MAM
Agencies should capture the value of integration: Rama Bijapurkar
MUMBAI: Service integration is the new key word in the advertising business. According to Strategic management consultant, Rama Bijapurkar, advertising agencies will have to re-think the whole business model. “We will have to capture the value of integration in the advertising business. Agencies should start doing this. They should take back the role of the integrator from the client so as to boost their relevance and value proposition.”
Bijapurkar was speaking on the topic “Accelerating the renaissance of the advertising industry,” on the final day of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) symposium on ‘The Future of Advertising’. She had company in Indian School of Business’, Prof. S Ramaswami, International Newspaper Marketing Association executive director, Earl J Wilkinson and ad guru, Prahlad Kakkar speaking on diverse subjects with a central theme on the future of advertising.
“Advertising agencies have to re-assert and re-define their roles. Their activities should be relevant in the new world. They have to re-dedicate themselves at the eternal altars called client business partnering, brand custodionship and nation building,” adding that new rituals are needed to keep the old religion going.
Bijapurkar asked the ad agencies to learn from the IT industry example. “They go for strategic sourcing and solutions through a one stop shopping. They invest in proprietory knowledge. They totally own their clients. They own their brands totally while in advertising, brand ownership is a no-man’s land,” she pointed out.
Speaking on ‘The changing face of print market’, Wilkinson stressed on the need for the right perception to fight competition from other media. “The sizzle business is all about management of perception. We will have to re-evaluate the unique selling points (USP). I would say Times Of India should worry about the emerging competition from technology companies such as Google instead of the competition from rival print companies such as Hindustan Times and The Hindu. For this, we will have to devote our attention to the emerging local market,” he said.
Wilkinson asserted that print is still a powerful media for advertisers. He picked up the UK and Canada examples to support his theory. “The client should change their marketing practices instead of changing the media. It is more about perception and reality. We will have to create segments of information where reader and the advertiser meet,” he said.
During his speech, Wilkinson commented on the kind of changes today’s newspapers have been undergoing. He spoke about the new trends in looks as well as marketing strategies. “Today’s newspaper is not what my father used to read in those days. Today it is multimedia, vibrant and lively, environment friendly, technology crazy, respectful of your time, and value bundled. Marketing-wise also, we have been experimenting a lot and experimentation is the need of the hour,” he said.
Producer-director, Prahlad Kakkar, speaking on the subject, ‘The Indian experience’, offered a glimpse of the coming of age of the Indian advertising over the last ten years. Kakkar said the advent of Hindi advertising was one of the best things that happened to Indian advertising. “With advertising in our own language, we started addressing the whole country as a whole, not the creamylayers of the cities. It discovered its uniqueness and character,” he said.
Kakkar noted that today the perception of ourselves had changed. “Today everybody watches Hindi movies, Hindi songs are played in the discos. Ten years ago, it was difficult to imagine such things to happen. It is all about chenge of the perception.Whether it is Hindi advertising or Tamil advertising, we are feeling oneness.”
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
