MAM
Ketchum acquires majority stake in Sampark PR
MUMBAI: Ketchum, Omnicom Group’s public relations unit, has acquired a majority stake in Indian communications agency, Sampark PR.
Bela Rajan and NS Rajan, who founded Sampark PR in 1994, will continue to lead the India business as director and managing director and will retain a significant holding in the agency going forward.
The leadership team of Bela Rajan, NS Rajan and managing partner Ajay Sharma will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of the agency in India as Sampark PR will now operate as Ketchum Sampark.
Sampark PR has offices across Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad and boasts a network of 80 associate offices that extend throughout the 25 states.
“Today marks another important milestone for Ketchum as we continue to implement our global vision of providing consistently excellent communications service to our clients in the key business and communications markets where they operate,” said Ketchum senior partner and CEO Ray Kotcher. “Our investments over the past six months, in Russia, China and now India, are predicated on this strategy and fortify the foundation we have in place for our clients and our people.”
The move will expand Ketchum’s presence in South Asia, complementing Ketchum’s network in the Asia-Pacific region which includes Greater China, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.
Ketchum had, last year, completed merger with Pleon to form Ketchum Pleon in Europe, creating a diversified communications consultancy in the region.
In addition, it also established a joint venture in the Middle East and North Africa called Ketchum Raad Middle East and a new exclusive affiliate relationship in South Korea with local market leader Prain.
Ketchum senior partner and CEO of international operations Jon Higgins said, “India occupies a powerful place in the world economy today. With Sampark, Ketchum has acquired one of the most respected PR businesses in India. Ketchum has worked closely with Sampark’s leadership team for some time now, and we have tremendous respect for their people and business. We are eager to put our enhanced partnership on a path of even greater possibility for our clients.”
As part of the transaction, in addition to Rajans, the India operation’s board of directors will include Higgins, Ketchum senior partner, COO and CFO Robert Lorfink, and, Diversified Agency Services (a division of Omnicom Group) chairman and CEO Tom Harrison.
Brands
IICT partners with Gativedhi to bring studio production tools to students
New MoU lets students explore AI-driven production pipelines for AVGC-XR
MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) has teamed up with Gativedhi Technologies to give students a front-row seat to modern studio production. The collaboration will integrate Gativedhi’s AI-powered production intelligence platform, Shotrack, into academic programmes, letting students experience the workflow systems used by animation, VFX and gaming studios.
Under the MoU, faculty, students and researchers will get hands-on access to Shotrack through beta programmes, pilot deployments and academic evaluations. This will allow them to explore simulated production pipelines, understand asset management, track tasks and monitor schedules, essentially seeing how complex projects come together behind the scenes.
Shotrack is designed to tackle a key industry challenge: when multiple studios work on the same project, differing internal systems often create bottlenecks, slow approvals and complicate version control. The platform provides a unified production environment, enabling smoother collaboration across distributed teams while generating operational insights and predictive analytics to optimise crew allocation, forecast schedule risks and manage costs.
The collaboration also opens doors to Gativedhi’s wider ecosystem. Upcoming tools include StudioTrack, for studio operations management covering budgeting, recruitment and IT infrastructure, and WorkTrack, which measures workflow efficiency and team productivity across industries.
IICT plans to embed these tools into programmes covering animation pipelines, VFX workflows, gaming production and media project management. Students will also benefit from guest lectures, masterclasses, workshops, internships and research projects that connect academic learning with real-world studio practices.
IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar, said the partnership provides “An environment where production pipeline tools can be explored, tested and refined while students gain insight into how large-scale productions are organised.”
Gativedhi Technologies founder & CEO Senthil Kumar added, “This collaboration introduces students to real-world studio management tools and helps us improve our platform with academic feedback.”
With Shotrack in classrooms, India’s future animators, VFX artists and gaming producers will get a taste of studio life long before they step into one.
