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Tag: SapientNitro

  • Pops has indicated that he would start his own venture, deciding to set up an independent agency. His last day at work with the Publicis Groupe-owned SapientNitro was last Friday

    K V Sridhar quits SapientNitro to chase a dream

    By A Correspondent

     

    K V Sridhar

    The desire to chase dreams is not just the preserve of the youth. K V Sridhar, better known as Pops in the advertising fraternity, has moved on from SapientNitro where he has been Chief Creative Officer for two-plus years.

     

    A veteran in the business, Pop has spent over three decades across agencies like FCB Ulka, JWT, Lowe Lintas and Leo Burnett.  At Leo Burnett, he has had two stints – from 1994 to 2000 and from 2003 to 2014.  “But one must move on to chase the dream,” he told us.

     

    Speaking to The Economic Times, he said: “While I learnt to become nimble at SapientNitro, it also made me realise that the way the industry is moving if we don’t move fast enough we would be irrelevant soon.”

     

    Pops has indicated that he would start his own venture, deciding to set up an independent agency.  His last day at work with the Publicis Groupe-owned SapientNitro was last Friday.

     

    On his new venture, he told Livemint: “I have been thinking about this for a while now. And, because of my deep involvement at SapientNitro, this decision is strategically and emotionally difficult for me. It has always been my endeavour to do new things, and this new venture is a step in that direction.”  Although not much is known of the venture, it is rumoured to offer solutions in the creative advertising and technology space.

     

  • Together, both partners aim to enhance the omnichannel experience for consumers and redefine how content and commerce can be merged across channels

    SapientNitro to handle digital madate of Hugo Boss

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hugo Boss, the German premium fashion brand, announced it has appointed SapientNitro, part of the Publicis.Sapient platform, as its new digital lead agency. Together, both partners aim to enhance the omnichannel experience for consumers and redefine how content and commerce can be merged across channels.

     

    Gerd von Podewils, Senior Vice President Global Communication at Hugo Boss, said: “With SapientNitro, we have appointed a partner that represents our global approach to creating compelling brand experiences, driven by state-of-the-art technology. The ongoing digital revolution confirms our decision to transform from a vertically integrated retailer to a data- and experience-driven fashion brand, the multiple paths to purchase of today’s customer.”

     

    Nigel Vaz, Global Chief Strategy Officer and SVP Europe at SapientNitro, said: “The appointment of SapientNitro as the digital agency is an important moment for both partners. What was separated before – e-commerce and an exciting brand experience – will join forces in a unique and highly personalized hub page concept in the future. We will bring the brand’s strong, global, physical presence far closer to the increasing number of customers who experience fashion digitally.”

     

    At the core of the partnership, SapientNitro will run the brand’s digital platforms, including the primary website hugoboss.com.

     

  • Creative and client services hires continue to strengthen agency's ability to meet growing client demand for integrated creative and technology services

    SapientNitro announces senior-level appointments

    By A Correspondent

     

    Surjo Dutt

    SapientNitro, part of Publicis.Sapient, expanded its leadership in the India market with two senior appointments. Surjo Dutt joins SapientNitro as Creative Lead for the Northern region, and Sharan Sabhachandani Sharma joins as Client Services Lead for the Western region.

     

    The new additions strengthen the agency’s ability to serve the growing demand among brands for its integrated creative and technology services.  Recent new business wins for SapientNitro in India include Taj Hotels, Godrej, William Grant, DBS Bank and DHFL.

     

    “SapientNitro’s connected capabilities across business, creative and technology enable brands to answer the needs of today’s always-on consumer,” said Rajdeep Endow, Managing Director, Sapient, India. “We are delighted to add two supremely talented professionals to the team, who I know will have a strong impact on our clients’ businesses.”

     

    Based in Delhi, Surjo has more than 16 years of experience in the industry, and a reputation for creating engaging brand stories for clients including Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Slice, Tropicana, Frito Lay, Nokia, Airtel, Hero Motocorp and UNICEF. In his last role he was Vice President and Executive Creative director at JWT and was the youngest Executive Creative Director in the South Asia region.

     

    Sharan Sabhachandani Sharma

    Sharan Sabhachandani Sharma comes to the agency with almost a decade of industry experience. Prior to joining SapientNitro, Sharan was business head for P&G’s Fabric & Home Care brands, Tide & Bonux, at Leo Burnett. She has worked in India, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore and well as in Toronto, where she handled Gain (P&G’s $1 billion laundry brand) for the USA & Canada markets.

     

  • The new campaign supports the ‘One Life’ organizing idea which articulates the brand’s belief that life is for living

    SapientNitro unveils ad campaign to launch new HTC smartphone

    By A Correspondent

     

    SapientNitro has created a global advertising campaign to support the launch of the new HTC One M9 smartphone. The new through the line campaign, SapienNitro’s first work for HTC since it won the brand’s EMEA account at the end of last year will be rolled out globally across Europe, Middle East, USA and APAC.

     

    The new campaign supports the ‘One Life’ organizing idea which articulates the brand’s belief that life is for living. The two 30” spots feature people living life to the full in a series of different situations – in art galleries, on the way to work, at parties and on the way to football – using their phones to take photos, play music and take selfies to amplify their experiences.

     

    Positioning the phone as an enabler of a brilliant life, the creative aims to better connect the brand with its digitally empowered target audience in different ways, at different times and in different places to drive deeper engagement.

     

    The new TV commercials were shot in London by the French directing duo, Truman & Cooper (composed of Jonathan Cohen and Anthony Jorge) at Colonel Blimp, while the action is set to an energetic dance track specially composed by award-winning record industry producers, Joel Edwards and Glen Nichols, at One More Music.

     

    The fully integrated campaign will appear on terrestrial and satellite TV, online and cinema and will be supported by some wider print and digital activity.

     

    Markus Breglec, VP of Marketing & Sponsorships at HTC Europe, said:  “This is a great team effort with a result we’re really proud of. It’s all about celebrating the evolution of our award-winning HTC One franchise while keeping the benefits for the consumer at the centre of everything that we do.”

     

    Mark Hunter, Executive Creative Director at SapientNitro, added: “HTC totally gets that these days people use their phones to show off, have fun and look cool.  We tried to represent that.”

     

  • According to sources at the Paris-hqed conglomerate, all energies to be on Sapient play

    No Perfect Relations for Publicis. Focus on Sapient for now

     

    By Sandeep Puraname

     

    So is the Paris-based marketing services conglomerate Publicis Groupe gobbling up Perfect Relations? Oui or Non, we asked our source, and were subjected to a loud No. And is it a ‘No’ or a ‘Not yet’, we asked? Short of expletives, we were told “Bilkul Nahin, Kabhi Nahin”.

     

    Now that was something we weren’t willing to put on our headlines yesterday after we read a front-page highlighted reported in premier business daily The Economic Times. We decided to dig further, spoke to our friends at the MSLGroup who said they weren’t authorised to speak and could neither confirm or deny.

     

    Surely there can be no smoke without fire?

     

    Then on some probing over long-distance chatter within India and overseas, we got the inside story. Apparently there have rumours ever since a PR industry website flashed the news. While there may have been discussions with the MSL management, the suitor is clearly not MSL or parent Publicis.  Dentsu, Ominicom and WPP may be looking at buying up the agency, we are told.

     

    But why not MSL? After all Perfect Relations is well-pedigreed, has some interesting clients including Coca-Cola and is well-networked across the country? Because, the Publicis Groupe wants to concentrate on the Sapient buy.

     

    With Sapient, Publicis wants to up its 40 percent revenues from digital to 50 percent and it may be remembered that Sapient has nearly half its staff in India.

     

    It’s likely that all or at least most of the digital activity of the group(e) may be converged to Sapient making it a digital superpower in India and the rest of the world.

     

    While it didn’t need an industry forecast to do it, but with a Forrester research report saying that digital adspends will overtake those on television in two years in the US, most global media service corporations are getting their act together on the digital play. After all it’s no small reason that Publicis paid a 40 percent premium for Sapient at USD 25 a share.  According to reports, Publicis chairman Maurice Levy is reportedly looking at Sapient also being able to counter business going away to consultancies like Accenture.

     

    In India, Sapient has been strong on acquiring talent and turning into a well-rounded creative tech firm.

     

    Given this, it’s likely that some of the existing digital plays of the group – including in those like the MSLGroup – may not get zoned into one robust offering.  This bit is unverified, but that’s the thinking on in sections of the group. But then large networks like Leo Burnett and Publicis Worldwide have made their acquisitions so these issues need to be sorted.

     

    So, bottomline: for the now, MSLGroup is not making any new PR buys. The bosses are content with Hanmer & Partners, 2020 PR and 2020 Social.  There’s enough and more happening more.

     

    But aren’t the MSL bosses in town next week? We thought Olivier Fleurot will make the big announcement. Non, we were told.

     

    Now what if we have egg on our face if all of this is proved wrong, the boss asked this writer.

     

    We’ll know that soon.

     

    PS: Time to compose the resignation letter? Or await that long-awaited raise?

     

  • Rohitash Srivastava has joined SapientNitro as Director-Marketing & Brand Strategy and Abhishake Das has joined as Director-Creative

    SapientNitro beefs up leadership team

    By A Correspondent

     

    SapientNitro has announced two senior appointments to its local leadership team. Rohitash Srivastava has joined SapientNitro as Director-Marketing & Brand Strategy and Abhishake Das has joined as Director-Creative.

     

    “We are thrilled to announce the addition of Rohitash and Abhishake to our growing team,” said Rajdeep Endow, Managing Director, SapientNitro, India. “Both bring great thought leadership, experience and demonstrated track record and will empower SapientNitro to better serve the growing client demand for truly integrated creative and technology services.”

     

    Rohitash Srivastava
    Abishake Das

    Rohitash Srivastava brings a decade of experience as a brand strategist and consumer expert and comes to SapientNitro from Future Group’s ideation and cultural insights cell, Future Ideas. He has played a key role in creating memorable work on brands like Thums-Up, Stayfree, Saffola, Maaza, Limca, Union Bank and Uninor Telecom. In the past, he has worked with agencies such as McCann, Leo Burnett and DDB, amongst others.

     

    Abishake Das comes to SapientNitro with more than a decade of experience across traditional and digital agencies in India. He is an early adopter of digital in India and moves to SapientNitro from Whyness Worldwide. In the past he has headed creative teams and set up the digital disciplines at Tribal DDB, McCann Erickson and BBH, among others. He has to his credit more than 50 awards, both regional and global.

     

  • Invista names SapientNitro global advertising Agency of Record for its Lycra brand

    SapientNitro is Lycra’s global AOR

    By A Correspondent

     

    SapientNitro has announced that it has been appointed global advertising agency of record for the Lycra brand. Invista, which owns the brand, has tasked SapientNitro with responsibility for global brand strategy, advertising, digital, social and customer experience.

     

    Said Bob Kirkwood, Executive Vice-President of Marketing at Invista: “Lycra is one of the best known ingredient brands globally and we have high aspirations for the brand. We want to communicate our brand positioning to the millennial generation and build a consumer following of Lycra brand ambassadors.”

     

    The account will be run out of SapientNitro’s London office. The work will involve TV-led brand advertising as well as co-operative campaigns with famous garment and retailer brands and will be rolled out globally across key regions in 2014.

     

    Said Nigel Vaz, SVP and European Managing Director at SapientNitro:  “Invista is an exceptional global innovator. This is a fantastic global advertising account win for us and a powerful demonstration of where our Storyscaping approach – which combines the power of storytelling with systems thinking to allow brands to create not just ads but worlds – can take us and our clients.”