Neo@Ogilvy in JV with Smile Group; ropes in Sanjay Ramakrishnan as country head

Ogilvy India has announced a joint venture between its digital media solutions Neo@Ogilvy and the Smile Group. With this, Ogilvy plans to strengthen Neo@Ogilvy, which has a play in performance marketing, eCommerce and mobile offerings.

The JV will set up a global media delivery hub to service Neo@Ogilvy’s media operations.

Ogilvy also announced that Sanjay Ramakrishnan has been brought on board as country head, Neo@Ogilvy India. Ramakrishnan joins the JV from Vizury, where he was GM, India, SE Asia and MENA. He has worked with Myntra, Google, Intel, Geodesic and Worldspace in past assignments.
On the JV, Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and creative director, Ogilvy South Asia, said, "This JV is one more step ahead in our digital journey. Harish's (Bahl) experience in digital media and eCommerce will help drive rapid growth in these areas. And Sanjay Ramakrishnan is a fantastic young business leader with the right skills to lead Neo@Ogilvy in India.”

Harish Bahl, chairman, Smile Group, added, "The vision of the partnership is to be able to offer world class services to local and global clients of Ogilvy and Neo respectively, using the expertise and experience of Smile in the areas of performance marketing, eCommerce and mobile. Sanjay, who will be the country head of Neo@Ogilvy India, brings on board a good blend of e-retail and performance marketing expertise both in internet and mobile and is best positioned to build a leadership position for Neo India around this business focus, which we believe are the future high growth areas for digital agencies.”

Vikram Menon, president and country head, OgilvyOne India, said, “We're really excited with the JV with the Smile Group. Strategically this fits perfectly into our plans to offer the best capability across digital to our clients. The Neo-Smile JV, with Sanjay at it's helm, will do just that.”

On his new assignment, Ramakrishnan said, “The aim is to recast Neo@Ogilvy as one of the most effective digital media companies in the country with a clear focus on performance marketing, mobile and eCommerce. I have been a marketer all my life and I believe there is a gap in the way paid digital media is integrated with traditional marketing and communication.The goal is to change that through Neo@Ogilvy. End-to-end eCommerce Solutions is another unique offering that this JV brings to the table and I’m keen to use the skills I have to drive it.”

Neo@Ogilvy’s client roster in India includes IBM, Diageo, British Airways, The Economist and The Which Group.