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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.

Kavitha Rao

Previous: Country Commercial Manager, IKEA India 

Present: Not known

Kavitha Rao, who had served as the country commercial manager for IKEA India has stepped down from her position. At IKEA India, she led the business agenda for India across sales, marketing, home furnishing and retail design, customer experience and food to build the brand. Rao, who has more than two decades of experience has worked across Hindustan Unilever Limited, Infosys BPM, Target, Walmart, Capgemini etc. 

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Untitled-design-2022-09-18T092706.859.png" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2102" />

Vinay Golkeri 

Present: Managing Director, India & Neighbouring Countries, Bacardi 

Bacardi announced the appointment of Vinay Golikeri as Managing Director, India & Neighboring Countries. Golikeri will be responsible for leading commercial operations across the market for the company’s portfolio of premium spirits and will continue to ensure ongoing sustainable and profitable growth for the business. In his new role, Golikeri will head the India Leadership Team and will report to Vijay Subramaniam, Regional President, Asia, Middle East & Africa, and Global Travel Retail. Golikeri has been with Bacardi since 2003 and has a long and deep connection with the India market.

Golikeri succeeds Sanjit Singh Randhawa who, after nearly five years as Managing Director, India & Neighboring Countries, will be moving to Dubai, UAE, to take on his new role as Director, External Affairs, Asia Middle East & Africa and Global Travel Retail. 

Balachandran V

Previous: National Trading Director, Dentsu Media and Holdings India

Present: Executive Vice President - Buying North, Havas Media

Media company Havas Media has appointed Balachandran V as the executive vice president - buying north. He will be responsible for media investments of all the clients in the North. Balachandran, who has over two decades of experience, has worked across MPG, Mindshare, Motivator etc. 

Anjana Ghosh

Previous: Director of Marketing and Business Development, Bisleri International

Present: Chief Executive Officer, Xotik Frujus

Beverage company Xotik Frujus has appointed Anjana Ghosh as the chief executive officer. Ghosh, who had joined Bisleri International in 2006 was responsible for innovating the brand and strategising the engineering of Bisleri from blue to green. Recently, at Xotik Frujus, the brand adopted a youthful and polished design, and packaging.

Bonsy Mehta and Afshaad Kelawala

Previous: Principal Writer & Creative Head, The Wordologists; 

Head - Growth Marketing, Clinikk

Present: Lead - branding & consumer-centricity and Content Marketing, Schbang Theta; Associate Vice President- integrated solutions, Schbang

Schbang has promoted Bonsy Mehta to lead the branding and consumer-centricity division of Schbang Theta along with its content marketing vertical. Further, the agency has appointed Afshaad Kelawala as the associate vice president for integrated solutions. Mehta, who has more than a decade experience has worked across Afternoon Despatch & Courier, Copy Mug etc. Kelawala has 15 years of experience and has worked across JM Financials, Concept Communications, Montblanc, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd.

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Untitled-design-2022-09-18T092824.854.png" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2103" />

Anika Agarwal

Previous: Chief Marketing Officer and Director - Digital Business, Max Bupa

Present: Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer, Orient Electric

Electrical equipment manufacturer Orient Electric, which is a part of CK Birla Group, has appointed Anika Agarwal as the chief marketing and customer experience officer. In her new role, she will be responsible for all aspects of the brand, supporting growth and expansion across business units and scaling up the digital footprint of the consumer electrical business. Agarwal, who has two decades of experience has worked across Agrani Convergence, A Zee Group Company, Indian Cellular Association, Nokia India etc. In March 2022, Max Bupa Health Insurance Company was rebranded as Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company.

Yogesh Rijhwani and Abhishek Deshwal

Previous: Executive Creative Directors, Taproot Dentsu

Present: Creative Director, Wieden + Kennedy

Advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy Mumbai has appointed Yogesh Rijhwani and Abhishek Deshwal as creative heads. Rijhwani, who has more than a decade experience, has worked across Oberoi IBC, Thoughtshop Advertising, Scarecrow Communications Ltd., etc. Deshwal, who has 16 years of experience has worked across Draft FCB Ulka, Saatchi & Saatchi, Contract Advertising, Rediffusion Y&R, Mudra Communications, JWT and MullenLowe Lintas Group.

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Untitled-design-2022-09-18T092946.448.png" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2104" />

Keerthi Kumar

Previous: Group Account Director, Foxymoron

Present: Business Head - South, Foxymoron

Independent full-funnel creative and performance digital agency of the Zoo media network Foxymoron has promoted Keerthi Kumar to the position of the business head of the south region. Kumar will be responsible for leading business operations, and fostering business development across the region, contributing to the overall growth of the Zoo Media conglomerate. Kumar will also continue to report into Prachi Bali, national head - client partnerships of the agency. Kumar, who has more than a decade experience has worked across Goldman Sachs, Maximizer e-Services, FireBringer Media, Phantom Ideas, Dentsu Webchutney and HealthCare Global. 

Amlan Pati

Previous: Head E-Commerce, D2C and Digital Marketing, CavinKare

Present: Not known

Amlan Pati, who had served as the head of e-commerce, D2C and digital marketing at CavinKare, a consumer products manufacturing company, has decided to move on. Pati started out at CavinKare as marketing head - digital and e-commerce. He’s had stints at Panasonic India and realme. 

Sam Thomas, Rehan Ali, Atishay Agrawal, Pratishtha Dehariya

Previous: Sr. VP - National Digital Head, OMD Worldwide; Sr. Director - Digital Strategy and Planning - India, iProspect; AVP - Performance Marketing, Value 360 Communications Private Limited; Senior Manager - Business Strategy, Merkle Sokrati. 

Present: Head – Performance & Product, India; Partner – Performance (North and East); Senior Director – Performance (South); and Partner – Performance (West), Mindshare 

Global media and marketing services company Mindshare has roped in Sam Thomas, Rehan Ali, Atishay Agrawal and Pratishtha Dehariya. Thomas will look after the performance business, productizing services and building enhanced capabilities for clients.

Ali will bring in more efficiencies for an existing set of clients and grow the performance marketing portfolio. He will also support teams to bring on board new clients in the northern and eastern markets. Agrawal will help grow the existing business efficiently, and grow the performance portfolio for Mindshare in the South. Dehariya’s role is to lead the performance business for Mindshare West. 

Ali, Agrawal, and Dehariya will join Thomas’s team as key appointments. Thomas has over 16 years of experience in digital marketing, and has worked across Accenture, Convonix Inc, Logicserve Digital, PHD India (Omnicom Media Group), Resolution Media etc. Ali has 16 years of experience and has worked across Indiamart Intermesh Limited, Webchutney, Madison Media Plus, Digitas, Reprise Media India Pvt Ltd, Cheil India, Value 360 Communications Private Limited etc.

Agrawal comes with eight years of experience and has worked across KPMG, Talview, ZPX etc. Dehariya has over a decade experience and has worked across iProspect Communicate 2, YouTube, Accenture, Sizmek, PHD, MightyHive etc.

Pravesh Saha

Previous: Head of Sales & Education and Leadership Team Member, Wella India

Present: General Manager, India and South Asia, Wella India

Global beauty brand Wella India has appointed Pravesh Saha as the general manager of the India and South Asia region. Saha, who has more than a decade's experience, was with ITC Limited for 11 years. In April, Wella had announced that it is acquiring Briogeo, one of the fastest growing hair care brands in the world. Further, the brand is also known for being one of the largest independent-black owned brands in the United States.

Mohammedullah Shaikh and Richa Chugh

Previous: Head of Customer success and delivery (VP Technology), Grapes Digital; and Digital Head - West Region, Motivator, GroupM

Present: Vice President - Media; Senior VP & Head – Tech Services, Digitas India 

Global marketing and technology agency from Publicis Groupe, Digitas India has roped in Mohammedullah Shaikh and Richa Chugh. Shaikh, who has more than a decade experience, will lead all technology services mandates at the agency. He will work closely with Sonia Khurana, chief operating officer, and Roopesh Pujari, chief technology officer of Publicis Groupe. Chugh, who has 15 years of experience, has worked across IntegralPR, Maxus, Sportz Interactive, Interactive Avenues, Innocean Worldwide, etc. In August, Audio-wearable brand boAt along with Digitas India hosted India’s first K-Pop concert in the metaverse.

Santosh Kumar

Previous: Managing Director, India, HRS Group

Present: Country Head - Indian subcontinent and Indonesia, Booking

Online travel agency Booking has appointed Santosh Kumar as the country head for the Indian subcontinent and for Indonesia. He stepped into the shoes of Ritu Mehrotra. Kumar will play a critical role in driving growth, strategy and operations across the Asia Pacific region. Kumar, who has more than a decade experience, has worked across Lucent Technologies, Deloitte, Collabera, American Express etc. Citi will be launching Citi Travel where the travel booking platform will be powered by Booking.com and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Rocket Travel.

Arthur Sadoun

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Publicis Groupe

Publicis Groupe’s Arthur Sadoun will stay on for four more years as the chairman and chief executive officer. In another Groupe moves, Steve King has been appointed as the chairman of Publicis Groupe Europe, where he will continue to work for some major clients. Publicis Groupe also made Jane Lin-Baden the chief executive officer for the APAC region.

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Untitled-design-2022-09-18T093107.436.png" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2105" />

Amit Dhawan

Previous: Founding Partner and Business Head, Schbang Delhi; Head Of Media, Schbang

Present: Chief Executive Officer and Partner, Art-E MediaTech

Full service marketing and advertising agency Art-E MediaTech has appointed Amit Dhawan as the chief executive officer and partner in the agency. Dhawan, who has eight years of experience, started his career with Samsung Engineering as a trainee. Then he went to work with digital marketing agencies like Sociowash and Schbang. Art-E was founded by Rohit Sakunia, Tejender Sharma and Animesh Mukherjee in 2018. 

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Untitled-design-2022-09-18T093216.634.png" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2106" />

Sumanto Chattopadhyay

Previous: Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, 82.5 Communications

Sumanto Chattopadhyay will be retiring from his position later this month at 82.5 Communications India, an advertising agency which is a part of WPP and Ogilvy Group. Chattopadhyay was with the Ogilvy Group for three decades. Anuraag Khandelwal and Mayur Varma will step in as the joint creative officers. Chattopadhyay also held the position of executive creative director, South Asia at Ogilvy. 

Jane Lin-Baden

Previous: Managing Partner APAC & CEO North Asia, Publicis Groupe

Present: Chief Executive Officer, APAC, Publicis Groupe

Publicis Groupe has named Jane Lin-Baden as the chief executive officer of the APAC region, where she will look after the South Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia region. Also, former APAC/MEA CEO Loris Nold has been given the newly created role of CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Here, he will oversee all European operations and markets and will continue to supervise those in the Middle East and Africa. Few weeks ago, Publicis Groupe India had appointed Hari Krishnan as the managing director and head, Publicis Content.

Smitha Narayanan

Previous: Marketing Manager, Wipro Yardley

Present: Head - Sales and Marketing, MM TV India 

Malayala Manorama Television (MM TV) has appointed Smitha Narayanan as the head of sales and marketing. Narayanan, who has more than two decades of experience has worked across Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Wipro etc.


Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy

CXO Moves: Execs move up, in and out at Bacardi, Ogilvy, Bisleri, Havas, Mindshare, and more

Sumanto Chattopadhyay, chairman & chief creative officer of 82.5 Communications, will be retiring later this month, after having been with the Ogilvy Group for 30 years stated a statement from the advertising firm. He started his journey with Ogilvy and went on to set up its specialist agency, 82.5 Communications in 2019.

Ogilvy says that Anuraag Khandelwal and Mayur Varma will take on the creative leadership role as joint chief creative officers, 82.5 Communications India. Both are a part of the 82.5 founding team.

Piyush Pandey, chairman global creative and executive chairman India, Ogilvy says, “Sumanto Chattopadhyay has spent 30 glorious years with Ogilvy and 82.5 and retires after a well-played, long innings. Sumanto leaves with blessings and good wishes from all of us at Ogilvy and 82.5. I’m delighted to announce the appointment of two new CCOs who will work together to keep 82.5 shining. Mayur Varma and Anuraag Khandelwal are experienced and Ogilvy-trained creative stars who have international and national recognition for their phenomenal creative work over the years.”

On his retirement, Chattopadhyay says, “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the adventure called Ogilvy, including its 82.5 chapter. Now it’s time for me to seek new adventures. It’s good to know that I pass the baton to capable hands. Mayur has grown up under me in Ogilvy Kolkata, then Mumbai and finally at 82.5. It's wonderful to see him come into his own. Anuraag is a fabulous creative person who has done 82.5 proud with his work and will, no doubt, shine brighter now. Kapil, my co-chairman, is a man for all seasons. With this leadership, the agency has a great future.”

Chattopadhyay helped launch 82.5 Communications in 2019. Earlier, he was the executive creative director, South Asia, Ogilvy. He has built brands such as Dove, Pond’s and Star Plus. He has relaunched UTI Bank as Axis Bank and helped launch brands like Pro Kabaddi, Maharashtra Tourism and The Economist. This, while helping build the Mumbai, Kolkata and Colombo offices of Ogilvy. He works on both traditional and digital ads.
 
Chattopadhyay has won advertising awards at Cannes, the Clios, the One Show, the London Festival, the Abbies and Kyoorius.

Apart from advertising, Chattopadhyay is also an actor and model. He was nominated for the best actor award at the Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema in France, Germany and UK.


Sumanto Chattopadhyay to retire from 82.5 Communications

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. 

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Untitled-design-2022-09-11T083456.280.png" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1960" />

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. 

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Untitled-design-2022-09-11T083622.127.png" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1961" />

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. 

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/Untitled-design-2022-09-11T083929.780.png" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1963" />

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

WPP-owned global advertising company Ogilvy appointed Devika Bulchandani as its new global chief executive officer.

Bulchandani was born in Amritsar and became the world's most famous ad agency Ogilvy's CEO this week, following the departure of a 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 and she will also join WPP’s Executive Committee. She most recently served as global president and CEO of Ogilvy North America.

Prior to joining Ogilvy, Bulchandani spent 26 years at McCann in various leadership roles including President of McCann North America. She was the driving force behind Mastercard’s long-running “Priceless” campaign as well as “True Name,” a first-of-its-kind feature launched in 2019 that empowers transgender and non-binary people to display their chosen name on their Mastercard.

Known for ideas that capture the cultural zeitgeist, Bulchandani also helped launch “Fearless Girl,” an iconic and beloved symbol of women’s equality; the campaign became one of the most awarded campaigns in the history of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Indian-origin global CEOs

Bulchandani also joins the long list of Indian-origin leaders at the helm of multinational conglomerates as CEOs including Chanel’s Leena Nair, Twitter’s Parag Agarwal and Sundar Pichai at Google.

Take a look at this growing club of Indian-origin leaders running global companies and brands. (This is not a comprehensive list.)

Devika Bulchandani, Ogilvy

Laxman Narasimhan - Starbucks

Ivan Menezes - Diageo

Parag Agrawal - Twitter

Satya Nadella - Microsoft

Sundar Pichai - Alphabet

Leena Nair - Chanel

Arvind Krishna - IBM

Raghu Raghuram- VMWare

Shantanu Narayen - Adobe

Sameer Suneja - Perfetti Van Melle

Raj Subramaniam - FedEx

Sandeep Kataria - Bata

George Kurian - Netapp

Thomas Kurian - Google Cloud

Vasant Narasimhan - Novartis

Puneet Renjen - Deloitte

CS Venkatakrishnan - Barclays

Sanjay Mehrotra - Micron Technology

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/631b6eceabf8b-631b6eceabf8cWho-is-Devika-Bulchandani-Ogilvys-new-global-CEO.jpg-434x1024.jpg" alt="" width="434" height="1024" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-1948" />

55-year-old consumer-industry veteran with roots in Pune, Laxman Narasimhan will take over as CEO of Starbucks and was the chief executive of FMCG major Reckitt. He will also be a member of the Board of Directors on April 1, 2023, stepping into the big shoes of outgoing CEO Howard Schultz, who built the US coffee chain into a global empire.

What makes Indian managers shine?

Moneycontrol interacted with senior corporate leaders, leadership mentors and professors who have served in both Indian and international markets to find out more.

The report quoted Raj Narayan, who retired as EVP and CHRO from watch manufacturer Titan last year and is currently a mentor and coach with years of international experience in talent and leadership development in Europe and Asia Pacific.

Narayan spotlighted three qualities. He said, "the ability to handle ambiguity and find clarity; to think and act synchronously and to quickly settle into new and strange environments without losing our own identity -- are distinct about Indian leaders that help them succeed and do well on the international stage."

“We have enough opportunity to develop and hone all these skills in the multicultural and diverse milieu we have in India and to which many are exposed at home,” he told Moneycontrol.

Career Coach Sawan Kapoor told Moneycontrol "...we Indians are more battle ready, this positions us as some of the best CEOs on the planet, adding in a lighter vein, “The ultimate goal of any global organisation's founder must be to eventually have their company run by a CEO from India or of Indian origin."

Devika Bulchandani enters the club of Indian-origin CEOs leading global companies

Ogilvy has appointed Devika Bulchandani as its new global chief executive officer. In this role, she will be responsible for all aspects of the creative network’s business across 131 offices in 93 countries and spanning its Advertising, Public Relations, Experience, Consulting, and Health units. She will also join WPP’s Executive Committee as she takes on her new role. Bulchandani most recently served as global president and CEO of Ogilvy North America. She takes the helm from Andy Main who is stepping down as global CEO and will serve as a senior advisor until the end of the year.

Commenting on the development, Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said, “Over the last two years, under Andy’s leadership, Ogilvy has seen a transformation in its creative and business performance. This stems from the consistently outstanding quality of work from Ogilvy’s teams around the world, the investment in attracting and developing talent across the business, and the strong and more diverse leadership team Andy has built. With the agency’s transformation a year ahead of the schedule we originally envisioned, Andy has decided that now is the right time to seek a new challenge and he is moving on with my personal thanks and best wishes.

“Devika is a champion of creativity who brings passion, purpose, and an uncompromising focus on generating impact to everything she does. In partnership with Andy and Liz Taylor, she has been instrumental in Ogilvy’s recent growth and development. Her love for our industry, deep understanding of clients’ needs, and track record of delivering growth for agencies and brands, make her the perfect choice to lead Ogilvy to even greater success,” he added.

<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/631b6e800e717-631b6e800e71aWho-is-Devika-Bulchandani-Ogilvys-new-global-CEO.jpg-434x1024.jpg" alt="" width="434" height="1024" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-1950" />

On his exit, Main said, “When I joined Ogilvy, my goal was to build on the company’s incredible heritage, raise its ambitions, and deliver growth for our clients through work that has impact. Our progress is a testament to all the talented people across the network and our amazing clients for whom I have the deepest gratitude and respect. David Ogilvy spoke about the importance of hiring giants and Devika is truly one of the giants in the industry. It has been an honor being a part of this company’s rich history and I know Devika will continue accelerating the momentum our team has built.”

On her new role, Bulchandani said, “David Ogilvy changed the industry 74 years ago when he founded this iconic agency. As we write the next chapter in the history books of Ogilvy, we will do it together with our clients, using creativity to push the boundaries of what’s possible. I am honored and humbled to take on this role, and to do it with all our incredibly talented people all over the world.”

Prior to joining Ogilvy, Bulchandani spent 26 years at McCann in various leadership roles including President of McCann North America. She was the driving force behind Mastercard’s long-running “Priceless” campaign as well as “True Name,” a first-of-its-kind feature launched in 2019 that empowers transgender and non-binary people to display their chosen name on their Mastercard. Known for ideas that capture the cultural zeitgeist, Bulchandani also helped launch “Fearless Girl,” an iconic and beloved symbol of women’s equality; the campaign became one of the most awarded campaigns in the history of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. 

Next month she will be honored by New York Women in Communications (NYWIC) at the 2022 Matrix Awards, which honors women who are making a difference, building community, and inspiring the next generation of female leaders in their field.

Devika Bulchandani is Ogilvy’s new global CEO; Andy Main steps down

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

India is shining at the Oscars of advertising. Dentsu Webchutney becomes the first Indian agency to win three Grand Prix in a single year at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The agency’s work - ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ for Vice has picked up a Grand Prix in Social and Influencer Lions. The agency also won a Grand Prix in Radio & Audio Lions and Brand Activation & Experience Lions. The campaign got a Silver Lion in Social & Influencer category and a Bronze Lion in PR Lions too.

The campaign is a guided tour for visitors at the British Museum, which houses some of the world’s most disputed artefacts. Through The Unfiltered Tour, visitors to the museum could scan the artefacts using Instagram filters and unlock an augmented reality (AR) experience that visually teleport the objects back to their homeland. Taking this further, The Unfiltered History Tour also extends into a ten-part podcast series featuring experts from the countries were the artefact was taken from and not from where it’s currently housed. This was done to provide a broader education on the artefacts, as well as the history and ongoing impact of colonialism.

In a recent interview with Storyboard18, PG Aditiya, former chief creative officer of Dentsu Webchutney, and now co-founder of Talented, said the idea for the campaign started as a casual conversation between Gautam Reghunath, former CEO of Dentsu Webchutney and now co-founder at Talented, and him, about an episode from Empires of Dirt - a VICE original series on YouTube.

“Ever since, over a 100 people have stepped in to do the bravest work of their lives (yet), amidst a raging pandemic, across 10-plus countries - and some of us, for months even after moving on from our jobs officially...because this discourse matters. We’re already seeing its impact with smaller museums and private collectors around the world changing their stance on repatriation. The history buff in me is overjoyed,” he told Storyboard18. Aditiya and Reghunath left the agency after working on the campaign to set up their own creative shop Talented.

FCB India on a winning spree too

FCB India is the other Indian agency that’s bringing home a troop of Lions. In the Social & Influencer Lions, FCB India and Kinnect won three Lions (Gold, Silver and Bronze) for SOS Children’s Village India’s ‘Chatpat’ campaign. This piece of work picked up a Gold and Silver in Media Lions too. A Bronze Direct Lion was also given to the campaign.

FCB India and FCB Chicago grabbed a Gold in Direct Lions for The Times Of India's ‘Nominate me Selfie’ campaign. The agency was also awarded a Silver Lion in Media Lions for the same campaign.

FCB India’s ‘Unbox Me UNAIDS' campaign for UNAIDS got a Bronze Lion. This campaign also scored two Bronze in PR Lions.

Ogilvy India strikes Gold 

Ogilvy India won two Gold Lions for Cadbury Celebrations’ ‘Shah Rukh Khan - My Ad’. One in Creative Lions and the other in Direct Lions. They also got a Bronze Direct Lion. Wavemaker India was the media agency behind this campaign.

Ogilvy India also won a Media Lion for Cadbury Perk’s ‘Perk Disclaimer’ campaign. Both these brands are owned by Mondelez India.

BBDO India received a Media Bronze Lion for P&G India’s ‘See Equal #ShareTheLoad’ campaign.

Dentsu Webchutney gets a Grand Prix hat-trick; Ogilvy gets two Gold Lions

“You and I, in this beautiful world.”

Pristine greenery, a boy spending his day visiting places, green fields and weathered buildings, with an energetic pug following him wherever he went. Most will immediately recognize the brand that used an unconventional approach to depict mobile telephone connectivity in a novel way.

<iframe title="hutch boy dog" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r8ZC9uDg8Ik" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Hutch in India

Hutchison Max Telecom Ltd, started its India operations in 1994. Over the years Hutchison started expanding its operations. With telecom companies competing for a share in the Indian mobile market, Hutch wanted to show its superior connectivity. And around 2004, it decided to showcase this connectivity in its pan-Indian footprint with an ad film campaign.

Scripting a story

The advertising agency, Ogilvy, was given a very simple brief: tell a story that showed the span and connectivity of the network.

Mahesh V and Rajiv Rao, creative directors at Ogilvy, were thinking through various ideas. But they were sure of some things. Mahesh opined that they did not want to talk about technology, and also wanted to consciously avoid showing people talking on the phone.

After much deliberation, they imagined a little boy and his annoying little sister following him around. They further refined this stream of thought. Who better than a dog to follow the boy unwaveringly, and also simultaneously provide unconditional support!

And so they hit upon the core creative idea. “Wherever you go, our network follows”. A dog, representing the network, following a boy representing the consumer, wherever he went.

The idea was presented to Asim Ghosh, CEO, Hutchinson Max. Renuka Jaypal, who led the Ogilvy team on Hutch, recollects that after she gave an explanation about why this idea would work, Asim Ghosh had stared at her. So the boy would represent the millions of customers and the dog, the millions that the company has invested in India? he enquired. Giving his ‘go ahead’ for the film, he requested Renuka to leave the room before his courage left him.

The ad production

Vibrant green settings of Goa were the backdrop for the ad film. The boy was played by eight year old Jayaram and the dog who scampered behind him was Cheeka. Cheeka was really the third choice after the first choice (a fox terrier) and second choice (another pug) refused to budge!

Prakash Verma of Nirvana Films produced the TV commercial. The agency had stressed that a dog lover should be in charge of production. Sneha Iype and Mahesh wrote the simple and memorable lyrics, “You and I, in this beautiful world”. Roopak set the score and Suraj Jagran sang the song.

Piyush Pandey stood up after seeing the completed film, congratulating the creators on work well done.

The Outcome

The ad film was well received and a print version of the campaign soon followed. Cheeka gained recognition as the “Hutch dog”, and as the wallpaper most often downloaded by Hutch customers on their phone screens.

In fact, there was a rise in the popularity of pugs, in India, many more people taking pugs home. Cheeka remained in the brand advertising for some time even after Vodafone acquired Hutch.

This ad campaign remains memorable for its ingenuity. The ad film showed no technology nor talked directly about the phone network, yet effectively communicated the message of the reach of Hutch’s mobile network. It communicated a utilitarian promise (of network connectivity wherever you go), yet managed to build an emotional connect with the customers. The youthful playfulness of the boy, with the diligent, affable dog scampering behind him, struck a chord with the audience. The ad film was much like a snapshot of a day in the life of the boy and his faithful companion, the dog. It was storytelling par excellence.

Throwback: A boy, a pug and Hutch

OGILVY