Tag: Mindshare

London, United Kingdom – New Zealand-based growers’ cooperative Zespri Group, its media agency Mindshare, and adaptive streaming specialist SeenThis are pointing the way for advertisers seeking to balance greater sustainability and media performance, with the announcement of remarkable emissions savings from the recently concluded ‘Zespri SunGold’ campaign.

Streamed with SeenThis technology, the French ‘Zespri SunGold’ campaign – which consisted of a series of IAB formats utilizing high quality video and images in display ad spaces – used an average of 39% less data compared to delivering the same quality creative using conventional technology, which results in 12% lower carbon emissions associated with delivering the creative.

SeenThis proprietary adaptive streaming technology actively reduces the amount of data required to deliver content, eliminating ‘data waste’ – data transferred unnecessarily, not “consumed”.

Ads load instantly with the streaming being adapted to the users’ conditions and the assets optimised for the highest quality that can be perceived by the human eye. This is not only much more efficient from a media performance point of view, but is also a more sustainable way of delivering digital advertising.

Mohamed Akouh, senior display and programmatic strategist at Mindshare said, “Mindshare has worked hand in hand with SeenThis and Zespri to achieve better display performance while positioning itself at the forefront of innovation in sustainable advertising. We are very pleased with the results and the potential of SeenThis technology, which enables us to actively minimize the carbon footprint of campaigns while improving media performance.”

Meanwhile, Mélanie Lacomme, marketing manager France for Zespri, commented, “This partnership is part of Zespri’s approach to better understand the carbon impact of its media campaigns, and to reduce it,” says. “We began this process in 2021 by measuring the carbon impact of our campaigns with GroupM, choosing advertising agencies based on their performance but also their commitment to carbon reduction initiatives. Every year, we try to go one step further, aiming now also at reduction and not only compensation.”

Gurgaon, India – Media agency Mindshare in India has been appointed by car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki to handle its media mandate. With a focus on innovative strategies and technology-driven solutions, Mindshare aims to leverage its expertise in performance, data, digital, and content to co-create innovative solutions for Maruti Suzuki’s growth in the coming years.

Moreover, as a flagship agency from GroupM, Mindshare’s expertise, creativity, and strategic vision will help steer the Maruti Suzuki brand towards a faster lane of growth and success, operating from its Gurgaon office.

Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer of marketing and sales at Maruti Suzuki India Limited, said, “We are looking forward to this partnership with Mindshare (Group M) as our integrated media agency. We expect to leverage Mindshare’s strengths in the media industry to synergize and optimise our media spends and co-create ground-breaking initiatives that will give us an edge in today’s competitive automotive industry. We look forward to the exciting possibilities that lie ahead.”

The win is also a significant milestone for GroupM, making it one of the largest media wins in the region further demonstrating its commitment to delivering exceptional results for clients and driving growth for businesses.

Meanwhile, Helen McRae, CEO of Mindshare Asia Pacific, commented, “This win by Mindshare in securing the media mandate for Maruti Suzuki is a significant milestone for the advertising industry in India. It highlights the agency’s exceptional capabilities in providing innovative and technology-driven solutions to their clients. We are excited to see the strategic vision and expertise of Mindshare to steer Maruti Suzuki towards sustainable and responsible growth. This partnership is a testament to the agency’s commitment to delivering exceptional results for clients and driving growth for businesses in the region.”

Lastly, Amin Lakhani, CEO at Mindshare South Asia, stated, “We are thrilled and deeply honoured to have been awarded this esteemed mandate. We are committed to delivering outstanding results for Maruti Suzuki. Our continuous investments in new products, platforms, and people have helped us build a future-ready team that can partner with clients in their growth journey. We are excited to co-create innovative solutions using our expertise in performance, data, digital, and content to drive Maruti Suzuki’s growth in the coming years.”

Singapore – Full-service media agency Mindshare and partnership management platform impact.com have both announced strengthening their partnership to continue developing the affiliate and partnerships industry in the Asia-Pacific region. 

With both teams running local operations in key markets like Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, and Japan, they are now able to provide influencer and content expertise as a unique value-add to clients beyond traditional online advertising channels.

Mindshare was also the first official, fully certified agency for impact.com across Asia Pacific. All APAC members of Mindshare’s specialised affiliate marketing unit underwent intensive training completing impact.com’s Partnerships Experience Academy (PXA), with online courses covering industry fundamentals and advanced product training to continue sharpening their skills and expertise on the channel to best serve their clients.

For Mark Turner, head of affiliate at Mindshare and GroupM APAC, as the affiliate channel and ecosystem prevails as a thriving growth opportunity for brands in the region, they have seen exponential growth.

“We’ve seen exponential growth, having gone from a specialist capability in Neo Media World serving two of Neo’s largest global brands to a service that is now embedded in Mindshare and engaged across the entirety of GroupM on a multitude of brands and markets. GroupM and impact.com’s collaboration brings together a world class partnership technology with the only APAC-wide and most established partnership agency. It is an extremely harmonious relationship which we greatly value and look forward to deepening our engagement,” Turner said.

Meanwhile, Antoine Gross, general manager for Southeast Asia at impact.com, commented that their mission as a company is to transform the way businesses are able to create, manage, scale and optimise an ecosystem of partnerships, creating a new customer acquisition channel for brands and expanding their marketing capabilities. 

“We’re delighted to deepen our relationship with Mindshare & GroupM APAC, as such partnerships allow us to supercharge our growth in Asia and in turn support more brands at a time when the online advertising landscape continues to evolve and create new challenges and opportunities for marketers,” Gross said.

Singapore – Mindshare, the media services company under WPP, has appointed Sidharth Parashar, former president of investments and pricing at GroupM India, to be its new chief investment officer for APAC.

In his new role, Parashar will be focusing on enhancing Mindshare’s investment strategy across local markets, as well as driving Intentional Investment and the opportunity for Good Growth in the region. He will also be reporting to Helen McRae, CEO of Mindshare APAC.

Additionally, Parashar will be based in Singapore and will be part of the Mindshare APAC leadership team.

Commenting on his appointment, Parashar said, “It has been an amazing journey at GroupM, and I am delighted to now take over this new Mindshare APAC investments role. I look forward to this opportunity in new markets to build value for our client’s business.”

Meanwhile, McRae noted, “I am very pleased that Sidharth will be joining our regional team. He brings a tremendous depth of expertise and will be a great champion of Good Growth for our clients.”

Prasanth Kumar, GroupM’s CEO for South Asia, said that Parashar has had a phenomenal career journey where the organisation has witnessed his evolution from a practice expert to a leader over the last 18 years with GroupM. 

“He has successfully led the investment mandates across all media and has elevated the practice through innovative products and delivering exceptional value for our clients. I would like to wish him the very best and will continue to work closely with him as he drives the regional investment strategy for Mindshare,” added Kumar.

In July 2022, Mindshare announced new leadership appointments, namely Shankar Rajagopal as chief client officer for APAC; Ashish Thukral as managing director at Mindshare and m/SIX Vietnam; and Preeti Mascarenhas as head of strategy and product for APAC.

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam – WPP’s media services company Mindshare has announced new leadership appointments namely Shankar Rajagopal as chief client officer for APAC; Ashish Thukral as managing director at Mindshare and m/SIX Vietnam; and Preeti Mascarenhas as head of strategy and product for APAC.

Rajagopal was previously the CEO of Mindshare and m/SIX Vietnam, and a media veteran with two decades of experience leading client accounts from Unilever to L’Oréal and HSBC, as well as helming business divisions in India, China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore.

Commenting on his appointment, he said, “I am looking forward to my new role – the fourth within Mindshare – where I will focus on driving the business transformation agenda for our clients in the region. I am excited to lead the Mindshare Asia-Pacific Client Leader community and will partner our account leads to continue nurturing our client relationships as well as ensure seamless integration and sharing of best practices across all markets to ultimately benefit our clients.”

Meanwhile, Thukral brings with him extensive brand-side experience from Standard Chartered and Diageo. He has also led agency client accounts including Levi’s, Nike, Lenovo, Nestle, GSK; and was most recently, the Managing Partner for Unilever, leading the global strategy and content for Mindshare’s long-term client. 

Lastly, Mascarenhas has returned to Mindshare where she previously spent eight years as the GSK APAC lead, handling numerous client accounts and winning new businesses across the CPG, FMCG, fintech and edutech sectors.

Rajagopal will be reporting to Helen McRae, CEO of Mindshare APAC, while Thukral will report to McRae as well and to Himanshu Shekhar, CEO of GroupM Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. Mascarenhas, meanwhile, will report to Rohan Lightfoot, chief growth officer of Mindshare APAC.

Speaking on the new appointments, McRae said, “Shankar, Ashish and Preeti boast excellent track records driving Good Growth and award-winning innovation across APAC. These are some of our brightest talents whose intimate knowledge of the region and deep domain expertise set them apart as forerunners in the ad tech industry. I’m confident they will continue to deliver exemplary work for our clients in their new roles.”

Shanghai, China – China’s FMCG conglomerate, MasterKong Beverage, has reappointed media agency Mindshare China as its agency of record. The win, which will see Mindshare China provide media planning and buying services for the beverages business, further cements the agency’s already eight-year strong relationship with MasterKong.

According to MasterKong Beverage, Mindshare China’s advanced proprietary media tools, integrated strategic offering, and dynamic and diverse talent offerings were impressive. Furthermore, MasterKong Beverage has highlighted Mindshare China’s global leading creativity, which has seen its work in partnership with the agency awarded three Gold, two Silver and two Bronze in the first half of 2022 at globally recognised shows.

Angie Liu, director of MasterKong Beverage, said, “MasterKong Beverage’s products and marketing never cease to continue innovating, futureproofing the brand’s popularity with young consumers. We look forward to continuing our cohesive and collaborative partnership with Mindshare China to create further industry-leading work. We wish Mindshare China congratulations on their success.”

Meanwhile, Benjamin Condit, Mindshare China’s CEO, commented, “Our eight-year relationship with MasterKong Beverage’s business has grown from strength to strength, and we are grateful for the opportunity to take this relationship to new heights as we drive good growth through industry innovation together.” 

Jessica Zhang, Mindshare China’s chief client officer, noted, “As one of China’s most prominent FMCG brands, MasterKong Beverage is an industry leader in both its product and marketing offers. From their Iced Tea helping to break through norms to He Kai Shui’s innovative heritage, MasterKong continues to drive impactful marketing. It is a great honour for the team to continue as MasterKong’s chosen growth partner and we look forward to the many chapters ahead.”

New York, USA – To accelerate innovation for clients and further simplify GroupM’s operations, the media investment group by WPP has unveiled the merger of Essence with MediaCom and the integration of Mindshare with Neo, as well as its new 9,000-strong cross-channel performance platform built on AI technology.

EssenceMediacom is designed to power client growth globally with an agile response to a rapidly evolving media landscape. It infuses the digital and data-driven DNA of Essence with MediaCom’s scaled multichannel, audience planning, and strategic media expertise. Through this, clients will be able to leverage an expanded global organisation founded by two agencies that are strategic complements, designed exclusively to fuel client growth. Essence and MediaCom are already using this operational model for three shared global clients, namely Google, Mars, and NBCUniversal.

Meanwhile, Mindshare and Neo will be operating under the Mindshare brand but will retain and scale Neo’s operating model, focused on pureplay performance solutions, and will integrate this into Mindshare’s full-funnel offering. Neo’s 1,200 digital-first, performance experts and consultants will also be integrated with Mindshare’s 10,000 media specialists and Neo’s digital-first services will be fully embedded into Mindshare and GroupM’s offering.

GroupM Nexus will be composed of 9,000 practitioners globally, collectively responsible for the activation of more than two million campaigns managed by GroupM each year. This global community represents the industry’s leading team of experts in digital channels and platforms, search, social, programmatic, and AI, as well as cross-channel optimisation, and data-driven technologies and software. In addition, GroupM Nexus unites GroupM’s addressable content and TV, AI technology, and omnichannel solutions from Finecast, Xaxis, and GroupM Services into a single unit. The global organisation will be underpinned by a new cross-channel performance platform and international delivery hubs to set new benchmarks for performance innovation and efficiency for GroupM’s agencies and clients.

Christian Juhl, GroupM’s global CEO, said, “Through GroupM Nexus and our agency powerhouses Mindshare, Wavemaker, and EssenceMediacom, we are building a tech-enabled future, side-by-side with our clients, that is accountable to advertisers’ growth goals and to our vision for an advertising ecosystem that works for everyone.”

With these moves, Nick Lawson, MediaCom’s global CEO, will be leading the newly formed EssenceMediacom as global CEO, and Kyoko Matsushita, Essence’s global CEO, will be promoted to the new role of WPP’s CEO for Japan, as the company continues to invest in expanding, high-growth markets, as well as Nicolas Bidon, Xaxis’ global CEO, will be overseeing GroupM Nexus as global CEO.

Lawson noted that the formation of EssenceMediacom builds on the strong and proven relationship between the agencies to create the agency model their clients want for the future — one founded on brilliant strategy and brand-building capabilities, with pioneering digital expertise running throughout. 

“EssenceMediacom will not only help our clients see the bigger picture and reimagine what’s possible; it will also provide opportunities for our people to upskill and train in new areas, further enriching and enhancing their careers,” said Lawson.

Meanwhile, Matsushita said, “Bringing together Essence and MediaCom – each with their own celebrated histories of excellence – will create a truly unique combination of agile innovation and global scale in a single agency.”

Bidon also commented, “GroupM Nexus unites leading media talent, digital services excellence, cutting-edge AI technology and unique scaled partnerships into a new cross-channel performance organisation with one purpose: power growth for our people, our agencies and the amazing brands they represent. We cannot wait to innovate together and unlock new opportunities for everyone.”

Adam Gerhart, Mindshare’s global CEO, said that the merger delivers seamless access to Neo’s digital-first capabilities and a relentless focus on performance models to accelerate good growth. 

“For our teams it means more opportunity and the ability to create greater impact across the world. I’m delighted to partner with Neo CEO Nasreen Madhany as we complete the integration of the two businesses and move into a new future together,” he added.

London, United Kingdom – Mindshare has launched its new brand proposition of ‘Good Growth’, which is to promote diversified and more sustainable initiatives that are aligned with the clients’ business ambitions.

The new proposition is underpinned by Mindshare’s mother network GroupM‘s ‘Responsible Investment Framework’, which carries five focus areas, namely, Brand Safety, Data Ethics, and DE&I, as well as Responsible Journalism, and Sustainability.

According to Mindshare, the agency is also actively involved in WPP’s, in which GroupM oversees the media investment management sector, commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions in its operations by 2025 and across its entire supply chain by 2030, with media making up the largest element of that supply chain.

Adam Gerhart, the global CEO of Mindshare, shared that delivering ‘Good Growth’ in the platform age is about how well people harness platforms, their ecosystems, and their impact – for both business and good. 

“It requires a new and more holistic understanding of people, through the marriage of empathy and accuracy in solutions, to ensure brands deliver value to their consumers which are aligned with their own values at the same time – for enduring and meaningful growth to everyone in the ecosystem,” said Gerhart.

Following this endeavor, the media agency has made a series of new appointments to its senior leadership and capabilities teams to support its new proposition.

Nilufar Fowler, Mindshare’s current global chief growth officer, has been appointed to the newly created role of global chief client officer. Her responsibilities include ensuring that the agency meets the most pressing needs faced by its clients by creating client communities and connecting them across the agency, into GroupM services, and with WPP capabilities, in order to ensure the best access for the clients to the multiple services and capabilities required to drive ‘Good Growth’ in the Platform Age.

Meanwhile, Dan Reaume, the current chief development officer at Mindshare USA, has been appointed as the new global chief growth officer. He will be responsible for driving the agency’s global growth through business development, leading with how the agency’s new ‘Good Growth’ proposition can drive enduring and sustainable growth for clients.

Kristina Palmer Shedd has recently joined the agency as Mindshare’s global chief people officer, and was tasked with leading the agency’s people operations globally. She will be working to cultivate a good growth talent and transformation mentality and partnering closely with the people teams at GroupM and WPP.

The current chief digital officer at Mindshare Worldwide, Tom Johnson, will also be taking on the new role of global chief solutions officer. He will be spearheading the creation of solutions to help clients drive ‘Good Growth’ by combining capabilities from Mindshare, GroupM, and WPP, based on client requirements. Johnson will also be working closely with GroupM on the development of digital activation solutions and will be leading Mindshare’s consulting offer ‘Change’, working with clients in a consultative capacity with a focus on organizational design, operating models, infrastructure, and consumer strategy, as well as automation, and commerce.

Oliver Joyce, currently the head of Mindshare Worldwide, has been appointed as the new global chief transformation officer. She will be ensuring that transformation is built into clients’ ‘Good Growth’ plans, connecting clients to Mindshare’s consulting offering ‘Change’.

Helen McRae was also recently announced as Mindshare’s new APAC CEO, helping the agency’s clients in the region drive their business forward, nationally and globally. She will also be helping the network to leverage the platform expertise the region has developed in areas such as platform commerce to help drive ‘Good Growth’.

Shane McAndrew, the current chief data strategy officer at Mindshare USA, will be taking on the role of global chief data strategy and analytics officer. His remit is to build and scale the agency and client solutions in data, technology, and analytics, finding the unique balance of empathy and accuracy in data to allow Mindshare to deliver ‘Good Growth’ strategies for clients.

And lastly, the current chief instigation officer at Mindshare USA, Joe Maceda, has been appointed as the global chief innovation officer. He was tasked to bolster the creativity and innovation in media, leveraging the fast-changing landscape and harnessing new approaches, such as neuroscience, as part of Mindshare’s core offering. He will be adding more empathy-based intelligence solutions to the agency’s mix and preparing clients for the future of ‘Good Growth’.

Gerhart commented, “These appointments will help us deliver ‘Good Growth’ more effectively for our clients, accelerating business and advancing the world around us.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – As global media and digital marketing communications network dentsu evolves its organization into three lines of business, namely Creative, Media, and CRM, the company has been moving and nabbing executives to officially set its leadership lineup. 

Just very recently, dentsu announced Prerna Mehrotra as its new CEO for Media, and this time, dentsu in Malaysia has also done its share of reorganization, unveiling its new CEO for Media, Dheeraj Raina. 

Prior to joining dentsu, Raina is global media agency network Mindshare’s managing director in Malaysia. 

Nicky Lim, CEO of dentsu Malaysia, said, “It’s fantastic to welcome Dheeraj as our new Media CEO and drive our ambitious business growth plans forward. With his impressive track record of growth, I have no doubt he will accelerate dentsu international onto an exciting path and ultimately, help us deliver on our business objectives.” 

Raina is recognized for his proprietary IP’s for retail, telecom, and travel industries in marketing planning and for his contributions as a mentor to SMEs and start-ups in Malaysia.

He brings with him more than 16 years of experience in marketing and business strategy, having worked with leading brands such as telecom Celcom, dairy brand Friesland-Campina, and telecom Digi, as well as hypermarket Tesco, Malaysia conglomerate Sunway, and personal care Kimberly-Clark. Prior to his directorial position at GroupM’s Mindshare, he was also managing director at digital, analytics, and marketing solutions ADA, running the country business for Malaysia and other emerging markets. 

Commenting on his appointment, Raina said, “I’m thrilled to have this exciting opportunity to lead all the media brands at dentsu malaysia –  Consider iProspect, Vizeum, Carat, dentsu X, Amplifi, Posterscope, and Amnet – towards being more solutions-oriented, integrated and leading the industry. Today, media agencies sit at the center of unlocking growth for clients, and with such power brands at dentsu, I am looking forward to building cutting-edge solutions and teams.”