Moves and wins roundup: Week of 10 June

Tonic Worldwide bags digital mandate for Badshah Masala

Following a competitive multi-agency pitch, Tonic Worldwide has secured the digital mandate for Badshah Masala. The account will be managed by the agency’s Mumbai office.

As the new digital partner, Tonic Worldwide aims to grow the heritage spice brand’s business through integrated brand communication. Digital is a key platform where Badshah Masala’s consumers spend significant time, and it will play a crucial role in keeping the brand top of mind. It will leverage Tonic Worldwide’s experience with multiple staple brands and its strong grasp of the company’s core target group to make the spice brand more appealing to new-age homemakers.

Team Pumpkin expands into North America, sets up base in Canada

Team Pumpkin, an integrated creative and digital marketing agency, has opened its new office in Canada. It will act as the central hub for its North American operations, focusing on delivering a comprehensive suite of marketing and tech solutions tailored to international brands with a presence in the region.

This expansion marks a significant step forward in the company's global growth strategy and its impetus to serve clients across the North American market and forge deeper connections with potential partners across the continent. Team Pumpkin already has offices across India, including cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Kolkata.

Arunava Biswas joins Frodoh World as head of sales for west and south India

Adtech firm Frodoh World has appointed Anurava Biswas as head of sales for west and south. She will be responsible for driving regional revenue growth, leading agency partnerships, expanding market share, and strengthening customer relationships in these regions.

Prior to joining Frodoh World, she worked as sales director for India at Teads, where she was responsible for revenue generation and growing its digital advertising business. During the course of her 16-year-long careers, she has held leadership roles at Bloomberg TV, BBC Global News, and ZEE5 where she led teams to exceed sales targets and fostered significant market expansion.  

VaynerMedia launches new office in India 

VaynerMedia has launched its full-service agency in India, the company’s sixth office in the Asia Pacific region, and 13^th globally. After just over two years of presence in the country servicing Fortune 500 clients, the company officially opened an office to better cater to clients and the growing business demands in the Indian market.

VaynerMedia previously operated in strategic partnership with local agency Step1, who will seamlessly transition into the VaynerMedia family and now operate as VaynerMedia India. The agency will offer a full suite of services, including creative, strategy, media, and consulting, with social at the centre of it all. Salman Moin will lead the Indian operations and report directly to Asia Pacific managing director Tim Lindley.

VaynerMedia was first established in the United States in 2009 and expanded to the United Kingdom in 2018 and a year later it forayed into Asia Pacific in 2019, followed by Mexico in 2021 to cater to Latin America. In 2022, the agency launched in The Netherlands and, in mid-March 2023, it entered Canada. The most recent opening in Gurgaon, India, makes a total of six offices across the region for VaynerMedia APAC.

Tute Consult joins Palomar’s global network of independent agencies

Tute Consult, a communications and PR agency from India, has partnered with Palomar, a global network of independent agencies. The latter is associated with Pilot Room in Milan, Alpha-Kilo in London and New York, the Floor X in London, DM Media International in Paris and Los Angeles, The Communications Lab and In House in Madrid), SO PR in Amsterdam, Stephen PR in Dubai, MV PR in New York and Los Angeles. It is expanding this portfolio to tap into increasingly significant markets, aligning with brand communication and business development strategies.

With a presence that stretches from Milan to London, Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, Dubai, New York, Los Angeles and Mumbai, Palomar’s member agencies bring localised expertise to sectors like high-end fashion, beauty, design, lifestyle, and hospitality. The addition of Tute Consult will provide customised solutions to several global brands who are keen to build a strong presence in the Indian market.

Palomar blends local insights to develop campaigns that resonate with audiences on both domestic and global stages. Its offerings, which include strategic and social PR, communications consultancy, press office, talent and influencer marketing, ensure that each campaign has maximum impact and relevance, regardless of the geographic location. Leveraging local partners to establish meaningful connections within communities worldwide, it grants client’s access to a global network of professionals capable of crafting and managing personalised communications activity for specific territories, while maintaining effectiveness in global outreach.

Surjo Dutt promoted to chief creative officer of Dentsu Creative Webchutney
Dentsu Creative India has promoted Surjo Dutt to the position of chief creative officer (CCO) at Dentsu Creative Webchutney. In this new role, he will spearhead the creative vision of the agency, ensuring the delivery of innovative and integrated solutions that foster business growth for its clients.

Additionally, Dutt will mentor and guide the creative teams to cultivate a culture of collaboration and experimentation. He will continue to report to Amit Wadhwa, chief executive officer of Dentsu Creative India.

The ad company currently encompasses three portfolio brands—Dentsu Creative Webchutney, Dentsu Creative Isobar, and Dentsu Creative PR. Dentsu Creative Webchutney delivers creative solutions across both traditional and digital media.

Dutt joined Dentsu Creative India as the CCO for the west and south regions in September 2023. With 25 years of experience in the industry, he has worked on over 400 campaigns across 70 brands and 20 categories.

Havas Play partners with Mahesh Bhupathi-led SGSE

Havas Play has entered a strategic partnership in India with SG Sports, Media and Entertainment (SGSE), an arm of the APL Apollo Group. As part of the collaboration, Havas Play will assist SGSE in executing premium entertainment and sports IPs spanning football, squash, hockey, chess, table tennis and tennis.

Havas Play is part of Havas Media Network’s global brand that is dedicated to earning consumers’ attention and creating enduring business impact through the intersection of entertainment, sports, technology, and fandom. 

Helmed by tennis icon Mahesh Bhupathi, SGSE aims to elevate the Indian sports and entertainment landscape by creating innovative properties. It has teams representing it at Indian sporting events including Global Chess League (Alpine SG Pipers), Ultimate Table Tennis League (Ahmedabad SG Pipers), Super League Kerala (Kochi Pipers), Indian Supercross Racing League (SG Speed Racers), and Madhya Pradesh League (Jabalpur Lions).

FCB Ulka wins creative mandate for Provident Housing

FCB Ulka, part of FCB Group India, has been awarded the creative mandate for Provident Housing. The real estate brand’s portfolio of residential projects spans across major cities such as Bengaluru, Kochi, Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, and Pune. The agency's Bengaluru office will manage the account. 

Wakefit.co has appointed Kunal Dubey as its chief marketing officer. In his new role, he will leverage his marketing expertise to boost the D2C home and sleep solution providers’ market share, and growth, while also enhancing customer experience and engagement through meaningful and authentic conversations.

In a career spanning 18 years of marketing and media planning experience, Dubey has spent over 12 years in the startup space. He has previously served as the CMO of Flipkart-owned Cleartrip and played a pivotal role in brands including Vedantu, PhonePe, Flipkart, Reliance Communications, McDonald's India and eBay. He scaled the marketing functions of several of these brands to span brand marketing, digital marketing, growth marketing and consumer insights. He was also instrumental in founding marketing solutions company Slingshot, which is part of Dentsu Group.

Hashtag Orange appoints Bhav Sharma as chief performance officer

Hashtag Orange has appointed Bhav Sharma as its first chief performance officer. He will be responsible for scaling up the performance of the integrated marketing agency’s accounts across the country.

Over the course of his 20-year-long career, Sharma has worked in varied sectors ranging from fast food chains, financial solutions, agricultural steel tools to new-age digital marketing, and was associated with brands like Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Samsung, Maruti Suzuki, Care Health Insurance, and Sony. He was previously the associate vice president and head of performance marketing at AdGlobal360 where he was in charge of team management, performance marketing, Meta partner program, and departmental training.

Sharma’s areas of expertise reportedly include people management, project planning and execution, training, business development, and data analysis. He also specialises in search engine marketing (SEM), paid marketing, online and direct marketing, as well as media planning and buying. 

PR Professionals wins the PR mandate for ACE

PR Professionals, the flagship brand of the PRP Group, has secured the public relations mandate of Action Construction Equipment (ACE). The material handling and construction equipment manufacturer has a portfolio that encompasses pick and carry cranes, mobile and fixed tower cranes, backhoe loaders, crawler cranes, truck mounted cranes, and other essential construction equipment. PRP will be handling their PR mandate, pan India.