Saumya Baijal Appointed as Director-Brand Strategy by Virtue Worldwide
Saumya Baijal has been appointed as Director of Brand Strategy at Virtue Worldwide, a cutting-edge creative agency under VICE Media Group, which bolsters the company’s leadership team in India. Virtue is an expert at assisting brands in finding a genuine voice at the center of culture. Virtue is a “borderless” agency with operations in 17 cities across 13 countries. It assembles customized teams with a range of backgrounds, perspectives, and skill sets to foster creativity and innovation.
Saumya Baijal appointed as Director-Brand Strategy at Virtue Worldwide
Saumya Baijal provides Virtue with a diverse range of experience. Saumya is well-known for her roles as an activist, feminist, ad woman, bilingual writer, storyteller, poet, radio host, theater personality, and Ogilvy. She has worked for MullenLowe Lintas Group, McCann Erickson, and the Ogilvy advertising networks. In addition to working with companies like Absolut, Google, and Fabindia, Saumya has a long history of jury service at the Effies. She has also been a key member of the Laadli Media Awards for Hindi Journalism since 2021.
Virtue Worldwide’s presence in Indian advertising market
Virtue Worldwide is improving its team and leadership while making notable progress in the Indian advertising market. The business is dedicated to breaking down barriers, embracing innovation, and building reliable alliances. Notable companies including Diageo, poppi, Delta, Vanguard, P&G, General Mills, H&M, Volkswagen, McDonald’s, eToro, Red Bull, and Converse have partnered with them. Award-winning ads like Backup Ukraine, Weedmaps’ Museum of Weed, Dove’s Dear Future Dads, Q the Genderless Voice, and Carlings adDRESS the Future were all conceptualized by Virtue. At Virtue, they foster a culture of diversity and innovation by selecting team members not only based on their experience but also on the special skills and viewpoints they bring to the table.
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Here’s what they said
Huiwen Tow, head of strategy, Virtue APAC, shared her thoughts on Saumya’s appointment, stating,
“In a world that is more divided than ever before, Saumya is one of those rare individuals that sees the world, not for what it is, but what it can be. She is a force of nature, unafraid to confront the real or challenge the status quo to move the conversation forward in culture. We are beyond ecstatic to have her with the Virtue India leadership team to take us into our next era of growth in India.”
Saumya Baijal, the newly appointed brand strategy lead, India commented,
“I am very excited to be a part of Virtue. The idea of diving deep into constantly evolving culture, extracting the insight, and then giving it a distinct flavour, is a very very interesting challenge. In a world that changes so quickly and so drastically, finding anchors for a brand, embedded in culture, is not only important, but necessary. Virtue understands this, and I can’t wait to explore more with the very talented team that has already set up a young, energetic, spirited place, committed to the same endeavour.”
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Hari Krishnan To Leave Mullen Lintas After 18 Years of Experience
Hari Krishnan, Mullen Lintas’ current CEO, has decided to leave after 18 years of experience in various offices across the MullenLowe Lintas Group.
Mullen Lintas’ CEO Hari Krishnan to move on after 18 years
Hari is recognized for having led Mullen Lintas through a period of rapid expansion and significance beginning in 2020. In addition, there have been numerous new business wins, including those from Future Generali, Akzo Nobel, Saffola Foods, Saffola Honey, Manipal Healthcare, GRT Jewellery, ITC Fabelle, Yousta, Medimix, Hindware, and Fastrack, among others. Mullen Lintas has also won more than thirty project assignments during this time, spanning several product categories. Major brand consolidation occurred during this time, including Havells, Tata Tea, Bajaj Consumer Care, Akzo Nobel, and others. A number of notable traditional and digital campaigns were also launched during this time.
Hari’s endeavors with Mullen Lintas
Together with the then-creative head Rajesh Ramaswamy (who is currently co-founder of Scriptroom), Hari led one of the best creative agency operations in the nation in terms of revenue and reputation before Mullen Lintas. Hari was President of Lowe Lintas South. They had a fantastic run together, producing some of the most iconic work for companies like Tanishq, Swiggy, Britannia, Phonepe, Flipkart, Fastrack, and so on.
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Throughout his eighteen years with MLLG, Hari held important positions in both the Delhi and Mumbai offices in addition to serving as MullenLowe Sri Lanka’s CEO and spearheading the agency’s acquisition and transformation. His upcoming endeavor is said to be an entrepreneurial one, though this has not been confirmed.
Here’s what they said
Hari Krishnan stated,
“From Lintas India to Ammirati Puris Lintas to Lowe to Lowe Lintas to MullenLowe to Mullen Lintas, through Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Sri Lanka, it’s been an enriching ride filled with great learning, everlasting friendships, unforgettable memories. Been fortunate enough to work with some of the brightest, sharpest, minds in the industry, to have helped build a plethora of brands and an amazing spectrum of creative work that was insightful, entertaining and effective. Thank you Lintas for a smorgasbord of memories and experiences over 18 yrs. I’ll forever remain a fanboy and be cheering you on from the sidelines.”
He further added,
“When a brand becomes a part of your identity, it’s impossible to leave it behind. Especially if the brand is called Lintas. Thank you Lintas for a smorgasbord of memories and experiences over 18 yrs. I’ll forever remain a fanboy and be cheering you on from the sidelines.
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Memac Ogilvy Names Mario Morby as Chief Strategy Officer MENA
Memac Ogilvy, the leading award-winning integrated creative network, has named Mario Morby as Chief Strategy Officer, MENA. With this move, the company hopes to further solidify its standing as a leading force in contemporary marketing and communication, in keeping with its core value of “Borderless Creativity.” It also aims to elevate the bar for strategic and creative product development and direct the agency’s future technological adoption.
Mario Morby appointed as Chief Strategy Officer for Memac Ogilvy
People with different experiences, backgrounds, cultures, and ways of thinking come together under Ogilvy’s Borderless Creativity philosophy to find creative solutions to shared problems. Morby has been located in the area for more than five years, where FP7 McCann has employed him in strategy leadership roles. This expands on his illustrious background in planning and strategy from his native UK.
Accolades under his name
His meticulous, successful, and imaginative approaches have won him numerous honors and recognitions in the industry, including the MENA Effies, Dubai Lynx, EPICA, Loeries, Cannes Lions, AME, WARC Effectiveness, WARC MENA, and WARC Media. With Morby’s appointment, the agency is reaffirming its goal to continue being the top creative partner for social, cultural, and economic growth in the region.
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Here’s what they said
Mario Morby said,
“Ogilvy is a groundbreaking agency, where creativity is part of the DNA. However, it also ranked as the Most Effective Agency Network in the world on last year’s Effie Index. My role is to ensure that effectiveness is embedded in the culture of the agency, making our work as impactful as possible, and to ensure our strategies embrace the cultural changes and new technology that is available to us, such as AI. When we say borderless, we mean creative excellence achieved through seamless collaboration. In a region with so much diversity and so many cultural movements taking place, I’m excited to have the power of borderless creativity to hand, helping me connect brands to people.”
Jon Marchant, Group President MENA at Memac Ogilvy, added,
“We are thrilled that Mario has joined us to continue raising the levels of our strategic and creative product and guiding the agency in future technology uptake. He has an award-winning track record in building strategy departments that uncover powerful local insights, true effectiveness, and original creativity. His ability to create impact and foster collaboration at all levels makes him the embodiment of borderless creativity.”
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M&C Saatchi Names Zaid Al-Qassab As New Global CEO
M&C Saatchi has named Zaid Al-Qassab as its new global CEO. He is Channel 4’s CMO in the UK right now. Al-Qassab will take over for Moray MacLennan, who resigned in September. Zaid will assume control of the business which is experiencing negative growth.
M&C Saatchi Appoints Zaid Al-Qassab as Global CEO
Zaid will start working in the M&C office on May 13. He started working at Channel 4 in 2019 as CMO, overseeing marketing, digital, product, communications, PR, advertising, media, and continuity. He was also in charge of the channel’s digital content and brand entertainment agency, 4Studio, as well as its award-winning in-house creative agency, 4creative.
Previous Achievements
Al-Qassab, a former employee of BT, is among the most senior marketers in the UK. He is not employed in the agency industry. On the other hand, he has managed social media and branded entertainment unit 4Studio as well as in-house agency 4Creative at Channel 4, where he has been employed since 2019 as CMO. Additionally, he worked for Procter & Gamble for two years in marketing and business capacities, most notably as the Managing Director of the company’s health and beauty division for the UK and Ireland. Zaid has been employed by the Advertising Standards Authority since 2018 and presently holds the position of non-executive director.
M&C Saatchi Announcements
Al-Qassab left Channel 4 in January, although he would continue to work there until the end of March, the channel announced. On May 13, he will start working at M&C Saatchi, pending regulatory due diligence. The announcement was made one week after Jo Bacon, the global client lead for Ogilvy and WPP at Unilever, was named CEO of M&C Saatchi. She takes over for Camilla Kemp, who departed the company a year ago.
Here’s what they said
Zillah Byng-Thorne, the executive chairman, said,
“We are delighted to have attracted someone of Zaid’s calibre to lead M&C Saatchi into its next phase of growth. Zaid has proven leadership qualities, has managed global teams, and his client-centric focus, dynamism and commercial acumen will be highly valuable as we look to accelerate our growth trajectory. The advertising and marketing landscape is fast-moving and a modern, forward-thinking, agile leader like Zaid will help shape M&C Saatchi for excellence on the global stage, supported by our exceptional regional leaders across the UK and globally. It is truly an exciting moment for us.”
Zaid Al-Qassab, on his appointment added,
“I have long admired M&C Saatchi’s creativity and industry-leading work and I am delighted to be joining one of the most recognised advertising brands in the world. I believe M&C Saatchi has a unique growth opportunity, capitalising on its combination of advertising and specialist marketing services, and its unrelenting focus on creative solutions built on client understanding, with an agile, global, integrated offer.”
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Publicis Groupe Announces the Launch of B2B Creative Offering, Publicis Pro
Publicis Groupe EMEA has announced the launch of Publicis Pro, a B2B creative offering. The offering brings together B2B agency Octopus Group and 400 B2B specialists from across its global network. The Octopus Group name will be rebranded as Publicis Pro. It will be led by Octopus Group co-founders Jon Lonsdale as CEO and Pete Hendrick as Managing Director. Lonsdale will answer to Publicis Groupe’s EMEA CEO, Demet Ikiler. Focusing on B2B strategy, creative, influence, and commerce, the core team of sixty will pay particular attention to the UK, Germany, and France. Previously, Octopus focused on the UK market.
Publicis Rebrands Octopus Group with the launch of Publicis Pro
In 2021, Publicis Groupe purchased the London-based Octopus Group. It noted business-to-business and business-to-consumer clients as “big growth areas” in the B2B space. About sixty people worked for Octopus at its Farringdon office at the time. It relocated to the Chancery Lane office, home of Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett. Furthermore, it joined Publicis Groupe’s UK creative practice. Since then, Octopus has expanded its customer base in the manufacturing, telecom, financial services, and technology sectors, according to Publicis Group. Companies like Sharp Europe, Smartsheet, Rolls-Royce, and Twilio have awarded Octopus new business.
Octopus Group acquired in 2021
At the time of the acquisition, the deal was Publicis Groupe‘s most significant UK-specific M&A move in the creative space since 2014, indicating adland’s return to the acquisition trail following the Covid pandemic. Octopus Group has a range of tech-first capabilities, including creative, content, digital experience, and public relations. Its clients, which it did not share with Publicis at the time of acquisition, included technology, financial, and professional services brands like Siemens, Adobe, Logitech, Smartsheet, Cognizant, and ACI Worldwide.
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Investors
The principal investors in Octopus Group were the company’s management. Lonsdale, Finance Director Ben Holden, Board Director Nicola Pestell, Chief Strategy Director Billy Hamilton-Stent, and Hendrick are among them.
Here’s what they said
As reported by Campaign Asia,
The group said,
“The [launch] will enable Publicis Groupe to better connect international business audiences with new data and marketing services, accelerating growth for its global B2B and B2B2C clients and becoming a new centre of excellence across the EMEA region,”
Demet Ikiler stated,
“We want to make Publicis Groupe a centre of excellence for B2B clients, and to better serve our existing B2C clients who require B2B expertise. By building out Publicis Pro across our key markets in the region, we are already uncovering exciting new growth opportunities.”
Jon Lonsdale added,
“This is the natural next step in Octopus’ journey and will allow us to offer clients more access to talent, tech and data as we scale and supercharge our existing offering across Publicis Groupe. Publicis Pro brings an exciting opportunity to launch new services, including AI tools, that are specifically designed for complex B2B audiences.”
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