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Tag: Jean Lin

  • Dingra will be reporting into Amit Wadhwa, CEO, Dentsu Creative India

    Dentsu India 2.0 merges digital, experiential & PR within Isobar, Heeru Dingra to be CEO

    By Our Staff

     

    Heeru Dingra
    Heeru Dingra

    Dentsu India has put its Digital, Experiential and PR capabilities under the Isobar India group. This means that Isobar India, WatConsult, and PR agency Perfect Relations will be under this head. Heeru Dingra,  Chief Executive Officer of WatConsult, will lead the group as its CEO, reporting into Amit Wadhwa, CEO, Dentsu Creative India.

     

    Jean Lin
    Jean Lin

    Said Jean Lin, Global CEO, Creative and Executive Officer, Dentsu Group Inc: “Strategically, India is one of our largest and most important markets for Isobar. Heeru joined us through the acquisition of WatConsult and has gone from strength to strength, cultivating a culture of creativity and innovation. Heeru will strengthen Isobar’s growth story, bringing together the best specialists from different creative disciplines to create the next wave of transformative experiences for our clients and in turn, accelerate our brands into the Dentsu India 2.0 vision. I am certain that with Heeru at its helm, the Isobar India group will continue to grow and deliver excellence for our clients.”

     

    Amit Wadhwa
    Amit Wadhwa

    Added Wadhwa: “Heeru’s appointment to lead the Isobar group as its Country CEO takes the Dentsu India 2.0 journey a notch up. The decision is also in alignment with our global ambition of transforming into the most integrated network by 2024. We aim to deliver the best of our offerings to clients with pathbreaking ideas and solution-led strategies, making our headway into excellence.”

     

    Said Dingra: “The Isobar India group houses some of the best agency teams in the country…and I feel humbled to lead this brilliant bunch. As I take this new leap, my aim is to offer world-class integrated services and top-notch expertise that bring value to our current and future clients. People and creativity are at the core of our business, and I assure our clients will only be served with the industry’s best.”

     

  • Mehta will report to Mike Mulligan, Isobar Global Chief Operating Officer

    Prashant Mehta joins Isobar as SVP, Global Head of Delivery

    By A Correspondent

     

    Prashant Mehta

    Isobar has appointed Prashant Mehta as Senior Vice President, Global Head of Delivery, effective immediately. Mehta will be responsible for re-imagining the next generation of Global Delivery Models for the agency, and will leverage the power of Isobar’s global network to connect talent and drive complex and strategic business transformation projects for clients. Mehta will report to Mike Mulligan, Isobar Global Chief Operating Officer and will be based in Gurgaon, India.

     

    Jean Lin

    Said Jean Lin, Global CEO, Isobar: “We are delighted to welcome Prashant to the Global Isobar team to lead our Global delivery function. Agile and effective cross-border delivery and locally relevant customer experiences on global platforms, has become one of the biggest strategic challenges when businesses and brands embrace cross-border commerce. Prashant’s vast experience from consulting to delivery, and deep expertise of the most advanced worldwide technologies, will be critical in ensuring the success of our clients’ business transformation journeys.”

     

    Added Mehta: “In today’s age, when business are getting transformed and disrupted globally at the speed of light, Isobar has an industry leading proposition to deliver experience led business transformation for our clients in a truly agile way.  I am excited to join Isobar’s Global team to drive complex & strategic Digital transformation programs leveraging the intersection of Creative, Technology & Data / AI powered by Modern software engineering to ensure our clients thrive and commercially succeed in today’s experience economy.”

     

     

  • The 2019 trends report explores the changing nature of the human relationship with technology

    Isobar launches ‘Augmented Humanity: Isobar Trends Report 2019’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Isobar has released ‘Augmented Humanity: Isobar Trends Report 2019, an exploration of five digital trends for 2019. The report explores the extent to which humanity will work in harmony with technology to expand and enrich life in 2019.

     

    Written by the innovation and strategy experts across Isobar’s 85 offices in 45 markets, the report builds on the concept of Augmented Humanity, developed by Isobar in 2018. The 2019 trends report explores the changing nature of the human relationship with technology: from how we work and play, to how we travel, shop, spend our leisure time and engage with brands.

     

    The report is centered around a belief that technology augments our experience of the world, allowing us to work more efficiently, to live healthier lifestyles, to make better human decisions and to expand our creativity. It explains why Isobar believes that this is an important moment in human history, outlines some of the myriad opportunities that these technological developments open up and shines a light on some of the challenges posed by digital disruption.

     

    The annual report provides guidance on navigating this new landscape to keep businesses and brands ahead of the curve for 2019 and beyond. Each chapter outlines why these developments are important, key examples of the trends in action, why businesses need to be aware of them, and how they can take advantage of their positive potential.

     

    Said Jean Lin, Isobar’s Global CEO: “Technology today plays a key role in driving relevance, scale, and elevating human experiences. It is our job to harness its wonderful power and the potential for businesses and brands, in serving people better in the age of Augmented Humanity.”

     

    Added Shamsuddin Jasani, Group Managing Director, Isobar South Asia: “We need to embrace the power of technology. Today, we are on the edge of an augmented age where technology is redefining the possibilities of what a human can truly be capable of. This next phase of transformational technological advances, wearable and embedded devices will unlock human potential by tapping into almost all our day to day activities. In 2019, we shall see how digital is going to be omnipresent and VOICE will be the biggest game changer in the field of marketing.”

     

     

  • The report evaluates the eight most significant specialist commerce providers

    Forrester names Isobar as a leader among Commerce Specialist Service Providers

    By A Correspondent

     

    Forrester has named Isobar as a leader in its recent report ‘The Forrester Waveä: Commerce Specialist Service Providers, Q4 2018.’ The report evaluates the eight most significant specialist commerce providers, with Isobar scoring highest in the current offering category, recognising its services excel in fusing creative and commerce.

     

    Shawn Mishra

    “We believe our placement on the Wave underlines our commitment to Commerce,” said Shawn Mishra, Senior Vice-President, Global Managing Partner, Isobar Commerce Practice. “In 2018, we focused on further expanding the capabilities of our Commerce Practice and we’re grateful to have been recognised for our efforts. We believe our global reach and technological capabilities, coupled with our strong foundation of creativity and innovation, puts us in a unique position to provide brands with an unmatched digital capability to help them succeed in their experience-led transformation journeys.”

     

    Jean Lin

    Added Jean Lin, Global CEO, Isobar: “Forrester Research is one of the most respected firms in the industry and we are proud to have been named a Leader for Commerce Specialist Service Providers in the latest Forrester Waveä. Reinventing the last mile, bringing compelling brand experience and commerce closer together, has become one of the most important transformation tasks for business and brands in today’s digital economy. At Isobar, our aim is to provide this for our clients to enable transformation and drive growth.”

     

    Commenting on the occasion, Shamsuddin Jasani, Group Managing Director, Isobar South Asia said: “We are really proud of on being recognized as a Leader in Commerce practice in the latest Forrester Waveä report. At Isobar commerce India, we are providing end to end commerce experiences using platforms and solutions with the biggest technology players, including Salesforce, Adobe, SAP Hybris and Magento – combining strategic, technology and operational support to multimarket and regional clients in addition to media and Omni channel capabilities. In India e-commerce, it’s still at a nascent stage, but the potential here is explosive. I am very much certain with such acclaims we will help drive the e-commerce ecosystem in 2019, within the Indian market in the most effective ways.”

     

     

  • Augmented Humanity explores the ways in which technology enhances and fuels our most human attributes

    Isobar’s report on ‘Augmented Humanity’ explores key trends

    By A Correspondent

     

    Isobar predicts that 2018 will be the year of Augmented Humanity, a year where technology enhances and scales our most human attributes. In 2018, technological interfaces will become more natural and instinctive, technology will automate repetitive tasks to free up time for creativity and compassion, and artificial intelligence will meet emotional intelligence.

     

    Jean Lin

    Said Jean Lin, Isobar’s Global CEO: “Artificial intelligence is great, but humans score on emotional intelligence. The power of being human is in empathy. This cannot be automated or outsourced. Augmented Humanity will use technology to scale everything that is best and most powerful about human interaction.”

     

     

    Shamsuddin Jasani

    Added Shamsuddin Jasani, MD Isobar India: “It’s already clear that such technology will thrive in almost all businesses and will revolutionise the way we treat and manage specific services across sectors. The coming years will guide body augmentation competencies  in a number of ways that will empower humans to be smarter, stronger and more capable than they are today. In India, consumer technology has already taken a huge leap forward. Analytic practices are growing in density and companies are using machine learning and prognostic modelling to increasingly consider complex data sets.”

     

    The report argues that we may one day view the era of anonymous, one-size-fits-all transactions as a temporary blip in our evolution, and that as technology advances it will become more human, not less. It will return us to a time where voice will be the primary way we interact with the world, where we will be recognized and rewarded in stores, and where we will buy more directly from trusted suppliers.

     

    Isobar’s five key trends for 2018 explore this intersection of technology and humanity, magic and the machine, code and conscience:

    – Body Talk explores the body as an interface, as our eyes and ears replace touching and tapping.

    - Powered by People tackles the shift from customers to communities as technology turbocharges the sharing economy.

    – The Economy of Me looks at the power of AI to deliver ever more personalised products, prices and places.

    – The Ethical Algorithm tackles technology as a force for good; in a world of fake news and algorithm bias is there such a thing as moral code?

    – The Makers and the Machines explores the extraordinary union of art and technology to create outputs we could never before imagine.

     

     

  • As part of the launch, centres of excellence have been established in Americas1, EMEA2 and Asia-Pacific3

    Isobar announces global Isobar commerce practice

    By A Correspondent

     

    Isobar, part of Dentsu Aegis Network, announced the launch of a global Isobar commerce practice. The commerce practice will deliver commerce experiences for clients through globally integrated platforms and solutions that are informed by local insight. This will, notes a communique, bolster Isobar’s strategic capability to deliver commerce solutions through the Isobar commerce practice and will include 1,000+ commerce specialists across Isobar’s network in Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific.

     

    As part of the launch, centres of excellence have been established in Americas1, EMEA2 and Asia-Pacific3, and market-leading commerce company Bluecom will be rebranded as Isobar Commerce. The practice will include all Commerce centres of excellence, all e-Commerce, m-commerce, retail commerce experts and Commerce off-shore delivery centres within the Isobar network.

     

    Said Jean Lin, Global CEO, Isobar: “The reinvention of last mile is a key part of business transformation today, and the commerce specialists from our global practice will help our clients to win in the digital economy.  As part of Isobar’s Brand Commerce strategy, we utilise data, customer experience and technology expertise to create seamless experiences that deliver measurable commercial success.  The creation of the Isobar Commerce practice will further strengthen our commerce capability and global consistency to bring brand inspiration and transaction closer.”

     

  • With the Fractal acquisition, DAN develops a formidable digital force amongst media services networks in India

    Yet another acquisition for Dentsu Aegis Network as it nets UI/UX shop, Fractal

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network has announced the acquisition of Fractal Ink Design Studio Pvt Ltd (“Fractal”), a leading experiential design studio which will join the network’s digital agency – Isobar, and be rebranded as “Fractal Ink Design Studio – Linked By Isobar”. The acquisition will add scale to the agency’s expertise in mobility and user experience. In addition, it will bring together a team of a thousand digital experts, one of the largest in India, including the combined Isobar team and the existing network digital brands iProspect, WATConsult and Dentsu Webchutney, notes a communiqué.

     

    Established in 2010, Fractal specialises in user experience and user interface design (UI/UX) and digital design strategy services for major clients including Aditya Birla Group, Raymond, Idea group, MetLife, Times Network and Axis Bank. It is amongst the top three largest design studios in India, boasting 65 digital experts operating from Mumbai and Bengaluru, the communiqué adds.

     

    Post this, Tanay Kumar, CEO, Co-founder and Creative Director of Fractal, will join the Dentsu Aegis leadership team in India and will report to Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia. Co-founders Geeta Suthar, Hemant Suthar and Priyanka Agrawal will also continue in their roles as part of the management team.

     

    Said Ashish Bhasin,Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia on the acquisition: “Fractal is the leading digital design studio in the country that provides not only the mobility and UI/UX designcapability, but also has an ideal combination of technology and creative services. Given the impending explosion of Internet of Things, wearables and mobile, this unique skill set will add to the group’s statusof being digitally ahead in India.

     

    Added Jean Lin, Isobar Global CEO: “To deliver immersive Brand Commerce experiences that close the gap between brand inspiration and transaction,we need passionate talent with strong in-market design capabilities. Fractal is a highly reputable digital design studio in India and having them on board further strengthens our local mobile and experience design capability. We are very excited to welcome the Fractal team on board as part of the Isobar global family.”

     

    Said Tanay Kumar, CEO, Co-founder and Creative Director of Fractal: “We have come a long way in the last six years in establishing ourselves as leaders in the digital design and strategy space. Dentsu Aegis Network is the fastest growing group in the country and has demonstrated a strong momentum not just in terms of growth, but also in their culture and values. Its strong presence around the globe as well as their shared vision towards the digital and connected world will allow us to tap into latest industry best practices and tools as well as scale our operations geographically.”

     

  • Book and Showreel have been guest edited by Malcolm Poynton, Global Chief Creative Officer of Cheil

    The Gunn Report releases book and showreel honouring the best in advertising

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Gunn Report, the global index for creative excellence in advertising, has published its 2014 Book and Showreel, a round-up and showcase of the world’s best advertising performance in the year January to December 2014 based on the results of 45 global, regional and national creative award contests.

     

    The Gunn Report 2014 Book and Showreel have been guest edited by Malcolm Poynton, Global Chief Creative Officer of Cheil, who has written the Introduction ‘Ad Agencies, who needs ’em?’ as well as chapter commentaries and analysis of the featured award-winning work.

     

    Also included are ‘Messages to the Industry in 2015’ by guest essayists Jean Lin, Global CEO of Isobar, and Rob Reilly, Global Creative Chairman of McCann Worldgoup. Whilst their career stories are quite different, their messages are remarkably similar:

     

    In Jean Lin’s essay ‘Creativity Liberated’, she suggests that “only two major roles exist in a contemporary creative team: the storyteller and the software developer”. And that “We have to get used to the fact that the game-changing ideas, at times, come not from the storyteller but from the software developer”. She goes on to say that “Great ideas create immediate results, in real-time. And most of the time, the right solution to the actual problem will not be an ad.”

     

    Rob Reilly’s essay ‘Creative Is The Only Way To Survive’, pursues the theme that ‘In today’s reality, influencing people’s minds and behaviour requires more than great advertising’. Analysing creative problem-solving, Rob cites examples where clients and agencies innovate in ways that demonstrate that they are truly responding to their customer needs, such as the creation by American Express of ‘Small Business Saturday’; Barcelona’s Teatre Neu’s ‘Pay Per Laugh;’ and the world’s oldest corporation, the Catholic Church, which brought in a new CEO, Pope Francis, who through creativity has single-handedly revived a struggling brand.

     

    In addition, The Gunn Report Book includes:

    – League Tables of the most awarded ads in Film, Print/Out of Home, Digital and All Gunns Blazing (the Integrated/Titanium/Innovative et al work)

    – League Tables of the world’s most awarded Agencies, Digital Agencies, Networks, Advertisers, Production Companies, Directors and Countries.

    – More than 170 award-winning ads showcased with their synopses and credits.

    – The Gunn Report for Media 2014, a global evaluation of media creativity, innovation and effectiveness.

    – Cases for Creativity 2014:The Year of Share by James Hurman, Founder and Principal of Previously Unavailable

    – Consolidated Tables based on sixteen years of overall performance 1999-2014

    – The Showreel of the Year, a DVD featuring the top 126 most awarded commercials and campaigns in 2014

     

    “This edition of The Gunn Report Book and Showreel bring together and showcase the very best creative campaigns of 2014 as selected by the hundreds of industry professionals that have sat is darkened rooms around the world, voted and debated for countless hours to award great and brave ideas that impact brand communications worldwide,” says Donald Gunn, a champion of creativity and Founder of The Gunn Report.

     

    “Not only is it a reminder of the ground-breaking ideas that make this industry special, but also serves as a unique and essential educational and inspirational tool for those who want to learn more about the power of creativity,” added Donald Gunn.