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In conversation with VMLY&R’s Hari Ramanathan

Keep up with all the key people movements in the brand marketing ecosystem in Storyboard18’s CXO Moves. Here’s a round-up of the executives who are in, out, and in-between in the past two weeks.

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Untitled-design-2022-09-11T083254.428.png" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1959" />

Devika Bulchandani

Previous: President, McCann

Present: Global Chief Executive Officer, Ogilvy

Advertising agency Ogilvy has appointed Devika Bulchandani as the global chief executive officer, succeeding former Deloitte hand Andy Main who joined Ogilvy in 2020. In her new role, Bulchandani will be responsible for all aspects of the creative network’s business across 131 offices in 93 countries which would span across its advertising, public relations, experience, consulting, and health units. As she takes on her new role, she will also join WPP’s executive committee. Bulchandani had spent 26 years at McCann in various leadership roles which also includes being the president of McCann North America. With Bulchandani leading Ogilvy, she joins the long list of Indian-origin leaders at the helm of multinational conglomerates as chief executive officers. The list includes Chanel’s Leena Nair, Twitter’s Parag Agarwal and Google’s Sundar Pichai. At the recently held APAC Effie Awards 2022, Ogilvy Mumbai was named as the Agency of the Year. 

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Wendy Clark 

Previous: CEO, Dentsu International 

Dentsu International’s CEO Wendy Clark has stepped down. Clark took charge of the Japanese-owned advertising network on 1 September 2020. Prior to that, she was the global chief executive of DDB, the Omnicom-owned creative agency. Wendy is regarded as the most respected female agency leader in the global advertising circuit. She was previously a marketer at Coca-Cola. At Cannes Lions this year, Clark made an official announcement on the creation of Dentsu Creative as the company’s lead creative agency network and her vision to set up “One Dentsu” strategy that will bring Dentsu Japan and Dentsu International’s businesses closer. Under her leadership, Dentsu Creative Bengaluru went on to win Ad Agency of the Year at Cannes Lions 2022 – the first time a Dentsu agency won the prestigious award. Dentsu is the world’s fifth largest agency group with about 65,000 staff. The international business outside Japan employs around 45,000 people. Under Clark’s leadership, the network also went through an accelerated ‘transformation’. This massively hit Dentsu International’s operations globally and in India. A series of leadership changes, consolidations and dissolutions of agency brands has been happening, especially in India, over the past year and a half.

Hiroshi Igarashi, who is chief executive and president of Dentsu Group Inc, heading the two subsidiaries - Dentsu International and Dentsu Japan, will take direct control of the company. 

Sameer Khetarpal

Previous: Director - Grocery, Food and Health, Amazon

Present: Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Jubilant FoodWorks

Sameer Khetarpal has been appointed by Jubilant FoodWorks, a food service company, as the chief executive officer and managing director. Khetarpal has 25 years of experience and has worked across Unilever, Genpact, and McKinsey and Company. 

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Radhika Burman

Previous: Vice President, Strategy, BBH India

Present: Vice President & Head, BBH India

BBH India, a Publicis Groupe agency, announced the promotion of Radhika Burman to the position of vice president, and head of the agency’s Delhi branch. In her new role, Burman will be responsible for current clients, people and new business performance in Delhi, along with driving strategic thinking across clients. Burman, who has an experience of more than a decade, has worked across Dentsu, JWT, FCB Global, and Platinum Guild International. In her last role, as the manager – strategy and consumer insights at Platinum Guild International, she spearheaded the launch of Men of Platinum, men's platinum jewellery brand and Platinum Evara, a bridal jewellery line. Prior to that, she has led strategic thinking on brands like Zee, PepsiCo, Hero, Mahindra, Microsoft and Cargill, among others.

In July, George Sebastian had joined the agency as the executive creative director. In April, Arvind Krishnan, who was BBH India’s managing director, decided to move on to be the chief executive officer and founder of Manja, a company he set up with Prajato Guha, former national creative director at Leo Burnett India.

Nitin Sharma

Previous: Vice President - Business, Infectious Advertising 

Present: Senior Vice President & Head of Client Services, Publicis Worldwide India

Publicis Worldwide India has appointed Nitin Sharma as the senior vice president and head of client services. In his new role, Sharma would manage some of the agency's key brands while accelerating Publicis Worldwide’s upward growth and ambitions in the marketplace. Sharma has more than two decades of experience and has worked across Ambience, Ogilvy & Mather, Leo Burnett, and UAE Exchange. He was also a brand and marketing consultant for two years and one month. Recently, Publicis Worldwide India appointed Oindrila Roy as the managing director. 

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Saugata Mukherjee

Previous: Head Of Content, India - HBO Max, Warner Bros. Discovery

Present: Head of Content, Sony LIV

Streaming platform Sony LIV has appointed Saugata Mukherjee as the head of content. In his role, he will lead the content division for the digital businesses of Sony. Mukherjee, who has more than two decades of experience, has held leadership roles across digital media which is OTT, broadcast television and publishing. His key focus is on business strategy and planning, content creation and curation. Mukherjee has worked across HarperCollins Publishers, Rupa Publications India, NIIT, Star TV Network, Hotstar, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) and HBO Max. 

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Narayan Devanathan

Previous: Chief Client Officer, Dentsu International

Present: Chief Strategy and Communication Officer, National Foundation for India

Narayan Devanathan has joined National Foundation for India, a non-profit organisation as the chief strategy and communication officer. Devanathan, who had more than two decades of experience, had a 11 year stint at Dentsu International. He started his career with RK Swamy BBDO as a copywriter, and he worked across Vyapthi Communications, Admerasia, Ogilvy & Mather, Euro RSCG, Dentsu Marcom, Dentsu India Group and Dentsu Creative Impact Group. 

Ritu Nakra

Previous: WPP India Lead & Senior Vice President - Pepsico Foods, WPP

Present: General Manager, Landor & Fitch

Design agency Landor & Fitch has appointed Ritu Nakra as the general manager. Her responsibility is to bolster business growth and develop strategic partnership with clients in Delhi. Nakra, who has more than two decades of experience has worked across Wunderman Thompson, Fullerton India Credit Company Ltd, and Grey Group. Nakra is experienced in managing P&L, building, driving growth and revenue for businesses across categories.

Nikhil Madhok

Previous: Executive Vice President, Disney+ Hotstar

Present: Head of Hindi Original Content, Amazon Prime Video

As per reports, Nikhil Madhok will be joining Amazon Prime Video as the head of Hindi original content. While at Disney+ Hotstar, he was responsible for the entire slate of Specials from content strategy, ideation, curation, script development, production and launch. Madhok, who has two decades of experience, started his career with Unilever as an area sales manager. He rose up the ranks to be the global marketing manager. He has since then worked across Turner, Discovery Inc, and Star TV Network. 

Ahmed Rahimtoola

Previous: Head of Marketing, Allied Blenders & Distillers Pvt. Ltd.

Present: Chief Marketing Officer, Tilaknagar Industries Ltd.

Beverage company Tilaknagar Industries Ltd. has appointed Ahmed Rahimtoola as the chief marketing officer.In his new role, Rahimtoola will be responsible for leading the entire marketing function, and spearheading consumer marketing in order to strengthen the company’s regional presence,aid expansion and drive the growth of its brands across geographies. Rahimtoola has an experience of 25 years, and has worked across Triton Communications, United Breweries Ltd, and Reliance ADAG. Recently, Tilaknagar Industries launched the Mansion House Reserve French Style Brandy, the premium variant of its flagship brand Mansion House. This launch is a part of expanding the liquor major’s premium brand portfolio. 

Meenakshi Menon

Present: Chairperson, icogz

Business intelligence platform icogz has appointed Meenakshi Menon as the chairperson. Menon has more than four decades of experience and has worked across Lintas India, Zee TV Sales & Marketing Company, Carat India and Carat APAC etc. She is also the founder and chairperson of Spatial Access Pvt Ltd, and the co-founder of WayBeyond Media Pvt. Ltd.

Sujay K Rachh

Previous: Executive Director, Leo Burnett

Present: Head of Marketing, Edelweiss Wealth Management

Financial services company Edelweiss Wealth Management appointed Sujay K Rachh as the head of marketing. In his new role, Rachh will direct the financial major’s strategic marketing activities for business growth. As a part of the executive leadership team, Rachh will also be responsible for overseeing the execution of the company’s marketing strategy. Rachh has more than a decade’s experience and has worked across Concept Communication, Swamy BBDO, Lowe Lintas and Partners and Brand Capital. His specialties range across advertising, business development, concept development, customer relations, marketing management to strategic and television. Recently, Amit Nandwani who was the executive creative director and head of content at Leo Burnett India resigned from his position. And, in July, the agency bagged the creative mandate of PepsiCo India. 

Ashutosh Chaudharie

Previous: Marketing Manager, Pernod Ricard

Present: General Manager Marketing, Vi-John Group

Ashutosh Chaudharie has been appointed as the general manager of the marketing division by Vi-John Group, a men's grooming personal care brand. Chaudharie, who has more than 15 years of experience, has worked across Tata Motors, IMS Learning Resources, Henkel, Dabur India Limited etc. He has also worked as a marketing and content consultant.

Sandeep Negi

Previous: Regional Sales Head - South & East, VEVE

Present: Associate Director of Sales, AVOW

App growth marketing company AVOW has appointed Sandeep Negi as the associate director of sales. His role would be to lead all of AVOW’s business development initiatives in the country as part of the company’s domestic expansion plans while positioning AVOW as a well-known name in the mobile original equipment manufacturer (OEM) marketing ecosystem in the region.

Negi has more than a decade’s experience and has worked across Myntra, Radio Mirchi, Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd., 9X Media Pvt. Ltd, Star TV Network and Zapr Media Labs. 

Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy

CXO Moves: Ogilvy, Dentsu, Publicis, Sony Liv, Prime, Edelweiss, Jubilant and more

Keep up with all the key people movements in the brand marketing ecosystem in Storyboard18’s CXO Moves. Here’s a round-up of the executives who are in, out, and in-between in the past two weeks.

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Untitled-design-2022-09-04T200451.545.png" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1853" />

Prabha Narasimhan

Previous: Executive Director, Hindustan Unilever Ltd

Present: Managing Director, Colgate-Palmolive India

Prabha Narasimhan joined Colgate-Palmolive India as MD, taking over from Ram Raghavan who has moved to a global role. This is the FMCG company’s first hiring from outside the company at the top post in 12 years. The last time HUL hired from outside was in 2010, when it picked Mukul Deoras, also from HUL, to become MD of Colgate-Palmolive (India), CNBC-TV18 reported. Narasimhan joined HUL in January 2006 as a regional marketing manager before becoming a regional brand director for the company’s Lipton & Brooke Bond brands the next year, as per her LinkedIn profile. An Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore alumni, she rose through the ranks in HUL in over 15 years to become executive director for home care and vice-president, home care for Unilever, South Asia. Before HUL, she had a brief stint at Madura Garments as general manager, strategy.

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Laxman Narasimhan

Previous: Chief Executive Officer, Reckitt

Present: Chief Executive Officer, Starbucks; Member, Starbucks Board of Directors

Starbucks has appointed Laxman Narasimhan as the chief executive officer. Narasimhan, who will join Starbucks as incoming CEO on October 1, 2022, will work closely with Howard Schultz, interim ceo, before assuming the CEO role and joining the Board on April 1, 2023. At Reckitt, Nicandro Durante, current Senior Independent Director, will step into the role of CEO, as the Board evaluates and selects the future leadership. During the transition period, Laxman will be fully immersed in the company, spending time with Schultz and the management team, partners and customers. This will also include gaining in-depth exposure to the brand, company culture, and reinvention plan. This will initially include Starbucks store immersions, visiting manufacturing plants and coffee farms, connecting with partners around the globe as well as Starbucks long term business partners. Narasimhan has worked at McKinsey & Company and PepsiCo, before joining Reckitt. 

 
Ramanathan Balasubramanian

Previous: Group CEO, Ogilvy Indonesia

Present: Chief Marketing Officer, Ogilvy Asia 

Ramanathan B has joined Ogilvy Asia as the chief marketing officer. He has worked across agencies like RK Swamy/BBDO, Rediffusion DY&R, Ogilvy & Mather and Bates CHI&Partners. 

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Jayesh Sali

Previous: Head of Brand and Digital Marketing - South Pacific region, Vodafone

Present: Marketing head - fashion and lifestyle, Reliance Retail

Jayesh Sali has been appointed as the marketing head of the fashion and retail division by Reliance Retail. At Vodafone, he was responsible for driving brand expansion and digital innovation across the region. Sali, who has 15 years of experience, has worked across JWT, L’Oreal, and headed an EV emerging startup as the head of brand strategy. 

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Karan Shroff

Previous: CMO, Unacademy

Present: Not known

Karan Shroff, who was the chief marketing officer of learning platform Unacademy, has decided to quit the edtech major and is currently serving his notice period. In September 2021, he was promoted to Partner. 

Shroff has worked across Wizcraft International Entertainment, Bertelsmann, Herbalife International India etc. Shroff is also the co-founder of Pixies Events. Prior to joining Unacademy, he was the head of brand marketing at Xiaomi India.

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Hari Krishnan

Previous: MD, Zenith India

Present: MD and Head of Content Practice, Publicis Groupe

Publicis Groupe has appointed Hari Krishnan as the managing director and head of content practice. Krishnan, who has three decades of experience, has worked across Clarion Advertising, Ogilvy & Mather, Bates India, Grey Worldwide, JWT, The Blue Hive, Cheil Worldwide Inc. Further, he was also the strategic advisor of an independent venture he had launched, CultureDrum. Two weeks ago, Publicis Worldwide India appointed Oindrila Roy as the managing director. 

Amit Nandwani

Previous: Executive Creative Director and Head of Content, Leo Burnett

Present: Not known

Amit Nandwani, who was the executive creative director and head of content at Leo Burnett has stepped down from his position. Nandwani has two decades of experience and has worked across Ogilvy, McCann Worldgroup, JWT (now Wunderman Thompson), DDB Mudra and RMG David.

Last month, Leo Burnett had appointed Bala G as executive creative director. And, the agency also bagged the creative mandate of PepsiCo India. 

Amit Ojha

Previous: Head of Marketing Partners, Meta India

Present: Not known

Amit Ojha, who had served as the head of marketing partners at Meta India has stepped down from his position. He joined Meta in 2018 as the head of agency business. Ojha started his career with Bharti Airtel as the DGM of Brand and Media. From there, he went on to work at ibibo Group, Yatra Online Pvt Ltd, Publicis Groupe and Nestle. 

Nidhi Sehdev

Previous: Senior Brand Manager - Lakme, Unilever

Present: Senior Global Brand Manager - Lux, Unilever

Unilever promoted Nidhi Sehdev as the senior global brand manager of Lux. Sehdev had joined Unilever as a brand executive in 2011. 

Jeremi Gorman and Peter Naylor

Previous: Chief Business Officer, and Vice President - Sales, Snap Inc

Present: President - Worldwide Advertising; and Vice President - Advertising Sales, Netflix

Streaming platform Netflix has hired Jeremi Gorman and Peter Naylor to its leadership team. Netflix is in the process of building an ad-supported version of the company's streaming service, which is expected to be launched next year. Gorman has more than two decades of experience and has worked across Variety magazine, Yahoo and Amazon. Naylor, who also has two decades of experience, has worked across iVillage, NBCUniversal, Inc. and Hulu. Netflix is looking to charge brands premium prices for advertising on its ad supported platform.

Anil Jayachandran

Previous: Head of Communications Planning, Omnicom Media Group Malaysia

Present: Chief Strategy Officer, Infectious Advertising 

Independent advertising agency Infectious has appointed Anil Jayachandran as the chief strategy officer. Jayachandran, who has more than three decades of experience, has worked across Contract India (JWT agency), Lowe Lintas + Partners, Ogilvy & Mather, Universal Media (McCann), Leo Burnett etc.

Rijuta Richi

Previous: Customer Experience Head - India, Ogilvy

Present: Marketing and customer experience head, SanKash

Travel fintech company SanKash has appointed Rijuta Richi as the marketing and customer experience head. Richi has more than a decade experience and has worked across RED Express, Google, NIIT Limited, Digitas India etc.

Mohammedullah Shaikh and Richa Chugh

Previous: Head of Customer success and Delivery, Grapes; Digital Head - West region, Motivator

Present: Senior VP & Head – Tech Services, and VP - Media, Digitas

Digitas India, the marketing and technology Services brand from Publicis Groupe, roped in Mohammedullah Shaikh and Richa Chugh. The duo will report to Sonia Khurana who is the COO. Shaikh, who comes with an experience of over 22 years in technology consulting and governance, will lead all technology services mandates at the agency. Further, he will work closely with Khuranaand Roopesh Pujari (CTO, Publicis Groupe). Chugh has over 11 years of experience across various digital media, which ranges from creative, to social media, tech, and media planning. 

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Untitled-design-2022-09-04T201241.717.png" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1858" />

Siddharth Mantri

Previous: Chief Product & Growth Officer, MX Player

Present: Chief Product & Strategy Officer, Disney+

Siddharth Mantri has joined Disney+ as chief strategy officer. In March, he joined the company as the chief product officer. His responsibility includes running product management, design, analytics/data science, support & business strategy for Disney+ across India, Israel, Africa, Middle East, South Asia and SouthEast Asia. Mantri has more than 15 years of experience and has worked across Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Microsoft and Grab. As per reports, by the end of 2022, Disney+ will launch in-app commerce features.

Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy

CXO Moves: Colgate-Palmolive new MD joins; Execs in and out at Dentsu, Ogilvy Asia, Reliance Retail and Unilever

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Santosh Iyer

Previous: Vice President - Sales and Marketing, Mercedes-Benz

Present: Managing Director, Mercedes-Benz

German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz announced that it has elevated Santosh Iyer as the managing director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India. Iyer succeeds Martin Schwenk who will assume the responsibility as the president and chief executive officer, Mercedes-Benz Thailand. Both these appointments will be effective from January 1, 2023. On his new role, Iyer says, “Mercedes-Benz is at the cusp of transitioning to an exciting, electrified future and it is a privilege for me to steer the brand, introduce emerging trends and continue to define new benchmarks for our customers. We have a fantastic winning team comprising our colleagues and Franchise Partners with proven records, and I am eager to continue this winning story.” 

Iyer, who is currently serving the company as vice president, sales & marketing, has been associated with Mercedes-Benz India since 2009. With more than two decades of diverse experience in the Indian automobile industry, Iyer has worked across across sales, marketing, retail, customer service and corporate affairs. In 2016, he took up the responsibility as vice president, customer services & retail training business.

He played an instrumental role in the turnaround of the Customer Services business, successful implementation of new initiatives like MB Tyres, Parts Trading and setting up the Mercedes-Benz Academy.

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Untitled-design-2022-08-28T234358.382.png" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1738" />

Vineeta Wagh

Previous: Lead - Ecosystem Marketing (Mi & Redmi), Xiaomi India

Present: Not known

Vineeta Wagh, who worked as the lead for the ecosystem marketing division for Mi and Redmi, has decided to move on. As she announced her departure via LinkedIn, she said, "Hopefully the next chapter of the work-life will start soon after a short work break." Wagh has prevously worked for Seagull Advertising and Zivame. Recently, Xiaomi India along with Oppo and Vivo came under the radar of the Indian enforcement directorate. Plus, Xiaomi cut 900 jobs in India and China owing to a 20 percent fall in global revenue during the June quarter. On August 24, Xiaomi announced a new Redmi Note 11SE in India. 

Ashwin Padmanabhan and Sidharth Parashar

Previous: President - Trading and Partnerships; President - Investments and Pricing, GroupM

Present: President – Investments, Trading and Partnerships, GroupM India; Chief Investment Officer, Mindshare APAC

Media investment company GroupM promoted Ashwin Padmanabhan to the president for investments, trading and partnerships. Siddharth Parashar was promoted to chief investment officer for Mindshare APAC. Padmanabhan will be based out of Gurugram, and Parashar will be based out of Singapore. In their new role, Padmanabhan will continue to report to Prasanth Kumar, chief executive officer for the South Asia region of GroupM. Parashar will report to Helen McRae, chief executive officer, Mindshare APAC. Padmanabhan has worked at Reliance Industries, Big 92.7 FM, Reliance Media World and Reliance Broadcast Network etc. Parashar has had stints at Universal McCann, Madison Communications, Wavemaker etc. A week ago, Arshan Saha was named as the CEO of GroupM Nexus APAC and Jon Thurlow was named as the chief operating officer. 

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Anupama.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="450" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1736" />

Anupama Ramaswamy

Previous: Managing Partner and National Creative Director, Dentsu Impact

Present: Chief Creative Officer, Havas Worldwide India

Integrated communications company Havas Worldwide India appointed Anupama Ramaswamy as the chief creative officer. She comes on board to further catapult the creative transformation of the agency. She will assume her new role from October, and will report to Bobby Pawar, the chairman and chief creative officer. She will also work closely with the company’s managing director Manas Lahiri. Ramaswamy will be based out of Gurugram and will overlook the complete client roster of both the Gurugram and Mumbai offices. In 2021, Havas Worldwide India garnered over 30 percent growth across its Mumbai and Gurgaon offices on the back of significant business wins. Ramaswamy has worked with agencies like JWT and Cheil India, and several marquee global and Indian brands across sectors - Maruti Suzuki, Ikea, Vivo, Paytm, Subway, Tata Tea Digital, Samsung Mobiles, Airtel, Dabur, Lacoste, Whirlpool and many more. 

Ravinder Siwach, who led the creative mandate of Havas Worldwide India as the executive director and national creative director will be in the agency till October 2022. Two weeks ago, Havas Worldwide made three major appointments where Govind Agarwal, Sulagna Chanda and Neha Gupta were appointed as vice president – account management, associate vice president – strategic planning and associate vice president – client servicing.

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Untitled-design-2022-08-28T234048.272.png" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1737" />

Petr Solc

Previous: Brand Director - Skoda Russia

Present: Director - Sales and Marketing, Skoda India

Automobile manufacturer Skoda India, which is owned by Volkswagen Group, has appointed Petr Solc as the director of sales and marketing. Solc joins Skoda India from Skoda Russia, where he was the brand director. Solc will step into his new role from 1st September, and Zac Hollis, who Solc succeeds, will remain as the director of sales and marketing until 30th September. Solc, who has over 18 years of experience, started his career with Volkswagen Group, and was based out of Latin America where he worked as a product and price analyst. Recently, Skoda released the official sketches of its three-row vision 7S 7-seat electric SUV concept. The model will be unveiled on 30th August. According to reports, India has pipped China to become the third largest market (in volume terms) in the first half of 2022 for Skoda. 

Sudeep Bansal

Previous: AVP - Marketing, Swiggy

Present: Vice President - Growth, Wow Skin Science

Personal care brand Wow Skin Science appointed Sudeep Bansal as the vice president for the growth category. In his new role, Bansal will be responsible for driving growth across performance marketing, retention and products for their D2C platforms. That includes Body Cupid, WOW Skin Science, and WOW Life Science. Bansal has 15 years of experience and has worked across Reliance Communications, Coca-Cola and OLX Group. In May, Wow Skin Science raised primary capital from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC.

Kuldeep Pawar

Previous: Head of Marketing and Senior Vice President, Spice Money

Present: Chief Marketing Officer, Spice Money

Spice Money promoted Kuldeep Pawar to the chief marketing officer. His responsibility would be to support the overall strategic objectives of Spice Money by developing comprehensive marketing and communication strategies. Pawar, who has an experience of more than a decade, has worked across Tata Docomo, Spice Mobiles Limited, Vodafone, Jio, Quick Heal and Niyo Solutions. A few days ago, Spice Money elevated Atul Tiwari to the position of chief human resources officer. 

Deepanjan Chattopadhyay

Previous: Director of Product Management, Freshworks

Present: Vice President - Product, Bizongo

360 degree food packaging solution Bizongo has appointed Deepanjan Chattopadhyay as the vice president of product category. In his new role, Chattopadhyay oversees the product strategy and implementation with an emphasis on managing market-focused product development, and driving innovation across Bizongo’s product roadmap. Chattopadhyay, who is armed with an experience of more than 15 years, has worked across Tata Consultancy Services, Symphony Services, Zyme and HighRadius. In March, Bizongo acquired internet-of-things startup Clean Slate. And, In January, Bizongo acquihired Bengaluru based cloud platform Hexa.

Sajith Sivanandan

Previous: Managing Director and Business Head, Google Pay and Next Billion User Initiatives, Asia Pacific

Present: Executive Vice President and Head, Disney+ Hotstar

Streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar recently appointed Sajith Sivanandan as the executive vice president and head. Sivanandan will assume his role in October, and his mandate would be to oversee Disney+ Hotstar’s overall business operations in India. This is with direct responsibility for defining the streaming service’s strategic business priorities and charting a product roadmap for the platform’s sustained, and exponential growth in the years ahead. Sivanandan will report to Rebecca Campbell, chairman of Disney’s International Content and Operations Group and K Madhavan, president.

Further, he will also work closely with local leadership in international markets as well as with the Disney+ team in the US. Sivanandan, who has an experience of more than two decades, has worked across Star TV, The Gallup Organization, Affle UK Ltd and XA Network. 

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Untitled-design-2022-08-28T234751.962.png" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1739" />

Peeyush Dubey

Previous: EVP and Chief Marketing Officer, Larsen & Toubro Infotech

Present: Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, TheMathCompany

Illinois headquartered global data analytics and engineering firm, TheMathCompany has appointed Peeyush Dubey as the chief marketing and strategy officer. In his new role, Dubey will lead planning and execution of strategy, marketing, and communications functions. Dubey has more than two decades of experience and has had stints atIGATE (now Capgemini), Infosys, Mindtree etc. In January, TheMathCompany got USD 50 million funding from Brighton Park Capital. 

Ajeet Shukla

Previous: Executive Creative Director, Publicis Worldwide India

Present: Group Executive Creative Director, Dentsu Creative India

Dentsu Creative India recently appointed Ajeet Shukla as the group executive creative director. In his new role, Shukla will drive Dentsu Creative’s global proposition to transform brands and businesses through the power of ‘Modern Creativity’ in the western region of the country. He will report to Aalap Desai, Chief Creative Officer, Taproot Dentsu and Isobar India. Shukla, who has more than 15 years of experience, has worked across Zee News, Havas Worldwide, FCB Ulka and Enormous Brands. He has also worked with brands like IPL, ZEE, Disney+ Hotstar, TATA Salt, Ferrero Rocher, Heineken, Amstel, Skoda, Aegon Life, Tata AIG, HDFC MF, HDFC Bank, BPCL, Mak Lubricant, CHINGS, ZEE5, Dish TV, Emami Navratna, Ghadi, among others. Recently, Dentsu Creative India appointed Summer Mathur as the chief strategy officer. Also, Publicis Worldwide India conceptualised a campaign for Skoda Auto India highlighting the Skoda Slavia model.

Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy

CXO Moves: From marketing chief to MD; Execs at Mercedes, GroupM, Havas, DisneyHotstar, move up, in and out

Keep up with key people movements in the brand marketing ecosystem in Storyboard18’s CXO Moves. Here’s a round-up of the executives who are in, out, and in-between in the past two weeks.

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Bhasker Jaiswal

Previous: Regional Lead - APAC, Publicis Media

Present: Chief Operations Officer - Media, Dentsu India

Dentsu India recently appointed Bhasker Jaiswal as the chief operations officer. In his new role, Jaiswal will lead integration, transformation and operational excellence agendas. Further, he will closely work with Dentsu India’s chief executive officer Divya Karani to deliver business transformation, set up and standardise operations and systems, govern product leadership and enable sustainable revenue growth.

Jaiswal, who has an experience of more than two decades, has worked across Career Launcher, OMD China, MediaCom India, Buena Vista Television India, etc. Few weeks back, Publicis Media won the media mandate of PepsiCo India. 

Sumeer Mathur

Previous: National Strategy Head and Managing Partner, Havas Group

Present: Chief Strategy Officer, Dentsu Creative

Dentsu Creative recently appointed Sumeer Mathur as the chief strategy officer. His mandate includes building on Dentsu Creative’s strategic capabilities in order to further enhance its work, brand management, digital and public relations. He will work closely with Dentsu Creative’s group chief creative officer, Ajay Gahlaut. Mathur started his career with Rediffusion DY&R almost two decades ago, and has worked across Lowe Lintas, Contract Advertising, JWT, DDB Mudra, Havas Group and Edelman. At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2022, Dentsu Creative India was declared as the ‘Agency of the Year’. A month ago, Dentsu International appointed Robert Gilby as CEO of APAC region. 

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Saurabh Bajaj

Previous: Marketing Head - Dairy, Britannia Industries Limited

Present: EVP, Prepaid Marketing, Vodafone Idea

Vodafone Idea has appointed Saurabh Bajaj as the executive vice president for prepaid marketing. Bajaj, has marketing experience of more than 15 years with stints across Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting, Mondelez International and USL - Diageo. 

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Adit Chouhan

Previous: General Manager Marketing, The Phoenix Mills Ltd

Present: Vice President - Business Operations, Merkle Sokrati

Dentsu-owned Merkle Sokrati, a data-driven, and technology-enabled performance marketing agency, has appointed Adit Chouhan as the vice president of business operations. Chouhan who has more than a decade experience has worked across KPMG, Laqshya Media Group, Peninsula Land Ltd, Creaticity, Modish Operandi and TCT - Digital Marketing Solutions. Apart from being an author of three marketing books, he is also the founder of World Digital Conclave, a platform that brings together digital marketers and technology enthusiasts from across the globe.

Anuj Poddar

Previous: Executive Director, Bajaj Electricals

Present: MD and CEO, Bajaj Electricals

Bajaj Electricals recently elevated Anuj Poddar to the position of managing director and chief executive officer. Poddar, who has an experience of more than two decades, has worked across KPMG and Viacom18 Media Private Limited. 

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Sasha Abraham

Previous: AVP - Marketing, Disney Star

Present: Head of Brand, Plum

Plum, an employee health insurance platform has appointed Sasha Abraham as the head of brand. In her new role, Abraham will be responsible for crafting the brand strategy, driving brand awareness and affinity and spearheading thought-leadership. Abraham, who has more than a decade of work experience, has worked across Tesco, General Mills and National Football League. 

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Oindrila Roy

Previous: Head of Strategy, Essence

Present: Managing Director, Publicis Worldwide India

Publicis Worldwide India recently appointed Oindrila Roy as the managing director. Her responsibility will include working towards fostering rapid growth and publicising the agency as the preferred choice for brands and the industry. Roy, who has more than two decades of experience, has worked across JWT, Lowe Lintas, Saatchi & Saatchi, Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance, Bright Angles Consulting LLP and Leo Burnett. Recently, Publicis Groupe-owned Leo Burnett launched LB Regional, the agency’s specialised division for brands to maximise its reach with the national audiences through understanding based on region wise insights.

Shitu Anand Patil

Previous: Co-Founder & Creative Head, Plus One Design

Present: Head of Art and Executive Creative Director, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi India

L&K Saatchi & Saatchi India has appointed Shitu Anand Patil as the head of art and executive creative director. Patil, who will be based out of Mumbai, will work toward raising the quality of art across all branches of the network, including the digital-first vertical Saatchi & Saatchi Propagate. Further, she will also lead a few key lifestyle businesses. Patil, who has more than two decades of experience, has had stints across Wipro Limited, FCB Ulka, Lowe Lintas and Publicis Ambience. 

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Rohit Kapoor

Previous: Global Chief Marketing Officer, Oyo

Present: Chief Executive Officer, Swiggy

Swiggy announced the appointment of Rohit Kapoor as the chief executive officer - food marketplace. Before joining Swiggy, he was with Oyo, where he worked for close to four years first as the CEO of the company’s India and Southeast Asia operations, and later as global CMO. Having an experience of more than two decades, Kapoor has worked at McKinsey&Company, Max India Limited and Max Healthcare. Very recently, Swiggy found itself in a soup after a vegetarian Tamil lyricist took to Twitter claiming he found meat chunks in gobi manchurian. 

Satish Krishnamurthy, Ameya Kapnadak, Payal Shah, Rahul Bansal

Previous: Chief Strategy Officer, TBWA/India; Chief Marketing Officer, Artha Financial Services Ltd; Associate Strategy Director, Interbrand; Senior Consultant, Interbrand

Present: Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Growth Officer and Head of Consulting, Strategy Director and Head - Human Truths, Strategy Director and Head - Brand Economics

Interbrand recently made new appointments and elevated existing executives. Krishnamurthy, who has 21 years of experience, has worked across brand consulting, creative strategy and design thinking. Kapnadak has 25 years of experience across technology, banking and finance, automotive, consumer goods, food, fashion and retail.

Shah has more than 15 years of experience in the USA and India, and has worked across categories such as spirits, FMCG, technology and fashion. As a strategy director, her approach is to help brands rise to meaningful arenas for growth and sustainable iconic leadership. 

Bansal, who has 15 years of experience in this role, has helped with the expansion of Interbrand’s footprint in South Asia across Sri Lanka, UAE and Bangladesh. Further, he also led projects for some of the public sector units (PSUs) and private sector brands in India. 

In January, Interbrand had bagged the brand strategy mandate for ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India - a joint venture between two global steel companies ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel.

Sambit Dash

Previous: SVP - Brand Factory, Honasa Consumer Pvt Ltd

Present: Partner, RPSG Capital Ventures

Investment company RPSG Capital Ventures appointed Sambit Dash as a partner. Dash said, “Having worked with consumer brands throughout my career, I am always excited about solutions that lie at the intersection of consumer needs, brand propositions, and viable business models. RPSG Capital Ventures has built a strong portfolio of successful brands in various consumer verticals, and my immediate focus will be to support the portfolio companies with my experience in consumer businesses and D2C marketing.” Dash, who has an experience of more than a decade, started his career with Nestle India and led the P&L as well as marketing responsibilities for products like Nestea – Iced Tea and Nescafe. Subsequently, he headed the marketing department at Taco Bell in India and Sri Lanka. Recently, Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd. appointed Pratik Mukkherjee as the vice president of the Brand Factory, where he will be responsible for the launch and creation of new brands. 

Myleeta AgaWilliams

Previous: Director, Content - SEA and Australia, Netflix

Present: Chief Executive Officer - International, upGrad

Edtech unicorn upGrad appointed Myleeta AgaWilliams as the chief executive officer - international, where she will spearhead growth across the regions of APAC, EMEA and the US. Further, she will leverage her experience in scaling businesses through strategic interventions across content and global distribution for broadcast and streaming media. AgaWilliams, who has more than two decades of experience, has worked across UTV, Discovery Communications, BBC Worldwide India, Sony Pictures Network India and BBC Studios etc. During the first two quarters of the year, Netflix lost more than one million subscribers. Further, Netflix also announced that in early 2023, it will introduce a ‘cheaper-ad supported tier’. The company had earlier also announced a partnership with Microsoft to sell and power its ads.

Shubham Khurana

Previous: Client Partner, Facebook India

Present: Brand Head, Cleartrip

Global online travel company Cleartrip, which is owned by Flipkart in India, has appointed Shubham Khurana as the brand head. In the new role, his responsibilities will include augmenting Cleartrip’s brand presence across the country and expanding in the newer markets. Khurana has previously worked at Unilever for five years, and Treebo Hotels where he served as the director of brand marketing.

Nikhil Madhok

Previous: Executive Vice President, Disney+ Hotstar

Present: Not known

Nikhil Madhok, who served as the executive vice president at Disney + Hotstar has put in his papers. During his stint at Disney+ Hotstar, he was behind the conceptualisation and launch of the platform’s entry into original content titled Hotstar Specials. Madhok, who has an experience of two decades, has worked across Unilever, Turner, Star India, Discovery Inc and Star TV Network etc.

CXO Moves: Dentsu gets two execs from rival networks; Swiggy, upGrad, Vi, RPSG hire

Vishal Gupta

Previous: Vice President - Beauty and Personal Care, Unilever Russia

Present: EVP - Consumer Beauty Brands, FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd (NYKAA)

FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd (NYKAA) appointed Vishal Gupta as executive vice president for its consumer beauty brands. With nearly three decades of experience in the FMCG space, Gupta joins Nykaa after a long tenure at Unilever globally where he led large-scale, award-winning campaigns and teams. In his last role at Unilever Russia, Gupta helmed the beauty and personal care business comprising a large portfolio of international and local brands including Lux, Surf Excel, Wheel and Sunlight. Gupta will now steward Nykaa’s transformative growth across its portfolio of owned consumer brands. Gupta’s appointment comes just a day after Nykaa announced the resignation of Reena Chhapra, CEO of its private label division. Recently, the company also confirmed the acquisition of lifestyle platform LBB.

Reena Chhabra

Previous: CEO - Private Label, Nykaa

Present: Not known

Reena Chhabra, who had served as the chief executive officer of e-commerce beauty company Nykaa's beauty private label has decided to move on. Her resignation will come into effect on August 16. During her six year stint at Nykaa, she helped take the private label to more households, introduced new product lines and expanded distribution. Chhabra has over two decades of experience and has worked across companies like Kodak, Kaya Skin Care, Unilever and Colorbar USA.

Ashish Tiwari

Previous: Chief Marketing and Digital Officer, Future Generali

Present: CMO, Home Credit

Ashish Tiwari, who served as the chief marketing and digital officer at Future Generali has put in his papers and is set to join consumer finance provider Home Credit as its CMO. With over two decades of experience under his belt, Tiwari is a seasoned marketer who has held positions at companies like HCL Infosystems, Vodafone, and JACPL etc.

Vineet Nair

Previous: Vice President - Mindshare

Present: Head of Media - Amazon India

Amazon India appointed Vineet Nair as the head of media. Previously, Nair was the vice president of GroupM’s Mindshare where he headed the client leadership and planning vertical for Mindshare Fulcrum. Nair has also been a part of organisations like Lodestar Universal and Amazon. At the e-commerce platform, he led the media planning and buying, and handled long term media strategy. Further, he looked after the day-to-day deployment for Amazon.in and new engagement platforms like Prime (video and retail), digital payment solutions, fashion and grocery.

Rajesh Ghatge

Previous: Chief Growth Officer, Publicis Groupe

Present: CEO, Wondrlab Technologies

Wondrlab Technologies appointed Rajesh Ghatge as the chief executive officer. Wondrlab India, a martech startup, launched Wondrlab Technologies to help clients transform their businesses and brands in the dynamically evolving industry 4.0 digital landscape. Ghatge has held senior positions at Amul, Lamb Weston, Bates CHI &amp; Sercon, iCare Life, Indigo Consulting etc. In April, Wondrlab acquired a data-driven influencer marketing platform Opportune. Through this acquisition, the company has added influencer marketing solutions to its network.

Ganapathy Balagopalan

Previous: Head Of Strategic Planning, Ogilvy West and East

Present: Deputy Chief Strategy Officer, Ogilvy India

Ogilvy India has promoted Ganapathy Balagopalan to the position of deputy chief strategy officer where he will partner some of the agency’s key clients. Further, he will be the national effectiveness leader and help teams across markets. Ganapathy will also partner account management and creative leaders to drive digital excellence.

Abhinav Kaushik

Previous: Executive Vice President &amp; Head of Office, Dentsu

Present: President, FCB India

FCB Ulka appointed Abhinav Kaushik to the position of president. Armed with more than two decades of experience, Kaushik started his career as an area sales manager at GE Capital. Then he moved to Contract Advertising and worked as an account manager. At M&amp;C Saatchi, he was the account director, and from there he moved to J.Walter Thompson and was the vice president and client services director. At Dentsu, headed the Delhi and Mumbai offices of Taproot Dentsu and Dentsu One. His work experience spans across multiple categories from FMCG, telecom and consumer electronics to auto, education, finance and fashion.

Pratik Mukkherjee

Previous: Head Of Marketing, Infra.Market

Present: Vice President - Brand Factory, Honasa Consumer Pvt Ltd

House of Brands for beauty and personal care Honasa Consumer Pvt Ltd appointed Pratik Mukkherjee as the vice president of the brand factory. In his new role, he will be responsible for crafting, launching, and building new brands businesses for the company. With 15 years of experience, Mukkherjee is a Cannes Lions-award winning commercial leader and his experience spans across consumer goods, technology and consumer internet sectors. At Procter &amp; Gamble, he started his career as the assistant country manager for Gillette India. He was promoted as the DTC head for the Indian and the South Asian region. From there, he moved to Urban Company where he was the marketing head of the beauty, men's grooming, and professional cleaning segment.

Jyoti Mahendru

Previous: Executive Vice President Human Resources, McCann Worldgroup

Present: Chief People Officer, Wunderman Thompson

Wunderman Thompson appointed Jyoti Mahendru as the chief people officer. In her new role, she will be responsible for talent development and talent acquisition strategies across the organisation and its group companies. Mahendru had started her career with Tata Press two decades ago. Then she moved to Star TV Network where she worked as the senior manager in the HR department. She then joined Barista Coffee Company and held the position of the vice president of HR.

Rohin Desai

Previous: Head - Trading and Partnerships, Mindshare Fulcrum

Present: National Media Buying Head, Bharat Media Group

Rohin Desai joined Bharat Media Group as the national media buying head. Desai had started his career with Godrej as the field officer. Then he joined the Media Edge as a media buyer and moved to Wavemaker as a business manager. At Lintas Media Group, he was the media director and later served as senior manager of media and planning at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. At Mindshare and at Madison Communications, he was partner, and vice president of media buying. In the latter position at Madison, he headed media investments nationally for ITC.

Cherryn Dogra

Previous: Head of Marketing, India Leadership Team, Emaar India

Present: Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Land

Bharti Land appointed Cherryn Dogra as the chief marketing officer. Armed with 17 years of experience, Dogra has held positions across organisations like United Breweries Ltd, Pernod Ricard India, Lodha Group, Xanadu etc. Prior to joining Emaar India, she was the head of marketing at DLF Limited.

Saurabh Bajaj

Previous: Head of Marketing - Dairy, Britannia Industries

Present: Not known

Saurabh Bajaj, who had served as the head of marketing of the dairy segment at Britannia Industries has decided to move on. During his stint, he was responsible for the marketing strategy, activations and media for the Rs 450-crore dairy portfolio. The portfolio included Britannia cheese, ghee, dahi, dairy whitener and Winkin Cow milk shakes. Prior to this role, at Britannia Industries, Bajaj was the marketing head and looked after the international business. He was responsible for marketing Britannia's international business of Rs 700 crore. For a decade, he was associated with Mondelez International, and his last position there was as the branch sales manager. Before joining Britannia Industries, Bajaj headed innovation for the premium and luxury segment at USL - Diageo.

Abhishek Bhatia

Previous: Head ECC Marketing Max Mudra, DDB Mudra Group

Present: Vice President - Marketing, Hindustan Wellness

Hindustan Wellness has appointed Abhishek Bhatia as the vice president of marketing. He started his career as a sales officer at Coffee Day Group. He’s had stints at Ogilvy, Bates CHI&amp;Partners, Percept Ltd, Telenor, GroupM and Impact Communications.

Fatima Qidwai

Previous: Marketing Professional, Future Group India

Present: Head of Digital Marketing, SMART Stores, Reliance Retail

SMART Stores, which is a part of Reliance Retail has appointed Fatima Qidwai as the head of digital marketing. Qidwai Started her career with Future Group India as senior executive store operations, and at Future Value Retail as the assistant manager marketing. She then moved to Reliance Retail as the chief marketing manager and at Shoppers Stop she worked as the deputy general manager of the marketing department.

Snigdha Anand

Previous: Senior Brand Manager, Surf Excel

Present: Vice President - Marketing, Mamaearth

Mamaearth appointed Snigdha Anand as the vice president of marketing. At Unilever, she led purpose-led communication development for water-saving products in home care. Anand has also worked at Unilever Sri Lanka. She’s been an area sales manager and national projects lead of sales strategy and analytics, and later was brand manager of Surf Excel.

Sagar Sharma

Previous: Senior Manager, Strategic Portfolio Management, APAC, GSK Consumer Healthcare India

Present: Director of Business Strategy, The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company appointed Sagar Sharma as the director of business strategy. Sharma has had stints at Aricent and Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting. He worked at GSK Consumer Healthcare India for a decade.

Pratik Adhikari, Parijaat Sehgal and Swati Agnihotri

Previous: Brand Director, Lowe Lintas; Associate Account Director, Innocean Worldwide India; Management Supervisor, Ogilvy

Present: Associate Vice President, Account Management; Associate Vice President and head - account management; Client Servicing Director

Advertising agency Enormous Brands strengthened its leadership team by roping in Pratik Adhikari, Parijaat Sehgal and Swati Agnihotri. Adhikari and Swhgal were both appointed as the associate vice president of the account management. Agnihotri was appointed as the client servicing director. Adhikari, who has an experience of more than a decade started his career with Ogilvy and worked with Leo Burnett and Hakuhodo Percept Pvt. Ltd. Sehgal has been a part of agencies like Adept ARTvertising, McCann Worldgroup and Ogilvy &amp; Mather. Agnihotri worked at Marico, DDB Mudra Group, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Jay Morzaria

Previous: Creative Associate, Spring Marketing Capital

Present: Creative director, Oktobuzz

A few months after joining Spring Marketing Capital, Jay Morzaria quit the company to join OktoBuzz as creative director. Morzaria has worked at Schbang, The Glitch, Wavemaker and ^atom network in the past. At Schbang he was the creative head handling Pidilite's Fevicol brand.

Pranesh Urs

Previous: Director - Marketing, Samsung Electronics

Present: Not known

Pranesh Urs, who served as the director of the marketing department at Samsung Electronics has decided to move on. Announcing his departure from the organisation, he said, “These 6 years have been an incredible journey. Happy to have contributed to the growth of the brand, and to see where it is today despite a very competitive category. Now, onto exploring new possibilities.”Urs started his career at Ashok Leyland. He had stints on the agency side with Bates CHI&amp;Partners and DDB Mudra Group. He moved to HP Inc where he was the country marketing manager of laptops and tablets. His expertise spans across marketing management, digital strategy, direct marketing, digital marketing, social media marketing, integrated marketing and advertising.

Govind Agarwal, Sulagna Chanda, Neha Gupta

Previous: Associate Vice President – Client Services, Publicis Groupe; Associate Director, Plum Insights &amp; Strategy; Client Servicing Director, Hakuhodo Lync Pvt. Ltd.

Creative arm of Havas Media Group, Havas Worldwide has appointed Govind Agarwal, Sulagna Chanda and Neha Gupta as the vice president of account management, vice president of strategic planning and associate vice president of client servicing, respectively.

Ashish Golwalkar

Previous: Content Head, SET (Sony Entertainment Television) and SonyLiv

Present: Not known

As per reports, Ashish Golwalkar, who was the content head of Sony Entertainment Television and SonyLiv, has decided to move on from the company. Golwalkar has more than two decades of experience which spans across sales and marketing, content syndication, brand management and content creation. He has held positions in companies like Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, and Star TV Network etc. Three weeks ago, SET had appointed Rachin Khanijo as the marketing head.

Reuben Karkaria

Previous: Creative Head, The Good Creator Co

Present: Group Creative Director, MullenLowe Lintas Group

MullenLowe Lintas recently appointed Reuben Karkaria as the group creative head. Karkaria’s expertise lies across digital and mainline advertising, copywriting, and creative strategy. He has been a part of agencies and media houses like Leo Burnett India and Miss Malini.

Manoj Jacob

Previous: BBDO Bangalore

Present: Executive Creative Director, Crayons

Digital marketing agency Crayons roped in Manoj Jacob as the executive creative director. Jacob has worked in agencies like Ogilvy, DDB Mudra, Soho Square, Havas and Contract Advertising. At BBDO, Jacob helped set up the creative team from scratch and oversaw the creative work for Mercedes-Benz TeamX.

Vishal Chopra

Previous: Senior Director and Head of Growth Marketing, Freshworks

Present: Chief Growth Officer, Hiver

Software company Hiver has appointed Vishal Chopra as the chief growth officer. Chopra has been a part of organisations like IBM where he was the global marketing lead and he led the marketing strategy and planning for GBS’s MobileFirst portfolio globally. At Freshworks, he looked after the strategy and programs to acquire new customers, expand into the current base and retain the accounts. Towards the end of July, Freshworks announced an integration with Google’s Business for Freshchat, Freshdesk Omnichannel and Freshsales Suite products.

Udayan Chakravarty

Previous: Executive Creative Director, Wunderman Thompson

Present: ECD, FCB India

Advertising agency FCB Ulka has roped in Udayan Chakravarty as the executive creative director. Chakravarty, who has an experience of more than 15 years, had started his career as a trainee with FCB Ulka. He has gone on to work with agencies like Ogilvy, Dentsu International, JWT Worldwide, Wieden+Kennedy etc. A week ago, FCB India had appointed former Dentsu executive Abhinav Kaushik as the president.

Sudheendra Chokkasamudra

Previous: National Lead - Agency accounts, MyGate

Present: VP - Sales and Strategy, Sense Digital

Advertising and digital marketing solutions provider Sense Digital appointed Sudheendra Chokkasamudra as the vice president of sales and strategy. In his new role, he will be responsible for demand generation and campaign strategy. Having an experience of more than a decade, Chokkasamudra has been a part of organisations like Ohana Media, Ozone Media, Digex Media, LocoBuzz, Firework, ETV Bharat etc. The agency also promoted Ekta Khungar as the vice president, sales - key accounts. Her role would see her boost online revenues for the company's key accounts, develop new business and generate revenue.

Raunaq Singh Kohli

Previous: Marketing Director - India, Tinder

Present: Head of Marketing, Hinge

Dating app Hinge appointed Raunaq Singh Kohli as the head of marketing. This move comes after his six-year stint with Match Group that owns Tinder. In his new role, he will head the launch, setup and growth of Hinge in India. At Match Group, he was marketing director of the India region and aided Tinder’s launch and growth. Recently, Match Group said it would drop Tinder’s plans of adopting newer technologies like virtual currencies and metaverse-based dating. Further, Match Group also acquired members-only dating app The League.

Rohit Gupta

Previous: Chief Revenue Officer - Ad Sales and International Business

Present: Advisor, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI)

Rohit Gupta, who served as the advisor to the management and the board at Sony Pictures Networks India has decided to move on. During his 20 years at SPNI, he was responsible for the organisation’s growth under the different profiles he held. In a recent announcement, SPNI said it has extended its broadcast partnership with England Wales and Cricket Board (ECB) until 2028.

Balachandran V

Previous: National Trading Director, Dentsu Media

Present: Executive Vice President, Havas Media Group

Havas Media Group appointed Balachandran V as the executive vice president. Having an experience of 25 years, Balachandran has worked across agencies like Mindshare and has worked as an investment director with MPG. Recently, the company launched a sports, entertainment and culture based agency called Cake in India. Further, it won the integrated media mandate of millet-based food children’s brand Slurrp Farm, and expanded its footprint in Eastern India by tying up with Kolkata based digital marketing agency ‘Quite Easily Done’.

Ferzad Variyava

Previous: Group Creative Director, FCB Interface

Present: CCO, Langoor

Digital marketing agency Langoor has appointed Ferzad Variyava as the chief creative officer. In his new role, Variyava will drive brand strategy and creative thinking upstream. He will also help to coordinate brand creativity with technology, data and web 3.0 as part of the digital marketing transformation process. Armed with an experience of more than two decades, Variyava has worked in agencies like Publicis India, McCann Erickson India, Leo Burnett, Fortune Communications Pvt. Ltd, JWT, DDB Mudra Group, Famous Innovations etc. In June, Langoor exited Havas Group within three years of acquisition by the media company. Also, in the same month, the agency brought Vinay Rao on board as the head of client success where his mandate would be to head digital strategy and digital transformation on key accounts. And, gaming and esports agency Power League Gaming---based in Dubai—named Langoor as its digital, creative and strategic agency partner.

Titus Upputuru

Previous: National Creative director, Taproot Dentsu

Present: Founder, Titus Upputuru Company

Writer, director, lyricist and former national creative director of Taproot Dentsu, Titus Upputuru launched his own advertising and films firm – The Titus Upputuru Company. The company will create content for brands and audiences across platforms where along with offering brand strategy and static creative solutions across mediums and platforms, the company will offer their expertise in video also. Upputuru, who has more than 25 years of experience, has been a part of agencies like Ogilvy &amp; Mather, Publicis, TBWA and Dentsu.

Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy

CXO Moves: Nykaa ropes in Unilever exec as its private label CEO quits

Anand Chakravarthy

Previous: Co-founder, Results and Outcomes; and Managing Director, Essence

Present: Chief Growth Officer, Omnicom Media Group

Omnicom Media Group (OMG) India appointed Anand Chakravarthy as its chief growth officer. Prior to this, he has led many profitable businesses, including leadership stints at Essence Global, Wavemaker and Reliance Broadcast Network. He has worked with global and Indian brands, including several leading D2C (direct to customer) brands in India. In 2021, Chakravarthy, who was previously managing director for Essence India, joined edtech venture Results and Outcomes as co-founder. The company was founded by former Zee5 CEO Tarun Katial.

<a href="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Corporate-Crossings-New-Series-Logo-258x258-1.webp"><img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Corporate-Crossings-New-Series-Logo-258x258-1.webp" alt="" width="258" height="258" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1211" /></a>

Kapil Ohri

Previous: Head of Digital Marketing and Deputy General Manager, Dabur India

Present: Head of Performance Marketing and Engagement Marketing, Tata Nexarc

Kapil Ohri, former Dabur digital marketing head, has joined Tata Nexarc’s Tata Business Hub team as head of performance marketing and engagement marketing. In 2018, Ohri moved to the homegrown company Dabur India from Arvind Lifestyle Brands where was head, digital marketing. He has also had stints as partner at GroupM and head – digital of GSK India for Mindshare. Prior to that, he worked with OgilvyOne Worldwide as senior planning director (digital marketing).

Sudhir Das

Previous: Associate Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett

Present: Executive Creative Director, Dentsu India

Dentsu India has appointed Sudhir Das as executive creative director. In his new role, Das will oversee the agency’s Bengaluru office. Over the last two decades, he has worked with brands like Coca-Cola, Nestle, Apple and Airtel. His notable campaigns include ‘Ras-Ras mein India’, ‘Me and Meri Maggi’, ‘Spicejet Democracy’ and ‘Cardekho Back-Off’.

Gauri Awasthi

Previous: Chief Operating Officer - Strategy & Digital; Consultant, STCH Integrated Marketing Solution Pvt. Ltd

Present: Chief Digital Officer, Hashtag Orange

Digital marketing company Hashtag Orange has appointed Gauri Awasthi as the chief digital officer. In her new role, Awasthi will be responsible for managing client relationships, social media, SEO and the generation of digital revenue. Awasthi has worked in organizations like ibibo Group, Cheil India, WPP and iCubesWire, and has been instrumental in driving digital transformation strategies and marketing brand advocacy along with programmatic media for fortune 100 companies.

Anup Govindan

Previous: Executive Vice President and Head of Ad Revenue, Star Sports

Present: Viacom18

Anup Govindan has joined Viacom18. He has led advertising sales revenue for the sports business across broadcast, on-ground and digital platforms. Armed with 25 years of experience, he worked as manager of advertising sales at UTV, as a group manager at Sony Entertainment Television and as a senior director of advertising sales at ESPN Star Sports.

Cherryn Dogra

Previous: Head of Marketing, India Leadership Team, Emaar India

Present: Not known

Cherryn Dogra, who worked as the head of marketing for India at real estate developer Emaar India has decided to move on. During her 17-year long career, she has worked at United Breweries Ltd, Pernod Ricard India, William Grant & Sons, and Lodha Group etc. Prior to joining Emaar India, she worked as the head of marketing at DLF Limited.

Ravyanta Kumar

Previous: Associate Vice President - Corporate Strategy, Pocket Aces

Present: Head of D2C Content Business, Pocket Aces

Digital Entertainment Company Pocket Aces promoted Ravyanta Kumar to the position of head of D2C content business. In this new role, Kumar will lead the company’s D2C content business which houses content channels like short-form fiction channel FilterCopy, lifestyle channel Gobble and infotainment channel Nutshell.

Ashutosh Bhatt

Previous: Director, India Beverages, PepsiCo

Present: Operating Partner and Chief Growth Officer, Ananta Capital

Investment management platform Ananta Capital appointed Ashutosh Bhatt to the position of an operating partner and chief growth officer. In his new role, Bhatt will work closely with Ananta’s board of directors and all portfolio companies to formulate and execute growth plans. This includes growing existing distribution channels, driving brand-level synergies across channels and building systems and processes for sustainable top-line and bottomline growth. While at PepsiCo, he led West India and Sri Lanka Varun Beverages (VBL) Geographies. He also held the additional responsibility of being second- in -command for all of VBL geographies in the India region for PepsiCo. He has held positions at HSBC, The Coca Cola Company, and Ola.

Vishwanath Ambadipudi

Previous: Manager - Corporate Communications, HSIL Ltd

Present: Head of Marketing, Next Education

Vishwanath Ambadipudi is the new head of marketing of edtech company Next Education. In this role, Ambadipudi will drive strategic partnerships, branding, marketing campaigns, and corporate communications.

Cheuk Chiang

Previous: CEO, Greater North, Dentsu APAC

Present: CEO, Dentsu Creative Asia Pacific

Global creative network Dentsu Creative has appointed Cheuk Chiang as the chief executive officer for its Asia Pacific region. He still continues to be the CEO for the Greater North region at Dentsu APAC. Armed with an experience of more than three decades, he has had stints at agencies like Leo Burnett, Y&R Mattingly, Omnicom Media Group, and M&C Saatchi Australia.

Santosh Kumar K and Mothi Venkatesh

Previous: Senior Sales Manager, AppsFlyer; Senior Marketing Manager, Recko

Present: Director of Product Sales and Head of Growth, Qoruz

Influencer marketing and intelligence platform Qoruz has appointed Santosh Kumar K and Mothi Venkatesh as the director of product sales and head of growth, respectively. In their new roles, Kumar will be responsible for driving the growth of the platform. Venkatesh will drive the growth of the creator management platform in India. He has held marketing positions at Myntra, Gympik, and has also worked on a freelance basis at Ikea. Kumar has been associated with organisations like InMobi and Spentacorp.

Vishal Ahluwalia

Previous: Senior Vice President, McCann Worldgroup

Present: Head - South Operations, McCann Worldgroup

McCann Worldgroup has promoted Vishal Ahluwalia to head of south operations. Ahluwalia will step into the shoes of Dileep Ashoka. Armed with 27 years of experience, he has worked with agencies like Leo Burnett, JWT, Contract, TBWA/India, Grey Group and Cheil India. At Grey Group, he led the Southern market. Further, he launched B'Natural from ITC, and President butter and cheese in India.

Aayush Arora

Previous: AVP Marketing, Testbook

Present: Vice President - Client Business, Hiveminds Innovative

Marketing agency Hiveminds Innovative has appointed Aayush Arora as the vice president of client business. Arora has experience across digital marketing, client servicing and strategy. He has held positions at Merkle Sokrati, AdGlobal360, and is the founder of online marketing and advertising firm Social Cutlet.

Lada Guruden Singh and Shony Panjikaran

Previous: Marketing and PR, Sony Pictures Network India; Director and Head, Marketing, Sony Pictures Entertainment

Present: General Manager and Head of Sony Pictures International Productions (SPIP); GM and Head of Sony Pictures Releasing International

Sony Pictures Entertainment announced elevations of Lada Guruden Singh and Shony Panjikaran. In their respective roles, Singh will oversee SPIP India’s local film development and production slate. He will also look after its expansion in regional cinema. Panjikaran will manage Sony Pictures’ theatrical releasing business across the Hollywood and local cinematic slate in India. This includes all distribution, sales, and marketing efforts.

Raka Sinha

Previous: Global Brand Director - Marketing and Digital, L’Oreal, and Sustainability Director

Present: Consumer Healthcare, Sanofi

Raka Sinha, who served as the global brand director of marketing and advertising and a sustainability director at L’Oreal has decided to move on to Sanofi, a pharmaceutical industry company, and work in the consumer healthcare category. Sinha has experience across general trade, pharmacy, luxury, travel retail etc. She started her career as a strategic account executive at FCB Ulka, and worked as a brand manager and CMI manager at Marico Limited. At Unilever, she joined as the regional brand manager for Knorr—for the Asia region—and rose to become the global brand manager of Dove for the UK region.

Devyani Ozarde

Previous: Founder and Director, nxtnew Digital Business Consulting

Present: Managing Director - Media and Entertainment, Accenture

Accenture appointed Devyani Ozarde to the position of managing director - media and entertainment. Ozarde started her career at Rediff.com as senior art director, and then worked at Reliance Games as digital marketing manager. At Bennett Coleman, she held the position of a digital marketing lead, and then she moved to Sony Pictures Network India where she was the associate vice president - digital technology.

Dr. Bhaskar Das

Previous: Group President, Republic TV

Present: Chairman, IdeateLabs

Digital-first marketing agency IdeateLabs appointed Dr Bhaskar Das as the chairman. Das will mentor the senior leadership team in augmenting the company's offerings across data, content, and community solutions. Commenting on his new role, Das said, “I look forward to working cohesively with the senior management to sketch growth strategies for the group's expansion in the Indian and international markets.”
Armed with more than four decades of experience, Das started his career with The Times Of India Group, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd (BCCL), where he spent three decades and went on to serve as the president and board member. From there, he moved to Zee Media Corporation, where he served as the group chief executive officer, and then, at Republic TV, he worked as the group president. Currently, he holds the position of the director of content creation at Unica Token Pvt Ltd, an NFT startup.

Rachit Mishra

Previous: Specialist - Marketing Revenue & Yield Management (International Markets Group, Ford Motor Company

Present: Marketing Head, CJ Darcl Logistics Ltd

Transport and logistics company J Darcl Logistics Ltd appointed Rachit Mishra as marketing head. In his new role, he will manage and expand the team for brand marketing and public relations, creative and content marketing, digital and social media marketing, and marketing data analytics. At CNH Industrial, he held the position of CE brand marketing and communication manager for the Asia, Middle East and Africa region.

Rajat Abbi

Previous: International P&L Management, Marketing & Sales leader (Asia), Valvoline Inc

Present: Vice President - Global Marketing, Greater India, Schneider Electric

Rajat Abbi joins Schneider Electric as the Vice President – Global marketing, Greater India. In his new role, he will be responsible for running the marketing function for the company, driving brand, digital and commercial excellence of the company. He will be a part of the Schneider Electric Global Marketing International Operations Leadership team, Schneider Electric India Management team and Schneider Electric India Private Limited (SEIPL) Leadership Council. He started his career with Apollo Tyres, and has worked across B2C and B2B businesses in Valvoline International, Philips Lighting and Carrier Air-conditioning.

Nishant Nayak

Previous: Director of Product and Design, Zenjob

Present: Chief Product Officer, FanCode

Digital sports destination FanCode has appointed Nishant Nayak as its chief product officer. Nayak will lead the product strategy to realise FanCode’s vision of becoming the largest sports fan platform in the country. Armed with 19 years of experience, Nayak has worked at eBay, Future Bazaar and Flipkart. He is experienced in marketplace ecommerce, fashion, staffing industry, international expansion, Product vision, strategy and leadership, user experience and design, agile software development, growth, matching, product operations and program management.

Ravi Rao

Previous: CEO, GroupM, MENA

Present: Not known

Ravi Rao has quit GroupM as CEO of MENA after a stint of more than three years. Confirming his departure on LinkedIn, Rao said "Thank you all. Not the end, tbc."
Rao joined GroupM MENA from Mindshare MENA where he was the CEO. Before becoming the Mindshare MENA CEO, Rao was the Chief Client Officer at the agency. In his three decades in the business, Rao has worked at Lintas India, Impact BBDO, OmnicomMedia Group and at Mindshare.

Bhavin Shah

Previous: Head of Performance Marketing, Outbrain India

Present: Not known

Bhavin Shah, who served as the head of performance marketing at Outbrain India, a tech company has decided to move on. In his past role, he spearheaded Outbrain's marketing activities in India, which included local marketing strategy, planning, and execution of events. He has been a part of orgnaisations like IGATE, Nykaa, Baggit India, Wealth Tree Advisors and Money Care Solutions.

Bhairavi Rangarajan

Previous: Head - Digital Business and Marketing, Hero Insurance Broking

Present: Head of Digital Marketing, Branding and MarComm, Kohler Co.6

Kohler Co has appointed Bhairavi Rangarajan as the head of digital marketing, branding and marcomm, and he will be based out of Gurgaon. Rangarajan has also worked as the head of digital marketing at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd.

CXO Moves: Ad executive returns after edtech stint, Dentsu Creative gets a CEO, Dabur loses its digital head

Advertising in India is set to grow at 16 percent in 2022, led by key sporting events and elections, said a report by Dentsu International. At 16 percent growth, India will stay ahead of the US - projected to grow at 12.8 percent, according to the report - and Brazil (9 percent) as the fastest growing market.

According to the most recent Dentsu Global Ad Spend Forecasts, India is predicted to have an increase in advertising spending of 15.2 percent in 2023 and 15.7 percent in 2024.

Globally, advertising spending would increase by 8.7 percent in 2022. Ad spending in Asia-Pacific is anticipated to reach $250 billion, with digital accounting for much of this amount. Forecast indicates that the Asia-Pacific advertising market will increase by 3.9 percent to reach $259.7 billion in 2023 and a further 4.7 percent in 2024. Looking ahead, Dentsu expects the 2023 global advertising market to increase by 5.4 percent to reach $778.6 billion followed by a further 5.1 percent increase in 2024.

The overall ad spend growth in Asia-Pacific is boosted by key sporting events such as Indian Premier League, FIFA World Cup, Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and country elections in Australia and India.

Prerna Mehrotra, CEO Media APAC, Dentsu international, said that this year, India (+16 percent), Malaysia (+11 percent) and Hong Kong (+10 percent) have all achieved double-digit growth.

“Digital continues to drive growth accounting for 60.7 percent of all spending in Asia-Pacific with social, video and search predicted to lead digital growth. Advertisers increase focus and resources into e-commerce, display, and search budgets to respond to the new consumption habits. Use of first party data to identify the most profitable customers, combined with third-party data to target the prospects in the most efficient channels will help drive efficiency and manage costs,” she notes.

Meanwhile, the report stated that forecasted spending on advertising in China is expected to rise by 4 percent in 2023 and 5.4 percent the following year.

The reforecast of media investment is released in the context of escalating media price inflation, geopolitical tension, upcoming key elections, and one of the most anticipated global sports events of the year, the FIFA World Cup. Due to continued uncertainty, the current and historical comparison data has also been adjusted to remove Russian investment from the forecast, to better reflect the rest of the international ad spend trends and predictions.

The report said that digital continues to be the powerhouse driving APAC ad spend, as the fastest growing medium at 11.5 percent to reach $151.7 billion, a 60.7 percent share of total ad spend. Fuelling this is the double-digit growth of Programmatic (32.3 percent), Paid Social (27.4 percent), and digital display (13.3 percent) in 2022. In SEA, TV spend is still significant, with the largest share (57.2 percent) of total SEA spend (Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam), and a growth rate of 4.6 percent.

Globally, Out-of-Home (OOH) and cinema will both see encouraging double-digit growth in 2022 (respectively 11.5 percent and 19.6 percent). Radio is also forecast to grow, much faster than initially considered with a new reforecast of 5 percent for the year, up from 2 percent in the January predictions – which is mainly due to faster return to office working. As with previous predictions, ad spend in newspapers and magazines will continue to decline.

In 2022, the Americas will be the top ad spend region at $329.6 billion and the most dynamic with spend increasing by 13.1 percent. India at 16 percent growth will stay ahead of the US at 12.8 percent and Brazil at 9 percent as the fastest growing market.

Industry wise globally, the greatest growth is forecast for the technology sector (+11.3 percent), which has benefited from people’s greater reliance on digital devices. Retail is one of the key sectors of spend growth at a rate of 11 percent in 2022. The sector is driven by a number of factors including the significant growth of e-commerce, the entry of new players, and the introduction of emerging retail platforms. In Asia-Pacific, technology, automotive and cosmetics and personal care are among the fastest growing sectors.

Peter Huijboom, global CEO, Media and global clients, Dentsu international said that even with everything which has happened in recent months, not least the protracted war in Ukraine and its international repercussions, the advertising recovery remains strong on a global scale.

“And, despite factors such as inflation putting pressure on household budgets, combined with 2021 being a tough comparative year, we have only marginally revised down our 2022 global growth forecast by just 0.4 percentage points. Despite global economic uncertainty, brands are continuing to prioritise their spend in channels which will give them both the digital-flexibility and return they seek,” he adds.

India’s ad market to grow by 16% in 2022: Dentsu International report

Rahul Vengalil

Previous: Managing Partner, Dentsu's Isobar

Present: Not known

The exits at Dentsu continue. Rahul Vengalil, who was promoted last year to the post of managing partner at Dentsu’s Isobar, has stepped down. This is Vengalil’s second stint with the global digital experience agency. He had started his career at Isobar as the senior group head, and then went on to lead the agency as the business head. After three years and five months as the founder of What Clicks (a venture that worked to identify wastages in digital investment), he returned to Isobar as the chief business head.

Previous: Head - Marketing, Personal Care, The Good Glamm Group

Present: VP - Marketing, Wow Skin Science

Priti Rajput recently joined Wow Skin Science where she will head the D2C beauty and wellness brand as vice president of marketing. Her role will see her responsible for strategizing and leading communication campaigns for the skincare and haircare portfolio. She was previously with The Good Glamm Group. Rajput has also had stints at beauty and FMCG majors L’Oreal and Godrej Consumers Products Limited (GCPL) where she was the senior regional brand manager for L’Oreal Paris, South Asia, and as the global head for the hair color and hygiene category at GCPL.

Achint Setia

Previous: CXO &amp; Head, Marketing and Social Commerce Business, Myntra

Present: Not known

Achint Setia, who had served as the CXO and head of marketing and social commerce business at the online shopping site Myntra, has moved on. As he announced his departure via a LinkedIn post, he also reflected on the learnings he gained from his experience at Myntra. At Myntra, he was responsible for brand marketing, performance marketing, loyalty business, and research. Further, he also looked after content and creator led commerce business on the platform and on social media. In the past, he has been a part of organisations like Microsoft, McKinsey &amp; Company, and Viacom18.

Shilpi Kapoor

Previous: Marketing Director, American Express

Present: CMO, Airtel Payments Bank

Airtel Payments Bank appointed Shilpi Kapoor as the chief marketing officer. In her new job, Kapoor will oversee marketing and corporate communications, and will be a member of the bank’s executive committee. In addition, planning, developing, implementing, and monitoring the overall business marketing strategy, she will also oversee market research, pricing, product marketing, marketing communications, advertising, and public relations.

Malvika Mehra

Previous: Independent Creative Director and Brand Strategist

Present: Chief Creative Officer, The Good Glamm Group

Malvika Mehra, who began her career in the advertising industry made a switch by joining The Good Glamm Group, digital-first house of brands, as the chief creative officer. Mehra, who began her career with Ogilvy &amp; Mather as an art trainee, rose to become the creative head of the agency’s Bengaluru branch. Prior to joining The Good Glamm Group, she worked as an independent creative director and brand strategist, and headed Dentsu International India as the chief creative officer. She also had an entrepreneurial stint in the middle.

Tithi Ghosh

Previous: President and Head, Ogilvy South

Present: Managing Partner, Ogilvy South

Ogilvy India promoted Tithi Ghosh to president and head of Ogilvy South, which is the Bengaluru office. Ghosh, who has been with the agency since 2012, takes over from N Ramamoorthi who was associated with Ogilvy &amp; Mather for 16 years. During his stint, he led Ogilvy's south operations - advertising, digital, media, analytics, and international creative capabilities and offices in Bangalore and Chennai.

MVS Murthy

Previous: Head Marketing, Digital and Corporate Communications, Tata Mutual Fund

Present: CMO, Federal Bank

MVS Murthy joins Federal Bank as its first chief marketing officer. His role will expect him to leverage marketing to help build scale by working on the intersection of brand communication, customer experience, and technology. He started his career as an account executive at Ogilvy &amp; Mather, and has also been a part of ICICI Bank and Edelweiss Financial Services Limited.

Dipashree Das

Previous: Content and Brand Marketing Lead, Netflix India

Present: An entertainment company

Dipashree Das, who had joined Netflix as the head of marketing partnerships, and rose to become the content and brand marketing lead for Netflix India, has decided to move on. In her previous role for its Asia headquarters that was based out of Singapore, she helped launch Netflix across seven key Asian markets. As she made the announcement via a LinkedIn post, she also stated, “About a week from now, I will return to a city that has always felt like home, to take on an APAC+ role at a very exciting company that is reshaping every facet of entertainment as we know it.”

Mohan Wilson

Previous: Head of Global Marketing Planning, Infiniti Motor Company Limited

Present: Director - Marketing, Product &amp; Customer Experience, Nissan India

Nissan Motor Corporation appoints Mohan Wilson as the director - marketing, product &amp; customer experience where he will focus on transformation of the India business on future product strategy. His mandate also is to build a strong brand with a focus on customer experience.

Hirol Gandhi 

Previous: President and Managing Partner, Ogilvy

Present: President and Head, Ogilvy, Mumbai and Kolkata

Ogilvy elevates Hirol Gandhi as the president and head of the Ogilvy branches in Mumbai and Kolkata. Gandhi, who has been associated with Ogilvy for more than two decades, had joined the agency as a senior vice president where he worked across categories like beverages, automobile, finance, public service, tourism, foods, television, and industry.

Kartik Chandrasekhar

Previous: Global Vice President - Lifebuoy, Pears

Present: Head of Oral Care and Skin Cleansing for D&amp;E Markets, and Global Brand Lead of Pepsodent

Kartik Chandrasekhar takes up the role of head of oral care and skin cleansing for D&amp;E (developing and emerging) markets, and global brand lead of 
Pepsodent at Unilever. As he announced his new position via a LinkedIn post, he mentioned that his role would see him focus on driving category alignment and accelerating business strategies across the markets.

Aditya Mehra

Previous: Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Logomotif Communications

Present: Creative Director - South, FoxyMoron

Aditya Mehra joined the leadership team at FoxyMoron, an independent full-funnel creative and performance digital agency, as the creative director where he will lead the creative operations for the agency’s South clientele. Mehra brings to the table two decades of experience in the advertising arena. He has worked at Wunderman Thompson and Saatchi &amp; Saatchi and started his career at Leo Burnett as a junior writer.

Indrayudh Mitra and Archana Sudarsan

Previous: Senior Creative Director, Genesis, and Group head - ACD - Creative Director, Taproot Dentsu

Present: Senior Creative Director, and Creative Director, Social Panga

Creative marketing and advertising agency, Social Panga strengthened its creative team by appointing Indrayudh Mitra to the post of a senior creative director, and Archana Sudarsan as creative director. Previously, Mitra worked at Genesis as senior creative director. Sudarsan worked as group head - ACD - creative director.

Mitra comes with 15 years of experience in the field of advertising and has worked in advertising agencies like RK Swamy BBDO, Grey Worldwide, DDB Mudra, and Ogilvy &amp; Mather. In his new role, he will lead brand engagements with an integrated mandate. This also involves BTL (Below The Line), digital and films.

Sudarsan has 14 years of experience and has worked in advertising agencies like Everest Brand Solutions, Ogilvy and many other agencies. In her new role, she will lead a creative team to focus on creative strategy, brand positioning and ad films.

CXO Moves: Fresh exits and entries, a first-ever CMO position, a streamer's loss and more

Varsha Ojha

Previous: Head of Marketing and Digital, Radio City and Mid-Day

Present: Head of Marketing and Communications, Shemaroo

Varsha Ojha recently replaced Rahul Mishra—Head - Web3.0 Initiatives—as media player Shemaroo Entertainment’s head of marketing. Ojha, who comes with two decades of experience in the field of media, will be responsible for driving every aspect of brand strategy and digital of Shemaroo in her new role.

Rohit Suri

Previous: Chief Human Resources Officer, Dentsu International

Present: Head of Talent, Netflix India

Dentsu International’s former chief human resources officer, Rohit Suri, whose stint lasted for 10 months, made a move to Netflix India as the head of talent for the streaming giant . He will report to Sergio Ezama, chief human resource officer of Netflix India.

Saibal Biswas

Previous: Vice President, Marketing and Growth, International markets - Disney + Hotstar

Present: Head of Marketing, MediBuddy

Saibal Biswas has joined MediBuddy, a cashless healthcare provider, as the head of marketing. His new role will see him play a key part in the leadership team and spearhead the marketing efforts at MediBuddy and drive growth as the company expands its footprints at a pan India level. At Disney+Hotstar, Biswas was instrumental in building brand awareness for Hotstar amongst the Indian diaspora.

Tom Thomas

Previous: CMS IT Services, Aujas Cybersecurity, and HCL Technologies

Present: Head of Marketing and Branding, Equiniti

British outsourcing financial and administrative services business, Equiniti (EQ) recently appointed Tom Thomas as the head of marketing and branding for the India operations. Thomas will lead EQ India’s branding push and he will also head the operations team that supports EQ’s global marketing.

Rakesh Raju

Previous: Senior Group Brand Manager, Cavinkare

Present: Director, Brand Marketing, upGrad

Rakesh Raju joined online higher education platform upGrad as the director of brand marketing. At Cavinkare, he led the haircare portfolio and the e-commerce business. Along with that, he was involved in building new products in the personal care category.

Arghya Chakravarty

Previous: Executive Vice President - Ad Sales, Entertainment Business, Disney Star India.

Present: Not known

Arghya Chakravarty who served as an executive vice president at Disney Star India and looked after ad sales and entertainment business has put in his papers. His next move remains unknown and as per his LinkedIn profile, he will be on a two-week break. He has also been a part of PepsiCo India as the executive director - sales, beverages.

Amrutha Nair

Previous: SVP - Product and Revenue Strategy, Regional, Kids, Infotainment and Youth, Disney Star India

Present: Head - Ad sales – Hindi and English Entertainment, and SVP - Product and Revenue Strategy, Regional, Kids, Infotainment and Youth, Disney 
Star India

Amrutha Nair, who served as the senior vice president - product and revenue strategy, regional, kids, infotainment and youth at Disney Star India, has been elevated to head the ad sales for Hindi and English entertainment. She takes over from Arghya Chakravarty, who recently quit.

Ankur Garg

Previous: Group Creative Director, Dentsu Impact

Present: Not known

Ankur Garg, who served as the group creative director at Dentsu Impact, creative arm of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), has decided to move on. Garg was associated with the agency for a decade and started his career with the agency as a creative supervisor, working his way up to senior creative director before taking up the mandate of being the group creative director. He comes with an experience of more than 16 years in advertising.


Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy

CXO Moves: Moving in, up and out to the client's side

On June 22, on Storyboard18, we <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/storyboard18-indian-adland-becomes-more-mature-in-matters-of-credit-8720411.html">wrote</a> about Indian adland becoming more mature in matters of credit. There seems to be a sudden renewal of sorts in the industry’s intention to foster a credit culture.

It started with Dentsu Webchutney’s award-winning campaign.

Dentsu Webchutney (now rolled into Dentsu Creative Group India) is the agency behind India’s historic win at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity this year. And it also helped set the right example for this positive trend around <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/storyboard18-2022-was-indias-historic-year-at-cannes-lions-heres-why-8736811.html">credit</a>.

VICE World News’ <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/features/storyboard18-a-bts-look-making-of-the-unfiltered-history-tour-7817971.html">‘The Unfiltered History Tour’</a> that fetched India three Grand Prix, one Titanium Lion, ‘Global Agency Of The Year’ title, and a troop of other Lions, was a work led by PG Aditiya and Gautam Reghunath when they ran the show at Dentsu Webchutney. The duo left the agency to set up Talented, a new creative shop. Dentsu Webchutney continued to celebrate the work and entered at multiple awards shows across the globe, giving everyone their due credits.


Eighteen months were spent putting together a guided tour for visitors at the British Museum, which houses some of the world’s most disputed artefacts. Through The Unfiltered History Tour, visitors to the museum could scan the artefacts using Instagram filters and unlock an augmented reality (AR) experience that visually teleported the objects back to their homeland. Dentsu Webchutney, Aditiya, Reghunath, and an army of creative and tech professionals who were behind the campaign cheered each other all through the week when the campaign picked Lion after Lion at the Oscars of advertising.

The applause also came from other agencies present in Cannes and from back home.

Then, at Cannes, there came another big announcement for the agency. As a part of Dentsu International’s global transformation strategy, Dentsu Creative Group has official come into force. The group has aligned all its creative agencies into one unit. While Dentsu Webchutney as a brand name will not exist anymore, the agency’s people and work have roared to grab global attention, for one last time.

Storyboard18 spoke to Dentsu Creative Group India’s CEO Amit Wadhwa to understand what made ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ a standout campaign and what the Indian market means to the global network. Read on: 

Dentsu Webchutney’s work ‘The Unfiltered Tour’ for Vice has put India on the top of the world creative map. 
What according to you made it a standout campaign?

India has always had a vast and fabulous history of creativity. Just look at our story - from the Indus Valley to creations like the Taj Mahal. What this campaign has done is shone a spotlight on our inherent culture of creativity and our ability to make ideas shine. It has been such a profoundly moving and humbling experience to have this campaign be a conduit for showcasing the larger Indian story of talent and creativity.

The fact that this campaign resonated with people experiencing the tour both at the British Museum, and at home says a lot about the discourse of colonialism itself. How we don’t talk about it enough, and yet so many people live with a narrative that doesn’t do justice to their culture and heritage. The campaign’s impact came from the authenticity of activities, professors, and contributors of the campaign. Their pain of the past seamlessly touches the hearts of so many people. We couldn’t be more grateful to our client, and the people who worked towards bringing this piece of work to life.

We understand ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ took close to 18 months to put together. What was the core idea of the campaign and what were the client’s expectations?

The core idea was simple - how can we build a narrative around these disputed artefacts that are not perceived from just one end of the spectrum and consequently, make it as educative as possible. The potential of the concept grew as we moved along and VICE was an integral part of the crafting and development of this campaign, the perspective they brought on the table aided in fuelling the overall creative product you see today.

Our mission to decolonise a small part of the internet, making educative material available for future generations to come, developing assets after multiple rounds of fact checking, making sure we’re doing justice to the communities we’re representing — Dentsu Creative and VICE worked hand-in-hand for every step of the way. 

A lot has changed since the campaign took off and bagged awards across the world. The core team that worked on the campaign moved on. Dentsu went through a global restructuring. How did you manage to stand united while submitting work at award shows?

While working on the project for 18 long months, it goes unsaid that what fuelled this project was sheer passion. The team, then and now will continue to be proud of the project they put their hearts into. Because at the end of the day, this is more than just a project. This campaign is an instigator for creative businesses to take the discourse of colonialism into the future.  

What does it indicate to the industry when a campaign like ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ wins big during award shows?

The Unfiltered History Tour as a piece of work is a reaction to the complexity of the modern world, the competing narratives around history seen in the British Museum and the contrasting stories that are told around its exhibits. As such it’s a clear example of what we term modern creativity – the sort of work that creates culture, changes society and invents the future – it’s exactly the sort of work that Dentsu Creative and all successful agencies should be striving to create.

Clients want to differentiate their brands in new and meaningful ways and help consumers to navigate this complex world, so this win is indicative of the types of work that clients who want to prosper should be championing. 

Where does India stand on Dentsu Creative’s growth map?

India continues to be a strategically important and scaled market for Dentsu Creative. Between the pace of economic growth in India combined with our creative accomplishments, India has a firm place within Dentsu Creative’s growth agenda. Winning numerous creative accolades year after year is a testament to their understanding and delivery of modern creativity for clients. This creative success will be amplified by the way we are organising ourselves as a network so that great creative can be impacted everywhere.

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