MxMIndia

Tag: Sidharth Rao

  • Heeru Dingra takes additional charge supported by the business leadership of Ajit Devraj, Indrajeet Mookerjee & Harsh Shah…

    Sidharth Rao quits Dentsu, to turn entrepreneur yet again

    By Our Staff

     

    Sidharth Rao
    Sidharth Rao

    Dentsu India has announced that Sidharth Rao, CEO, DentsuMB Group India, will be leaving the business in December 2022. DentsuMB India will then come under the additional charge of Heeru Dingra, CEO, Isobar India group, supported by business leaders Ajit Devraj, Indrajeet Mookerjee and Harsh Shah. The new DentsuMB India leadership team will work with Rao through the transition, and in close partnership with Amit Wadhwa, CEO for the entirety of Dentsu’s Creative Service Line for India. It may be recalled, that Rao was MxMIndia Mediaperson of the Year 2019.

     

    Said Amit Wadhwa, CEO, Dentsu Creative India: “Sid is not just a colleague. He is also a dear friend; our go-to mate. He has played an instrumental role in crafting Dentsu’s creative journey for India in partnership with some of our key talents who have now grown into powerful leaders; and that is invaluable. However, when he chose to discuss his new entrepreneurial ambitions with me, I realised how truly he wanted to do this. Sid has my wholehearted support on his next move. Meanwhile, what gives me great assurance is the fantastic set of leaders that he has mentored during this growth journey. They are already taking charge and delivering with confidence. Although I would miss catching up with Sid at office, our banters will continue beyond work. He deserves to choose a fresh path for his next milestone, and I am sure his next venture would be an innovative one. We truly wish him all the luck for this next big leap.”

     

    Added Rao: “Being acquired by Dentsu has, by far, been the most important milestone in Webchutney’s journey. It has been a great, great ride. Together, Dentsu India and Webchutney are miles ahead of where we started and there are absolutely no regrets. Post the acquisition, I have been around for a decade now and the credit for my journey here goes to the network’s leadership team. I would like to thank them dearly for making dentsu feel like home. Amit is a great leader and a fantastic comrade. He is the one to ensure that we get the best of opportunities. As I move on, I am glad that Dentsu Webchutney is at a point where it is at its best; and what I take with myself is a sense of immense pride of being associated with dentsu. For my journey ahead, I am exploring a few new ideas in the exciting space of the internet. The plan for it should be ready over the next couple of months.”

     

  • Will focus on accelerating the agency's expansion across key business lines

    Harsh Shah is Managing Partner, Webchutney

    By Our Staff

     

    Harsh Shah
    Harsh Shah

    Dentsu Webchutney, the digital creative agency, has promoted Harsh Shah, erstwhile Executive Vice President (EVP), to the role of Managing Partner.

     

    In his new role, Shah will report into Sidharth Rao, CEO, DentsuMB Group, and will focus on accelerating the agency’s expansion across key business lines.

     

    Sidharth Rao
    Sidharth Rao

    Commenting on the elevation, Rao said: “Harsh has risen through the ranks over the decade that he has spent at Dentsu Webchutney. He is a testament to the agency’s unique history of consistent homegrown leadership. I have no doubt that he is the right choice to unlock Webchutney’s exciting new phase of growth, as a key part of the wider Dentsu Creative brand. With his proven record of growing people, businesses, and culture at the agency, Harsh is poised to accelerate our creative and business ambitions.”

     

  • To lead Taproot Dentsu and Isobar India as CCO

    Aalap Desai to also be CCO, Taproot

    By Our Staff

     

    Aalap Desai
    Aalap Desai

    Dentsu India has appointed Aalap Desai to the role of Chief Creative Officer (CCO), Taproot Dentsu, a DentsuMB Company. In both roles, he will report into Ajay Gahlaut, Group Chief Creative Officer India (GCCO), Dentsu Creative India.

     

    In addition to leading Isobar India’s creative team, Desai will now also be responsible for Taproot Dentsu’s transformation into becoming a Nex-Gen, digital-first agency.

     

    Sidharth Rao
    Sidharth Rao

    Said Sidharth Rao, CEO, DentsuMB Group: “The decision is vital to the growth of Dentsu Creative in India and aligned with the network’s global ambitions. Talents such as Aalap and Titus come with unmatched expertise and experience; and their contributions are bound to outweigh the expectations of our clients and the industry. Over the years, they have been groomed with the proficiency to build brands from scratch and are excellent at measuring and matching the market pulse with client needs. With this move, I look forward to Dentsu Creative India reinforcing creative solutions in newer & undefined ways.”

     

    Ajay Gahlaut
    Ajay Gahlaut

    Added Gahlaut: “It is fascinating to work with some of the country’s best creative brains. Aalap and Titus are creative geniuses who have delivered some fantastic campaigns over the years. Their brand-building approaches are contemporary and fresh. I feel that’s the need of the hour. All the conversations around us are evolving and it is inevitable for brands to evolve their conversations too. They are perfect for that task. Their expertise in brand thinking and storytelling will create robust digital-led creative solutions for clients. I am looking forward to working with both.”

     

  • The winner will be announced on MxMIndia on Friday, December 17, 2021

    So who will be the 2021 MxMIndia Mediaperson of the Year

     

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    This is awards season. From politics, business and films to many, many, many awards in the A&M world. Not just in A&M, in PR communications, content… everything.

     

    But amongst all of this, there’s the MxMIndia Mediaperson of the Year award.

     

    And how are we different:

     

    1. No jury. So no influencing, no lobbying. No accommodation of one person this year, and another the next

    2. No sponsor. No pressure from anyone on who the award should go to

    3. No event. So no pressure of having a chief guest, sponsors for the event, and hence the pulls and pressures on ensuring that the winner is a “saleable” name

    4. Planning through the year. We ensure that those who do well in the end of the year don’t have an unfair advantage as they are top-of-mind

    5. Democratic, albeit partially. We invite nominations from the world, but the decision is ours

     

    Our winners so far:

    2020: The Independent Journalist

    2019:  Sidharth Rao

    2018: Piyush Pandey

    2017: Arnab Goswami

    2016: Ashish Bhasin

    2015: Punit Goenka, Shashi Sinha, Partho Dasgupta for BARC India

     

    So who will it be this year?

    There are a few people who are in our shortlist.

    We received 26 nominations for 12 people and two organisations in response to our call for nominations on October 13.

    So, who will it be?

    Well, it’s going to happen on December 17, 2021.

    It’s a Friday.

    We’ll announce the name by 12noon that day.

    No events. No drama. No tamasha.

    An honest award for the Mediaperson of the Year.

     

  • As Head of Strategy for Dentsu Impact

    Vishal Nicholas takes up additional role at Dentsu

    By Our Staff

     

    Vishal Nicholas
    Vishal Nicholas

    Vishal Nicholas, Planning and Strategy Head at DentsuMB (earlier Dentsu India) will now also lead strategy for Dentsu Impact. Under this expanded mandate, Nicholas will manage planning and strategy for South, Mumbai and Delhi for both agencies. He will continue to report into Sidharth Rao, CEO, DentsuMB Group.

     

    Sidharth Rao
    Sidharth Rao

    Speaking on the elevation, Rao said: “As we continue to strengthen and reshape our creative offering in the Indian market, we needed a planning leader who has experience with both traditional and new-age businesses; and Vishal was the obvious choice to steer the strategy product for both DentsuMB and Dentsu Impact.”

     

    Added Nicholas: “Ever since I joined Dentsu, I’ve always been excited about the Eastern approach to building brands with simplicity and second-order thinking at its core. With DentsuMB, the combination of the East and West make it even more compelling. And with Dentsu Impact’s fantastic roster of clients, I look forward to achieving greater business outcomes for them.”

     

  • Gautam Reghunath & PG Aditiya to launch their own venture next year

    Sidharth Rao takes direct charge of Dentsu Webchutney

    By Our Staff

     

    Dentsu Webchutney has announced that Gautam Reghunath, CEO and PG Aditiya, CCO will be leaving their positions early next year to set up their own venture.

     

    With this change, the agency will now be back under the direct charge of Sidharth Rao, CEO, DentsuMB Group. Rao, founder of Dentsu Webchutney, will front the agency’s leadership team. Reghunath and Aditya will continue to work with Rao through this period to ensure a smooth transition for a team that has broken all records nationally and internationally as India’s most successful creative agency over the last few years.

     

    Commenting on the news, Rao said: “Gautam and PG have been the two most defining hires in our history. As a founder, you want your people to find their calling at the company you build, and the legacy the two of them leave behind is the best possible example of this. From joining at entry-level positions in 2010 and 2012 respectively, and rising to the very top through hard work, passion and just simply being the best in the business at their jobs. It’s a story that makes me believe that we’ve created an organisation where anyone can shine. And now, they have a chance to do it for themselves as creative entrepreneurs.”

     

    Said Reghunath and Aditya: “There is no other agency or network in the country where we would have had the chance to build our careers like we have at dentsu and at Webchutney. We’ve spent nearly 90% of our careers here, so moving on is not a decision we’re taking lightly. Our personal views of what success, failure, and everything else in between looks like have been shaped at Webchutney and the people that we’ve had the privilege of working with & leading here. We’re so proud and thankful for how it’s all panned out.”

     

     

  • Agency aims to create all-new behaviour around good financial habits through digital content

    Webchutney wins Uni Cards mandate

    By Our Staff

     

    Dentsu Webchutney, Dentsu India’s digital creative agency, has won the digital mandate for the new age fintech brand, Uni Cards.

     

    Gautam Reghunath
    Gautam Reghunath

    Commenting on the win, Gautam Reghunath, CEO, Dentsu Webchutney said: “We are in the era of fintech, which has proven to be the great equalizer in a short time. India has millions and millions of credit-eligible consumers waiting for unique, tailored financial solutions. Uni Cards is leading innovation here, and along with them, we are on a quest to redefine how credit is consumed in India.”

     

    Nitin Gupta
    Nitin Gupta

    Added Nitin Gupta, Founder & CEO, Uni Cards: “Uni is set to disrupt the credit industry by innovating and making extremely customer-centric products.  As a creative agency is known to successfully mold brands with iconic ideas, it was a no-brainer to partner with the best in business. It is the beginning of a long and exciting road for us at Uni Cards, and we are glad to partner with a team that has a nuanced understanding of the category that can lead us into long-term success.”

     

    Sidharth Rao
    Sidharth Rao

    Said Sidharth Rao, CEO, DentsuMB Group India commented, “This is an exciting win for all of DentsuMB Group. We want to bring the best creative minds from across Dentsu and Webchutney to create memorable work in this very interesting category. Our teams have only just begun working together with Uni Cards and we can already feel their incredible passion for innovating for India and building products that will boost the country’s credit industry.”

     

  • He will now lead the agency nationally

    Dentsumcgarrybowen elevates Indrajeet Mookherjee to Managing Partner

    By Our Staff

     

    Indrajeet Mookherjee
    Indrajeet Mookherjee

    Dentsumcgarrybowen (DentsuMB) has promoted Indrajeet Mookherjee to the role of Managing Partner. The agency is part of the larger, newly formed DentsuMB group, which houses a cluster of creative agencies from within the Dentsu creative service line of business. Under this fresh structure, the agencies that will report into Sidharth Rao, CEO, DentsuMB Group, are Dentsu Webchutney, Taproot Dentsu, Dentsu One, DentsuMB and Dentsu Impact.

     

    Mookherjee will now lead the agency nationally and will also report into Rao. Prior to this, he was President – South, DentsuMB where he led operations for offices in Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kochi. He joined Dentsu India as Executive Vice President (EVP) in 2016.

     

    Sidharth Rao
    Sidharth Rao

    Speaking on the elevation, Rao said: “As we continue to strengthen and reshape our creative offering in the Indian market, we needed a leader who is experienced, connected, and understands the nuances of the communication landscape. Indrajeet, with his experience in managing brands and categories across South and Southeast Asia, was the perfect choice to helm our operations. The DentsuMB group of agencies, which already boasts iconic Indian agencies like Taproot Dentsu and Dentsu Webchutney in our stable, are growing at a rapid pace, and I look forward to Indrajeet and his talented Dentsumcgarrybowen team, strengthening our creative offering even further.”
    Speaking on his new role, Mookherjee added: “I am honoured to join the leadership team of DentsuMB India at a very exciting time where our business is seeing unprecedented change. However, the one constant is the power of ideas and how we deliver business outcomes for our client partners. And that’s where I am hugely inspired by the global legacy of DentsuMB as a creative powerhouse and develop work that wins in the world and leads to better business results for brands. I am looking forward to working with our talented team and group leaders to build and create a truly integrated agency.”

     

  • The 2021 edition of Cannes Lions saw India getting three moral metals than 2019

    Dentsu Webchutney & FCB star at Cannes

     

    By Our Staff

     

    In 2019, the Indian marketing services contingent put on a very sorry figure at Cannes Lions, the annual festival of creativity in advertising. Entrants from India brought back 19 metals, just one more than what they earned the previous year. But this year, the number has grown by three, and Indian entrants bagged a total of 22 metals – in various hues – Gold, Silver and Bronze.

     

    Dentsu Webchutney bagged 50 points if one includes shortlists followed by FCB Interace with 48 points. But as a group FCB that includes FCB Ulka and FCB Interface bagged 8 metals including one Gold, three Silver and four Bronze, followed by Digital Agency Dentsu Webchutney with seven metals.

    In 2021, Webchutney beat their previous record with 20 shortlists and 7 Lions.

     

    Said Sidharth Rao, CEO, Dentsumcgarrybowen (dentsuMB) India and founder of Webchutney: “2019 showed us Webchutney was capable of creative excellence at the highest level. 2021 showed it was about doing it consistently – the wins this year have firmly planted the ‘new normal’ of what Webchutney’s north star as an agency is. The agency is home to some incredible talent and is a shining example of what the dentsuMB group of agencies and dentsu India itself wants to stand for.”

     

    Added PG Aditiya, NCD, Dentsu Webchutney added: “This year’s Cannes Lions is probably our most meaningful one yet. A huge round of applause for our teams across the country, both past and present, & gratitude to our clients who’ve shape-shifted the status-quo of Indian creativity at a global level, with us. And congratulations to the teams behind all the winning work from India.”

     

    For FCB, the metals came in for The Punishing Signal for the Mumbai Police and Times Out & Proud for The Times of India.

     

    Speaking on the win, Rohit Ohri, Chairman & CEO, FCB Group India, said: “Our pride of Lions bears testimony our commitment to putting creative excellence at the center of everything we do. Over the last three years we’ve been the best performing Indian agency at Cannes. Like they say… once is a chance, twice is a co-incidence and three times is a habit. I’m really proud of how far we’ve come on our creative transformation journey.”

     

    Added Robby Mathew, Vice Chairman & CCO, FCB Interface: “I am absolutely delighted with our performance at Cannes this year. Looking forward to many more bountiful years for my agency.”

     

    Said Swati Bhattacharya, Vice Chairman & CCO, FCB India: “When I have grandchildren I think I will skip telling them about Cinderella. I will tell them about the FCB Group India story. It’s a fairy tale without evil stepsisters. Just perfect!

     

     

    The following Special Awards were also presented: 

    Holding Company of the Festival 2020/21

    1. WPP

    2. Omnicom

    3. Interpublic Group

     

    Network of the Festival 2020/21

    1. FCB

    2. Ogilvy

    3. BBDO Worldwide

     

    Agency of the Festival 2020/21

    1. AMV BBDO, London, UK

    2. Publicis Italy, Milan, Italy

    3. FCB Chicago, USA

     

    Independent Agency of the Festival 2020/21

    1. Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, USA

    2. The Bloc, New York, USA

    3. Rethink, Toronto, Canada

     

    Palme D’Or 2020/21

    1. Chelsea Pictures, USA

    2. Pulse Films, USA

    3. Division, France

    4. Smuggler, USA

    5. Prettybird, USA

     

    Creative brand of the Festival 2020/21

    1. Burger King

    2. Bodyform/Libresse

    3. Dove

     

    Agency of the Festival by track 2020/21 – Communication

    Publicis Italy, Milan, Italy

     

    Agency of the Festival by track 2020/21 – Craft

    AMV BBDO, London, UK

     

    Agency of the Festival by track 2020/21 – Entertainment

    72andSunny, Los Angeles, USA

     

    Agency of the Festival by track 2020/21 – Experience

    McCANN, New York, USA

     

    Agency of the Festival by track 2020/21 – Good

    VMLY&R Brazil, São Paulo, Brazil

     

    Agency of the Festival by track 2020/21 – Reach

    FCB Chicago, USA

     

    Independent Agency of the Festival by track 2020/21 – Communication

    Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, USA

     

    Independent Agency of the Festival by track 2020/21 – Craft

    Work & Co, New York, USA

     

    Independent Agency of the Festival by track 2020/21 – Entertainment

    =1. Edelman, London, UK

    =1. GUT, São Paulo, Brazil

     

    Independent Agency of the Festival by track 2020/21 – Experience

    Uncommon, London, UK

     

    Independent Agency of the Festival by track 2020/21 – Good

    FARM, Stockholm, Sweden

     

    Independent Agency of the Festival by track 2020/21 – Reach

    GUT, Miami, USA

  • Narayan Devanathan is President – Strategy & Integration for Dentsu India & Head – Strategy & Consulting, APAC

    Dentsu elevates Amit Wadhwa to CEO

    By Our Staff

     

    Amit Wadhwa
    Amit Wadhwa

    There’s a hardly a day or a week when we don’t receive a communique from Dentsu India. Like this one which informs us of a new structure for its creative service line in India. The restructure will bring together the creative agencies along with their digital and PR capabilities – all from the house of Dentsu – under one umbrella with an aim to provide a more collaborative and aligned offering to clients. The brands that will come together as part of this redesign as Dentsu Creative include Dentsu Webchutney, Taproot Dentsu, WatConsult, Perfect Relations, Isobar, Dentsu One, Dentsu India and Dentsu Impact.

     

    With the eventual consolidation under the two strong global brands – Dentsumcgarrybowen (DentsuMB) and Isobar, Dentsu Creative will provide digital-native, brand-led, customer-centric, creative, and strategic solutions to clients, effortlessly.

     

    In India, the Dentsu Creative service line will be led by Amit Wadhwa as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He will be reporting into Anand Bhadkamkar and the regional dentsu Creative leadership.

     

    Sidharth Rao
    Sidharth Rao

    Sidharth Rao, in addition to his current responsibilities, will now also be in charge of the brand DentsuMB Group in India as its CEO. He will work with the leadership team on DentsuMB’s brand strategy for the market. Shamsuddin Jasani, who continues to oversee the Isobar brand in South Asia as its Managing Director (MD), will also take on an additional role at Dentsu Creative. He will now work with the regional and global leadership teams to support the Isobar practice area and will work closely with the Isobar Global leadership team on the same.

     

    Anand Bhadkamkar
    Anand Bhadkamkar

    Speaking on the new development, Anand Bhadkamkar, CEO India said: “This global restructure is about consolidation of capabilities across our brands and businesses with an aim to bring the best of our services to our clients and provide those specialisms without any hassles. The idea is to ultimately stand true to our #OneDentsu strategy and thus, transform into a sharper and leaner business partner to brands. The changes in the India leadership team only reflects a step ahead in bolstering and scaling up our market ambitions. Amit, Sid and Shams are amongst the strongest creative leaders not just within Dentsu but across industry; and with the kind of experience and knowledge backing them, I am certain that they will steer Dentsu towards excellence not just in India but beyond.”

     

    The network has elevated Narayan Devanathan as President – Strategy & Integration for India, in addition to his current role as CEO, Dentsu Solutions. He will continue to report into Anand Bhadkamkar for his additional responsibility as part of the India market leadership team. Meanwhile, Devnathan will now also don a regional hat as APAC Head for the Dentsu Creative Strategy & Consulting practice.

     

    “Narayan has been instrumental in driving integration across our units and, as part of the South Asia integration initiatives, he will be supporting the Sri Lanka team in strategy and integration across the two markets. He will now be moving away from his current additional role as Chairperson, Creative Service Line for India and will take up a regional leadership role as APAC Lead – Strategy & Consulting Practice in the creative service line. In this role, he will be working with the Regional and Global leadership teams within the creative service line to help develop the area of Strategy & Consulting Practice in the APAC region,” Bhadkamkar added.

     

  • To produce several iterations of creative copy

    Dentsu launches GPT-3 powered content creation engine

    By Our Staff

    Dentsu Asia Pacific’s Data Sciences Division has announced the launch of a GPT-3 powered content generation engine. The engine is designed to produce several iterations of creative copy tied to historic and predictive performances of content and is embedded in Dentsu Marketing Cloud (DMC) – Dentsu’s proprietary consumer insight and intelligence platform for creative and performance marketers.

    Generative Pre-trained Transformer version 3 (GPT-3 or GPT 3) by OpenAI is, by far, the most powerful language model in history. By linking GPT-3 with performance data, this one-of-a-kind content generation engine, built by Dentsu’s Data Sciences Division, puts the power of artificial intelligence-led copy-creation in the hands of every Creative across Dentsu.

    Said Sidharth Rao, Chairman, Dentsu Webchutney and Dentsumcgarrybowen India: “One of modern marketing’s most powerful enablers has been using data to understand audiences and create content that resonates powerfully with them. While compelling storytelling is paramount to connecting brands with their audiences, data enables one to move beyond a single limiting thought to unlock the full potential of an idea. As a digital-first creative network, products such as the GPT-3 powered content engine will enable our teams to mitigate the pressure that content creation requires through the intelligent use of technology to drive efficient creative product and deliver better customer experiences.”

    Added Gautam Mehra, CEO, Dentsu Programmatic and Chief Data Officer, Dentsu Asia Pacific: “AI and ML allow for the intelligent processing of information to deliver better efficiencies. With Neuro-linguistic Programming and deep learning coming to the forefront of data-driven creative messaging, enabled by GPT-3 and its applications, the link between effective creative messaging and content generation at scale is entering its golden era. The use of this new technology within our creative product is testament to Intelligence Augmentation at the driving seat of creative innovation and yielding better outcomes for clients and marketing practitioners the world over.”

    Available in 15 languages and applicable globally, the product is very easy to use. The GPT-3 powered Creative Engine will be merged with Ddentsu International’s marquee data-driven marketing engine – the Dentsu Marketing Cloud. Users simply feed the engine with a seed social media caption, theme or topic and the engine generates several iterations of the best predicted performing caption(s) or post copy within a few seconds. The underlying intelligence of the tool can apply quantitative analysis to both pre and post-live-testing cycles and uses AI & ML to predict how audiences will engage and react to any creative message in real-time.

     

     

  • Yes, just thoda sa more intezaar. Friday, December 18

    It’s coming: The 2020 MxMIndia Person of the Year

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Just three days to go for Friday, December 18. Our Big Day. The day when we will announce the 2020 MxMIndia Mediaperson of the Year.

    We are not driven by commerce. We don’t have a title or presenting sponsor. We know the industry has been in bad shape, but in that mess, we have had many stars.

    So who do you think will it be?

    As our readers are aware, over the last few years, the MxMIndia Mediaperson of the Year has earned the reputation of being the most credible barometer of the highest performer(s) in the fields of advertising, media and marketing in India in a calendar year.

    Last year’s winner of the accolade was Sidharth Rao on his rise and rise in the Indian creative world. For mainstreaming digital. In 2018, it was Piyush Pandey and in the previous year, it was Arnab Goswami for the launch of Republic TV. In 2016, we had Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia CEO Ashish Bhasin and for 2015 it was the BARC India core team of Punit Goenka, Shashi Sinha and Partho Dasgupta.

    As we said earlier, this year, the award will be presented online (on MxMIndia) on Friday, December 18, 2020. Wait for it.