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Commenting on this partnership, Rachana Dharia – Business Head (Digital), says, “MTS is one of the fastest growing telecom brands in the country. Telecom provides immense opportunity to leverage the digital platform due to its direct engagement with customers and their relationship with communication. With MTS being a youth brand, we are excited about leveraging the digital medium and taking the brand further into the youth mind space. It’s a great partnership and we intend to do some extraordinary innovations that reach out to the ever-growing digital audience.

According to Amitesh Rao, Director Brand & Media, MTS India, “As a next generation digital brand, MTS is in the process of rolling out a series of digital initiatives and innovations designed to empower and engage our customers. Reaching out to our customers in the digital arena is an essential part of our data centric strategy, and in Rediffusion Y&R – Digital we have the right partner to effectively and efficiently expand brand MTS’ digital footprint.”

Says D Rajappa, President, Rediffusion – Y & R, “We are delighted to deepen our engagement with MTS and to partner with them in their focused quest for growth by leading the data space and building franchise among the fast growing youth market. Rediffusion will endeavour to provide seamless marketing support to MTS through effective collaboration across all media to create engaging and impactful creative content”.

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“Over the years, there has been a certain sameness in the way formalwear brands have presented themselves. With the launch of Arrow New York, the brand redefines the formal workwear space and brings with it a fresh air of style and sophistication,” says Indrajeet Mookerjee, Branch Head, Rediffusion-Y&R, Bangalore.

The communication focuses on creating desire for the new line of slim fit formals, but remains true to Arrow’s legacy of dressing up the modern professional.

Inspired by the Big Apple, Arrow New York borrows from the tall, vertical lines of the city. The choice of location for the shoot was a direct fallout of the design inspiration. The TVC and print campaign was conceptualised by creative heads Arun Kumar and Mukund Sharma of Rediffusion-Y&R, Bangalore. “There is a heightened sense of fashion in the country. And that heightened sense of fashion is slowly permeating the workspace. Just any suit will not do,” says Arun Kumar. “What we set out to do was a film that was pure fashion. And fashion is all about setting a trend. Here it is the zero calorie workwear.”

“While New York is the backdrop, the idea is very simply about a woman who rates the things she sees on a calorie meter,” adds Mukund Sharma, “till she comes to the zero calorie look.”

“The TVC does complete justice to the twin tasks of ‘contemporizing workwear’, and driving its relevance with the younger generation of professionals,” says Amod Choudhary, Marketing Head (Arrow/Gant/Izod). “And does it in a manner which makes formals interesting again, newsworthy again. Overall it should bring a lot of interest and aspiration towards formals/workwear as a category.”

The TVC was directed by award-winning UK-based director Andrew Margetson and produced by Milestone Films, Mumbai. New York and Shanghai-shuttling fashion photographer Sanjay Kothari handled the stills.

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Prithvi comes from BBH London where he was the lead on Vodafone VIP, Vodafone Enterprise Business unit & Kronenbourg beer. Prior to BBH-London, he was with BBH-India and Leo Burnett.

Prithvi has worked on Vaseline (full portfolio), Lakme Beauty Salons, World Gold Council, Etisalat, Globalcom, Reliance Mobile, Asia Pacific Breweries and BIG TV. In addition he has worked on several successful pitches.

Prithvi has a Master’s degree in International Marketing from Leeds University. He is passionate about travelling, photography and Single Malt Whisky.

Gautam Talwar, Chief Strategy Officer, Rediffusion – Y & R said “Prithvi brings to the table an interesting mix of passion & experience. He also has the advantage of having worked on both Indian and global brands and we believe that he will be able to add key strategic insights into all brands and businesses that he works on. The team is excited to have him on board on some of the key brands in the Mumbai office”

Neville Medhora, Vice President and Branch Head, Rediffusion – Y & R, Mumbai said “With Prithvi coming on board the capabilities of the Planning team will be further augmented. We have a talented and passionate team in planning at the Mumbai office and with Prithvi’s passion to make a difference I am confident that he will be able to bring some iconic work to the table”

Prithviraj Banerjee, Planning Head, Rediffusion – Y & R, Mumbai said “I am extremely excited to be a part of an organization that displays such high levels of passion and talent through every single employee. From day one, I have been greeted with great conversations and points of view that are truly evolved. I am honored to be a part of the team, and am looking forward to adding to the already-powerful strategic skills of the agency”

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Tarvinder has left his mark on brands like Perfetti, Coco-Cola, Nescafe, Mastercard, Thums-up, UNICEF, General Motors (Chevrolet), LG, Samsung, Wrigley, Microsoft, Gillette, Metlife, Motorola, Airtel, Videocon, Dabur, Moser Baer, to just name a few.

Trarvindejit has also worked as part of international teams on MasterCard, Gillette, Hitachi
and Adidas. His campaign for Daygum Protex was chosen by Perfetti Europe after a pitch involving agencies across the world.

Chraneeta Mann, ECD, Rediffusion – Y & R, Delhi said “Tarvinder is a welcome addition to our creative team in Delhi. He is a seasoned writer and has a vast experience across many brands. He has done some particularly insightful work in the past and we hope to have him bring that same understanding of human insights into the work he does on LG. I am sure he will contribute hugely to taking the brand to greater heights”

Abhik Santara, VP, Delhi said “Rediffusion Delhi office is going through a very interesting phase. We are not only growing with our existing clients but also looking at new prospects. LG is one of our most prestigious clients and we have very strong relationship across all verticals. With Tarvinder on board we hope to further strengthen the Rediff-LG engagement and raise the creative bar”

Tarvinderjit Singh, Creative Head – Copy, Delhi said “I am really excited to work with an agency which has an enormous legacy to showcase. I am eagerly Iooking forward to doing some path breaking and clutter free work”

Tarvinder is the quintessential Man’s Man. He loves to surround himself with people; and then entertain them with his wit. He loves cars and is a keen follower of Formula 1. He is just as keen on keeping himself abreast with the latest in politics and economics from around the world. Francis Fukuyama, Malcolm Gladwell, Tom Friedman, Fast Company are some of his favourite reads. While Jon Stewart and Fareed Zakaria are his TV favourites.

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Indrajeet has over 16 years experience in advertising with nearly seven years each at Ogilvy (his last assignment) and Lowe/Lintas (in the initial phase of his career), besides stints with McCann, Mudra and Euro RSCG. In the course of his recent tenure at Ogilvy Bangalore, he has for three years served as Office Head of Meridian Communications, Ogilvy’s second agency.

Having worked in Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore, Indrajeet has over the years handled several major clients like Unilever (Kissan, Annapurna, Milkana, Anik), Nestle, ITC Foods, Balsara Home Products, JL Morrison, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal , Sab Miller, Philips, Madura Garments and Arvind Brands to name a few.

Amitava Sinha, COO – South & East, Rediffusion – Y&R, “With Indrajeet coming on board, we now have a strong leadership in place in Bangalore which should help propel us to the next level. In fact we are in the process of finalising a few other significant hires here that we should be able to talk about by the end July . These would ensure that we have the necessary firepower in Bangalore to add value to our existing businesses while also pursuing new opportunities.”

Says Indrajeet Mookerjee, Branch Head, Rediffusion – Y&R, Bangalore, “ I am very excited and looking forward to my new role at Rediffusion Bangalore what with the fantastic set of brands we have here. My focus will be on partnering our clients in further strengthening these brands and in the process doing some great work in keeping with the Rediffusion Y&R tradition of creating enduring campaigns that one has grown up admiring.”

Rediffusion has a fairly large set-up in Bangalore with clients like USL (Signature , Royal Challenge , Antiquity ) , ING Insurance, Maxo from Jyothi Laboratories , Arrow , Amante , Columbia Asia Hospitals and Nitesh Estates.

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Prabhakar started his career with Karishma Advertising. After spending 2 yrs there he moved onto Pressman. Maa Bozell followed immediately thereafter. He spent around 1 year in Result McCann before joining Wunderman. After a successful 4 year stint with Wunderman, he joined Contract Advertising.

In his long career of more than 2 decades, Prabhakar has worked on ECIL, ECTV, HLL, Midwest, BSNL, ITPL, AMP, Bhutan Board, Global Trust Bank, Bambino, Gromor, Decolam, launch of WindowsNT, Microsoft, Cabletron, Tektronix, IBM, BPL mobile, Infosys, NIIT, Tata Indicom Photon, Vaango (A South Indian restaurant chain in modern QSR format owned by RJ Group, largest bottlers of Pepsi, KFC, and Pizza hut franchisee in India), HSBC, Shoppers Stop,Tata AIG, Bharati Axa, VSNL.

N Padmakumar, National Creative Director commented on Jampa’s appointment ‘Prabhakar brings with him an amazing blend of classical fine art, sharp advertising thinking and a cutting edge understanding of new media, digital and otherwise. He’s a great addition to the consortium of beautiful minds and genuine hearts we’re attracting into Rediffusion – Y&R. We’re thrilled to have him here with us’.

Prabhakar Jampa, Creative Head – Design & Digital commented on his appointment ‘I am truly delighted to be a part of this journey at Rediffusion – Y & R. What drew me here was the vision that Paddy and Rajappa have for the agency. Their focus on engagement ideas is very exciting coupled with the enormous opportunities that Rediffusion’s brands offer in terms of scope and challenge’.

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With over 15 years of experience, Parag has worked on brands across verticals and categories which include Union Bank, MTDC, Pepsi, Sunsilk, Unilever Corp, Idea, Red Cross, Novartis, Mahindra Two Wheelers, BNP Paribas Mutual funds, HCC, Inorbit Mall, Filmy, Gini & Jony, Mother’s Recipe amongst others. Parag has previously worked with Mudra Communications, Lowe, FCB Ulka, Percept and Forefront. He also had an international stint with JWT Colombo for a span of 3 years.

Neville Medhora, Vice President, Rediffusion – Y&R said, ““Parag brings a lot of energy and passion in to our Mumbai team. His cross-category experience will surely add a lot of value to our clients’ brands. I am confident that Parag will continue to carve out some great work and add value to our clients.”

N. Padmakumar, National Creative Director, Rediffusion – Y&R said, “I am delighted to have Parag on board what with his depth and width of experience in building brands. His attention to detailing is commendable and reflects in his work. I am confident that his rigor, energy and craft will add a new dimension to our brands”.

Parag Shahane, Creative Head – Art said, “The scope of work that most of Rediff’s brands have to offer is remarkable. They have built some great iconic brands and continue to partner them in their journey. I am glad to be a part of a very positive and visionary creative team headed by Paddy. I am looking forward to this new phase in my career and am optimistic that it will indeed be fruitful.”

Parag has a management degree from KC College, Mumbai. To his credit, Parag can boast of numerous Indian and International Awards like Goa Fest, Abby, Effie, A&M, Promax BDA {world Gold}, Promax, SLIM, just to name a few. Parag is a nature lover who also likes to purse a number of activities in his leisure which include Photography, Gardening, Cooking, Teaching, Interior Designing, and doing social work.

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Manish comes on board with over 14 years of experience, working across reputed brands like Pepsi, Close-up, Westside, GM Motors, Essar, Pantaloons, Canon, Samsonite, HSBC, Louis Philippe, to name a few. His previous experience also includes working with agencies such as JWT, Publicis Ambience, Saatchi & Saatchi and Percept H. Manish has a wide reaching familiarity with the advertising industry through the wealthy list of clients he has actively been working with.

Neville Medhora, Vice President, Rediffusion Y&R; “Manish has done some fantastic work in his previous avatars and brings on board cutting edge ideas and a strong work ethic. I believe that will translate into great work for our clients here”

N. Padmakumar; “Manish has been a talent I’ve been tracking for a while now, and he brings with him an amazing ability to ideate as well as craft ideas into works of art. His coming in adds tons of possibilities for Rediffusion in the days ahead. And someone to look up to and learn from, for the younger lot.”

Manish Ajgaonkar, Creative Head, Mumbai; “At Rediffusion Y&R, I will be handling an interesting array of brands and clients and am eagerly looking forward to it. I am confident of bringing my rich experience to the current portfolio that I will be handling here.”
Manish graduated from Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art. To his creative merit, Manish has the following awards; Silver Abby for Ghetto Bar (’06-’07), Silver Abby for Peprico Hot Pepper Sauce’06-’07), Gold for Peprico Hot Pepper Sauce at Graphis (’07-‘08), Bronze Abby for Crystal Restaurant (’08-’09), Gold at Graphis for Ghetto (’08-’09), Gold at Graphis for Visageimages (’08-’09) and Gold at Graphis for Depot Bookstore (’08-’09).

Playing the guitar and watching movies is how Manish likes to pass his time while he’s not winning awards.

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Gautam Talwar joined Rediffusion – Y&R in April 2010 as Executive Vice President – New Business Development and Special Projects. He has made significant contribution to the new business initiatives undertaken by Rediffusion over the last 1 year in addition to creating a strategic path for the agency to enter into the new media space.

Gautam brings to the table more than 14 years of experience in the advertising and entertainment space. He began his career with Grey Worldwide, followed by several years at Lowe in account management and strategic planning. His career path then took him to Lateral Solutions (Netpreneurship) followed by Lowe Dubai and most recently, Kaleidoscope Entertainment Pvt Ltd.

Speaking on the development, D. Rajappa, President, Rediffusion – Y&R, said, “Gautam has been instrumental in leading the new business mandate at Rediffusion – Y&R. He is a Thinker and a New Media proponent who is well versed in brand strategy across different markets, with cross category experience amongst varied consumer segments. ”

On his new assignment, Gautam Talwar said, “Rediffusion – Y&R has always been respected for its commitment to building great brands. With this opportunity I hope to leverage my strategic strengths and build further on this legacy by creating meaningful communication that will deliver on brand objectives and create campaigns that will work for our clients and the agency”

Prior to joining Rediffusion, Gautam was the creative and business head for Kaleidoscope Entertainment Pvt.Ltd, where he set up the mobile content division, developed original concepts and content for television and the mobile space. He was also the executive producer on two full length feature films.

He has spent three years with Lowe & Partners – Middle East & North Africa (Dubai) as the Regional Account Director on the Unilever business. At Lowe Dubai, he worked on Fair & Lovely, Lifebuoy, OMO, Rexona & Axe, Lux Progress, Signal and was the strategic planner for the largest juice brand in MENA – Almarai juices.

Across his 5 years at Lowe Mumbai he was the strategic planner on the skin and hair franchise for Unilever, planning on brands such as Fair & Lovely and Clinic franchise. He was also the planning force behind the very successful Balbir Pasha campaign for Population Services International (PSI).

At Grey he worked on cross category brands like Johnson & Johnson, Cadbury Schweppes, Tropicana, Diageo, Emirates Airlines, Akai TV, Tata Tetley, Elf Lubricants & The Bombay Store.

Gautam has two Cannes Finalist certificates for Axe for two consecutive years as well as a New York Silver and an EPICA silver. He also won the Campaign gold award for the best integrated marketing campaign for 2005 for Axe for the MENA region and won the Unilever internal gold award for global brand activation of Axe. In addition he is a Silver “Effies” winner for the PSI campaign (Balbir Pasha).

Gautam’s constant source of inspiration are music and movies and he is endlessly fascinated by the layers of the human mind.

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Also included in the mandate is Kingfisher’s Formula 1 racing team Force India and Club Force. The span of work will consist of all the digital marketing services such as online promotions and social media management, as well as maintaining their respective websites.

Speaking on this victory, Nisha Singhania, EVP and Mumbai Branch Head, says, “It has always been our endeavor to provide complete marketing solutions to all our clients, and hence it is always heartening when an existing client awards us with more business. I think this win is a testimony of our understanding of the category and the work we’ve done so far. We look forward to more synergies between online and offline communication, that will help us deliver superior and seamless creative solutions for the client.”

Rachana Dharia, Business Head, Digital, expresses her excitement about the win as saying, “We have great talent on board; the team here is already buzzing with ideas, and we hope to churn out work that will be the first of its kind in India. Adding to this Ashutosh Karkhanis, Creative Head, Digital mentions “You can look forward to some exciting digital work that’s both effective and award winning.”

However, Both Kingfisher and Rediffusion were discreet about the size of the business, and agency sources claim that work has already begun on the account.