Vizeum India appoints Anand Kumar as associate general manager – engagement planning

Aegis Media’s Vizeum India has added another service to its roster, by venturing into the area of active consumer engagement and has roped in Anand Kumar as associate general manager – engagement planning.

Commenting on the development, S Yesudas, managing director, Indian sub-continent, Vizeum, said, “As the communication channel choices increase and the limited time at the consumers’ disposal further shrink, we believe we need to focus on engaging with consumers at different occasions and different state of mind based on the same strategic thread of the overall communication.  Anand’s appointment is in line with this. Passive advertising sells a particular product and makes the consumer walk to the point of sale. However, there is a good chance that the consumer might walk out with a totally different brand because of some dynamics at the point of sale. On the other hand, had there been reinforcement of the message once again in the consumers’ mind as actively as possible just before the decision to pull out the wallet,  chances are that the same brand would have been benefited.  Both these scenarios call for different consumer engagements – the former talking 'at' the consumer and the later, talking 'with' the consumer.  Talking “with” the consumer is all about actively engaging them at a different state of mind.  I’m delighted to welcome Anand to our close knit family and wish him the very best.”

Commenting on his decision to join Vizeum, Kumar, said, “Vizeum India today is a strong and credible agency in just less than two and-a-half years. Their well articulated understanding of talking “at” and “with” consumers can further enhance thought leadership status. I look forward to working closely with the leadership team in Vizeum as they move to next level of aggressive growth and consolidation story.” 

Anand has close to nine years of experience with his last assignment at the Network 18 Group.  Anand will be based in Mumbai and will report directly to Yesudas, while working closely with the heads of the three Vizeum offices.