MAM
The Group M and Mindshare Edge
It was in November 2001 that Mindshare was christened, calling itelf the ‘House of Media’. In its second year, Mindshare figured that to up the game further, it had to widen its scope as a media agency by growing its ‘house of media’ offering. And hence came into being the series of specialized units, the exploration of some serious talent and the development of sound backend infrastructure.
Over the last three and a half years, Mindshare has grown at a swift pace. Undoubtedly, despite Mindshare’s rich inheritance, the agency has burnt the midnight oil to grab and navigate its destiny in the Indian market. From being the media departments of O&M & JWT, Mindshare managed to have separate contracts, exclusive arrangements with its clients and its own P&L. As of today, Mindshare boasts of a high majority of its business via media-only contracts.
Post that, by the virtue of the agency’s size, there came a need to open more shops to handle conflicting businesses, which led to the birth of Maximize – now called Maxus. With WPP’s acquisition of Cordiant, Zenith (Bates’ media arm) came into the fold. Another agency that WPP owned was called Mediaedge:cia (MEC) which came through a past acquisition. After WPP’s take over of Zenith, Group M could not retain Zenith’s name in India due to contractual agreements. And hence Zenith in India was formed as MEC.
That apart, WPP’s recent acquisition of Grey Worldwide saw Mediacom (Grey’s buying arm) also come into Group M’s fold. Mediacom, which is currently not under the control of WPP, will come into the Group M fold in 2006.
Group M has several divisions under its umbrella, offering services related to almost every aspect of the communications space. Among these are Broadmind (headed by M.Suku), ATG (headed by Balasubramnium), the CTG (headed by Lakshmi Narasimhan), and D’Mart. These cover the digital, direct, retail, infilm branding, volume purchases of free commercial time and print space, and what have you.
The WPP media agencies can dip into this pool of services and meet any client need – if and when it arises. A crucial cutting edge advantage which other agencies would do anything to possess.
MAM
DB Group names Abhay Dubey as chief brand marketing
Seasoned marketer brings regional muscle and launch savvy to DB
LUCKNOW: Dainik Bhaskar Group has appointed Abhay Dubey as chief brand marketing, strengthening its leadership bench as the media major sharpens its focus on brand-led growth.
Dubey steps into the role after a high-impact stint as regional marketing manager at Reliance Broadcast Network, where he led data-driven regional campaigns and rolled out new initiatives from concept to completion. Based in Lucknow, he steered end-to-end account marketing, orchestrated launch events, and fine-tuned go-to-market strategies with a sharp eye on budgets and brand visibility.
Before that, he served as area marketing manager at Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited, handling business development, media buying and integrated branding campaigns across Uttar Pradesh. His remit included planning new service launches and working closely with creative agencies, media owners and government departments.
Dubey also held the position of brand manager at EM3 Agriservices Pvt. Ltd., where he drove product launches, demand generation and stakeholder engagement. Earlier in his career, he was head of marketing at Saffron Communications Pvt. Ltd., overseeing integrated campaigns across sectors, and began his journey at Jagran Engage, building experience in advertising and lead generation.
With expertise spanning digital marketing, brand management, demand generation and below-the-line advertising, Dubey brings both strategic planning skills and hands-on execution experience to the table. His track record suggests a marketer who is as comfortable crunching numbers as he is crafting narratives.
At DB Group, he is expected to shape sharper brand strategies, amplify market presence and ensure campaigns that do not just make noise, but make sense.
