MUMBAI: After the buyout of its local partner, Dentsu is working out its team at the top in India.
Dentsu India Group has announced five senior-level appointments at Dentsu Marcom, one of its three full-service, flagship agencies.
ECD Titus Upputuru has been promoted to NCD, while VP Chandana Agarwal has been promoted as SVP.
In an intra-group move, Ranjit Kumar Gupta has been brought in from Dentsu Creative Impact as SVP, while Shaleen Sharma has been appointed as VP, Strategic Planning.
Sunita Prakash has joined as VP, account management.
All personnel will report in to Dentsu Marcom COO Hiroshi Omata.
The Dentsu India has made five senior appointments to replace the executives who left after Dentsu had bought out its joint venture partner in India in January this year.
Omata said, “I am delighted to welcome these five charged professionals into their roles at Dentsu Marcom. We are always on the lookout for the right people who can share our vision and partner with our clients to create ‘Good Innovation.’ Titus, Chandana, Ranjit, Shaleen and Sunita bring on board great depth and diversity of talent, knowledge and experience. Having them lead our creative, planning and
service outcomes makes me very buoyant about our performance in India."
Titus Upputuru first joined Dentsu Marcom in early 2009. After a one-year stint, he moved to Saatchi & Saatchi, following which Upputuru returned to Dentsu in early 2011.
Starting with Madhyam DMB&B (now Publicis India) as copy trainee, Upputuru in his 15-year career has worked with Trikaya Grey (now Grey Worldwide), TBWA Anthem (now TBWA India), Delhi-based Ushak Kaal and Ogilvy & Mather India. Upputuru’s brand expertise includes campaigns for Afghan Telecom, the Hutch Delhi Marathon, Sprite (Seedhi Baat No Bakwaas), Kinley (Boond Boond Mein Vishwas), Kentucky Fried Chicken (especially, Institute of Lickonomics), Fanta, Grasim Suitings, WWF and Dabur.
SVP Chandana Agarwal leads the Honda cars and two-wheelers businesses at Dentsu Marcom. She started her career in advertising with FCB Ulka in Bangalore. Over her 14 years in the business, she has worked with Rediffusion Y&R, Mumbai, JWT, Delhi and McCann Erickson, Delhi.
Agarwal’s brand experience spans a variety of categories. Some of the brands she has handled include Wipro Consumer care, United Breweries, Himalayan Water, the Taj’s Gateway brand of Hotels, Singapore Tourism Board, Economic Times, Dabur Chyawanprash, Reebok, Monster.com, Nestle and Pepsico’s Kurkure.
Ranjit Kumar Gupta joined Dentsu Creative Impact in 2008 as VP and was promoted to SVP in 2010. He started his advertising career at Clarion, Kolkata where he worked on ITC’s Capstan cigarettes. He later worked at Lintas, HTA and Rediffusion in Kolkata before moving to Bangalore as Business Head of SSC&B Lintas, Bangalore Branch in 2005.
Across Gupta’s rich experience of nearly two decades, he has handled many renowned brands for some of India’s most respected clients – ITC (Capstan, Scissors, Bristol), Bharti Airtel, United Spirits (Royal Challenge, Antiquity), Tide Water Oil (Eneos), Tea Board of India, Hind Lever Chemicals, Paras Fertilisers, Maruti Suzuki (Estilo, Wagon R, Auto Expo) and Unicharm.
Shaleen Sharma joins Dentsu Marcom from RK Swamy BBDO, Delhi where he led strategic planning and business consultancy at The Hansa Group. He started his career in marketing with Daimler in 1997. In the last eight years, he has worked in various capacities in strategic planning with Mindshare, JWT and the Boston Consulting Group.
An advertising and brand communications professional with over 13 years experience, Sharma’s brand experience includes work on brands like Sony, Samsung, BMW, Microsoft, Google, Disney, Audi, Starbucks, Dulux, Valvoline, IndusInd Bank and Vodafone.
Sunita Prakash joins Dentsu Marcom from Solutions Digitas (a Publicis Group Company) where she was VP on FMCG, IT and Insurance verticals for two years. Previously, she was with Hakuhodo Percept for eight years, first as branch director, Bangalore and then business director, Delhi.
With 17 years of experience of which 15 have been in mainline advertising, Prakash has worked across agencies like Contract and Interact Vision. Her brand experience includes brands such as PepsiCo, Nestle, ITC, HP, Aviva, Panasonic (Batteries), Indo Nissin (Top Ramen and Cup Noodles), Citizen (Eco-Drive), APC (Power solutions), Epson, Coffee Day, HMT, Carona, JL Morrison (Nivea) and L&T.
