MAM
FCB Group India announces organisational rejig & key elevations
MUMBAI: On the back of its success at the recently concluded Cannes Lions 2021 where it collected eight Lions, FCB Group India today announced the reorganisation of its creative agencies in India, along with key elevations.
The group which has seen a creative transformation over the last four years, announced organisational restructuring with its three full-service agency brands in India – FCB Ulka, FCB Interface, and FCB India. These three agencies will be a part of FCB Group India with Nitin Karkare, Swati Bhattacharya, Robby Mathew, and Joe Thaliath taking on more prominent roles, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
“It is imperative for us now, more than ever before, to be able to provide our clients with the strategic direction and creativity they need to navigate the new world we live in today,” said FCB Group India chairman & CEO Rohit Ohri. “Our new structure allows for our best people to provide focused and dedicated partnership to our clients; to bring the disruptive creativity, agility, and fluidity that is required today to transform our clients’ businesses and create unmissable brands.”
Karkare will take on the role of vice chairman at FCB Ulka. With 35 years in advertising, he started as a management trainee at Ulka Advertising. Karkare is known to forge long-term partnerships, be it his clients, teams, colleagues, or associates.
Bhattacharya, who has recently been named ‘Adweek Creative 100’ for 2021, has been appointed creative chairperson at FCB India. She became India’s first woman chief creative officer when she joined FCB Ulka in 2016. Under her leadership, FCB has won more than 120 awards.
Mathew takes over as vice chairman and CCO at FCB Interface. With over two decades at FCB Interface, he drives the agency’s creative agenda and is behind some of the agency’s most memorable campaigns for brands like Mahindra, Oreo, Bluestar, and Agrotech Foods.
Thaliath takes charge as vice chairman and CEO at FCB Interface. A retail pioneer and entrepreneur, he started his advertising career with FCB Ulka in Cochin. He later shifted to Mumbai and led many different businesses before becoming the CEO of FCB Interface. Through his 30 odd years with the Group, Thaliath has worked on global and Indian mega brands across the automotive, FMCG, publishing, media, and telecom sectors.
“Nitin, Swati, Robby, and Joe have been the pillars of the Group. The creative work that Swati and Robby have done over the last four years has made FCB Group India shine brightly on the global creativity firmament. Nitin and Joe have ensured that our creativity was a powerful economic multiplier for our clients. Together, they have scripted our creative transformation story,” Ohri further said.
“I believe this new three creative agency structure sets up the Group perfectly to serve our clients better, with a sharper focus on their business, and for accelerated growth as we look to our next 60 years in India. It signals the empowerment of our creative leaders and the building of sustainability in our creative transformation journey,” he added.
FCB Group India said that it also appointed the next level of leadership for each of its agencies, for which the announcement will follow soon.
MAM
Toyota appoints Kenta Kon as President & CEO
New leader to steer EV push and global innovation amid industry shift.
MUMBAI: Toyota just handed the keys to a new driver because when the road to electric mobility gets twisty, you need someone who knows how to accelerate without skidding. Toyota Motor Corporation has named Kenta Kon as its new president and chief executive officer, a key leadership transition as the Japanese giant doubles down on its transformation in the fast-evolving global automotive landscape.
Kon brings deep expertise in automotive innovation, business strategy, and operational leadership to the top job. His appointment signals Toyota’s intent to sharpen focus on accelerating electric mobility, strengthening worldwide operations, and pushing customer-centric breakthroughs in next-generation technologies.
The company is betting on Kon to guide it through the industry’s pivotal shift toward sustainability, digital integration, and smarter mobility solutions. Key priorities under his watch include ramping up electric and hybrid lineups, expanding global market reach, driving cutting-edge automotive R&D, tightening supply-chain efficiency, and scaling connected and intelligent vehicle ecosystems.
This move comes at a time when legacy automakers face intense pressure to balance heritage strengths with aggressive electrification timelines and software-defined vehicle demands. Toyota aims to reinforce its position as a leader in sustainable, reliable, and future-ready mobility while navigating competitive challenges from both traditional rivals and new-age EV players.
For a brand that’s long defined durability and innovation, Kon’s elevation isn’t just a title change, it’s Toyota flooring it toward the next lap, ready to turn today’s tech talk into tomorrow’s showroom reality.
