GroupM India has elevated Navin Khemka and Sonali Malaviya at EssenceMediacom South Asia (EssenceMediacom = Essence + MediaCom). Khemka has been appointed as the CEO of EssenceMediacom South Asia, while Malaviya has been promoted as Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer – EssenceMediacom South Asia.
Both Khemka and Malaviya will be based out of Gurugram. They will work together to bring additional specialisations such as e-commerce, addressable content and digital OOH, to the offerings, while ensuring best-in-class core capabilities.
Essence, the GroupM agency for data and measurement-driven media investments, has announced the appointment of Sonali Malaviya as the agency’s Managing Director for India. Anand Chakravarthy, previously Managing Director for Essence India, has moved on from the agency to pursue new opportunities. Malaviya will be responsible for leading continued client-centric innovation in data, analytics and technology, as well as business growth and company culture for the agency in the market.
Based out of Delhi, Malaviya will report to Essence APAC CEO, T. Gangadhar (Gangs) and GroupM South Asia CEO, Prasanth Kumar (PK). She will join Essence’s APAC leadership team and GroupM India’s executive committee as part of her role.
Joining Essence in 2018, Malaviya most recently led the agency’s Google business in India and Southeast Asia as Senior Vice President, Client Services. Previously, she served as Chief Operating Officer at Colorbar Cosmetics and Country Marketing Lead at Twitter in India. With over 20 years of industry experience, she has also held senior roles at Mindshare, PHD, Roy Morgan Research and MediaCom in India, the United Arab Emirates and Australia.
Said Gangadhar: “Sonali comes with rich experience in management, marketing and media across industries and markets, as well as a deep understanding of Essence’s business, work, people and culture. In addition to building strong, collaborative partnerships with clients and employees alike, she is an advocate of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. India continues to be a priority for Essence in APAC and globally, and with Sonali at the helm, I am very excited about our next phase of growth and development in the market,” We would also like to thank Anand for his efforts in helping to establish our business in India over the last three years. We greatly appreciate his contributions and wish him the best in his future endeavours.”
Added Kumar: “We are glad to see Sonali take over the role of Essence India Managing Director. With her background and significant achievements, she will add to the capabilities of Essence and work with our teams to improve the client experience. As we continue to develop leaders internally, Sonali is also part of our growing pool of talent taking on various leadership roles across GroupM India. I look forward to working with Sonali and leveraging her expertise.”
Said Malaviya: “I am truly honoured to have the opportunity to lead Essence in India. Over the past three years, I have witnessed and been part of our incredible growth story in this market, and am very proud of what our agency, clients and employees have achieved together. I am looking forward to partnering with our highly talented teams and leveraging our industry-leading capabilities to help even more brands in India achieve data-driven growth and transformation, as well as valuable connections with consumers.”
Since Essence’s entry into India in 2016, the agency has rapidly expanded to three offices across Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai. Essence’s diverse portfolio of clients in the market includes Airtel, Britannia, Flipkart, Games24x7, Google, Honda motorcycles and scooters, Livspace, Melorra, Purplle, Vedantu, Wakefit and Zee5.
Essence, a data-driven global agency that’s part of GroupM, announced the appointment of Sonali Malaviya as Vice President, Client Partner. She will be reporting into Anand Chakravarthy, Managing Director, Essence India and will lead the Google relationship, based in the Gurgaon office.
With experience spanning over 15 years, Malaviya is a senior marketing professional working with global brands and companies. Prior to Essence, she was the Chief Operating Officer of Colorbar Cosmetics. She was also the India Country Marketing lead at Twitter and helped set up and navigate their marketing offering to some of the biggest domestic and international brands in the market. In the past, she has also held the position of Principal Partner at Mindshare Delhi, and has done stints in leading media agencies and a research firm.
Said Anand Chakravarthy, Managing Director, Essence India: “Sonali’s diverse experience and her width of exposure working on both the agency and the client side, makes her a real asset to have at Essence and the ideal choice to steward our longstanding relationship with Google. Bring onboard key leadership like Sonali is priority to Essence building a strong differentiated offering in India.â€
Agencies and brands can now #TakeFlight with free online education program, Twitter Flight School, an online resource designed to inspire creativity and help partners to make the most of marketing on the platform. Available in 16 languages across the world, Twitter Flight School helps agencies learn how to build buzz, launch products, drive sales, and instantly connect with a highly engaged audience on Twitter. The new, interactive curriculum for brands is packed with exclusive consumer insights and research, in-depth product tutorials, and fresh case studies. The personalised learning experience is designed to elevate the skills needed for ideation and integration of Twitter ad-products into your media mix.
The course includes:
Twitter 101
Ultimate guide to content planning
How to create and manage objective-based campaigns
How to reach the right people
Launch and optimize campaigns (for Buyers)
Media Planning made easy (for Planners)
Five Marketing Plays on Twitter (for Account Directors / leads)
Twitter for Executives (for Senior Leaders only)
Sonali Malaviya, Head of Business Marketing, Twitter India, says, “Twitter is the ideal platform for marketers owing to its live, public, and conversational nature. Twitter Flight School is designed to inspire creativity, demonstrate best practises and help brands make the most of Marketing on Twitter. Our online learning resource helps marketers develop high impact campaigns for brands, helps engage with consumers, and offers practical tips to understand this live ecosystem and to make the most of its real-time capabilities. Best of all, content is bite sized, customised for its audience and optimised for use on mobile devices.â€
Twitter Flight School contains everything agencies need to know to develop high-impact marketing campaigns for clients. It has tailored the content and created bite-size modules to address different agency roles and functions, including senior leadership, account planning and campaign management. One can learn:
Buying & Execution: Learn how to launch and optimize paid campaigns to drive business results and new opportunities.
Planning & Strategy: Learn how to incorporate Twitter into your media plan to influence key decision makers. Develop a holistic approach to enhance your clients’ marketing strategy and create ongoing business opportunities.
Executive Leadership: Inspire thought leadership in an evolving digital landscape and learn how to use Twitter to differentiate your personal brand.
Marketers who sign up for Flight School will also gain access to a trove of tips and downloadable presentations they can use to develop campaign ideas and prepare for senior-level meetings, such as:
On-Demand Resource Library: Exclusive access to data, research, content and tools that you can drop into presentations and use on the job
A la Carte Courses: As we launch new products and best practices you’ll have access to content that will help you stay up to speed
Twitter has appointed Sonali Malaviya as Country Business Marketing Head for India as part of Twitter’s Global Business Marketing team (GBM). She will be based at the Twitter office in Delhi and report to Frederique Covington, International Marketing Director based in Singapore. Sonali will be responsible for marketing and messaging that helps businesses understand and embrace Twitter’s advertising solutions in India. She will set the vision for business marketing strategy, segmentation, and events. In her role, she will create and evolve the Twitter story to win the hearts and minds of advertisers and agencies, while resonating across the broader advertising spectrum.
Frederique Covington, International Marketing Director, Twitter said, “India is one of our key growth markets for Twitter in Asia Pacific and we are committed to delivering more value to the local advertising community through real-time marketing solutions. We are excited to have Sonali join the Twitter flock and to further educate and engage with brand advertisers and agencies in India through her vast experience and expertise.â€
Sonali Malaviya, Country Marketing Head , Twitter India, said, “Twitter is the place for discovering what’s happening in your world right now, sharing your interests with others, and expressing your thoughts and opinions. As an individual, those are traits that I identify with and it’s truly amazing to have the opportunity to live my passion at Twitter. I’m thrilled to be joining a supercharged team and contribute my media agency experience to Twitter at this exciting time of digital transformation for brands in India.â€
With more than 15 years’ of experience in the marketing industry, Sonali previously worked at GroupM, leading a portfolio of diverse market-shaping brands like Make in India, GlaxoSmithKline, Yum Restaurants among others. She led with platform-neutral business-oriented solutions and digital-first content, impacting business positively.  Prior to joining GroupM, Sonali worked at PHD in Dubai, and at Roy Morgan Research in Australia, providing syndicated and customized consumer and shopper insights to support brand growth.
