MAM
Aalap Desai elevated to lead Taproot dentsu & isobar India as CCO
Mumbai: dentsu India has appointed Aalap Desai to the role of chief creative officer (CCO), Taproot dentsu, a dentsuMB Company. The erstwhile isobar India national creative director (NCD), Desai has also been promoted to the role of CCO for the agency. In both roles, he will report to dentsu Creative India group chief creative officer (GCCO) Ajay Gahlaut, announced the agency on Tuesday.
“In addition to leading isobar India’s creative team, Desai will now also be responsible for Taproot dentsu’s transformation into becoming a nex-gen, digital-first agency,” said the statement.
Meanwhile, Titus Upputuru, earlier creative head, has now been elevated to the role of Taproot dentsu NCD, Gurgaon. He will lead the agency’s Gurgaon creative team and will report to Aalap Desai. Upputuru has also been entrusted with the additional charge of leading integrated solutions for dentsu Creative India. In this role, he will report to Ajay Gahlaut.
“The decision is vital to the growth of dentsu Creative in India and aligned with the network’s global ambitions. Talents such as Aalap and Titus come with unmatched expertise & experience, and their contributions are bound to outweigh the expectations of our clients and the industry,” commented dentsuMB Group CEO Sidharth Rao. “Over the years, they have been groomed with the proficiency to build brands from scratch and are excellent at measuring & matching the market pulse with client needs. With this move, I look forward to dentsu Creative India reinforcing creative solutions in newer and undefined ways.”
“It is fascinating to work with some of the country’s best creative brains. Aalap and Titus are creative geniuses who have delivered some fantastic campaigns over the years,” said Ajay Gahlaut. “Their brand-building approaches are contemporary and fresh. I feel that’s the need of the hour. All the conversations around us are evolving and it is inevitable for brands to evolve their conversations too. They are perfect for that task. Their expertise in brand thinking and storytelling will create robust digital-led creative solutions for clients. I am looking forward to working with both.”
While working at India’s best mainline and digital agencies, Desai has developed a profile that is truly integrated. He has won over 150 International & National awards that include Cannes Lions, D&AD, Spikes and One Show. Previously, Desai was with dentsuMB India where he held the position of NCD.
In addition to this, he also co-headed the creative team at dentsu Webchutney, Mumbai and was behind some of the most notable works like Code Name: Uri, The 8-bit Journo for Vice and The World’s Most Reported trailer for “Thappad.” Apart from this, Desai was also a part of the creative teams at Disney+ Hotstar, Leo Burnett, JWT, DDB Mudra, Ogilvy, and Publicis Ambience. He has helped build brands like McDonald’s, Complan, Huggies, Nerolac, Videocon d2h, and some youth-centric ones like Early Salary and MTV India.
Speaking on his new role, Desai commented, “With the integrated approach we have now, I am excited to be a bigger part of that journey with my new role at isobar and Taproot dentsu. isobar has taught me the power of limitless possibilities, the power of future-gazing and thinking of things that don’t even exist. It is a scary privilege to not just be in step with the world but to create steps that the world will use to climb to the future.”
Brands
Acko CMO Ashish Mishra to exit in July
The digital insurer’s marketing chief, who helped build the brand over nearly five years, is heading for the exit.
Ashish Mishra is stepping down as chief marketing officer of Acko, with his departure confirmed for July. He remains in the role for now, and an official announcement from the company is expected shortly.
Mishra joined the digital insurance start-up in August 2020, making him one of the longer-serving marketing chiefs in India’s fintech and insurtech space. Over nearly five years, he played a central role in building Acko’s brand presence in the country’s fiercely competitive digital insurance market. More recently, he was closely associated with Acko Life’s Unmixed brand philosophy, a proposition built around pure protection products stripped of the investment components that have long complicated traditional insurance offerings in India.
Before Acko, Mishra spent over a decade at HSBC in a series of marketing leadership roles spanning the Middle East, including regional marketing manager for credit cards and advance propositions, brand and media manager, and marketing manager for retail banking. Earlier in his career, he worked on the agency side, serving as senior brand service manager at Lowe Lintas and as executive for brand communications at DDB Mudra Group.
His exit leaves Acko with a sizeable gap to fill at a time when the brand is pushing deeper into life insurance and doubling down on its direct-to-consumer positioning. Whoever takes the seat next will inherit a brand that Mishra spent five years building from the ground up. That is not nothing.
