MxMIndia

Tag: Kanika Mathur

  • Mr Mehta joins as Head of Business – India and Senior Vice President at technology-led digital company Razorfish

    Razorfish gets Taproot’s Manan Mehta to launch India biz

    By A Correspondent

     

    Manan Mehta

    Technology-led digital company Razorfish has announced the appointment of Manan Mehta as Senior Vice President and Head of Business – India. Mr Mehta joins Razorfish from Taproot where he was Managing Partner and a founding member of Taproot India. His mandate will be to introduce and establish Razorfish in India and put together an A-team to run client operations.

     

    Speaking on his appointment, Mr Mehta said, “The opportunity to impact client’s business by combining cutting edge technology with creativity has compelled me to take up this assignment with Razorfish.” He further added, “In India, businesses at large have started acknowledging the active role that digital and technology can play in building their brands, and are gearing up to embrace this new world order. In fact, there are organizations that have started institutionalizing social thinking across departments. I have always admired Razorfish’s work, and today I am really excited to be part of the team.”

     

    Kanika Mathur, Managing Director, Razorfish said, “Manan is an enterprising young professional with solid fundamentals about business and brands. His experience in the field of advertising and communication will be a huge asset for Razorfish in providing focus and driving growth for us in India.”

     

    Recently, Publicis had announced the entry of the Razorfish in India with the acquisition of Neev Technologies, which would now operate as Razorfish Neev. Saurabh Chandra, CEO, Razorfish Neev said, “Manan spearheading Razorfish’s India business focus is going to be a great asset for us. His understanding of what brands want and need to succeed in India is superlative. Together with Razorfish Neev’s technical strengths this is a winning combination.”

     

    Mr Mehta, a Post Graduate from Xavier Institute of Communication, Mumbai (XIC), has worked with Brand David (then RMG David) in Delhi and Mumbai. He then moved to Leo Burnett, Mumbai, where apart from handling key brands as Brand Partner, he was also assigned additional responsibilities of Leo Entertainment as Business Head and Arc worldwide as Retail Director. From Leo Burnett he moved to Taproot India as a founding member in the capacity of Managing Partner. He has worked on numerous brands across various categories such as Pepsi, Mountain Dew, 7Up from PepsiCo’s stable. Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Minute Maid and Maaza from Coca-Cola regional business, Airtel, Set Wet, Hair & Care, Tata Capital, Myntra.com, Times Of India, Mumbai Mirror, GQ, Conde Nast, Reliance Mutual Fund, Reliance Capital, Sony Entertainment Television, Reliance Mobile, Cox & Kings and LG.

     

  • The acquisition triggers the launch of the Razorfish brand in India, and the move follows a number of acquisitions recently announced by Publicis Groupe

    Razorfish acquires Neev; aims to be No 1 in 18 months

    By A Correspondent

     

    Publicis Groupe announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Neev, one of India’s leading technology services providers specialising in eCommerce, SaaS (Software as a Service) and cloud applications across web, social and mobile. Neev will be aligned with Razorfish, one of the largest interactive marketing and technology companies in the world.

     

    The acquisition triggers the launch of the Razorfish brand in India, and the move follows a number of acquisitions recently announced by Publicis Groupe and further strengthens its digital leadership globally as well as its presence in India and the greater APAC region.

     

    Kanika Mathur

    Kanika Mathur, Managing Director for Razorfish and Digitas India said, “Neev is one of the leading technology services company specialising in e-commerce and cloud applications across social and mobile. It’s more like a mini-Razorfish in India and that was what was exciting about the venture when we spoke to each other. Razorfish is all about business transformation using technology. It’s about creating new business models for clients and about providing a brilliant experience to the consumer.”

     

     

     

    Srikant Sastri

    Srikant Sastri, VivaKi Country Chair for India, who is overseeing the acquisition of Neev, said, “With the acquisition of Neev, we have added cutting-edge tech capabilities. We are now twice as large as any other global network in terms of digital team-strength and revenues, and unparalleled in breadth and depth of digital skills.”

     

    Founded in 2005 and based in Bengaluru, Neev has aggressively grown and now employs a team of 250 specialists, of which over 220 are technologists, with experience and expertise in leveraging cloud and mobile technologies and promoting innovation that drives business success.

     

    Elaborating on the agency structure Ms Mathur said, “Neev is growing very aggressively and by the end of first quarter next year we think we’ll be about 450-odd people in India. I think digital marketing as well as digital technology is being adopted at a very fast pace in India and Asia Pacific, so we do feel that we are on a huge growth curve on that front. While our technology hub will be in Bengaluru, we will be present across New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru.”

     

    When asked about the agency’s clientele in India, Ms Mathur said that they would initially be tapping global clients at Razorfish and have already started engaging with a few of them. “While we cannot disclose any names as yet but it would suffice to say that we will be moving very fast in the Indian market.”

     

    Explaining the market and how it has evolved over the years, Ms Mathur said that the space that Razorfish operates in is growing very rapidly. “But when we look at the market we tend to look only at media buyers. If you were to look at technology and using digital to enable new services and products, that’s really the space that we operate in. We can’t really say that the market is about media only. Media, creativity and technology – the intersection of this is where we are placed right now.”

     

    As for the anticipated growth story, Ms Mathur said Razorfish had a good growth in 2012-13 at about 40 per cent and would like to keep on doing better as they go forward. “While right now we are one of the top 3 players, the goal certainly is to be the No 1 player in the next 12-18 months.”

     

    The agency will operate as Razorfish Neev led by Neev CEO, Saurabh Chandra. He will report into Kanika Mathur with a direct connection to Ray Velez, Global CTO for Razorfish.

     

  • The agency will manage the digital and social media strategy for Eureka Forbes, taking relationship marketing to the next level

    Eureka Forbes partners Digitas for digital

    By A Correspondent

     

    Water purifier manufacturer Eureka Forbes has awarded its digital and social media mandate to Digitas India, digital marketing agency and a member of the Publicis Groupe. Eureka Forbes has been a pioneer in direct selling with marquee brands like Aquaguard and Euroclean for nearly 30 years.

     

    Digitas will be responsible for an integrated and end-to-end solution to strengthen engagement with customers across digital platforms like Electronic Customer Relationship Marketing (e-CRM), e-commerce, Online Relationship Management (ORM), Social media, etc. E-commerce will play an important role in the company’s digital strategy as Eureka Forbes is strengthening its presence not only in direct sales but also retail and B2B space as well.

     

    Speaking on the announcement, Marzin R Shroff, CEO, Direct Sales and Senior Vice President, Marketing, Eureka Forbes Limited, said, “We are happy to partner with Digitas as our digital agency. The core strength of Eureka Forbes is ‘relationships’ with our customers. In this digital age, it is important for us to engage with our customers real-time on the digital platforms as well and cater to their needs. For over 30 years, India has known us for our direct marketing efforts; the vision is to replicate the same on the digital space as well. We believe the integrated approach and rich experience of Digitas will help us to strengthen our customer relationships on a long term basis and wish to build a strong e-commerce channel to supplement our success of direct selling in India.”

     

    Kanika Mathur, President, Digitas India said, “This is an amazing opportunity and we are incredibly excited to be a part of the digital initiative for Eureka Forbes. More of Eureka Forbes customers will be online as the internet explodes in India and we believe that a significant business model can be created online.”

     

  • Digital marketing agency Digitas has announced the launch of its integrated e-commerce offering in India, an end-to-end e-commerce solution for brands seeking to launch and maintain a professional and effective retail presence on the internet.

    Digitas India launches integrated e-commerce

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digital marketing agency Digitas has announced the launch of its integrated e-commerce offering in India, an end-to-end e-commerce solution for brands seeking to launch and maintain a professional and effective retail presence on the internet.

     

    This e-commerce solution has a vast selection of technology capabilities; it can be used to build every store conceivable, from a small boutique to an entire online mall. Digitas’ offering not only builds the online store but helps the store owner achieve their desired ROI, ensuring traffic and motivation to buy by romancing the customer throughout the consumer’s online journey.

     

    Kanika Mathur, President, Digitas India said, “We romance the customer using insights, visual presentation and technology to give them a unique experience leading to enhanced ROI and business results.”

     

  • Mr Guillois will report to Kanika Mathur, President, Digitas India

    Digitas India appoints Tim Guillois Sr VP, social media

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digitas recently announced the appointment of Tim Guillois as the senior vice president for social media in India. Mr Guillois will report to Kanika Mathur, President, Digitas India. Mr Guillois joined Digitas in February 2012 from France where he was working for Blogbang, a social media agency. He brings over 13 years of experience in building brands using social media.

     

    Speaking on his appointment, Mr Guillois said: “I am honoured and excited to be a part of the Digitas India team. The Digital space in India is unique, and we are looking forward to developing services and  models which are unique to India and at the same time bring-in the best of Digitas’ best practices.”

     

    Kanika Mathur of Digitas said: “Digitas has seen tremendous growth in India over the last few years. As the Digital space evolves in India, it gives us immense pleasure to have Tim on board leading Social media. I am confident that Tim’s experience and passion for social media will strengthen our business and lead it to new heights.”

     

    Digitas in India is positioned as an integrated digital agency which brings the best solutions including strategic insights, analytics, creative, user experience, technology and production, Digital media planning and buying, Social media, E-commerce solutions and CRM.