Direct Marketing Association: India appoints Vatsal Asher as CEO

In his new role at DMA: India, Vatsal shall be responsible for strengthening DMA: India's presence as an apex body for advocacy of direct marketing practices.

On his new role, Vatsal said, "With multitude of choices, Indian consumers are becoming more discerning about their brand preferences and where they spend money. Considering this consumer behavior and the increasing media clutter, it is imperative for marketers to create data driven customer centric campaigns. From traditionally being defined as "response generating' domain, direct marketing is now used for ongoing customer engagement. By emphasizing on global best practices for marketing services providers and marketers, I aim to carry forward DMA: India's vision of establishing industry standards and promote the direct marketing community."

Sanjiv Swarup, Member of DMA: India Board of Directors, said, "In 2010 spends on direct marketing accounted for more than 50% of overall ad spends in the United States. Similar trend is also witnessed in India where marketers using data, backed with analytics are focusing on creating campaigns that generate interest, measure customer response and continuously engage with their customers. Considering this trend, onus is on us at DMA: India to increase member interaction and provide them with access to the latest information in domain of direct marketing. Vatsal's depth of experience will help drive our agenda to advocate direct marketing and provide networking opportunities that will help the marketing industry to reach the customers more effectively."

Direct marketing has gained immense popularity in past few years with emphasis not just being laid on measuring the returns on marketing spends but also campaigns being created to initiate a dialogue with the customer. With advent of new media and innovative usage of technology to engage with customers, spends on direct marketing have also increased significantly.

Vatsal was associated with Deepak Fertilisers' consumer facing VARE division as Vice President before joining DMA: India. Prior to Deepak Fertilisers, Vatsal has worked with Reliance Retail, Tata Teleservices and RPG group.

Vatsal brings with him more than 15 years of rich and varied experience in domain of marketing communications across brand management, sales and promotions, loyalty and customer experience. With deep understanding of consumer behavior and innovative approach to engage with consumers, Vatsal has strategized and successfully executed marketing campaigns that have taken many brands to the next level.

Vatsal said, "Thanks to direct marketing going digital, it now considered as targeted and customer specific media rather than an intrusive form of marketing. In coming months I look forward to promote new trends and technology in direct marketing, besides creating platforms for knowledge sharing and innovation. We envisage instituting forums with active stakeholder participation in form of industry councils and regional chapters. We shall be organizing webminars, periodic meet ups and an annual colloquium modeled on global format to meet the objectives. Emphasis will also be laid on protecting consumer's interest, thereby strengthen their belief in direct marketing."