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Tag: Jarek Ziebinski

  • Prior to his role as CEO of Leo Burnett India, Varma was the Chief Strategy Officer for Asia-Pacific where he oversaw all heads of strategy and planning directors in the region

    Leo Burnett promotes Saurabh Varma to CEO South Asia

    By A Correspondent

     

    Jarek Ziebinski, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Leo Burnett Asia Pacific announced the promotion of Saurabh Varma, currently CEO of Leo Burnett India, to CEO for the agency’s operations in South Asia. The appointment, effective as of November 17th 2015, sees Varma charged with responsibilities for Leo Burnett agencies across Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

     

    “South Asia is an important region for Leo Burnett from our global strategy perspective. With Saurabh’s appointment, we want to further enhance connectivity of our operations across these dynamic markets to drive business growth for our clients and the agency” said Ziebinski. Continued Ziebinski,” Having been at Leo Burnett for close to a decade, Saurabh has consistently proven himself in his roles as the regional chief strategy officer and recently as CEO of Leo Burnett India. He is without a doubt, the best candidate to lead our South Asia operations to the next level.”

     

    Varma added, “We have incredible operations across Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. I look forward to working with some incredibly talented leaders to build new age specialist functions across all markets and create larger futures for our clients.”

     

    Prior to his role as CEO of Leo Burnett India, Varma was the Chief Strategy Officer for Asia-Pacific where he oversaw all heads of strategy and planning directors in the region. Since he took over the helm as CEO of Leo Burnett India two years ago, the agency has consistently delivered double-digit business growth. Under his leadership, Leo Burnett also doubled the size of Indigo Digital Consulting’s business and successfully expanded its operations, launching Indigo consulting in New Delhi. He also launched Leo Experience across Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, and more recently shopper practice in Mumbai. As a result of his work, Leo Burnett now has a strong leadership team across all specialisations in India and solid plan for growth in the next three years. Varma was also instrumental in establishing the new affiliate partnership in Pakistan with AdCom, one of the largest independent advertising agencies in the market.

     

  • I can feel the change within the agency; there is a change in the culture… I couldn’t be happier, says the LB APAC boss

    Leo Burnett India is a new place now, happier place to work in: APAC chief Jarek Ziebinski

    By Mukta Lad

     

    Just over a year has passed since Leo Burnett India roped in Saurabh Varma as its chief executive, and found a national creative director in Rajdeepak Das. But Jarek Ziebinski, the agency’s APAC chairman and CEO, says he is more than pleased with the direction, creative and strategic, the agency is moving forward in.

     

    “There was a lot of concern over our move last year,” admits Mr Ziebinski, alluding to the senior management changes. “But today, I can feel the change within the agency; there is a change in the culture and we are a much happier place to work for. In just 18 months, it’s like a new place without changing the name on the door or what we do for a living. I couldn’t be happier.”

     

    For now, Varma’s main focus is to help Leo Burnett evolve from an ‘advertising agency’ to an ‘integrated communications company’. While the network isn’t looking to buy out any new agencies after its acquisition of Indigo Consulting in 2012, plans to start a new shopper marketing division are in the offing. No details about the new venture were divulged, except that the outfit will see light of day only in about two-three months.

     

    With Cannes Lions around the corner, and Mr Ziebinski being on the ‘Creative Effectiveness’ jury, the agency has its eyes set on bringing home Lions. Mr Ziebinski is bullish about India’s chances at Cannes this year. “Our work for Amazon, Kindle, HDFC Life and KBC, to name a few, has gotten me very excited. It is refreshing to see that India’s movie-making culture has penetrated advertising across digital and TV, culminating in great storytelling and long-format ads,” he says.

     

    Leo Burnett does not participate in Indian awards shows, citing politics as one of the main pet peeves that keeps them from being a part of them. However, it will be taking a sizeable contingent to Cannes Lions this year, as it did the last.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • The winners emerged from 92 finalists across 36 categories

    Havas, O&M, Lowe Lintas win big at APAC Effies 2015

    By A Correspondent

     

    APAC Effie Awards 2015 announced the winners at an Awards Gala held on 10 April 2015 at the Four Seasons Ballroom Singapore.

     

    Hosted by veteran actor and comedian Pam Oei and attended by some 170 marketing professionals from around the region, the awards gala presented a total of 61 Awards – 1 Grand Effie, 17 Golds, 19 Silvers and 24 Bronzes. The Grand Effie was awarded to Havas Worldwide and Child Survival India for their campaign “No Child Brides”.

     

    The winners emerged from 92 finalists across 36 categories and the coveted Agency of the Year Award went to Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai who picked up 8 awards – 2 Golds, 4 Silvers and 2 Bronzes. Lowe Lintas + Partners, India and DDB Auckland came in second and third respectively.

     

    Ogilvy & Mather was named the Agency Network of the Year, picking up a total of 4 Golds, 4 Silvers and 4 Bronzes from its agencies in the region followed by BBDO Worldwide and Lowe & Partners.

     

    India was the biggest winner walking away with a total haul of 18 awards, including the Grand Effie followed by Australia and New Zealand with 15 and 11 awards respectively.

     

    Awards Chairman Jarek Ziebinski said, “’Awarding Ideas that Work’ may sound like a simple concept but winning an APAC Effie is more than just an accolade. It is an affirmation of being the best in the Asia Pacific region, a true recognition of an agency’s expertise in delivering marketing campaigns that work and achieve results. This is the core reason our creative industry exists.  It also further validates a successful two-way collaboration between clients and agencies and the synergies that arise from it”.

     

    The APAC Effie Awards is organised by the Confederation of Asian Advertising Agency Associations (CAAAA) and Tenasia Group. Mr Harris Thajeb, CAAAA Chairman said, “ We are impressed with the high quality of work submitted.  The Asia Pacific region has again proven its relevance by continuing to improvise and explore new ways through the use of new technologies and fresh ideas to create an impact in their marketing communications and it is through this celebration that we honour marketing effectiveness excellence and recognise the success of these marketing campaigns”.