The, bringing together nearly 800 athletes from 45 countries, participating in 42 different disciplines during the four-day extravaganza.
Percept One has unveiled the official TVC for the Asian Athletics Championships to be held in Bhubaneshwar from July 6 to 9, 2017.
Nila Madhab Panda, the acclaimed filmmaker, has directed the film to infuse in it the quintessential Odiya flavour. Said Nupur Mahajan, CEO and Creative Head, Percept One: “The swiftness of athletes juxtaposed with the stillness of time that one experiences in Odisha – this unique coexistence of yesterday with today– is the story that we have crafted. In Odisha, the athleticism of international athletes is matched perhaps by the deftness of the barefoot sevayats who climb the 215ft high Neela Chakra,for the Dhwaja Parivartan, at the Jagannath Temple everyday! This confluence of heritage and modernity is representative of AAC in Odisha, and what Nila Madhab has beautifully captured.â€
Percept One has won the event management mandate of the 22ndAsian Athletics Championships (AAC) 2017. The agency has alongside won the mandate for creative, activation and PR for the AAC.
Organised by Asian Athletics Association (AAA), the event is scheduled to be held between July 6and 0, 2017 in Bhubaneswar.
Nearly 1000 participants from 45 countries are expected to take part in the tournament. Percept One will be incharge of creating and overseeing the complete branding, radio and television advertising, 30-city road show, press conferences and media management and then the complete on-ground execution of the AAC.
“To have the opportunity of curating and creating an international sporting event in one of the most historically endowed cities of the country is a privilege, “ said Nupur Mahajan, CEO, Percept One. “Working for the nation is an honour bringing as it does that sense of purpose we are all, always seeking.â€
Percept One has been appointed as the agency for Transform Maharashtra. It is an initiative by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra which gives college students across Maharashtra a platform to include the youth providing solutions for the betterment of state by 2025.
Commenting on the win, Nikhil Pavithran, Vice President and Regional Head, Percept One said: “Transform Maharashtra is one of the largest initiative for the youth of Maharashtra and a prestigious platform for college students to showcase their talent. We are proud to be the communications partner for the initiative and look forward to doing some innovative work for the cause.â€
Arun Viswanath has been appointed Executive Creative Director, Percept/H. His core responsibilities include leading and fashioning agency’s key accounts creatively and adding new businesses to the agency portfolio. Viswanath’s mandate is to up the ante in Pune, a key market for Percept One, with clients like Force Motors and Panchshil Realty, and then across Percept One including FedEx and MasterCard.
Said Nupur Mahajan, Chief Executive Officer, Percept One: “As an agency, we are committed to our clients’ business and do everything possible to bring the best and most cutting-edge talent on board. With Arun’s diverse experience across verticals and mediums coupled with his can-do fire, I foresee happy clients and meaningful partnerships.â€
Commenting on his appointment, Viswanath said: “I am excited to be associated with Percept One and looking forward to boost the agency’s upward trajectory. I intend to build with zest using the strength of innovation across the group’s portfolio and deliver ideas that works for our clients.â€
Percept One has announced the appointment of Shashank Gawade as Executive Vice President, Percept Activ, with effect from September 6.
Gawade’s mandate is to create a new benchmark of innovation and creativity in the marcom space that drives tangible value for brands including Percept One clients.
Nupur Mahajan
Said Nupur Mahajan, Chief Executive Officer, Percept One: “As advocates of multi-channel marketing we understand that the success of any tactical experiential activity strongly depends on strategy, data, creative insights and a seamless stitching together of these with the brand at the core. Shashank’s foray and expertise across FMCG, media sales, rural, technology start-ups and then also, media planning and buying coupled with his leadership ability and team play makes one almost certain that he will deliver copybook excellence.â€
Gawade is a communication specialist and was most recently associated with BrandVU as Managing Partner and consulted multiple organisations on scaling up, expansion and going to market. Prior to this he was leading the experiential marketing practice as National Director, Maxus and GroupM.
Talking about his appointment, Gawade said, “I am ecstatic to contribute to Percept One at this point of my career and build a holistic marketing communication services delivery and strengthening the experiential marketing arm at Percept Activ. There’s a lot for us to offer by synergising services from the Percept bouquet, to drive value for brands that we work with. We have a lot to give back to the people who associate with us and it can be achieved by thinking intelligently, planning smartly and delivering consistently.â€
Sandeep Chhabria has been appointed as the Creative Head, Events & Activation of Percept One. This has been effective August 16.
Chhabria is responsible for generating ideas across Percept One divisions namely, Percept Ice, Percept Activ and Percept Profile. Across IPs, content, sponsorship and digital and then, events and brand activation. He will create cutting-edge concepts and strategies maximising Percept One’s integrated capabilities, in order to help brands reinforce their leadership position & surpass their market ambitions.
Said Nupur Mahajan, Chief Executive Officer, Percept One: “Percept One’s core philosophy of form and fluidity makes every brand engagement corridor the hero. Form, or the central pillar, is not necessarily brand advertising it is equally experiential and brand activation. With this thought, is our integrated agency approach – our oneness – and it is then natural that we bolster the thinking talent across Percept One. Idea-led strategy and implentable ideas is Sandeep’s brief and given his track record, our clients stand to benefit.â€
Speaking on his new role as Creative Head, Events & Activation, Percept One, Chhabria said: “Percept One provides for an outstanding platform with limitless brand building possibilities and I am honoured to be a part of this new chapter in Percept’s trajectory. I look forward to building brands from end -to-end.â€
To leverage the multi-specialty expertise of the DDB Mudra Group and its senior management, Sanjay Shukla will take over as the President – OOH & Experiential, DDB MudraMax.
Sanjay is a well-known industry veteran with close to two decades of noteworthy experience in all aspects of experiential marketing, entertainment, sports marketing, talent & art, activation and events. In addition to specializing in identification of market opportunities and their conversion to active revenue centres, he has also been instrumental in creating some strong brands across the industry.
He joins DDB Mudra Group after a long stint at Percept where he served as COO, Percept One. Sanjay led the restructuring of the diverse offerings and SBUs at Percept and helped create a single seamless entity, Percept One, that offered greater synergy and operational efficiency.
Madhukar Kamath
At DDB Mudra Group, Sanjay will be based out of the agency’s Gurgaon office and will be reporting to Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO & Managing Director, DDB Mudra Group. He will partner Aneil Deepak, Head of Ideas, DDB MudraMax in spearheading the agency’s OOH & Experiential agencies.
Quoting on Sanjay’s appointment, Madhukar Kamath quoted, “Sanjay’s track record and credentials are impeccable.  I like his enthusiasm and zeal.  He comes in at a time when the OOH and Experiential teams have won some marquee businesses and also delivered some outstanding work over the past two quarters.  I look forward to the exciting times ahead.â€
Aneil Deepak
Aneil Deepak, Head of Ideas, DDB MudraMax added, “Like in cricket, great partnerships center around people with differing skill sets and a common goal. In Sanjay, I see that partner. As a Mudra veteran, I also respect people with long stints.â€
Quoting on his appointment, Sanjay Shukla quoted, “I have always admired the work and the growth at DDB MudraMax. The opportunity to partner with Andee and grow the Experiential and OOH businesses exponentially, is a challenge that I am looking forward to’’.
Sanjay Shukla, COO, Percept One has resigned from his post at the company. He will be stepping down with immediate effect. Sanjay Shukla joined the Percept Group as National Head, PDM in 2007, and was promoted to COO, Percept Activ in 2011. He was elevated to CEO, Percept Sport & Entertainment in 2014 to manage the vast portfolio encompassing Activations, Sport, Entertainment, Talent and Weddings.
Meanwhile, Nupur Mahajan has taken charge as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Percept One, and will be responsible for leading the Vision, Strategic direction, Business Development and Integration of all the Marcom Services at Percept One. She will be overseeing a team of over 500 people across 27 offices in 10 markets to ensure seamless collaboration of the Group to ensure stronger client relationships and offer customized creative solutions to clients. She joined Percept in December 2015 and has been working with the Management to draw out future plans for the Marcom business and is well inducted.
Nupur Mahajan
Nupur has handled varied challenging portfolios spanning Journalism, Business Development, Brand Solutions, Radio, Business Acquisition, and has worked closely across both national and international markets. Prior to joining Percept, Nupur was a consultant with some of the leading business houses in the country, viz. the Star Network, DB Realty and a columnist with the tabloid newspaper, Mid-day. She kick-started her career with the Times of India and rose to become the youngest Editor of the Times group at the age of 24. She moved to television to launch Star News. Later, on the behest of Anand Mahindra, she took on the mantle of Brand Development Director and devised the growth and strategy plan for the popular ‘Verve’ and ‘Man’s World’ magazines.
Post that, advertising beckoned and she joined McCann New York (HQ), as Brand and Communications Head alongside Prasoon Joshi, where she was the custodian for brand MWG in India. Her last stint was at the Times Group where she was National Creative Director. Here she led the creative and strategic responsibilities of the Group with a specific focus on reenergising Times Group IPs together with creating new domain-defining IPs across Group companies.
Ajay Upadhyay, Chief Operating Officer, Percept Limited said, “We strongly believe that Nupur will be able to provide the leadership that Percept One needs to become a strong unified Marcom service. Her global leadership experience and brand experience across manifold portfolios will help us leverage the scale and achieve the growth targets we have set for ourselves. Collaboration and integration is the value we bring to the table and Nupur is the ideal person to lead us on that path.†He further added, “Sanjay has been an integral part of the successful growth story of Percept, and we wish him the very best as he steps into new frontiers.â€
Shiv Sethuraman, chief executive officer at Percept One, has quit just six months after taking over the job. “Something really exciting and challenging has come up that I wish to pursue,” said Mr Sethuraman, who was CEO at TBWA India Group before joining Percept earlier this year. “Percept was a short but enjoyable journey,” he said. Percept One is the integrated marketing and communications division of the company.
Mr Sethuraman was brought in with the mandate to integrate all marketing and communications businesses of Percept. Sanjay Shukla, CEO at Percept Sports & Entertainment, will now have the additional task of handling Percept One. “Currently, Percept One needs integration and growth which he can handle till we recruit someone from the advertising industry to drive the business,” said Harindra Singh, founder, vice-president and managing director of Percept. Shukla has no advertising background.
Mr Sethuraman joined TBWA India in 2008 from Ogilvy Paris, where he was managing director since 2005. Before that he was vice-president at Ogilvy’s Mumbai office. Singh said Percept’s marketing communications business is growing faster than the industry average and “it needs a senior leader who can drive growth”.
He spends more time on building the company’s live business that owns five intellectual properties including electronic dance music festival Sunburn, because “in India there is no standard operating procedure for the IP business and therefore it requires an entrepreneurial approach and more time”.
