MAM
Dentsu shops in India, takes 51% stake in Taproot
MUMBAI: Japanese advertising giant Dentsu is on a shopping spree. After snapping up UK-based media buying company Aegis in July for $4.9 billion, Dentsu has taken a controlling 51 per cent stake in creative agency Taproot to step up its expanding footprint in India.
Founded by Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi, the young Indian agency has grabbed the limelight with creative campaigns like ‘Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai‘ and ‘Joh Tera Hai Who Mera Hai‘ for Airtel and ‘Change the Game‘ for Pepsi. This year in Cannes, Taproot won a Gold Lion at Cannes along with Ramesh Deo Productions for the ‘I Am Mumbai‘ film for Times Group‘s publication ‘Mumbai Mirror.
Says Dentsu India Group executive chairman Rohit Ohri, “Taproot has, very quickly, become one of the most respected communication agencies in India. In fact, Aggie and Paddy are globally recognised and celebrated creative talents. We are delighted that they have chosen to partner with Dentsu. This alliance will give a significant fillip to our growth plans for India. Our collective vision is not to be the biggest but to be the best in the industry.”
Partnering with Dentsu will enable Taproot to offer a more comprehensive bouquet of services to their clients and across larger market geographies. The Indian agency has 33 full-time employees and a roster of clients such as PepsiCo, Airtel, The Times of India, Polycab, Marico, Karbonn Mobiles, Myntra.com, Mumbai Mirror, Nirma, DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund, UTV Bindass, and UTV Stars.
Taproot will continue to operate independently under the management control of its current leadership. “We will ensure that Taproot’s independent spirit and fiercely creative culture stays intact. It will just have a lot more firepower added through integrated communication execution capability and an all-India network,” Ohri says.
Taproot has been exploring options to get a strategic partner that would provide it funding and expansion opportunities. Says Dias, “While we are doing alright on the creative front, we felt that we needed to add a bit more logistical and service capabilities across markets. With Dentsu as our partner we feel we can scale up several areas of our operations very quickly without losing what has been working for us so far.”
Adds partner Padhi, “Most importantly, we are assured that this alliance will be mutually beneficial to Taproot India and also to each one of its employees going forward, without changing our creative offering or the nature of the relationships we share with all our clients.”
In january 2011, Dentsu had expressed its ambitions to grow fast in India by buying out its local joint venture partner to take full control. The price: $2.4 billion for Sandeep Goyal-promoted Mogae Media‘s 26 per cent stake each in Dentsu Communications, Dentsu Marcom and Dentsu Creative Impact.
A wholly owned subsidiary of Dentsu Inc., Tokyo, the Dentsu India Group comprises three standalone full-service advertising agencies—Dentsu Communications, Dentsu Marcom and Dentsu Creative Impact—as well as Dentsu Media and Dentsu Digital.
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Brands
Hemlata Sharma joins ONEOTT Broadband as chief business officer
Former Zee Media distribution head to steer growth, partnerships and strategy
MUMBAI: Hemlata Sharma has joined ONEOTT Broadband as chief business officer, bringing with her more than three decades of experience across television, telecom and media distribution.
Sharma most recently served as head distribution, research & CRM at Zee Media Corporation Limited, where she worked closely with editorial and senior management while overseeing distribution, consumer research and customer relationships for 14 news channels including Zee News, WION, Zee Hindustan and Zee Business, along with ten regional state channels.
In that role, she led nationwide distribution across platforms such as DTH, Hits, IPTV, cable networks and DD Free Dish. She also drove consumer research and strategic insights on a pan India scale, analysing content performance, anchor impact, programme slots and audience behaviour to guide editorial decisions and programming strategy.
Her portfolio also included managing one of the largest alliances with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited and overseeing the global distribution monitoring of Wion across North America, Mena, Europe, Africa, APAC and Australia.
Earlier, Sharma briefly served as head sales and distribution at Triplecom Media Pvt Ltd, an engagement driven OTT platform bringing together content, gaming, music and advertising for the entertainment distribution ecosystem.
Her earlier career includes a senior vice president stint at Ten Sports Network, where she played a key role in relaunching the sports broadcaster as an independent bouquet comprising Ten Sports, Ten Cricket, Ten Action and Ten Golf following the Zee takeover. During this period, she moved from vp west to head strategy for cable and dth and later national head retail distribution, helping build the network’s retail distribution vertical across India and launching dedicated golf and football channels.
Before that, Sharma spent over six years at Bharti Airtel as general manager operations for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. She initially led marketing and corporate communications before moving into sales leadership, where voice sales grew by 86 per cent and revenues by 96 per cent. She later headed business operations, expanding annual business volumes to Rs 100 crore while significantly reducing operational costs.
Sharma began her long association with the media distribution ecosystem at Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited as regional head sales and distribution for central India. During that period, she played a role in the early rollout of pay television channels including Zee Cinema, HBO, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, while also contributing to the launch of Siti Cable in key central Indian cities.
With her new role at ONEOTT Broadband, Sharma is expected to focus on strengthening business strategy, expanding partnerships and driving growth across the company’s broadband and digital distribution ecosystem.
