Leadership
AREAS OF EXPERTISE:
- Strategic Media Planning – Understanding brand needs and recommending strategies to achieve marketing objectives through integrated media solutions
- Knowledge and experience across categories especially FMCG
- Market Research – Understand consumer and competition through data analyses using various business tools to assist the critical decision-making process.
- Have worked on Unilever brands for over 12 years in India and abroad; having an in-depth knowledge of brand launches, extensions, and changing consumer preferences across geographies.
- Have been the Vice-Chairperson, of the Technical Committee (special projects), Media Research Users Council (MRUC). Picked up comprehensive understanding of media reach, consumption, and consumer preferences across Indian audiences through MRUC’s extensive primary media research.
CAREER JOURNEY:
- His most extensive experience was with Lintas Media, where he was responsible for most of the brands serviced by all the group companies, notably Unilever in India & Bangladesh, Bajaj, and HSBC. He was also responsible for the Centre of Media Excellence – CME. CME did original media and consumer research. It released an extensive proprietary research study called the Initiative Media-BBC World Adwatch 2002. This helped clients to understand the Indian consumers’ perceptions of advertising, and more importantly its relevance to media.
- More recently he has worked with Percept Media, as its Chief Operating Officer, Managing the P&L, existing businesses and leading new business acquisitions. Facilitated the agency’s journey from conventional to digital media. Percept was part of the Local Planet chain of global independent agencies. He worked with Local Planet in managing and coordinating regional and global businesses.
- He managed GroupM companies (MindShare, Maxus, Mediaedge:cia) in Bangladesh and Motivator in India. The major clients included Unilever, Pepsi, Motorola, Marico, Nokia, DHL, Sony Ericsson, Singapore Airlines, Parle products, Titan, and UNICEF.
- He began his career in Calcutta with Contract Advertising Ltd., a member of the JWT network. He joined as a management trainee. He rapidly rose to become a supervisor in 1990. The same year he was transferred to their Mumbai office.