Amogh Dusad of SPN has been strategically moved from Sony Entertainment Television to OTT service SonyLIV to head original and regional content. His LinkedIn profile mentions his new designation as Head - Content, Partnerships, New Initiatives - Digital Business at Sony Pictures Networks India. He will be reporting to Uday Sodhi, Executive VP and Head - Digital Business - SPN India. The decision was taken to up SonyLIV's game in original content where the investment has beefed up in the recent past. 

He was earlier taking care of digital products for Hindi GEC for spearheading second screen and digital initiatives for the channel.
Dusad comes with an experience over 15 years. He was leading the insights and programming strategy for SET. In this role, he was responsible for the overall business strategy for the channel, consumer insights and collaborations on creative development to drive viewership and P&L management.

He joined Sony in 2011 as Senior VP and head - Programming and content acquisition.

Prior to joining Sony, he worked with NDTV Imagine. Dusad started his career with TAM Media Research (JV between Nielsen and KMR) working on several consulting projects for advertisers and broadcasters, to leverage big data analytics towards strategic decision making.

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Initiative from the IPG Mediabrands umbrella has retained the Reckitt Benckiser account.

In November, Reckitt Benckiser (RB), one of the leading global FMCG companies, had initiated a media pitch estimated to be around Rs 400-450 crore. Leading agencies including incumbent IPG Mediabrands had contested for the pitch fiercely.

exchange4media reached out to Initiative and Reckitt Benckiser but did not get a comment from them at the time of filing this story.

RB had appointed Initiative from the IPG Mediabrands umbrella as its media partner in December 2013 on the back of a global media review. Since then IPG has successfully retained the account despite annual pitches. Prior to IPG, the media duties were handled by Zenith Optimedia.

Meanwhile, the FMCG major that has a presence across 60 markets globally, in a recent development, gave part of its digital duties to Zenith Optimedia. As per industry sources, RB has divided its digital portfolio into two parts—Health, and Home & Hygiene. While Initiative will continue to manage Home & Hygiene, the first portfolio will be handled by Zenith Optimedia from January 2019. The move was an outcome of a global decision without any pitch being called.
 

According to media reports, Niladri Datta, LG Electronics India’s ex-Marketing Head has joined IFB Appliances as its Chief of Marketing and Strategy.

Datta has over 24 years of experience in the industry. He worked with LG electronics for about 14 years from 2004 to 2018 in various capacities including head of washing machine business, modern trade head, head of managing director’s task team and the Chief Marketing Officer for two years. He is credited to make LG’s washing machine business a market leader. 

An MBA graduate from the Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Datta, in the past, had worked with IFB Industries Ltd as Marketing Head for eight years. IFB Appliances is known for its washing machines, microwave ovens and dish washers. They have now ventured into air-conditioner and built-in kitchen. 

Few months ago, Sanjeev Agarwal, the ex-Sales Head of LG India joined Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India as the Sales Director handling Hitachi’s air-conditioner and refrigerator businesses in the country. The ex-Director Marketing for Consumer Electronics and Home Appliances, Sandeep Tewari, joined Usha International as President of Marketing.
 

As part of the integration planning for the pending acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., the Direct-to-Consumer & International (DTCI) segment of The Walt Disney Company has announced plans for the strategic alignment of its consolidated international business units under three key leaders.

“The planned restructuring of our business units outside of the US will result in a stronger, more agile organization, one that is better able to pivot and capitalize on the many opportunities present in today’s fast-changing and increasingly complex global marketplace,” said Kevin Mayer, Chairman of The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer & International segment.

“Once the acquisition is complete, all three regions will be led by exceptional, highly experienced executives who will combine the 'best of the best' talent from both organizations. This new structure and the outstanding leadership team we’ve put in place are clear demonstrations of our strong commitment to integrating operations and thoughtfully executing our strategic priorities around the globe,” Mayer said.

The structure will allow for more efficient management of the Company’s portfolio of assets and the optimization of resources applied in support of the company’s strategic priorities.  DTCI’s international operating structure and executive management, effective upon the completion of the acquisition, will include three distinct regions:

•       EMEA– Rebecca Campbell, who currently serves as President, The Walt Disney Company EMEA, will maintain oversight of this region and adds oversight of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

•       Latin America – Diego Lerner, who currently serves as President, The Walt Disney Company Latin America, will maintain oversight of this region

•       Asia Pacific – Uday Shankar, who currently serves as President, 21st Century Fox, Asia, and Chairman and CEO of Star India, will become Chairman, Star and Disney India, and President, The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific

Additionally, Janice Marinelli will serve as President, Global Content Sales and Distribution.  Responsible for DTCI’s integrated global content sales organization, she will lead and have oversight of the company’s programming sales efforts for its combined portfolio of content, as well as the distribution of branded direct-to-consumer apps and services to broadcasters, digital services and other third-party distributors around the world.

Campbell, Lerner, Marinelli and Shankar will report to Mayer.

Joining the EMEA leadership team, reporting to Campbell, are:

•       Jan Koeppen, currently President of Fox Networks Group Europe and Africa, who will serve as President, Television and Direct to Consumer, The Walt Disney Company EMEA

•       Marina Jigalova-Ozkan, who will continue in her current role as DTCI’s Managing Director, Russia and CIS for The Walt Disney Company CIS LLC

Joining the Latin America leadership team, reporting to Lerner, is:

•       Carlos Martinez, President, Fox Networks Group, Latin America, who will serve as Executive Vice President and General Manager, Media Networks, North and Brazil, The Walt Disney Company Latin America

Reporting to Shankar as part of the Asia Pacific leadership team will be the following current DTCI executives:

•       Luke Kang, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Greater China, Japan and Korea

•       Kylie Watson-Wheeler, Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand

•       Chafic Najia, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Middle East

In the coming weeks, DTCI plans to announce additional executives joining the three regional leadership teams as well as the global sales organization.

Additionally, the following DTCI business leaders will all continue in their previously announced roles, reporting to Mayer:

•       Rita Ferro, President, Disney Advertising Sales

•       Aaron LaBerge, Chief Technology Officer

•       Michael Paull, President, Disney Streaming Services

•       Ricky Strauss, President, Content & Marketing, Disney+

The current leaders of DTCI’s shared services areas, listed below, will continue in their roles:

•       Linda Bagley, Deputy General Counsel

•       Karen Hobson, Senior Vice President, Communications

•       Jim Lygopoulos, Senior Vice President, Human Resources

•       Justin Warbrooke, Chief Financial Officer

Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox has received formal approval from shareholders of both companies, and Disney and 21st Century Fox have entered into a consent decree with the US Department of Justice that allows the acquisition to proceed, while requiring the sale of the Fox Sports Regional Networks. The transaction is subject to various international regulatory clearances, a number of which have been obtained, while others remain pending.

Kaizad Patel has joined the independent digital news media platform The News Minute (TNM) as the Regional Business Head for West. Kaizad will be leading the sales team from Mumbai and will be responsible for driving revenue through ad-sales and spotting other revenue opportunities in the western region.

With more than a decade’s experience in the digital advertising space, Patel joins the senior management at TNM after a three-year stint at Sportskeeda. He started his career with the IT industry, where he spent eight years. He later moved to the digital advertising space, starting his stint with Ozone Media Solutions, and later worked with SVG Media.

Patel said, “I am thrilled to join the team at The News Minute at such an exciting time in the company’s growth trajectory.”

“Content being an integral part of digital advertising today, what really excites me about being a part of The News Minute team are their new-age digital content ideas, out-of-the-box approach to storytelling and unique news content. I am looking forward to the enthusiastic journey ahead,” he said further.

Vignesh Vellore, CEO of The News Minute, said that Patel’s addition to the leadership team will further fuel the company’s growth. “Having established that as a media start-up we can provide high-value content and superlative reach to the brands we work with, it is now time for us to improve our access in the Western market and speed-up our revenue growth. Kaizad will be key to our success in the West.”

The News Minute (Spunklane Media Pvt. Ltd.) was launched in 2014 and Raghav Bahl’s Quintillion Media is the main investor in the company. With a special focus on news from the southern states, TNM has readership across India, with 10 million monthly unique users and 30 million pageviews every month.

Marketing technology company AdGlobal360 has announced the launch of its Centre of Excellence (CoE) developed in collaboration with Sitecore®. The Centre of Excellence will help AGL’s clients in building digital and highly personalized consumer experiences that seamlessly engage customers both, online and in-store. 

The company on Thursday announced the appointment of Ranjit Kandhari to head this initiative.  

As the Vice President, Sitecore® Experience Platform™ at AdGlobal360, Kandhari will be responsible for setting-up and managing high performance delivery teams, processes, and an R&D practice, for executing multiple Sitecore-based projects.

Kandhari brings with him 17 years of experience in the IT industry, especially an in-depth knowledge of design and development of web applications using Microsoft technologies, content management systems and project management, having successfully delivered many projects with diverse technologies. 

Prior to this assignment, Kandhari was with SapientRazorfish leading Sitecore projects.

The company, in a statement said, with the newly launched CoE, AdGlobal360 will deliver highly personalized digital experiences in real time for their clients across automobile, manufacturing and hi-tech industries. 

Speaking about the appointment, Rakesh Yadav, CEO of AdGlobal360, said “It is great to have Ranjit lead our Sitecore Centre of Excellence. I am sure his experience & expertise will go a long way in establishing our relevance with this futuristic technology.” 

He further added, “Everything we do today is technology-dependent, within a strategic technology driven framework. The CoE is a part of this approach; that we support the skills and capabilities of businesses that need to undergo a complete digital transformation - on the back of technology.”

Kandhari said, “I am very happy and excited to lead this Sitecore CoE that will help our clients transform their businesses in the digital world. We will be able to drive personalized experiences, combining our innovative thinking and process - with Sitecore.” 
He further added, “Our aim is to provide a single robust system that can handle global and multilingual content at a scale which enables deep levels of intelligence about users: who they are, what they care about, and what they are doing thereby enriching the brand ecosystem, while delivering customer value."
 

Tim Castree, Global CEO of Wavemaker has been named as CEO of GroupM, North America, according to reports.

It is not yet clear who will succeed Castree as CEO, but Castree will remain at Wavemaker in an advisory role until a replacement is named. After the transition, Castree will be charged with reviving the company's growth in North America, which incidentally is its slowest growing market, but is the world's largest advertising market.

Castree will report to GroupM’s Global CEO, Kelly Clark, and will be responsible for strategy and operations.

In 2017 Castree was named Global CEO of the new agency formed from the merger of MEC and Maxus, now Wavemaker. In its first transitional year, Wavemaker added important new clients including Danone and Adobe in the US, and Mondelez in 20 markets. In addition to Castree’s leadership of Wavemaker, this year he also helped lead a group-wide team focused on transforming the performance of GroupM’s business in the US, a geographic priority for both GroupM and WPP.

Castree's appointment comes after parent company WPP announced a major restructure with plans to cut 3500 jobs. Since September, WPP has made two major cross-discipline mergers, between VML and Y&R and J. Walter Thompson and Wunderman, respectively, to better synergise its offer for clients.

It is believed that Castree also plans to scale GroupM’s technology platforms and expertise across WPP. The media buying division will play a major role in fulfilling CEO Mark Read’s vision on technology, laid out Tuesday, which involves building and scaling a tech and data stack across WPP and operating more seamlessly with software providers like Adobe, Google and Salesforce.

Castree has more than 20 years of experience spanning creative, media and digital agencies, including leading blue-chip global advertiser partnerships. Prior to joining GroupM, he was Managing Director of Videology in North America, US Chief Operating Officer for Publicis Group’s MediaVest, and Global Managing Director for Starcom MediaVest. He began his career with Leo Burnett in Melbourne and he subsequently worked at FCB, Ogilvy and BBH.

The Editors Guild of India (EGI) has suspended the membership of journalist-turned-politician MJ Akbar and former Tehelka Editor Tarun Tejpal over allegations of sexual misconduct.

“Office-bearers of the Guild discussed the EC’s comments and took the decision on the matter. It has concurred with the majority view that Akbar should be suspended from the Guild till such time that the court case he has filed is concluded. Using the same logic, the office-bearers decided that Mr Tejpal too should be suspended from the Guild,” read a statement from the Guild.

The Guild had sought views of its Executive Committee (EC) on what action should be taken against Akbar, a dormant member at present and one of its past presidents, Tejpal and senior journalist Gautam Adhikari in light of sexual misconduct allegations levelled against them.

Editors Guild of India has issued a statement. You may also read it here - https://t.co/xrPM0vb2jK pic.twitter.com/UCSktHNKgY

— Editors Guild of India (@IndEditorsGuild) 12 December 2018

Akbar stepped down as the junior foreign minister in October following allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by several women journalists. Tarun Tejpal has been jailed for rape.

The Guild decided it would seek Adhikari's response before deciding on his membership.

Leading handset company OnePlus has initiated the process for a media pitch. Several leading agencies, including Dentsu Ageis Network and incumbent Starcom Mediavest, are believed to have given presentations in Bengaluru last week. The account is said to be worth Rs 200 crore

"The pitch is expected to close in early January 2019," confirmed an industry source. Neither OnePlus nor Starcom Mediavest responded to the emails sent by e4m till the filing of this story.

Just two months ago, OnePlus' subsidiary company Oppo Mobile had also called for a multi-agency media pitch. Sources in the industry claim that all leading agencies, including IPG, GroupM, Havas Media and Denstu Aegis Network, participated in the pitch that is estimated to be Rs 200 crore in size. Starcom Mediavest is the incumbent agency for Oppo too. It has been handling the account since 2015.

Benelave, from the house of HSIL, has signed leading Bollywood actor Shraddha Kapoor as its brand ambassador to elevate brand awareness and visibility.

Benelave offers a wide range of bath space products to suit the needs of value-seeking consumers. It is a brand for young Indians who are looking for good designs coupled with modern aesthetics for their bathrooms.

Commenting on the new association, Sandip Somany, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, HSIL Limited said, “Shraddha is one of India’s most loved youth icon, and we believe that our core audience resonates with her grounded and girl-next-door personality. We are excited as this association will enable us explore new avenues for our continued growth and success.”

He further added, “Benelave is on a high growth trajectory and is doing extremely well in in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities since its launch a few years ago. Shraddha’s versatile acting skills have made her extremely popular among the masses and this association will help us widen our existing consumer base”

Speaking on the new partnership actor Shraddha Kapoor said, “HSIL is one of the most trusted and iconic companies in India and I am delighted to be their brand ambassador. It is great to see that HSIL is not only committed towards delivering unmatched designs and quality in their offerings, but also towards creating welcoming bath spaces for the entire family.”

Shraddha will be the face of Benelave’s upcoming campaigns. She joins the likes of Shahrukh Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez among others, who already front various bath space brands of HSIL. Benelave encompasses the entire bathroom category with various offerings under faucets, showers, sanitaryware, accessories and allied products.

Over the years, HSIL Limited has bolstered its distribution network for Benelave with 100 distributors and 2500 retailers across 300 cities.