MAM
Prasoon Joshi on Andy’s jury
MUMBAI: McCann Worldgroup India executive chairman and CEO and South Asia president Prasoon Joshi has once again been invited to judge the ANDY‘s. The awards are taking place at Sao Pablo this year.
Among the most coveted International Award shows highly regarded for its high standards and excellence, the ANDY‘s has evolved into an international show covering print, radio, television, out-of-home, direct mail, video/cinema, interactive and other media.
The objective of the International ANDY Awards is to seek out, encourage, recognise and generally worship creative excellence in advertising.
This year‘s ANDY‘s jury chairman is Bob Greenberg and other jury members include Mark D‘Arcy of Face book, Mark Waites of Mother London, Rob Reilly of CP+B, Mark Tutsell of Leo Burnett and Tham Kai Meng of Ogilvy.
Joshi said, “I am excited to be part of the Andy‘s once again. It is an enriching experience especially when you judge not just one category but all the categories‘ of the award show. It gives you a clear and comprehensive idea of where the industry is going creatively.”
The ANDY awards are one of the only not-for-profit award shows in the industry where proceeds go directly to The Advertising Club Foundation to fund its education initiatives. The Foundation is committed to supporting and cultivating talent entering the Advertising and Marketing industry.
ANDY award winners also compete for the ANDY‘s highest honour, the GRANDY. The GRANDY winner, in addition to gaining prominence within the industry, receives a cash prize of $50,000.The ANDY Awards also recognize the best student work from around the world.
Brands
LINC Limited appoints Hitesh Singla as head of marketing
The writing instruments giant has hired Hitesh Singla as head of marketing, betting on his two decades of brand-building firepower to ink a bolder consumer story
KOLKATA: LINC Limited, the Kolkata-based writing instruments manufacturer with a footprint spanning more than 50 countries, has appointed Hitesh Singla as its head of marketing, a hire that signals the company’s intent to fight harder for consumer attention in one of India’s most fiercely contested stationery categories.
Singla arrives with over two decades of marketing muscle behind him, having built, revived and scaled brands across consumer durables, personal care, healthcare, retail and houseware. His CV reads like a tour of Indian and global brand management: he introduced and grew Stabilo, UHU and Rapid in the Indian market, helped revive product categories for Revlon, and most recently served as head of marketing at KAI India, where he sharpened the brand’s presence in personal grooming and houseware.
Before KAI, Singla held leadership roles at Godrej & Boyce and the Avantha Group, among others, organisations where scale, complexity and consumer diversity are non-negotiable realities.
At LINC, he will own the company’s end-to-end marketing strategy: brand equity, integrated campaigns and consumer engagement, all calibrated to a market that is shifting fast. His approach blends data-driven insight with what he calls creative storytelling, precisely the kind of bilingual fluency that legacy brands need when nostalgia alone will no longer do the heavy lifting.
“LINC Limited holds a strong legacy in the writing instruments category,” said Singla, “and I look forward to building on this foundation to further strengthen its brand relevance in a rapidly evolving market. The focus will be on driving sharper consumer insights, innovation-led marketing, and creating deeper engagement across touchpoints.”
An alumnus of Punjab University with a master’s degree in international business, Singla is said to be as comfortable with cultures, languages and history as he is with a campaign brief, a disposition that may serve him well as LINC pushes deeper into global markets.
For a company that already sells pens across five continents, the real challenge now is making consumers care which pen they pick up. Singla’s job is to make sure it is a LINC.
