills they need for the future.”

     

    Added Phil Adrien, CEO, Creative, Dentsu Asia Pacific and Co-chair of Dentsu diversity board APAC,: “I am incredibly proud that the module for Rise Up – produced in Singapore by our creative team, is now rolled out worldwide. This is our first unifying global theme on building a sustainable world, by looking at how brands can reduce consumer food waste. Riding on our commitment to using ‘digital for good’ and furthering a fair and open society, The Code also opens the doors of our industry to future talent. It empowers young people from underprivileged backgrounds with creative communications experience and offers the opportunity to work with some of our biggest clients.”

     

  • Sets out timeframe for brands to be “Cookie Free"

    Dentsu publishes guide for web tracking and privacy

    By Our Staff

     

    The media arm of Dentsu international published the first in-depth review of a cookieless future in the wake of recent Google announcements and timelines. The Cookieless World: A Guide for the New Era of Digital Marketing provides a deep dive into the impact on brands due to major changes in web tracking capabilities and enhanced privacy legislation. It will explore a range of areas including Data Management, Audience Activation & First-party Data Usage, Performance Measurement and Preparing for the Deprecation of Third-party Cookies.

     

    Last week, Google reset the clock for supporting cookies within its Chrome internet browser. The new report from Dentsu explores the knock-on implications for both consumers and brands, as well as the solutions its media agencies Carat, iProspect, and DentsuX can leverage to support the change.

     

    On launching the report, Rohan Philips, Global Product Officer, Media, Dentsu international said: “Across the globe, 91% of consumers are concerned about the amount of data companies can collect about them and 42% have taken steps to reduce the amount of data they share online. So, it’s no wonder all eyes are focused on this fundamental change in the way we all operate on the web. We now have the time and opportunity to make sure what comes next is the best solution it can be for our clients. With such a major upheaval to the long-established status quo, we understand there’s uncertainty and a lot of questions. The Cookieless World report is there to provide answers for marketers who need to wrestle with the big challenges facing their brands now and in the coming years.”

     

    Prerna Mehrotra
    Prerna Mehrotra

    Added Prerna Mehrotra, CEO, Media, Dentsu Asia Pacific: “With the most popular browsers ending support for third party cookies and the rise of other types of tracking prevention, the ability for brands to target consumers and measure campaign effectiveness will be impacted. This, coupled with the rise of global and local privacy legislations, will significantly change the fabric of digital marketing in the coming future. Brands will now need to relook at how they engage people online, while limiting some of the most widespread digital marketing tactics, such as personalised 1:1 targeting. The time is ripe for brands to rethink the next lap of their marketing practices.”

     

  • To produce several iterations of creative copy

    Dentsu launches GPT-3 powered content creation engine

    By Our Staff

    Dentsu Asia Pacific’s Data Sciences Division has announced the launch of a GPT-3 powered content generation engine. The engine is designed to produce several iterations of creative copy tied to historic and predictive performances of content and is embedded in Dentsu Marketing Cloud (DMC) – Dentsu’s proprietary consumer insight and intelligence platform for creative and performance marketers.

    Generative Pre-trained Transformer version 3 (GPT-3 or GPT 3) by OpenAI is, by far, the most powerful language model in history. By linking GPT-3 with performance data, this one-of-a-kind content generation engine, built by Dentsu’s Data Sciences Division, puts the power of artificial intelligence-led copy-creation in the hands of every Creative across Dentsu.

    Said Sidharth Rao, Chairman, Dentsu Webchutney and Dentsumcgarrybowen India: “One of modern marketing’s most powerful enablers has been using data to understand audiences and create content that resonates powerfully with them. While compelling storytelling is paramount to connecting brands with their audiences, data enables one to move beyond a single limiting thought to unlock the full potential of an idea. As a digital-first creative network, products such as the GPT-3 powered content engine will enable our teams to mitigate the pressure that content creation requires through the intelligent use of technology to drive efficient creative product and deliver better customer experiences.”

    Added Gautam Mehra, CEO, Dentsu Programmatic and Chief Data Officer, Dentsu Asia Pacific: “AI and ML allow for the intelligent processing of information to deliver better efficiencies. With Neuro-linguistic Programming and deep learning coming to the forefront of data-driven creative messaging, enabled by GPT-3 and its applications, the link between effective creative messaging and content generation at scale is entering its golden era. The use of this new technology within our creative product is testament to Intelligence Augmentation at the driving seat of creative innovation and yielding better outcomes for clients and marketing practitioners the world over.”

    Available in 15 languages and applicable globally, the product is very easy to use. The GPT-3 powered Creative Engine will be merged with Ddentsu International’s marquee data-driven marketing engine – the Dentsu Marketing Cloud. Users simply feed the engine with a seed social media caption, theme or topic and the engine generates several iterations of the best predicted performing caption(s) or post copy within a few seconds. The underlying intelligence of the tool can apply quantitative analysis to both pre and post-live-testing cycles and uses AI & ML to predict how audiences will engage and react to any creative message in real-time.

     

     

  • Rohit Ohri is appointed CEO Dentsu Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) and will relocated to Singapore

    Ashish Bhasin takes overall charge of Dentsu Aegis in India

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    His designation is already rather long. It goes: Chairman & CEO – South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, Chairman, Posterscope and psLive – Asia Pacific. And now there may be another two: Executive Chairman, Dentsu India and CEO, Dentsu Asia Pacific (South).

     

    Okay, it’s been spoken about much over wine and single malts over the months. First soon after the general elections. We interviewed Rohit Ohri last year and asked him this, which he laughed at. We asked him about the entire structure at Dentsu Aegis and who reported to whom, and he explained what appeared to be a complex structure. We were a shade too lazy to detail it and just deleted the question.

     

    The rumours of Ohri relocating to Singapore have been doing the rounds for a few months. In fact a shade too long for us to start dismissing them. But now it’s confirmed, lah.

     

    He may as well start getting used to the Singaporean style of suffixing everything with a lah.

     

    So here’s the communiqué which we received from the communications office which until yesterday only serviced the business head quartered out of Bhasin’s office:

    Dentsu Aegis Network today announces the geographic expansion of Rohit Ohri’s role. Having previously led Dentsu in India and Asia Pacific South, Rohit is now appointed CEO Dentsu Asia Pacific (ex Japan) covering all markets in the region outside of Dentsu’s home territory. In doing so Rohit relocates from Delhi to Singapore.

     

    Nick Waters CEO Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific said: “Rohit has done a fabulous job transforming Dentsu in India. Across Asia, Dentsu has an extraordinary track record of innovation and as the largest agency in the region has an unmatched depth and breadth of capabilities. Sano-san and myself are really looking forward to working more closely with Rohit to unleash the full potential of the business.”

     

    Commenting on the move, Hiroaki Charlie Sano, Executive Officer of Dentsu Inc. and CEO of the Dentsu Branded Agencies within Dentsu Aegis Network said: “Dentsu is an agency network with a long standing history and a strong footprint in Asia Pacific. Rohit shares our creative ambition and strong vision for Dentsu and the way we work with our clients. I’m delighted he will be taking on a more central position within the network to help guide the business outside of Japan”.

     

    The release we received didn’t mention about who’s taking charge from Ohri. But our sources at Densu Aegis Network India tell us that Bhasin took charge from June 1. Guess we’ll hear the official version soon.

  • Industry captains Pratap Bose, Rohit Ohri, Shashi Sinha and CVL Srinivas on the year ahead

    Shashi Sinha, CVL Srinivas, Pratap Bose & Rohit Ohri present Outlook for 2015

     

    Interviews by Shruti Pushkarna

     

    2015 is acid test year for our industry:

    Pratap Bose, President, The Advertising Club

    I don’t want to sound pessimistic but honestly I have spoken to a lot of people in the industry. It’s a view that everyone’s taking which is the whole thing of being very cautious. There is optimism but there’s cautious optimism. And therefore I think, 2015 is really the acid test year, both for the BJP as well as for our business. The promise is large, the delivery is yet to happen. The strain on the government to actually do something concrete, pivotal around strategy, around implementing, to make things happen is huge. People say it will happen, give us time… I understand that. So there’s a lot of optimism that things might happen but unfortunately we haven’t seen the fruits of that yet. I don’t want to sound like a pessimist but I think we have to take the wait and watch approach. Even if you see the Congress men talk about Narendra Modi right now, they are saying that we’ve heard a lot, he’s made the right impression, the mood is right, but we need to see real time action. To summarise what I said, 2015 is the acid test year for our industry. There’s a lot of hope but I’m still pessimistic about it because it needs to transpire into concrete decisions that grow the economy and move the economy forward. That’s not been seen yet. I tread very carefully.

     

    Digital is finally kind-of becoming a strong reality:

    Rohit Ohri, ‎Executive Chairman, Dentsu India & CEO, Dentsu Asia Pacific (South)

    I think 2015 will be a promising year for everybody because I think a lot of the work that the new government has started, should show some results. And we are hoping that the positive sentiment will carry through to 2015 and 2016 as well. The other thing is, from the entire advertising and media industry I think digital is finally kind-of becoming a strong reality. It’s no longer just good to do, I think brands are realising that it’s an interesting part of their plans. And I think we are going to see a big change in the next two years in how brands actually communicate online. And what we have seen in 2014 was this big thing about brands creating content, which they did in a mini movie kind of format releasing online. I think that’s something we’ll see a lot more of going forward in 2015. All in all, from a creative perspective, and from a media spends perspective, I think the industry is looking up.

     

    Government has great plans but they have to push it through:

    Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Mediabrands

    I’m hoping and praying that the next year is good. I am hoping that Budget works out well for the government, whatever they decide, they implement because to me, that’s important. This government has great plans but they have to push it through. As we speak, currently GST is held up… so if they pull off a great Budget, life will be good. To me that’s vital. And not because it’s will be a great Budget but that will show their ability to push through and resolve things. But if they still get caught up in this religious thing that is happening, then there’s trouble. So we hope the government succeeds.

     

    In terms of adspend growth, it’ll be pretty much similar to this year:

    CVL Srinivas, CEO South Asia, GroupM

    We see 2015 to be a good year. On an overall basis, I think in terms of adspend growth, it’ll be pretty much similar to this year. But one must remember that this was an election year so we had a bit of a bump up to growth because of elections. Next year, despite it not being an election year, we see the growth rates to be more or less similar. We see digital growing upwards to 35 per cent like it has been over the past two or three years. We also think television is going to continue its strong growth in healthy double digits and so will the regional print dailies. So, all in all, it looks like an interesting year. We have the ICC World Cup coming up next year so that will lead to spends at some level.

     

  • Shine.com has also added exclusive features on its mobile app that lets candidates leverage their personal networks to find people in companies where they want a job

    Shine launches new advertising campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Shine.com has put up a good show this year that saw them launch a portal exclusively for IT jobs (tech.shine.com), increase their database to 15 million, venture into e-learning offerings for candidates and substantially increase their new client count apart from improving satisfaction levels of existing clients.

     

    Seeing the increasing usage of mobile phone in job search, Shine.com is now targeting to become a ‘mobile-first’ company where the entire registration and job search process for a candidate can happen only on a mobile phone. Apart from simplifying the user flows on mobile, Shine.com has also added exclusive features on its mobile app that lets candidates leverage their personal networks to find people in companies where they want a job.

     

    Commenting on this unique feature, Amit Garg, Business Head – Digital, HT Media, said, “For us to give value to jobseekers and recruiters, we are always experimenting with new technology to create brand new solutions that would take the industry ahead. While doing so, our research pointed us to the ‘power of weak ties’, a seminal study that says that your next career move is likely to come from people who are not our closest friends but are likely to connect you to professional circles that you don’t have access to. Our new app leverages these ‘weak connections’ of a candidate and our consumer proposition says that Shine.com will come to your use where your best friends cannot.”

     

    Rohit Ohri

    Rohit Ohri, Executive Chairman, Dentsu India and CEO Dentsu Asia Pacific (South), said, “We’re really excited about the new Shine.com campaign. Conceptualised by Soumitra Karnik and the Dentsu Creative Impact team, the campaign introduces a mascot for brand Shine.com. A mascot who is an innovative thinker and a quick solution provider to everybody’s job-related problems. We’re hoping that Mr M will become a brand property that will give Shine.com memorability, relevance and ultimately leadership in the category.”