MS&LGroup strengthens its digital team, brings Gaurav Mishra on-board

MS&LGroup, one of the world's top three PR and Events networks, today announced the hire of Gaurav Mishra as Director of Digital and Social Media for the Asia Region, based in New Delhi, effective immediately.

Mishra is a prolific social media evangelist and frequent speaker at events and universities around the world. His blog, www.gauravonomics.com, is recognized amongst the top 150 marketing blogs globally, as per the AdAge Power150 rankings, and serves as a source of actionable insights for thousands of marketing and communications professionals. Mishra is frequently quoted in leading global business and marketing media on how social media is changing business, government and civil society, and has written several book chapters on the topic.

In this regional role, Mishra will focus on building capability in social media marketing and online reputation management across all Asia staff and offices, and work with clients to develop best-in-class social media programs. Mishra's role will include strengthening MS&LGroup's proprietary tools and processes, building external partnerships and collaborating with Publicis Groupe sister agencies such as VivaKi, Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi and Publicis Worldwide.

Mishra will also work closely with Stanislas Magniant, Director of Digital for MS&LGroup Europe, and the already industry-leading MS&LGroup digital team in North America. Josh Shapiro, who served as Asia Director of Digital from 2008 until now, will work closely with Mishra and remain a senior counselor to clients, while spending more time on his primary role as Business Director for the MS&LGroup Asia region.

Previously, Mishra held senior marketing roles at TATA Group, led research on social media trends in the BRIC countries and taught a graduate course on social media while serving as the Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. Most recently he served as CEO and co-founder of 2020Social, India's most respected social media consulting firm.

At 2020Social, Mishra oversaw the development of a social media business consulting offer focused on aiding CEOs, CMOs, and Marketing and PR directors in developing strategic social media programs. Clients included Intel, Dell, Frito-Lay and Intuit. MS&LGroup's parent company, Publicis Groupe, announced last Friday, October 1, the acquisition of a majority stake in 2020Social, which will be aligned under the newly established MS&LGroup India brand. In his regional role, Mishra will continue to work with 2020Social, as well as 20:20 MEDIA and Hanmer MS&L, the two other agencies under the MS&LGroup India brand.

MS&LGroup Asia is an industry leader in social media, with more than 125 staff supporting clients in digital communications across eight offices in India, as well as Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul and Tokyo. As a region, this team has executed more than 150 social media campaigns in the last year for clients including The Coca-Cola Company, Sunkist Growers, Volkswagen, Bel Cheese, Business Software Alliance, Samsung and many others. This includes campaigns ranging from high-profile online crisis and issues management to consumer and community engagement to corporate and B2B programs.

Glenn Osaki, President of MS&LGroup Asia, remarked, "Gaurav is one of, if not the most, respected social media thought leaders in Asia. I know our staff and clients are looking forward to learning from his insights and delivering campaigns with the greatest impact and engagement. For MS&LGroup Asia, our vision is for social media to be a core capability for each and every staff member, and a key business driver for our clients. With Gaurav's expertise and passion, our region will accelerate its plans over the next two years to achieve this ambitious goal."

Mishra commented, "I am really excited about joining MS&LGroup and the Publicis Groupe, both leaders in digital and social media. I look forward to helping our clients benefit from the intersection of social as in connecting people and social as in benefiting society. Asia represents a large, diverse and fast growing group of social media users, and the imperative for brands to listen to, engage in and host social media conversations has never been stronger."

Marketing
@adgully

News in the domain of Advertising, Marketing, Media and Business of Entertainment

More in Marketing