Brands
Leo Burnett Orchard makes key senior appointments
MUMBAI: Leo Burnett Orchard, the Leo Group India’s full service creative agency, has made some key senior management changes.
The agency has brought on board Manav Rai Ahuja as vice president and branch head of Mumbai. The branch’s former vice president and head Sharmine Panthaky, has moved to the Bengaluru branch in the same capacity. Panthaky now heads the branch overseeing the Amazon India business, Leo Burnett Orchard’s largest client.
The duo will report to Leo Burnett Orchard COO Mahuya Chaturvedi. Ahuja will work closely with executive creative director Amod Dani. He comes from Leo Burnett India’s Gurugram office where he was the vice president. He joined the agency in 2009 to launch Telenor in India. His advertising experience spans 14 years, of which he has spent the last eight with Leo Burnett India. He has also had stints with Lowe, McCann Worldgroup and Ogilvy & Mather in the past. He has worked on some of the biggest brands in the country namely Coca Cola India, Maruti Suzuki, General Motors, SBI Card, Uninor, Snapdeal, Perfetti, LG, Motorola and Yahoo! He has also worked in the high-end luxury retail sector during his year long stint with Lladro and Villeroy & Boch.
Chaturvedi says, “Manav comes in with the rich experience of working on some of the biggest brands across categories. He will take the momentum of the Mumbai branch forward, keeping its winning streak going. His mandate is to grow the great body of work that the branch has done in 2017, by manifold. I expect 2018 to be an exceptional year for Leo Burnett Orchard Mumbai with Manav and Amod working together to create some fantastic work for our clients.”
Excited to be joining his new role, Ahuja mentions, “Leo Burnett Orchard has great momentum right now. We have an exciting set of brands and the right mix of people to create some great work in the coming months. My personal focus would be to delight my current and prospective clients by offering them integrated solutions to their brand problems. I look forward to my new role with all its exciting challenges.”
Brands
MakeMyTrip partners with OpenAI to boost AI-powered travel planning
Conversational AI now guides travellers from inspiration straight to booking
GURUGRAM: MakeMyTrip, India’s leading online travel company, has teamed up with OpenAI to bring a fresh twist to AI-driven travel planning. The collaboration integrates OpenAI’s APIs into MakeMyTrip’s app, making it easier than ever for travellers to move from chatting about dream trips to booking them.
The move centres around MakeMyTrip’s Myra interface, a GenAI trip planning assistant that now handles over 50,000 conversations a day in languages ranging from English and Hindi to Tamil, Telugu and Bengali. Myra helps travellers explore options, create itineraries and book flights, hotels and extras without the usual hassle of searching and filtering.
MakeMyTrip co-founder and group CEO Rajesh Magow said, “With OpenAI, we turn curiosity into confident decisions. When travellers start their journey through conversation, MakeMyTrip becomes a seamless extension of that discovery process. AI combined with our travel data makes it possible to deliver personalised, bookable options at scale.”
OpenAI managing director- international Oliver Jay added, “MakeMyTrip is showing how AI can make travel planning feel more like a conversation than a chore. Advanced AI isn’t just about back-end efficiencies, it’s about transforming the way travellers experience and engage with the platform.”
MakeMyTrip has long invested in AI across the travel lifecycle, from inspiration and discovery to booking and post-sales support. Nearly half of Myra’s queries now come from tier-2 and smaller cities, and voice interactions are booming outside metros, making AI travel assistance more accessible than ever.
With this partnership, MakeMyTrip is not just keeping up with AI trends, it’s aiming to lead the way, turning every traveller’s whim into a smooth, bookable adventure.
