MAM
BIC Cello appoints Manos Nikolakis as general manager
MUMBAI: BIC Cello, India’s leading writing instruments company, announced the appointment of Manos Nikolakis as General Manager to lead its operations in India. Manos joins the BIC Cello team to drive the integrated growth strategy of the business and accelerate its development at home and abroad.
Manos is a BIC veteran having been with the company for more than 15 years. In his previous roles he led the business growth strategies for Greece, South Africa, Middle East, and South Asia. Before relocating to India, Manos was the General Manager for the Southern, East and Central Africa region, heading four BIC subsidiaries including South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, and Zambia. In this capacity, he also set up the group’s newest subsidiary, BIC East Africa, in Kenya.
Commenting on the new appointment, Gonzalve Bich, Chief Executive Officer, BIC said, “India is a dynamic market with a relatively young population who demand new products and solutions to fit their evolving needs. With a proven track record and rich experience in developing markets, Manos is ideally placed to bring forward our BIC entrepreneurial spirit and work with our local team in India to drive our business forward.”
BIC Cello recently launched its largest stationery manufacturing unit in Asia near Vapi, Gujarat. The new manufacturing unit comes as the latest addition to BIC Cello’s existing network of factories placed in Daman and one in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. Renowned for its quality and innovative products, the company sells more than five million pens per day in India alone. Spread across 66 countries, BIC Cello continues to strengthen its position as a leader in the ballpoint pen segment.
AD Agencies
WPP Media elevates Dipti Gulati to vp, client growth for APMEA
Singapore-based executive to commercialise AI-powered solutions business across the region
SINGAPORE: WPP Media has promoted Dipti Gulati to vice president, client growth, handing her the mandate to lead the commercialisation of its solutions business across APMEA.
Based in Singapore, Gulati steps up after serving as senior director, client growth, where she drove expansion across APAC spanning programmatic, search, social, CTV, DOOH and cross-channel offerings. Now, she is tasked with translating advanced AI, data and technology ecosystems into scalable growth strategies for global brands across FMCG, luxury, F&B and financial services.
“I commercialise the future of media — at scale, across APMEA,” Gulati said, announcing her appointment. She added that she turns advanced data, AI and technology ecosystems into real commercial outcomes, shifting the conversation “from a pure media play to owning business outcomes”.
Her brief is unapologetically future-facing: addressable, accountable and AI-powered media. She will work with cross-market teams across APMEA, bringing together diverse perspectives and cultures to accelerate growth and build what she calls the “future of media”.
Gulati’s rise caps nearly two years at WPP Media and follows a six-month stint as regional director of growth, APAC, at Mindshare, where she led new business development and expanded capabilities for existing clients. Earlier, as global account director for integrated marketing communications on the Unilever business, she drove communications strategy for multi-million dollar beauty and wellbeing brands across Southeast Asia.
Before that, Gulati spent close to two years as associate director at Warner Bros. Discovery in Singapore. She also served as director, strategic partnerships and market development at TrustSphere, leading go-to-market and growth initiatives across Asia and evangelising relationship analytics to C-level executives. TrustSphere, credited by industry and Harvard Business School case studies as a pioneer in relationship analytics, became a springboard for her deeper engagement with data-driven growth.
Her board and evangelist roles at the Asia Cloud Computing Association and its Asia Analytics Alliance further sharpened her regional policy and analytics credentials. Earlier chapters include marketing consultancy at Blockchain Foundry and a seven-year run at Warner Bros. Discovery in India, where she led ad-sales and business development for HBO and WB across north and east India, delivering record billings. She began her career at Diligent Media Corporation Ltd and Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd..
From ad-sales floors in Delhi and Mumbai to boardrooms in Singapore, Gulati’s arc mirrors the industry’s own shift — from selling spots and slots to engineering outcomes through data and AI. At WPP Media, the brief is clear: scale smarter, move faster and turn algorithms into advantage.
