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Tag: Santosh Padhi

  • In his last role, Batra was heading creative for the Gurugram office of McCann Erickson.

    Kapil Batra joins Wieden+Kennedy as NCD

    By Our Staff

    Kapil Batra
    Kapil Batra

    It took Wieden+Kennedy 15 years to set up office in Mumbai, and truly expand its wings. Now a year later, it appears to be doing to do that in right earnest.

     

    Last year, W+K got on board Santosh Padhi (Paddy) as CCO and later Ayesha Ghosh as President. And then Anirban Roy as Head of Strategy and Shreekant Srinivasan hopped on as Head of Business, Delhi towards the end of 2022.

     

    And now, it’s got Kapil Batra Batra who joins as National Creative Director. It’s a countrywide role, but, as a communique notes, his focus will be the Delhi office. In his last role, Batra was heading creative for the Gurugram office of McCann Erickson. He will report to Padhi. To begin with, his focus will be the Delhi office, which is where he will operate from. 

     

    The communique we received has a a slew of quotes. Here they are:

    Batra: “W+K has consistently created work that’s awe-inspiring. It is bold and rooted in culture. So when this opportunity to be a part of this truly creatively driven organisation came, I got all excited. And in my subsequent interactions with Paddy and Ayesha, where they spoke about their vision for W+K India, the culture, and more importantly, the vibes I got, everything was just fantastic. I am happy to join the talented team here and contribute to writing an exciting new chapter for W+K India.”

     

    Santosh “Paddy” Padhi
    Santosh ‘Paddy’ Padhi

    Padhi/Paddy: “We are in the people business and people are the source of creativity and ideas. We were looking for a solid creative people’s person with a great depth of insights, ideas and love for craft, we found all of these and many more in Kapil. After spending two decades in the industry, his passion and hunger to do more is what impressed us the most, his versatile body of work reflects human culture in a big way, which is one of the strong beliefs of W+K India and Global.”

     

    Ayesha Ghosh
    Ayesha Ghosh

    Ghosh: “When we saw the creative work that Kapil has been responsible for, we knew that we had to have him join us. Within the agency we often talk of breaking out of ads and breaking into culture. That is what much of his work represents. And it doesn’t hurt that some of his campaigns have gone on to make a sizeable difference to the brands they were created for! What completely sealed the deal for us over and above the work, is that Kapil is an incredibly nice, humble person, who lets his work speak for him. And we’re suckers for that.”

     

  • Launch the 'The Steel Of Oman' campaign 

    Jindal Shadeed Oman and W+K India collaborate for FIFA 2022

    By Our Staff

     

    Jindal Shadeed Iron and Steel, privately owned integrated steel producer in the Persian Gulf Region (Gulf Cooperation Council) and Wieden+Kennedy India creative agency, have collaborated to bring alive Oman’s love for Football during FIFA 2022. ‘The Steel Of Oman’ campaign by W+K India celebrates Omani culture and sportsmanship.

     

    Said Santosh Padhi (PADDY) Chief Creative Officer, W+K India: “The whole Jindal Shadeed team and especially Mr. Venkatesh Jindal (Chairman) had massive faith in us and gave us full creative freedom to get this narrative right. This piece isn’t about selling more steel or chest thumping about being a market leader. Instead, Jindal Shadeed wanted to honestly celebrate the real steel of the nation i.e. the people, culture, their spirit and passion for the game. There was a conscious decision to pitch the film into beautiful arty non-ady-space, as we all were very clear we didn’t want another ad in the midst of celeb centric football clutter during this FIFA World Cup. We wanted this to be as authentic as it could get. It was a challenge to work with real people, non-actors, and a stunning yet daunting Omani terrain but thanks to Ayappa and gang, we went above and beyond to bring that alive.”

     

    Added Harssha Shetty, CEO, Jindal Shadeed Iron and Steel: “Football has been a much-loved sport that has brought the country together. While our new campaign has football at its heart, our film is also a journey through the authentic traditions of the country, its rich culture, and its strong values. Most importantly, it celebrates the people of Oman. Through this campaign, Jindal Shadeed seeks to further weave itself into the social fabric of Oman. At Jindal Shadeed, we will continue to deepen our relationship with the Sultanate through initiatives that drive meaningful impact in society.”

     

  • Led by the brand platform of "Make Way"

    W+K powers Vida V1 campaign

    By Our Staff

     

    Electric scooter Vida V1 has been launched with an ad campaign across Delhi, Bengaluru and Jaipur. The campaign, led by the brand platform of “Make Way”, was conceptualised by Wieden+Kennedy’s Delhi office, and is expected to cover formats both offline and online.

     

    Speaking on the new campaign, Chandrasekar Radhakrishnan, Head – Business Growth, Emerging Mobility Business Unit (EMBU), Hero MotoCorp, said: “Our endeavour is to create a brand that is empowering, inclusive and optimistic. Vida is a truly new-age global brand that resonates with customers across the world and is authentic and progressive. Vida has a distinct brand identity with a tagline ‘Make Way’, which is a call to action for the global changemakers. The pre-launch brief was to bring out our philosophy of being right, rather than rushing to be the first in the market. Subsequently, the launch will focus on bringing out our philosophy of driving change and introduce our segment disrupting propositions to grow the category.

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Santosh Padhi (Paddy), Chief Creative Officer, Wieden+Kennedy India, added: “There is always a different high, when you get to launch a new age product or a brand, which is the ask of the society or need of the future. We are extremely happy to have found a great brand voice for Vida which is sticky, quirky and youthful. We are happy the way the pre-launch and launch has panned out and we all at W+K are excited to take this wonderful narrative forward in the coming months”

     

  • To lead new business agenda as well as head the account management

    W+K get Shreekant Srinivasan to head Delhi

    By Our Staff

     

    Shreekant Srinivasan
    Shreekant Srinivasan

    Wieden Kennedy  (W+K) India has hired Shreekant Srinivasan, as Head of Business for its Delhi office. In this role, he will lead the new business agenda as well as head the account management function for the office.

     

    Srinivasan joins W+K from McCann Worldgroup India where he was a Senior Vice President leading the Maggi portfolio and the Expo Dubai business. In a career spanning over 21 years, he has worked in multiple agencies, set up new offices and managed more-than-many brands – Maggi, Thums Up, Chevrolet, Dominos, Expo Dubai 2020, Royal Enfield to name a few.

     

    Said Srinivasan: “In the 21 years of my advertising life, I have worked with some really interesting bunch of individuals. From oddballs to seasoned surgeons to mavericks to absolute bat shit crazy, I have seen the best of work come out of each one of my creative partnerships.And this belief that creation is inclusive and personality-agnostic is the biggest driving force at W+K. If you have the hunger for good work and love for advertising, you will blend right in. With Paddy and Ayesha, I intend to build this inclusive creative culture on the shoulders of some ground-breaking work.”

     

    Ayesha Ghosh
    Ayesha Ghosh

    Added Ayesha Ghosh, President, Wieden Kennedy India: “We’ve been looking for people of substance who don’t take themselves too seriously and Shreekant fits that mould just right. He’s been at the helm of important moments in the life stage of significant brands, as well as of agencies. With the talented team that the Delhi office already has, we’re keen to sink our teeth into more and more challenges facing brands.”

     

    Santosh Padhi
    Santosh Padhi

    Said Santosh Padhi (Paddy), CCO Wieden Kennedy India: “Shreekant has a unique point of view on life, creativity and how to run this wonderful creative business called advertising, his energy is truly infectious and we are pretty sure all of these will bring in a very new dimension to our leadership unit.”

     

  • To help expand its presence in India

    Ayesha Ghosh joins Wieden+Kennedy as MD, India

    By Our Staff

     

    Ayesha Ghosh
    Ayesha Ghosh

    Wieden+Kennedy has appointed Ayesha Ghosh as Managing Director for India. Ayesha, who will be based in Mumbai, will partner with Santosh “Paddy” Padhi. Ghosh joins the agency after six years at Taproot Dentsu, where she was CEO, based in Mumbai.

     

    Wieden+Kennedy recently began expanding its presence in India, moving into Mumbai with the hire of Padhi and now Ghosh. Previously the agency had been established in Delhi since 2007, over the years building some of India’s most exciting brands including IndiGo Airlines, Royal Enfield, and the government of India.

     

    Santosh “Paddy” Padhi
    Santosh “Paddy” Padhi

    Said Ghosh: “It’s astonishing how W+K consistently produces off-the-charts work, across the world. I hope to absorb some of that genius and with the help of a talented team in India and an ace like Paddy, create some genius of our own. With scattered attention, infinite distractions, only work that is honest and primal, will win for brands. And that’s what we mean to do.”

     

    Added Padhi (Paddy), Chief Creative Officer, Wieden + Kennedy, India: “I’m glad Ayesha is joining us to be part of this wonderful journey. She is absolutely blunt and honest when it comes to work, which is extremely important these days for our business. Clients too prefer to have conversations that cut to the chase. Ayesha and I have worked closely together for a good number of years at Taproot, we understand and complement each other. An organisation is known by the kind of people that work for it and both of us will be focusing on putting together a crazy, talented bunch of people, across departments. And we believe that magic will follow.”

     

  • To help expand agency to Mumbai

    Santosh ‘Paddy’ Padhi joins Wieden+Kennedy as CCO

    By Our Staff

     

    Wieden+Kennedy has hired Santosh ‘Paddy’ Padhi as Chief Creative Officer for India. The hire also means an expansion for the independent creative agency into Mumbai, where Padhi will build out the shop’s second India location. Wieden+Kennedy has been established in Delhi since 2007, over the years working on brands loike IndiGo Airlines, Royal Enfield, and the Government of India.

     

    Said Padhi: “W+K have always raised the creative product of our industry for the last 3-4 decades, they were one of my inspirations when Taproot was set up. I have always believed creativity is the core of our business—W+K has proven that consistently with fearless creative work on a variety of brands. I’m very excited, it’s a great opportunity for me to take this vibrant legacy brand forward and build the next chapter of creative excellence out of India. In a business like ours you are as good as the kind of people you have on board—there are some wonderful minds in Delhi and I’m once again fortunate to hand pick some more wonderful people to join us and expand our presence into Mumbai.”

     

    Added Karl Lieberman, Wieden+Kennedy Global Chief Creative Officer: “Paddy is a transformative creative leader with an impressive track record building creative companies and brands, and making work that is really centered in culture. We feel lucky to have him join us at a time when we really want to connect further to the creative people and culture in India. We are excited about the future of Wieden+Kennedy in India”

     

  • Santosh 'Paddy' Padhi to lead agency, but the creative shop will miss the energy of its co-founder

    Life after Agnello Dias for Taproot

     

     

    By Our Staff

     

    His exit has been rumoured for a while now. But denied, declined and even rubbished. We were told that he has moved to a larger group-level role, as creative chairman of the Dentsu group in India.

     

    Which wasn’t untrue. But it was the beginning of a long road to the end of a relationship with Dentsu. Dias, better known as Aggi or Aggie, will continue with the agency until the end of this month (June 2021).

     

    And after that? Well, he will be a consultant on a few brands, one of which is Airtel. And what else? Nothing for the moment that has been announced.

     

    But first the news: Taproot Dentsu has announced key leadership changes as it gears up to get future-ready. Ayesha Ghosh, who had been heading the Mumbai office, has now been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). She will be responsible for both Mumbai and Gurugram offices. Ghosh has been with Taproot Dentsu since December 2015.

     

    Partnering her closely will be Shashank Lanjekar. He has been elevated to the role of Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) and will now be in charge of strategic planning for both the Taproot Dentsu offices in Mumbai and Gurugram. Thus far, he had been heading planning for the Mumbai office, ever since he joined in 2017. His ability to go deep and yet have an intuitive touch has helped give birth to some memorable campaigns.

     

    Pearl Vas, who has been with the agency since 2018, takes on more independent responsibilities in Mumbai. She will now be promoted to Senior Vice President (SVP), Strategic Planning.

     

    Meanwhile, under the overall creative leadership of Santosh ‘Paddy’ Padhi, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer (CCO) – Taproot Dentsu, the creative team for the Mumbai office has been expanded and divided into four units, each to be headed by a senior creative person. Neeraj Kanitkar, with an experience of 14 years (nine of those in Taproot Dentsu), is the creative lead for Facebook for which he has won the agency awards at Spikes and AdFest. He has also worked on significant brands like WhatsApp, Myntra, American Tourister and FirstPost.  He will be promoted to Executive Creative Director (ECD). Yogesh Rijhwani has been with the agency for close to five years with a total experience of 13 years. He has been handling Aquaguard and Set Wet. He has also worked on Star Sports, Airtel, Parle-G among others. He too will be promoted to ECD.

     

    The other two senior creative leads will be Abhishek Deshwal and Purva Ummat. Abhinav Kaushik, who was Executive Vice President (EVP) on the Honda business among other brands, has been promoted to Head – Taproot Dentsu, Gurgaon while Titus Upputuru remains very ably in charge of creative for the Gurugram office. The other news is that veteran agencyperson Umesh Shrikhande retired as CEO in March this year.

     

    Santosh Padhi or Paddy will continue as Co-Founder and CCO and will have a more hands-on role in both Mumbai and Delhi offices. According to our sources, Taproot Dentsu will, for all practical purposes, be led by him.

     

    Dias began his advertising career in 1989 and after working with agencies like Dart, Interpub, Lowe and Leo Burnett, he joined JWT in 2005 where rose to become the Chief Creative Officer. Soon JWT India was ranked India’s No. 1 creative agency in the Campaign Brief rankings for Asia. Then he made history by winning India’s first-ever Grand Prix at Cannes and the first-ever Titanium-Integrated Lion, with JWT India not only being the network’s top performer but also returning the best ever performance by an Indian advertising agency at the festival.

     

    His name features in almost every award catalogue – from our homegrown Abby and Kyoorius to Cannes Lions, D&AD, One Show, Clio, AdFest, London International Advertising Awards, etc. The list is loooong.

     

    Taproot, which was then not acquired by Dentsu, was ranked among the world’s Top 20 independent agencies besides being crowned Asia-Pacific Agency of the Year. In 2013 Taproot India also became the Asia-Pacific Agency of the Year at Spikes Asia.

     

    Nine years back, Dias was ranked amongst the World’s 100 most Creative People by Fast Company magazine in the US. So what about Life after Aggie for Taproot. Well, it is, like as one friend of the agency said, the roots have been extracted. While Paddy stays on, we all know what Aggie brought into the system. It was not just creation. It was intensity, conviction and much passion.”

     

    In an industry dominated by some of the big agencies like Ogilvy, Lowe Lintas, McCann and some others, Aggie brought in some amazing energy into his advertising. Whether it was the advertising for Airtel or for The Times of India and Mumbai Mirror, he produced some really memorable work. The kind that hasn’t been seen for a while in Indian advertising, Taproot included.

     

    There are many who say that Aggie needn’t work given the monies he earned after selling Taproot to Densu (with Paddy), but, as some of his friends tell us, that’s unfair. “Knowing Aggie, he’s going to not stop working and dreaming up new ideas for advertisers.” There were rumours of his looking at some feature film projects, but that we are told have faded away. “There was just this much he could’ve done at Taproot after selling out to Dentsu. He will reinvent himself and come up with something as refreshing as before,” the friend added.

     

    Meanwhile, for Taproot Dentsu, while Agnello Dias will continue to be around consulting for a few of its prized accounts which are possibly with the agency thanks to him, it will be interesting to see the kind of business it generates and retains in the immediate future. What we do know that co-founder Santosh ‘Paddy’ Padhi is fairly aggressive in his approach and will try his bestest to ensure the news doesn’t impact the agency’s fortunes.

     

    Clearly the next few months should see some activity for both Taproot and Agnello Dias.

  • The paper has literally cancelled out words like Corona, Covid-19, pandemic, quarantine, lockdown, death etc across all 16 pages of its June 10 edition

    FPJ launches Mission Cancel Corona with a special edition

    By A Correspondent

     

    For a while now, the Mumbai-based Free Press Journal and Taproot Dentsu have been innovating with the paper and the masthead on special days and occasions.

     

    Today, the creative agency has used the entire paper as a canvas to send the message that the “collective fight against Covid-19 will be successful only when we cancel out each and every Covid-19 case from India.” Hence, the paper has literally cancelled out words like Corona, Covid-19, pandemic, quarantine, lockdown, death etc across all 16 pages of its June 10 edition.

     

    Abhishek Karnani

    Said Abhishek Karnani, Director, Free Press Journal: “We began extensively covering Covid crisis through the epaper when the physical paper could not be delivered. Now that physical copies are welcomed back in homes, we felt it was important for us to reconnect with our readers by not just providing information but also making sure it impacts their behaviour positively. We believed the idea will be received well, and even though it seemed simple enough, it was a challenge to pull it off in real time on the printing press table”

     

    Santosh Padhi

    Added Santosh ‘Paddy’ Padhi, CCO and Co-founder, Taproot Dentsu: “Since the last year or so, Taproot has partnered with FPJ and created some impactful creative work and we are quite thrilled about the simplicity of this idea and how seamlessly it has allowed us to weave the message, which happens to be an important warning, into the product itself. It is an apt example of how print has the potential for innovation, without trying too hard.”

     

     

  • “The last five special editions have seen us changing our masthead to draw the nation’s attention to issues that deserve to be addressed, notes a communique

    Free Press changes masthead for Education Day

    By A Correspondent

     

    We didn’t know it was World Education Day today. Thankfully Free Press Journal reminded us of that with Free School, the sixth issue of special editions conceived by Taproot Dentsu. “The last five special editions have seen us changing our masthead to draw the nation’s attention to issues that deserve to be addressed, noted a communique, adding: “We started this movement on August 29, 2019, National Sports Day, by changing our 90-year-old brand name to Free Sports; followed by Free Food on World Food Day (October 16); and Free Child on Children’s Day (November 14); Free Farmers on Farmers’ Day (December 23). And today, we want to shine the spotlight on a fundamental human right – education.”

     

    Said Abhishek Karnani, Chairman Director of the Free Press Journal group: “Though we are in the business of journalism, we want to focus on addressing the issues at hand. Education is a very important factor in the economic development of any country. Since the early days of independence, India has focused on improving the literacy rate. Even today, the government runs many programmes to promote primary and higher education in India. We thought this is our way of shedding light on and starting a conversation around this issue.”

     

    Added Santosh ‘Paddy’ Padhi, Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder of Taproot Dentsu: “I’m happy that we’re now publishing our 6th special edition. The last five had us tackling five different issues. And this one is no different. I’d like to thank the Free Press Journal team for helping bring this idea to life by reaching out to concerned contributors to address the issues and ensuring that we give space to different points of view.”

     

     

  • This is in line with similar initiatives conceived by Taproot Dentsu and conducted ton August 29, 2019 for National Sports Day and then on October 16 for World Food Day, and last month on November 14 on Children’s Day

    Taproot Dentsu changes Free Press masthead yet again for Human Rights Day

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Free Press Journal has changed its masthead again given it’s World Human Rights Day today (December 10). Hence: Free Rights.

     

    This is in line with similar initiatives conceived by Taproot Dentsu and conducted ton August 29, 2019 for National Sports Day and then on October 16 for World Food Day, and last month on November 14 on Children’s Day.

     

    Said Free Press Journal group Chairman Director, Abhishek Karnani: “Though we are in the business of journalism, we want to focus on addressing the issues at hand. In a world that is increasingly becoming more open-minded, India is being close-minded. Which is why talking about human rights has become the need of the hour. And though it is impossible to speak about every right, our attempt is to highlight some of the key rights that we, as a country, find thwarted.” s

    Added Santosh Padhi, Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder: “Being from the creative industry I believe in the strength of creativity and its power to move people and change how they think. As a country, we are creatively gifted. But unfortunately, due to many religious and political agendas coming in our way, our creativity has been thwarted. The last few years have seen it taking a backseat. Both Taproot and I have, over the years, faced issues that endangered our basic right of expression – there are a number of political parties and religious groups that exist to exercise their right to thwart ours. So, this particular issue is close to my heart.”

     

     

  • The idea was brought to the 90-year-old FPJ by Taprot

    Taproot gets Free Press Journal to change its masthead again on World Food Day

    By A Correspondent

     

    In August, on National Sports Day, the Free Press Journal changes its masthead to Free Sports Journal. And today (October 16), it is calling itself the “Free Food” Journal.

     

    Said Abhishek Karnani, Director, Free Press Journal: “This is one of the most pressing issues that India is facing. A number of NGOs and organisations, including government bodies, have been working on finding solutions to this issue for the last 4-5 years. We want to do our bit to contribute and to raise awareness about the issue. By changing our masthead to reflect it, we are reflecting upon and dedicating two full pages to amplify this it. We will be taking this idea forward through the year, shining the spotlight on multiple issues – like access to education, healthcare, safety, etc., on relevant national and international days. The idea was brought to us by Taproot Dentsu, one of India’s leading advertising agencies.”

     

    Added Santosh Padhi, Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder, Santosh Padhi (Paddy): “I’m glad that we have the platform to give this issue the importance it deserves. And I’m even happier to say that we have managed to get quite a few NGOs to partner with us and accept donations, who are also just a phone call away in case you want to donate leftovers from a party, wedding or gathering. So, we have a strong call to action well integrated.”

     

  • Along with the collection, the campaign will also be the first exposure to the brand’s new proposition ‘Shine by Design’

    Taproot Dentsu creates launch campaign for Shaze’s Hosting Collection

    By A Correspondent

     

    Luxury retailer Shaze has partnered with Taproot Dentsu to launch its hosting collection of barware and brew-ware with its latest campaign.

     

    Along with the collection, the campaign will also be the first exposure to the brand’s new proposition ‘Shine by Design’. Conceptualized by Taproot Dentsu Mumbai, the campaign is live across films, outdoor, in-store branding, influencer outreach and more.

     

    Commenting on the association and campaign, Samrat Zaveri, MD, Shaze Luxury Retail said: “Our hosting range is the result of months of loving craftsmanship. After putting in a lot of efforts into its intricate designing, we were absolutely sure that we had a winning collection. Taproot Dentsu has created an advertising campaign that is worthy of this collection and we are very happy to have them as our communication partner. We have big plans for Shaze, so watch this space as there’s lots more to follow.

     

    Added Santosh Padhi, CCO and Co-founder, Taproot Dentsu: “The lovely hosting collection has been designed by some of the world’s best designers. It was important for us to be true to the range and weave stories around the hosting collection, at the same time celebrate the host by a new-age inspiring narrative, ‘Shine by Design’ is a true insight that seamlessly bridged the host and collection.”