MxMIndia

Tag: Tim Castree

  • The new merged entity will be unveiled in Jan 2018 with global clients like L'Oreal, Vodafone and Colgate-Palmolive

    MEC + Maxus = Wavemaker

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The announcement has been name. The new billion-dollar revenue, media, content and technology agency to be created from the merger of MEC and Maxus will be named Wavemaker. The brand mark Wavemaker reflects the agency’s heritage, born from WPP and GroupM.

     

    Said Tim Castree, Global CEO of MEC and Wavemaker: “Our purpose is to provide advertisers with the power to transform and grow their business through our Purchase Journey obsession; and importantly to do this through the integration of Purchase Journey insights and data with [m]PLATFORM, GroupM’s proprietary global audience technology.  Our Wavemaker brand and positioning is a compelling manifestation of that purpose.”

     

    Added Kelly Clark, Global CEO of GroupM: “Wavemaker is an exciting new global agency brand with a powerful proposition for clients. Tim and his team have the full support of GroupM’s scale, resources and expertise.”

     

    The brand, along with a new visual identity, will go live locally as the merger completes in each country, to be finalised by January 2018. Wavemaker will have offices in 90 countries and over 8,500 employees. Major global clients include L’Oreal, Vodafone, Marriott, Colgate-Palmolive and Paramount.

     

    While senior appointments have been announced – including that of Kartik Sharma who will helm Wavemaker in India, the reorganisation of the rest of the teams has still not been announced.

     

    Globally, it is said that there will be redundancies, though the status in India is still not known.

     

  • The APAC CEO is likely to move to London next year

    Ajit Varghese to take on global role at MEC-Maxus merged entity

     

    By A Correspondent

    Former Maxus India head and currently CEO of Maxus Asia Pacific Ajit Varghese is all set to take on a global role in the yet-unnamed entity born out of the merger of MEC and Maxus.

     

    Varghese will in all likelihood move to London as head of market development, looking after over 45 markets other than the top eight markets globally, including India.

     

    While for Varghese this would mean not overseeing India operations something that he has done with much success and passion (and aggression), but, industry insiders say, it’s a big promotion and can be the next step towards a bigger responsibility.

     

    According to reports, Tim Castree, the CEO of the merged entity, isn’t too keen on silos being set up in the form of regions. Hence all key market heads will report directly to him, and the rest – 45-odd currently – will be headed by Varghese. Varghese, who has spent 11 years in Maxus, had moved to the role of APAC CEO in January 14.

     

    Meanwhile, it’s also learnt that the CEO for the merged entity for India will be announced soon. While rumour mills suggest that it may be Kartik Sharma, given his success with Maxus South Asia since Varghese moved to a larger role and a healthy portfolio of clients in the Maxus kitty, one has to the await the final announcement on this for next week.

     

    A student of Xavier Insitute of Management, Bhubaneswar, Varghese was COO, Madison World before he joined Maxus in 2006.

     

  • GroupM’s portfolio will now comprise three media agency networks — Mindshare, MediaCom & the new co

    GroupM merges Maxus & MEC globally. In India both to operate as is

    By A Correspondent

    GroupM has announced a portfolio restructure which is essentially entails the merging if the global operations and teams of its agencies MEC and Maxus into a new, billion dollar revenue, media, content and technology agency under the leadership of MEC’s CEO Tim Castree.

    However, Maxus will continue to operate as an agency brand in India with the support of the newly formed global agency as well as the GroupM network. Ditto with MEC which will continue as is. In the near future, MEC will be rebranded to reflect the new global brand.

    GroupM’s portfolio will now comprise three successful global media agency networks — Mindshare, MediaCom, and the new company – each with more than one billion dollars in annual revenues, plus an innovative digital-first agency, Essence. GroupM also plans new investments across all of its agencies and its [m]PLATFORM data and technology capabilities.

    “We’re committed to improving our service to clients. These moves will give us greater focus, help us innovate, and improve our speed of delivery,” said Kelly Clark, Global CEO, GroupM in a statement.

    Since Clark became global CEO in October 2016, GroupM has made a number of organisational changes. Clark recently appointed Lindsay Pattison as GroupM’s Chief Transformation Officer to lead a range of transformation initiatives.

    Meanwhile, in a communique, GroupM said it is committed to the expansion of Essence, its digital-first agency, by adding traditional media capabilities and a larger geographic footprint to the agency’s existing media and creative credentials. In time, Essence will also lead several key GroupM client relationships as part of this restructure, the note added.

    GroupM acquired Essence in November 2015. “The leadership team at Essence is excited about the opportunities this creates for our clients and our people,” said Christian Juhl, CEO, Essence. “Our mission is to make advertising more valuable to the world; with this infusion of talent, capabilities and markets, we can do this now on a bigger stage.” Clark named Castree CEO of MEC in November 2016.

    “Maxus and MEC share common values and ambitions. Both networks have a strong local market presence and entrepreneurial drive. Together, we believe we can create an exciting new media, content and technology agency which we look forward to introducing soon,” said Castree.

    “We’ve clearly signaled our ambition to transform, and we mean business,” said Pattison. “This allows us to more meaningfully invest in each agency’s future – retaining and attracting the best talent with inspiring and rewarding workplaces, creating differentiated cultures and approaches, and sharing in a focus on helping clients win.”