2023 was a year of alignment and realignment for major advertising network companies. Some got new people, some reshuffled responsibilities, and a few others discarded businesses that didn’t make commercial sense. Here’s a recap of major developments that happened at advertising network companies and how it affected the Indian market.
Dentsu India started fixing its people problem
After two years of turmoil, Dentsu in India started scripting a turnaround in 2023. In 2021, the Indian unit of Dentsu Group Inc was rocked by a series of senior-level exits. According to insiders, over the last two years, the accelerated ‘transformation’ of Dentsu International’s operations in India led to the leadership changes, consolidations and dissolutions of agency brands. In 2023, Dentsu in India made significant changes and rejigged its leadership to script a turnaround.
In January 2023, Sapna Arora, former marketing head of OLX Group replaced Devanathan. Two months after that, the agency appointed Harsha Razdan as chief executive for its South Asia office. This post was vacant since the sudden exit of its former CEO, Anand Bhadkamkar, who quit in September 2021. In the same month, when Divya Karani the media chief of the agency decided to move on from Dentsu X. The agency immediately elevated Anita Kotwani. She is now the CEO of media for South Asia. Narayan Devanathan, the former chief client officer of Dentsu India, is back in office. He will be taking up a consulting role as group chief strategic advisor. Devanathan was associated with the agency for 11 years before he moved on last year to become National Foundation for India’s chief strategy officer.
Piyush Pandey passed the baton
Another big headline of 2023 came from WPP-owned creative giant Ogilvy in India. On September 26, Ogilvy announced that Piyush Pandey is stepping into an advisory role, giving up his position as executive chairman of Ogilvy India.
Hephzibah Pathak was promoted to executive chairperson of Ogilvy India. She is Ogilvy India’s first ever woman in this role. VR Rajesh was made the chief executive officer (CEO) of the agency. He is working with Pathak in further accelerating the transformation agenda of the company.
Read more: Piyush Pandey and Ogilvy: A look back at Indian advertising’s greatest innings
Leo Burnett India’s loss was FCB Group India’s gain
When Leo Burnett South Asia chief Dheeraj Sinha quit, it surprised many in the industry. Storyboard18 was the first to report about the move. IPG-owned FCB Group got Sinha on board as Group CEO India and South Asia. Rohit Ohri was promoted to FCB Global Partner. According to insiders, Sinha took up this role because this gives him an opportunity to work closely with global teams and to refresh the legacy agency’s current client base.
Sinha’s post in Publicis-owned creative agency Leo Burnett India is still vacant. The grapevine is buzzing with chatter about McCann Worldgroup India’s executive director Amitesh Rao who is likely to join the Publicis Groupe-owned Leo Burnett. Rao will fill in Sinha’s shoes and is expected to take charge from January, 2024, insiders tell Storyboard18.
Read more: Is McCann Worldgroup’s Amitesh Rao joining Leo Burnett India as its new chief?
Omnicom unified its brands
Omnicom, the advertising holding company, formed a new entity called Omnicom Advertising Services, which brings together DDB Mudra, BBDO, and TBWA under one roof. Aditya Kanthy was appointed as the CEO of this new entity in India. This unification of the three brands will underscore the importance of India as a pivotal growth engine for network on a global scale.
Essence and MediaCom merger
GroupM formally launched its largest agency EssenceMediacom by merging Essence and Mediacom in Feburary this year. Nick Lawson was made EssenceMediacom’s global CEO. It can be recalled that in 2017, GroupM had merged Maxus and MEC to form Wavemaker.
Read more: Watch out Ajay Gupte and Amin Lakhani, says EssenceMediacom CEO Navin Khemka
Havas Media India and its acquisition bets
In July 2023, Havas acquired PivotRoots, Mumbai-based digital marketing and communications agencies. Cut to October 2023. The French network company picked up PR Pundit. The firm rebranded PR Pundit Havas Red.
Earlier in the year, Havas Group launched Havas Play, a new global network. It retried the Havas Sports, and Havas Sports & Entertainment brands in markets where they currently exist.
In India, three entities, Havas Sports and Entertainment and Havas Content, both of which are part of Havas Media Group India, and Cake India, which is part of Havas Creative India, were rebranded as Havas Play. R Venkatasubramanian, president and national head of investments, Havas Media Group India, was given responsibility to lead Havas Play in India. Havas Play is a part of the Havas Media Group India network, which is led by Mohit Joshi as its chief executive officer.
The demise of J. Walter Thompson
In October 2023, WPP merged its iconic ad agency Wunderman Thompson (previously known as JWT and J Walter Thompson) with VMLY&R. Jon Cook became VML’s Global CEO and Mel Edwards VML global president.
Back in 2018, J. Walter Thompson (JWT) merged with digital agency Wunderman to form Wunderman Thompson. JWT had completed over nine decades of operations in India before the merger, having started in India in 1929 and globally in 1864. Over the years, its heritage as a creative heavyweight has been eroded as some senior talent stepped away. Their departure led to the loss of deep knowledge and understanding on big accounts that had created a sense of trust among clients. With the change in name, this development was a sad one for many who were a part of this institution that was JWT over the years.
Read more: Wunderman Thompson no more: WPP merges agency with VMLY&R