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Tag: Rajni Menon

  • Menon will now be Head of Solutions Development & Chief Strategy Officer

    DAN India elevates Rajni Menon

    By A Correspondent

     

    Rajni Menon

    Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN has promoted Rajni Menon to Head of Solutions Development and Chief Strategy Officer for DAN Solutions India. Prior to this, Rajni was CEO for Carat India, the flagship media agency from the house of DAN India.

     

    In her new role, Rajni will lead the development of solutions, strategy, and research for the recently launched DAN Solutions India and report to its CEO, Narayan Devanathan.

     

    Narayan Devanathan

    Commenting on the appointment, Devanathan said: “Strategy is the art of unlocking value through problem-solving without giving primacy to the form the solution takes. As someone who has been doing that throughout her career, Rajni is a natural when it comes to helping deliver the promise of DAN Solutions. As we see a new confluence in marketing today, beyond just the re-integration of creative and media offerings, Rajni’s stock-in-trade, along with her untiring energy, vast experience, and intuitive grasp of what moves business, make the idea of a solutions-orientation practicable and credible. I’m thrilled to have Rajni join DAN Solutions, and look forward to us partnering clients and colleagues to greater success.”

     

    Elaborating on her role, Menon said: “Connecting the brand and the consumer is what really excites me. Therefore, with this opportunity, it seems like my playing field has exploded. The prospect of working closely with an extremely gifted talent pool at DAN in co-creating brand and consumer connections and experiences is what I am really looking forward to.”

     

     

  • Launch campaign to celebrate the incredible strength that mothers have shown during these trying times…

    Philips Avent & Carat India pay tribute to ‘Mothers’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Philips Avent, in association with Carat, the media agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India, has launched its latest digital campaign, #ToughTimesTougherMoms.

     

    Said Gulbahar Taurani, Vice President, Philips Personal Health, Indian Subcontinent: “Mothers make life better for all of us, everyday. We at Philips Avent wanted to celebrate this spirit of motherhood that has shone brighter than even before during the COVID lockdown and so we created this short film as a token of our gratitude. The beauty of this whole campaign is in its authenticity – the film cast are real mothers living everyday moments at their homes. Entirely self-shot, this film is our way of saying thank you to all the mothers who make life better for us, everyday.”

     

    Added Rajni Menon, CEO, Carat India: “The one-of-a-kind film captures unsung heroes of these times – the ‘Moms’. It is a slice-of-life of how mothers have been keeping their families secure and happy in such times. Indeed, moms are the true warriors. Hence, there was no better way to thank them than by capturing real moms in daily life.”

  • The account was won following a multi-agency pitch

    Carat India wins media duties of ACCA

    By A Correspondent

     

    Carat India has bagged the media duties of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). The account was won following a multi-agency pitch and will be serviced from the agency’s Mumbai office.

     

    Rajni Menon

    Commenting on the win, Rajni Menon, CEO, Carat India said: “We are excited to be a partner to ACCA. I am happy that our strategic thinking, best in class proprietary tools and consumer-first approach are a few of the parameters on which ACCA India opted for the agency.”

     

     

    Pooja Seth

    Added Pooja Seth, Head of Marketing, ACCA India: “Carat India has proven to be a great partner for ACCA India. During their presentation, they understood what ACCA’s brand value, mission and ambition stood for and consequently, worked on presenting innovative media solutions to help increase the brand reach and deriving effective ROI.”

     

     

  • Carat intends to strengthen its consumer focus and business solutions for the Kerala market

    Carat elevates Pramod PP to Sr BizDirector @ Kochi

    By A Correspondent

     

    Carat India has promoted Pramod PP to Senior Business Director, Carat – Kochi. With this announcement, Carat intends to strengthen its consumer focus and business solutions for the Kerala market. Pramod PP will report to Rajni Menon, CEO, Carat Media Brands.

     

    Talking about Pramod’s elevation, Menon said: “Pramod will play a critical role in maintaining Carat’s unparalleled expertise in the brand servicing industry.  The need for a strong brand voice is imperative, due to increased competition and rapidly evolving market strategies.”

     

    Added Pramod PP: “I am looking forward to raise the bar further and focus on excellence in customer experience and service. I am also clear that Carat will soon become a single source solution for a vast array of prestigious brands across the South Market.”

     

     

  • Columbus India to handle brand’s digital account…

    Carat bags mandate for Behrouz Biryani

    By A Correspondent

     

    Behrouz Biryani, the digital-thus-far biryani brand, has roped in Carat India as its media agency. Carat won the mandate following a multi-agency pitch and will now handle the account from its Mumbai office.

     

    Sagar Kochhar

    Meanwhile, under this new partnership, Columbus India is in-charge of the brand’s digital account. Commenting on the partnership, Sagar Kochhar, Group CMO, Faasos Food Services (FFSPL) said: “Being a digital-only brand, it was important for us to create a campaign highlighting the USP of the brand – i.e the aeons old, authentic Persian recipe, the fine ingredients and a compelling brand story. Meanwhile, when it came to delivering business results, the  objectives were non-negotiable. An infallible media strategy that could connect to our target audience in the most cost effective manner was the need of the hour. Carat’s focused and integrated solutions for our business challenges look seamless to us and we are delighted to have them with us as we embark on this exciting journey ahead.”

     

    Rajni Menon

    Celebrating the win, Rajni Menon, CEO, Carat Media added: “We are extremely delighted to partner with Behrouz Biryani. We are confident in driving strong and positive integrated media strategies to raise brand awareness resulting in positive business results. We are looking forward to this partnership, taking their business to a larger scale.”

     

     

    Anurag Gupta

    Added Anurag Gupta, CEO, Columbus India: “It is very exciting for us to partner with Behrouz Biryani – a leading Cloud Kitchen player. We are looking forward to pushing the envelope on driving digital media efficiencies and delivering unparalleled performance for Behrouz Biryani.”

     

     

  • Carat, Posterscope team up to create buzz around FIFA World Cup 2018

    Adidas wakes up an entire neighbourhood to celebrate football

    By A Correspondent

     

    Carat has partnered with Posterscope to launch a campaign for the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2018.

     

    The core objective of the campaign was to build awareness about TelStar – the official football that is being used in FIFA world cup and to celebrate the pure joy of football as well as its fans. The one-month-long campaign is aimed at reaching out to people who are enthusiastic about football – both players and fans – across various age groups.

     

    Said Sean Van Wyk, Senior Marketing Director, Adidas India: “The love for football is growing massively in India with each passing year and we wanted to kickstart the celebration of the World Cup in an impactful way. The idea of this innovative billboard was to celebrate and reward the spirit of coming together as a team. The pure joy on their faces to kick the official World Cup football around the field was an amazing sight! Sport really does have the power to change lives.”

     

    Added Rajni Menon, CEO, Carat India: “This is yet another example of media convergence in planning where a superb activation on outdoors is working in tandem with digital. The objective was to drive innovation at local level with a scaled outreach to a larger online audience. It was a great way to celebrate the growing euphoria around FIFA in a way that brings out the pure joy of football.”

     

     

  • This win comes on the back of Carat’s new business wins such as Franchise India Holdings (FIHL) and Fossils group

    British Council appoints Carat to handle their media mandate

     

     

    It perhaps helps that Dentsu Aegis Network-owned Carat is headquartered in London and understands the Brit ethos better than many other media agencies.The British Council has roped in Carat India to handle its media duties in the country. Commenting on the partnership, Nirupa Fernandes – Director Marketing, British Council India said: “We are very pleased to associate with Carat in India following a close association with Carat in UK. 2018 marks 70 years of the British Council in India and we have been inspired by India every day of the last 70 years.  This year, we want to share the stories of the great things we’ve done together, make new connections and new stories, and inspire millions of young people to develop relationship and connections for the next 70 years. We are excited that working with Carat and the extended Dentsu Aegis Network will help us position our brand effectively across all channels.”

     

    Speaking about the win, Rajni Menon, CEO, Carat India added: “It really feels great having British Council on board. British Council has been a part of many Indians’ lives through some form of their services starting from improving English skills, courses for teachers, preparing for IELTS exams, helping students to study abroad, etc. With Dentsu Aegis Network’s integrated approach and capabilities of delivering end to end solutions, we are confident of enabling a strong connect with the young and dynamic audiences across platforms.”

     

     

  • The campaign also marks the return of RobotQuartz in a brand new look

    Total Quartz engine oil unveils high-decibel integrated campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Total Oil India is rolling out an integrated campaign for Total quartz engine oil. The campaign highlights the engine oil’s Age Resistance Technology (ART).

     

    The campaign film is directed by French director Thierry Poiraud and the media campaign has been designed by for a will run of two months on out-of-home media, radio as well as digital and social media.

     

    Speaking about the campaign Gayatri Ojha – VP (Marketing & Corporate Communications, CSR) Total Oil India said, “This campaign is a great way to increase significant brand consideration by establishing the longer-lasting hyper-performance benefits of Total quartz reiterating its premium positioning. The messaging – keep your engine younger for longer – places the car engine at the centreof the story thereby ensuring the presence of the engine oil all along the customer journey. This campaign is also significant as it marks the comeback of the RobotQuartz, Total Quartz engine oil’s strongest asset, in a revamped and even more modern avatar.”

     

    Added Carat CEO Rajni Menon: “The key challenge for media while building brand awareness was to generate interest and create impact in the low involvement category. We used a multimedia approach with emphasis on effective media choices using our proprietary tools”

     

     

  • The tool will be used for all Dentsu Aegis Network India clients. The tool is a collaboration across the TV and Digital brands under the Network’s umbrella in India

    Dentsu unveils video planning and insights tool, DAN Prism

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu India has announced the launch of DAN Prism, a unique video planning and insights tool that provides a single audience view across television and digital.

     

    DAN Prism overlays the consumption pattern of the digital consumers on Facebook, YouTube and programmatic video with BARC to provide rich audience insights. These insights are then used for planning and activation through a single reach curve across all media platforms in a matter of minutes using a series of Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms.

     

    Gautam Mehra

    Speaking on the launch, Gautam Mehra, Chief Data Officer – Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia said: “In the ever-changing media landscape, we are experiencing a golden age of Video Consumption in India with fantastic content and platforms. The proliferation of smart devices is changing the way consumers consume content. Today India boasts of 800+ TV channels watched by 780 million Indians. There are nearly 100 million subscribers to OTT platforms and nearly 260 million online video watchers in the country. Evidently, multi-screening has become a part of the natural video consumption habit of the average Indian. One of Dentsu Aegis’ core objectives today is to deliver a proprietary, audience-first approach to video planning that maximizes client investment across TV and digital video. The idea here is always to harness the true power of data. DAN Prism is just one more step in that direction.”

     

    Rajni Menon

    Added Rajni Menon, CEO, Carat India: “The TV viewing landscape of the country is swiftly changing owing to the mushrooming of a large number of OTT players, better connectivity and increased smart-phone penetration. As a country, we are now spending a lot more time watching video content. A large part of this is done on the mobile and on tablets. DAN Prism serves to be a powerful tool that reflects people’s behaviours today, enabled by convergence.”

     

     

  • Carat will manage the media planning and buying for all the investments

    Franchise India Holdings appoints Carat India to handle their media mandate

    By A Correspondent

     

    Gaurav Marya

    Franchise India Holdings (FIHL) has roped in Carat India as its media agency. Carat won the mandate following a multi-agency pitch and will now handle the account from its Gurgaon office.Commenting on the partnership, Gaurav Marya, Chairman, Franchise India said, “To us, Carat came across as an agency that focuses on finding communication solutions keeping the business challenges at the centre. We are delighted with this partnership and wish Carat all the best as we embark on an exciting journey together.”

     

    Rajni Menon

    Speaking about the win, Rajni Menon – CEO, Carat India added: “We look forward to working with Franchise India in taking their business to gain strong hold on the relevant audience. With Dentsu Aegis Network’s integrated approach and capabilities of delivering end to end solutions, we are confident of enabling a strong connect with the digital consumers of India.”

     

     

  • Kartik Iyer to head media biz. Rajni Menon to helm Carat, Joydeep Raha is CEO Carat Context & Himanka Das as CEO, Vizeum as Shripad Kulkarni moves on

    Dentsu Aegis Network rejigs top deck

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network has restructured its top deck in media agencies group across Carat and Vizeum. Kartik Iyer has been elevated to President, Media Brands and Amplifi.

     

    Rajni Menon will be CEO of Carat and Joydeep Raha will be CEO of Carat Context as Himanka Das will take over as CEO, Vizeum. Shripad Kulkarni has announced his decision to move on from the group by end-December to pursue his own interest. The move does not impact Dentsu X headed by Divya Karani so far.

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO South Asia – Dentsu Aegis Network: “To enable a more future ready product for our clients, our media agencies have been reorganised for the rapidly changing market environment under the unified leadership of Kartik Iyer who has been leading our fastest growing media agency, Carat, for over eight years now. He will be responsible for enabling the continued fast track growth of the brands and will provide senior executive council level oversight to the media brands, in addition to his Amplifi responsibilities.”

     

    Speaking on his appointment and on the next steps for the Media Brands, Iyer said: “I am delighted to have been given this opportunity and look forward to working with the agencies in their growth path over the years. Carat is future proofing to take on the new opportunities that the market dynamics have provided in order to be able to provide world class service to our clients… Rajni is a true blue One DAN exponent. In the past 8 years that Rajni has been with Carat, she has led some of the agency’s most significant developments in capabilities, especially in the area of ICP, CCS, CCS Planner, Multiscreen planning (TV Stack) and Digitizing of Carat, which has enabled the entire group to deliver more consumer focused and business oriented solutions and is best placed to drive it to the next level. Joydeep has been a pillar in the growth path that Carat has seen over the years, particularly in the South markets. With his focus on business growth backed by delivering integrated solutions, he has constantly been adding business for the group. Further, Himanka Das will be taking over as CEO of Vizeum. Himanka has been a part of Dentsu Aegis Network Media leadership for the last 5 years and has a proven ability in managing and growing client relationships both Multinational and Indian,” Iyer added.

     

    Shripad Kulkarni

    Speaking on Kulkarni’s exit, Bhasin said: “Shripad has contributed significantly to the growth of Vizeum in India.  His focus on business and managing client relationships has enabled Vizeum to grow from strength to strength in the last two years. We wish him all the very best in his future endeavours.”

     

    Speaking on the future, Iyer added: “The leadership of our media group will continue to focus on delivering Business Outcomes and Digitally Ahead solutions. Over the next few weeks, each of the agencies will be setting up their plans for the coming years and you can expect some very significant initiatives in this area by each agency. Rajni, Joydeep and Himanka, as leaders of their respective media agencies, will continue to innovate the way brands are built.”

     

  • The annual seminar saw over 700 managers assemble under one roof to foster collaboration and partnership

    Dentsu conducts overseas training conference for employees in Dubai

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN hosted its annual One-DAN conference in Dubai last week. The annual seminar saw over 700 managers assemble under one roof to foster collaboration and partnership amongst the network’s group agencies.

     

    The annual conference was woven around the clear objective of positioning Dentsu Aegis Network as the No. 2 marketing communications group in India by the end of 2017. It was also hosted to celebrate Dentsu Aegis Network’s strengthened and expanded foothold in creative that was demonstrated at the Goafest’s 2016 edition.

     

    The three-day conference saw the exchange and cross-pollination of leading-edge ideas across the different units of Dentsu Aegis Network India including that of its latest acquisitions – Happy Creative Services and Perfect Relations Group. The platform introduced all teams of the newly acquired agencies to the one P&L model of the group and also help them imbibe the values that the network stands for. Integration and data continued to be the buzz words at the conference. DAN’s leadership status in areas like OOH, Creative, Digital and Media was also highlighted.

     

    The annual conference, correspondingly, also recognised the network’s long-serving employees and talents across different group units who have worked relentlessly all through the year to bring Dentsu Aegis Network India to the position that it holds today. Rajni Menon, President Carat, won the Chairman’s Award for 2016.

     

    Speaking about this recent conference, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia, said, “Our goal of making Dentsu Aegis Network India the #2 communications group in India by end-2017 will only be made possible when every one of our 3000 people across DAN India make it their mission to collaborate and relentlessly help their clients win in the market. That is what One-DAN is all about, and that is the DAN India ‘One Team One Dream’ emphasised.”