Moves and wins roundup: Week of 17 June

Burson confirms Deepshikha Dharmaraj as India CEO

Burson, the newly-branded WPP communications agency following the merger of BCW Group and Hill & Knowlton in January 2024 announced its market leader appointments across Asia-Pacific. It confirmed that Deepshikha Dharmaraj, who has been the CEO or BCW Group India, will be the CEO of Burson Group India. Dharmaraj has spent her entire career with the company, first serving as managing partner of Genesis Burson Marsteller back in 1994, eventually becoming CEO of Genesis BCW in 2020 and then CEO of BCW India Group in 2022. Adrian Warr will now becomes South APAC CEO, Burson, as of September 16.

New creative head for Cheil X, Mumbai

Rajit Gupta has been hired as a VP and creative head for Cheil X, Mumbai, reporting to Vikash Chemjong, CCO, Cheil India. Gupta joins the team from McCann Worldgroup, where he was ECD and has 17 years of experience in the industry with agencies like J. Walter Thompson, Publicis, DDB Mudra, and Contract Advertising. 

GroupM consolidates content, entertainment, and sports verticals

GroupM, WPP’s media investment group is consolidating its content, sports, entertainment offerings to
create GroupM Content and Sport. The combined offering will be led by Vinit Karnik who has been elevated to a new role as managing director of content, entertainment, and sports for GroupM India. Hewill be supported by Ajay Mehta, who previously led Content for Mindshare, and Subhamoy Das to lead the Content and Sports verticals respectively. The move is part of GroupM's ongoing drive to simplify its business this year.

LS restructures operations as it prepares to expand

Private-equity-backed independent digital marketing firm LS Digital, has reorganised as it integrates agencies Langoor Digital, Social Panga and F1 Studioz into a single offering built around six core business units. Among the key personnel changes as a result:

• Anand Bhadkamkar, chief finance officer (CFO) will take on the additional responsibility as chief operations officer (COO), supported by:
• Girisha Gowda, co-founder; chief operational excellence officer (COEO) in addition to current responsibilities at Langoor will drive operations across LS Digital group.
• Anshuman Misra, chief people officer (CPO), will lead the HR function at the group
• Shantanu Bhattacharya, executive vice president, Integrated Digital Solutions (IDS), will help group clients drive business growth, customer experiences, and digital ROI.
• Hrishikesh Karve, executive vice president (EVP) of finance will oversee Group finance, in addition to his current responsibilities of overseeing legal, IT and admin functions.
• Rupak Ved, will drive growth initiatives across the Group as chief business officer (CBO), supported by:
• Anuraj Gupta, executive vice president of growth for India and MEA
• Sudhindra CN, executive vice president of growth and strategy
• Pawan Wankhede, managing director of UK, will building presence in UK and Europe.
• Venugopal Ganganna (Venu) will take over the role as co-founder; chief innovation officer for the group in addition to his current responsibilities of mentoring the leadership team at Langoor Digital.

The new structure involves key executive roles among LS Digital's various business units:

• Himanshu Arora, co-founder, CEO  – Creative
• Gaurav Arora, co-founder; CCO & COO – Creative
• Manesh Swamy, managing director & CCO – LS Creative
• Saurabh Das, CEO – CX
• Vinay Tamboli, CEO - Data & Insights
• Maanesh Vasudeo, CEO – Media
• R. Sridhar , CEO – Tech & Innovation
• Santosh Shukla , co-founder, CEO – UI / UX
• Dhayan Kumar, co-founder, chief design officer – UI / UX

FNP appoints Avi Kumar as CMO

FNP (Ferns N Petals), India's gifting brand, has appointed Avi Kumar as chief marketing officer (CMO). Before this, Kumar held senior leadership positions at companies such as coto, IGP.com, Zee5, and Big FM. He has received accolades for his work and has been named Top 30 CMO by IAMAI and the Top 40 CMO in 2019. 

New CEO at D&AD

Jo Jackson is stepping down from her part-time role as CEO to focus on her other business interests. Her tenure included the post-Covid successful revival of the annual D&AD Festival and awards growth. In her place, COO Dara Lynch is being promoted to the role of CEO; and awards and operations director Donal Keenan to the role of COO. 

Prateek Mehta named new CD at The Content Lab

Digital marketing agency, production house and content studio, The Content Lab has appointed Prateek Mehta as creative director. Mehta Prateek has a decade of experience in marketing with agencies like Mindshare India, Mullen Lowe Lintas, L&K Saatchi and Saatchi and BBDO Vietnam who has represented India at multiple young creative competitions like Young Lions and Young Spikes. 

Tonic wins digital mandate for LT Foods

Following a competitive multi-agency pitch, agency Tonic Worldwide has secured the digital mandate for LT Foods, known for its Daawat rice brands, marking the FMCG company's foray into digital communication. The account will be managed by Tonic Worldwide’s Delhi office.

HDFC AMC names new CMO 

Harish Narayanan joins HDFC Asset Management Company as chief marketing officer and chief digital officer. Narayanan brings over 17 years of experience across various sectors in multiple senior leadership roles including chief growth officer at Upstox, and CMO at Myntra along with nearly 12 years at Google’s YouTube marketing team and Procter & Gamble’s brand management team in Singapore.

Cheil X hires Anurag Tandon as chief growth officer

Cheil X has appointed Anurag Tandon as chief growth officer. Tandon will lead the newly opened Mumbai office in addition to the growth charter. With more than twenty years of experience and having led business units, like DDB Mudra West, and WT, Mumbai, he also worked for Ogilvy and Leo Burnett. In the new position, Tandon will spearhead efforts to expand Cheil X’s business operations in Mumbai. Cheil X is an independent full-service agency under the Cheil SWA group to manage the fast-growing new client mandates in India.

Bajaj Consumer Care appoints Sanath R. Pulikkal as CMO

Bajaj Consumer Care has appointed Sainath Pulikkal as its new chief marketing officer. Part of the Bajaj Group, Bajaj Consumer has a wide range of hair, beauty, and personal care products. Before this, Pulikkal was the general manager of marketing at Home Care at Dabur India industry. Previously, at Home Care at Dabur India, he headed the marketing and business strategy for brands such as Odomos, Odopic, SaniFresh, Dazzl, and Odonil. He has also previously worked with Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra. Abhishek Prasad, the head of marketing of the company, has resigned from the position to pursue opportunities outside the organisation. His stint with the company will be over by the end of July.

Dabur partners with Qoruz on influencer marketing

Influencer marketing platform Qoruz has a new partnership with natural and ayurvedic products brand Dabur. Dabur plans to utilize Qoruz's analytics and influencer management tools to identify influencers and leverage influencer content more strategically with data.